Podcasts
Sign in
Podcasts
home_filled
Explore shows
list
Subscriptions
playlist_add
Queue
add
Add by RSS Feed
Settings
Help
Content policies
Publisher guidelines
Send feedback
open_in_new
Get the Android app
open_in_new
Get the iOS app
Privacy
·
Terms
Conversations
ABC listen
Subscribe
Visit website
Spend an hour in someone else's life. Conversations draws you deeper into the life story of someone you may have heard about, but never met.
Available episodes
Newest first
Oldest first
10 hours ago
Dynasties and dynamism
Nicholas Jose was living in China in 1989, when the military was sent in to violently quell pro-democracy rallies in Tiananmen Square. He left Beijing the next day and returned to a changed city
52 min
playlist_add
3 days ago
Sam Neill's menagerie
Sam Neill is a winemaker, a cancer survivor and a father. He's also an actor, who's made more than 100 films
50 min
playlist_add
4 days ago
Smuggled to Antarctica
Rachael Mead with the true story of Nel Law, who stowed away on a Danish ship in 1961 to become the first Australian woman to set foot on Antarctica
48 min
playlist_add
5 days ago
The echidna argument
Strategic analyst Sam Roggeveen says Australia needs to think more like an echidna when it comes to defence
51 min
playlist_add
6 days ago
Living to 120 and beyond
Dr David Sinclair is a longevity expert who believes ageing is a treatable disease (R)
51 min
playlist_add
Sep 18, 2023
What happens to us while we're under anaesthesia?
Kate Cole-Adams has discovered what happens to us while we dwell in the chemical oblivion of general anaesthetic (R)
50 min
playlist_add
Sep 14, 2023
Chadden's planet Earth
Chadden Hunter was in his twenties when he found himself sitting around a campfire in the Ethiopian highlands, talking about his PhD thesis with Sir David Attenborough. The meeting changed his life
53 min
playlist_add
Sep 13, 2023
Bronwyn's books
When Bronwyn Sheehan's daughter befriended a little girl in year four, her eyes were opened up to the realities of life for children in care, and their carers
45 min
playlist_add
Sep 12, 2023
George Megalogenis on the stats that tell the Australian story
From the 1944 wartime referendum, to the 1999 vote on whether to become a republic, referenda always tell us things about Australia that aren't revealed in a normal federal election
52 min
playlist_add
Sep 10, 2023
Peter's long goodbye
Broadcaster Peter Goers was in his twenties when his parents died suddenly, in a plane crash outside New Orleans. Decades later, he's beginning to make sense of the loss
50 min
playlist_add
Sep 8, 2023
Stories of starting over: Susan Johnson
Writer Susan Johnson began an unexpected adventure when she moved to the Greek island of Kythera with her 85-year old mother Barbara (R)
51 min
playlist_add
Sep 7, 2023
Stories of starting over: Kim Crotty
When Kim Crotty was locked up in Dartmoor prison for growing marijuana, his two young sons were bereft. After he began writing bedtime stories for his boys from his cell, a new chapter opened up for him after he was released from jail (R)
50 min
playlist_add
Sep 6, 2023
Stories of starting over: Anne Howell
After a serious brain operation, Anne Howell woke up in hospital with retrograde amnesia, thinking she was nine years old. With no real understanding of who she was or who she could trust, she set about rediscovering her identity (R)
50 min
playlist_add
Sep 5, 2023
Stories of starting over: Charles Lomu
The Tongan-Australian man on being privileged to see love in action in his grandparents, how a spiral into grief and anger led him to periodic detention, and how cutting hair today helps him steer young men away from a dark path (R)
52 min
playlist_add
Sep 3, 2023
Stories of starting over: DJ Hookie
Tom Nash was 19 when his limbs were amputated due to meningococcal septicaemia. After he began to navigate life with hooks for arms, he built a new life as a DJ (R)
46 min
playlist_add
Sep 1, 2023
Maggie Mackellar on farming, motherhood, and catching sheep
Maggie Mackellar with stories from her life on a Merino wool farm on the east coast of Tasmania, and all of life and death that surrounds her through the cycle of lambing seasons
52 min
playlist_add
Aug 31, 2023
The Big Pineapple, The Big Merino, The Big Gumboot: how big things captured Australia
Dr Amy Clarke on the history of Big Things and our enduring fondness for kitsch and curious creations
52 min
playlist_add
Aug 29, 2023
Crispian Chan on Perth's forgotten terror
Crispian Chan grew up in the shadow of a campaign of terror in Perth that engulfed his family restaurant and haunted him for years
51 min
playlist_add
Aug 29, 2023
Geraldine Brooks and the world in words
The historical novelist has seen enough action to last a lifetime from her days as a Middle East correspondent, and it was her mother's imaginative influence that led her to turn her fascination with history into new interpretations (R)
48 min
playlist_add
Aug 28, 2023
Craig Hamilton's three lives
Coalminer turned broadcaster Craig Hamilton was in his 30s when he had a psychotic episode on Broadmeadows train station. In the aftermath, his life was completely changed (CW: mentions suicide)
52 min
playlist_add
Aug 25, 2023
Robert Waldinger's good life
Dr Robert Waldinger on what it takes to live a happy life
54 min
playlist_add
Aug 24, 2023
Bertie Blackman's bohemian childhood
Bertie Blackman on her unconventional childhood with her father the artist Charles Blackman
50 min
playlist_add
Aug 22, 2023
How Julie became Matilda #1
In 1979, Julie Dolan was named as the inaugural captain of the Matildas. Ever since, she's helped build the juggernaut from the ground up
47 min
playlist_add
Aug 22, 2023
Kim and the Constitution
Kim Rubenstein on the inner workings and history of the Australian constitution
52 min
playlist_add
Aug 21, 2023
John Gaden's golden run
John Gaden on turning his back on law and landing on the stage
49 min
playlist_add
Aug 18, 2023
Remembering Michael Parkinson
Broadcaster Michael Parkinson with the life story of his late father John William - Yorkshireman, miner, humourist and fast bowler (R)
20 min
playlist_add
Aug 17, 2023
Maddy, the shipwreck mermaid
Dr Maddy McAllister's job as a marine archaeologist involves diving into the deep to uncover the artefacts and human stories sunk in shipwrecks (R)
54 min
playlist_add
Aug 16, 2023
The invisible Mrs Orwell
Anna Funder on unearthing the story of the talented and determined Eileen O'Shaughnessy, George Orwell's first wife
54 min
playlist_add
Aug 15, 2023
From the meatworks to mending men's souls
After arriving in Australia from Yugoslavia as a boy, Peter Stojanovic began working at a Melbourne meatworks. Decades on, he's now a counsellor helping violent men change their behaviour
53 min
playlist_add
Aug 15, 2023
Jana Pittman's turning point
Jana Pittman became one of Australia's most famous athletes as a young woman. Then at age 30, she found herself at a painful crossroads
54 min
playlist_add
Aug 14, 2023
David the Seahorse saviour
David Harasti with the story of how he opened a chain of underwater seahorse hotels to save an endangered species
54 min
playlist_add
Aug 10, 2023
A Heart in Two Places
Sarah Donnelley on her life working at Wilcannia Central School, on Barkandji Country 950 kilometres west of Sydney (R)
Play
playlist_add
Aug 9, 2023
Dr Freakman, hippie psychiatrist
Psychiatrist Dr Harry Freeman on the memorable patients, LSD, and medical epiphanies from his 50 years in psychiatry
54 min
playlist_add
Aug 9, 2023
The sculptor's son
Hung Le and his family made a terrifying escape from Saigon in 1975, carrying one suitcase, a box of biscuits and some seasick pills. Decades after they fled, Hung returned to Vietnam to honour his late father's wishes (R)
45 min
playlist_add
Aug 7, 2023
How Brendan Watkins claimed his birthright
Brendan Watkins on his search to find the truth about his birth parents and the failings of the Catholic church his discoveries unveiled
50 min
playlist_add
Aug 6, 2023
Mark Brandi on compassion, chance and reinvention
Author Mark Brandi is a keen observer of people, a skill he honed growing up in a pub in country Victoria, where the family’s Italian heritage was the source of scrutiny
52 min
playlist_add
Aug 4, 2023
Danny Estrin's Eurovision glory
Voyager frontman Danny Estrin on his unconventional path from heavy metal to law and the Eurovision grand final
54 min
playlist_add
Aug 3, 2023
Oliver Twist, the storyteller
Rwandan-born comedian and playwright Oliver Twist on his years as a refugee and how his life as a storyteller began
54 min
playlist_add
Aug 2, 2023
The leadership and gentleness of Alex Blackwell
The former captain of the Australian Women's cricket team shares what she's learned along the way, and how cricket has helped her in genetic counselling, her next career (R)
53 min
playlist_add
Aug 1, 2023
On the trail of the mega-shark
When Tim Flannery was a boy he found a palm-sized fossilised tooth of a prehistoric shark.The find changed the course of his life
52 min
playlist_add
Jul 30, 2023
Toby Walsh: the power and perils of Chat GPT
Professor Toby Walsh on the rise of generative AI chatbots and their potential to overtake human intelligence
50 min
playlist_add
Jul 27, 2023
John's wild dogs
They have strange coats that look like they're painted on, and while their big Mickey Mouse ears are cute, their domestic dog-like looks aren't particularly exotic. But Africa's painted dogs are unlike any other carnivores on the planet
53 min
playlist_add
Jul 26, 2023
Martin Flanagan on exchanging shame for grace
In 1966, Martin was 10 years old when he was sent to a Catholic Boarding school in North-West Tasmania. Decades later, he began his own reckoning with what had happened at the school (CW: discusses sexual abuse)
49 min
playlist_add
Jul 25, 2023
Healing the grieving heart
Wendy Liu has spent many years right up close to death. As a forensic counsellor she worked with families who had lost someone to an accident or violence, and as a grief counsellor she supports people surviving all kinds of losses. Wendy says her work brings her a keener appreciation of life
53 min
playlist_add
Jul 25, 2023
Maggie Beer: from Bankstown to the Barossa
Maggie Beer started her working life at the age of 14 in a chenille bedspread factory. Two decades later, in a pheasant farm in the Barossa Valley, she found her dream job
53 min
playlist_add
Jul 24, 2023
How Ben's brain changed
An unexpected stroke temporarily robbed Ben Mckelvey of his ability to speak, write and understand words. Eventually, Ben re-learnt the art of language, but his brain, his identity and how he connected to others had changed forever
49 min
playlist_add
Jul 20, 2023
The army town, the lodger, and a succulent Chinese meal
Writer Mark Dapin’s childhood was disrupted at the age of 10, when his mum fell in love with the lodger. He was then raised in an army town called Aldershot in the UK, which began his fascination with stories of crime and warfare
52 min
playlist_add
Jul 20, 2023
Anna McGahan and God
Anna McGahan was playing a prostitute on Australia's biggest television show when she found God, renounced nudity on screen and tried to become the perfect Christian woman
52 min
playlist_add
Jul 19, 2023
The story of the human voice
John Colapinto was singing a Beatles song in front of Bette Midler when he injured his vocal cords. The experience set him on the path to studying the human voice
53 min
playlist_add
Jul 17, 2023
The wild boy who became a parenting expert
Professor Mark Dadds has helped hundreds of troubled kids from his clinic at the University of Sydney. He feels an extra connection to them, as he was once a wild and rebellious boy himself
52 min
playlist_add
Jul 17, 2023
From Boudicca to the Night Witches: a history of women at war
Sarah Percy with a new history of the world's frontline women soldiers
52 min
playlist_add
Jul 13, 2023
Marcia Hines the American Queen of Australian Pop
Marcia Hines arrived in Australia just 16 years old, and unknowingly pregnant. She planned to stay for six months, but 50 years later, she still calls Australia home
47 min
playlist_add
Jul 12, 2023
The Bookbinder's Luck
Dominic Riley on how a a chance encounter with a bookbinding monk named Brother Bede changed the course of his life
53 min
playlist_add
Jul 11, 2023
The power and determination of Nas Campanella
Nas Campanella grew up in a big Italian-Australian family, and she was six months old when she lost her sight. Nas then grew up to become one of Australia's most well-known TV and radio journalists
51 min
playlist_add
Jul 10, 2023
Frank’s years of living dangerously
Frank Palmos arrived in Indonesia as a green journalist looking to make his mark. He walked straight into a pivotal moment in the nation's history, which would culminate in 'The Year of Living Dangerously'
49 min
playlist_add
Jul 10, 2023
Jessica's life in two worlds
Jessica Kirkness on her luminous childhood with her grandparents Melvyn and Phyllis, who were both profoundly deaf
53 min
playlist_add
Jul 6, 2023
Stories from Gudanji Country
Debra Dank walks and talks differently when she's at home on Gudanji country, because she comes with this place (R)
53 min
playlist_add
Jul 5, 2023
The tin hut that's still standing
Dr John Paterson grew up in a tin hut in rural Darwin. He helped hold it down during Cyclone Tracy and has taken care of it so it still stands today. John learnt many lessons in that tin hut, which have followed him through life
53 min
playlist_add
Jul 4, 2023
Nova Peris shines bright
Nova is a woman of many firsts — an Olympic gold medallist and Northern Territory Senator. She continues to strive for excellence while showing up for mob (R)
53 min
playlist_add
Jul 3, 2023
Leanne's passion for justice
Leanne Liddle was just 18 years old when she became a policewoman, but after a brutal attack during a routine traffic stop left her unable to serve, she decided to fight for justice in a different way
50 min
playlist_add
Jul 2, 2023
Jimmy Little's daughter tells her dad's story
Frances Peters-Little speaks about writing the story of her dad Jimmy's extraordinary career in music, and how he never lost his connection to his country.
48 min
playlist_add
Jun 29, 2023
Mama Piku
For more than a decade now, Yolarnie Amepou has been navigating tribal conflicts along the Kikori River to help protect her beloved pig-nosed turtle. To everyone in this part of Papua New Guinea, she's known as "turtle lady"
54 min
playlist_add
Jun 28, 2023
Sorcery and salvation in Papua New Guinea
Ruth Kissam was absent-mindedly perusing a noticeboard at a hospital in Papua New Guinea when she came across a flyer from the local morgue. That notice opened the door for Ruth into the world of sorcery and the plight of women accused of witchcraft
54 min
playlist_add
Jun 27, 2023
The mythical legends of Dravuni Island
When Kaliopate Tavola retired from Fijian politics, he turned his attention to recording the fantastic stories of creation from his home island of Dravuni - tales of warlords, giant sea serpents and boats that could grow tall like a tree
51 min
playlist_add
Jun 26, 2023
The whistling frogs of Fiji's forests
Nunia Thomas-Moko grew up afraid of the reptilian creatures that lurked in Fiji's stunning forests. Ironically, she has become the country's leading expert in rare frogs and crested iguanas. She had to put on a brave face to catch them first
52 min
playlist_add
Jun 25, 2023
Meet the Queen of Vude
When Laisa Vulakoro was six years old she learnt the English words "famous" and "star". She would point to the night's sky on her tiny island, and tell its 300 residents that's where she was going
51 min
playlist_add
Jun 23, 2023
Michael Trant on writing a farmer’s way
Author Michael Trant combines his love of the land with his passion for storytelling — writing his books while ploughing the paddock in a tractor
46 min
playlist_add
Jun 22, 2023
The broken-hearted cure
After a devastating divorce, Charlotte Ree began cooking her way out of heartbreak
51 min
playlist_add
Jun 21, 2023
Sarah Davis: Paddling the Nile and beyond
Sarah Davis on her journey from corporate risk management to the paddle-powered adventures in shark-infested waters
53 min
playlist_add
Jun 20, 2023
The flying vet
Campbell Costello has one of the world's largest and most exciting consulting rooms in the world, for his job as a vet in outback Queensland (R)
53 min
playlist_add
Jun 19, 2023
Fergus, prison visitor
Fergus Hynes found his true calling in retirement: listening to prisoners and helping them with their problems
46 min
playlist_add
Jun 16, 2023
Doctor Sonia, Outback GP
When Sonia Henry signed up to work as a GP in a remote mining town in the Pilbara, the experience changed almost everything she believed about Australia.
50 min
playlist_add
Jun 15, 2023
Shirley's secret and a silver angel: the story of Heather Mitchell
Actor Heather Mitchell on the family secrets and the fortune teller's prophecy which shaped her life (CW: mentions suicide and cancer)
53 min
playlist_add
Jun 14, 2023
An unexpected life in Murderball
Cameron Carr was a rising star in Rugby League when a shocking accident changed everything. A few years later he found a new path, in a sport known as 'Murderball'
50 min
playlist_add
Jun 13, 2023
Finding a dad, zoology and a life-threatening illness
Ben Bravery tells the story of his childhood in Logan, Queensland, how he went from a career at KFC to studying male satin bowerbirds and why being a patient led him to study medicine (R)
52 min
playlist_add
Jun 12, 2023
A Fat Girl Dancing: Kris Kneen
How Kris Kneen learned to look unblinkingly at their fat body, and find a new courage to be in the world
52 min
playlist_add
Jun 9, 2023
Muzafar Ali: from Afghanistan to Adelaide
Muzafar Ali is a football-loving photographer from Afghanistan, now living in Australia. When he discovered the long history of Afghan cameleers in the outback, he set off, with his camera, to find out more
52 min
playlist_add
Jun 8, 2023
Life as a prison philosopher
Andy West on how his family story led him a life teaching philosophy inside some of Britain's toughest jails
50 min
playlist_add
Jun 7, 2023
Charmian, the violin and the zipper man
Australian violinist Charmian Gadd was a wild musical prodigy from the Central Coast when a zipper-inventing musician changed the course of her life (R)
51 min
playlist_add
Jun 6, 2023
William Sitwell: a history of the restaurant
Food critic William Sitwell with stories of eating out in history, from the wine taverns of ancient Pompeii to today's molecular gastronomy
46 min
playlist_add
Jun 4, 2023
Sean Fong dominating life on the jiu-jitsu mat
Sean Fong is a para world champion in jiu-jitsu. The 'gentle' martial art has allowed Sean to shatter any illusions that society might have about people with physical differences.
49 min
playlist_add
Jun 1, 2023
Asma Khan and the Darjeeling Express
Chef Asma Khan uses cooking to connect with her family. After moving from Kolkata to England, she longed to return home to learn her mother's recipes. She did that, and brought them back to London, opening a restaurant called Darjeeling Express
52 min
playlist_add
Jun 1, 2023
Mandy Nolan: embracing the 'weird freaky girl'
Mandy Nolan didn't fit in as a child, in the country town where she grew up. But later in life, her differences became her superpower (CW: discusses domestic violence and addiction)
53 min
playlist_add
May 31, 2023
How Deb Wallace became the gangbuster
Former Detective Deb Wallace with stories from her working life in the NSW Police, where she was tasked with breaking up criminal gangs
52 min
playlist_add
May 30, 2023
David Rankin: Gymea, Art and Lily
Artist David Rankin grew up as the son of a bootmaker in suburban Sydney. He became an outback teacher, then a a painter, before meeting the great love of his life, the writer Lily Brett
53 min
playlist_add
May 29, 2023
Lessons from slime mould — a brainless blob
Tanya Latty is an insect scientist with a quirky taste in pets, and a keen eye for detail. But it's the lessons from her brainless pet slime mould that she's most fascinated about
49 min
playlist_add
May 26, 2023
Don Walker: the quiet bloke in Cold Chisel
Don Walker has written some of Australia's greatest songs, and they keep coming. But rock and roll's resident 'quiet bloke' could have led a very different life
44 min
playlist_add
May 25, 2023
Letting the tiger out of the cage
Adventurers and extreme athletes, who jump off bridges and walk across deserts, have a reputation for being fearless daredevils who take unnecessary risks. But sport psychologist Dr Eric Brymer says feeling fear is vital to the mind of the adventurer
54 min
playlist_add
May 24, 2023
Lessons from the Kingdom of Sargon
Historian Peter Frankopan on how the earth's climate has shaped human history
50 min
playlist_add
May 23, 2023
Bo Seo on good arguments
Two-time World Debating champion Bo Seo on how love and listening can improve how we disagree
50 min
playlist_add
May 22, 2023
The wild ride of Di's life
The bull rider and horsewoman has lived a life full of danger and drama, at the rodeo and outside it. Di's incredible experiences have taught her to lean into fear, rather than avoid it
47 min
playlist_add
May 19, 2023
The curious history of sweating it out
From the naked athletes of Ancient Greece to the Jane Fonda revolution of the last century, sport and exercise have had a surprising hold on humans
54 min
playlist_add
May 18, 2023
Hijacks, heists, and a sinking boat
As a young woman craving adventure, Marele Day hitchhiked on a catamaran sailing across the Indian Ocean. After befriending the French skipper, Marele discovered years later that he was a fugitive on the run.
51 min
playlist_add
May 17, 2023
Being Sharon Stone's stunt double
Ky Furneaux spent 16 years in Hollywood as a professional stunt performer, falling, fighting and breaking glass on cue. She has managed to make her next life even more extreme — surviving in the wild, sometimes with just a knife, often naked (R)
54 min
playlist_add
May 16, 2023
Love and Loss, in Watsonia
Damian Callinan with the grand love story of his parents Adrian and Kathleen, who met in 1946 at a football match. They were together for 62 years before a terrible accident changed everything (R)
48 min
playlist_add
May 15, 2023
The art of English, according to Benjamin Dreyer
Benjamin Dreyer has strong ideas about the English language, and how to transform books into the best possible versions of themselves. But he's not a member of the grammar police
51 min
playlist_add
May 12, 2023
Theologian Pádraig Ó Tuama on making peace and living in poetry
Pádraig Ó Tuama survived conversion therapy and exorcism as a young gay man in a church in Ireland, then became a leading peace negotiator and a poet
54 min
playlist_add
May 11, 2023
Cows on a plane
Paul McVerry is an experienced cattleman and a stud breeder, who had a vision to fly a gift of cattle to India with the help of Dan Murphy
50 min
playlist_add
May 9, 2023
Jenny Graves — the curious case of sex cells
For Jenny Graves, the genetic history of Australia's unique wildlife holds a key to the future of human evolution.
54 min
playlist_add
May 9, 2023
Benjamin's epic flight
Benjamin is an adventure paraglider and documentary maker. One day, while paragliding in central Mexico, he was forced to make a sudden landing in an isolated valley. There he encountered a vast swarm of millions of monarch butterflies, carpeting the forest floor and tree trunks. This experience led him to replicate the Herculean migration of this seemingly common butterfly. He launched his own flight along the thermal air currents which carried him all the way from Mexico to Canada.
53 min
playlist_add
May 8, 2023
Raising the Kanneh-Masons
Kadiatu Kanneh-Mason on what it takes to keep up with her seven children — all of them gifted classical musicians (R)
50 min
playlist_add
May 4, 2023
Paul Kennedy on finding his way
The ABC Sports presenter describes his life at 17, a year dominated by football, girls, beer, and a serial killer stalking his neighbourhood (R)
55 min
playlist_add
May 3, 2023
Toni Jordan's lucky life
Toni Jordan grew up working in a TAB and going to the greyhound races. Then she grew up to become a best-selling novelist
53 min
playlist_add
May 2, 2023
Crossing the continent
Sophie Matterson fell in love with camels at first sniff. After working with them for years, she hatched a plan to walk across the vast Australian continent with five humped companions - Jude, Delilah, Charlie, Clayton and Mac
52 min
playlist_add
May 1, 2023
Dean Laws: running for his life
Dean Laws was in his 50s when doctors told him he had Parkinson's disease. For a time, he was devastated. Then he formed a running crew with his friends called 'The Dean Team', and made a plan to run the Sydney Marathon
51 min
playlist_add
Apr 30, 2023
Remembering Barry Humphries
Barry Humphries was a legend of the screen and stage, but throughout his career, he remained astonished at the success of Dame Edna and her enduring appeal
46 min
playlist_add
Apr 27, 2023
My father, Karratha, and me
Annette Trevitt with a tale of real estate, family and complicated grief set in the Pilbara mining town of Karratha
50 min
playlist_add
Apr 26, 2023
Teddy Tahu Rhodes and the letter that changed his life
He's one of the world's most acclaimed opera stars, but Teddy Tahu Rhodes did everything he could, for a very long time, to avoid his destiny on stage (R)
51 min
playlist_add
Apr 25, 2023
Om's journey home
Om Dhungel grew up in Bhutan, where his people became the target of a brutal ethnic cleansing campaign. Overnight Om became a refugee, eventually rebuilding his life and family in his beloved new home of Blacktown
54 min
playlist_add
Apr 24, 2023
Jackie Huggins: my father Jack
Jackie Huggins with the story of her father Jack, who was a surf lifesaver, a rugby league player, a soldier taken prisoner in the Fall of Singapore, and the first Indigenous Australian to work in the post office (R)
54 min
playlist_add
Apr 23, 2023
Surviving Sandakan
Only six men, out of thousands, survived the horrors of the infamous Sandakan POW camp. Bill Sticpewich was one of them
49 min
playlist_add
Apr 20, 2023
A sister's love
When Bronwen Edward's big brother Mark took his own life, she decided to channel her grief into something much bigger than herself
53 min
playlist_add
Apr 19, 2023
On the wing
Zoologist Milly Formby serendipitously became passionate about shorebirds while working as a tapestry weaver. She decided to learn how to fly, build her own plane and follow their path around Australia
50 min
playlist_add
Apr 17, 2023
Danijel's life between borders
Danijel Malbasa grew up in an ethnically-mixed family in the former Yugoslavia. When the country was on the precipice of war, the Malbasa family was metaphorically and literally torn apart
51 min
playlist_add
Apr 16, 2023
The secrets and generosity of the dead
Journalist Jackie Dent explores the the world of anatomists and dissectors, the people who open up human cadavers to uncover their secrets
45 min
playlist_add
Apr 13, 2023
Maggie Dent - Raising Strong Girls
Parenting expert Maggie Dent on on how parents can raise confident and well-adjusted girls
54 min
playlist_add
Apr 12, 2023
To Kythera, with my mother
Writer Susan Johnson was in her 60s when she decided to make a new life on the Greek Island of Kythera, with her 85-year old mother Barbara along for the adventure
50 min
playlist_add
Apr 11, 2023
Matt Hall's life at supersonic speed
Matt Hall made his first solo flight at 15 years old and has been addicted to life in the air ever since. He became a top gun fighter pilot and after serving for more than 20 years, he still hasn't come down to earth
53 min
playlist_add
Apr 10, 2023
Family folklore: spies, secrets and suffering
Phil Kafcaloudes grew up hearing stories about his legendary grandmother, who became a spy for the British in World War Two. It was even said she killed a man to protect her secret
48 min
playlist_add
Apr 9, 2023
Kate Forsyth on the intrepid and curious Charlotte Waring Atkinson
Charlotte was Australia's first children's author. She came to the colony of NSW from London in 1826, and now her trailblazing, tragic and dramatic life story has been written by her descendants, Kate Forsyth and Belinda Murrell (R)
51 min
playlist_add
Apr 6, 2023
What the world can learn from Charlie Brown
From Charlie Brown to Franz Kafka, psychoanalyst Josh Cohen explores why being a loser can be a good thing
53 min
playlist_add
Apr 5, 2023
Billy Bragg — the boy from Barking
Billy Bragg grew up in working-class Barking, east of London. The expected path was to go from school to the local car factory, but Billy had his sights set further. After discovering punk as a teenager, Billy found a way to make his voice heard and even a brief stint in the army couldn’t keep him away from a life in music.
48 min
playlist_add
Apr 4, 2023
Gillian Bell — life and cake
Gillian has the best job in the world — travelling overseas to bake sumptuous and heartfelt wedding cakes, using foraged and fresh produce to tell a couple's story through taste, texture and fragrance. Cake has been a staple in Gillian's life, through immigration, adventure and loss (R)
52 min
playlist_add
Apr 3, 2023
George Williams – the whacky world of micronations
Micronations are home to fascinating, often eccentric characters who construct their self-declared countries in their own image, with pomp, pageantry and passports to boot.
49 min
playlist_add
Apr 2, 2023
Growing up in a country pub
Max Beck had a wild, lively and at times devastating childhood, growing up in Bendigo's old Crown Hotel
46 min
playlist_add
Mar 30, 2023
Becoming a cowboy
Roland Breckwoldt fell in love with the idea of being a cowboy as a child, so at 15 he railed against his strict German father's wishes, left home and found himself in the majesty of the Queensland outback
49 min
playlist_add
Mar 29, 2023
How memory works
Over her many decades as a practising psychiatrist, Veronica O'Keane developed a fascination for our memory, how it functions in the brain, and the role it has in shaping our identity
53 min
playlist_add
Mar 28, 2023
The alluring aliens of our forests
Fungi have given us many gifts, from penicillin to food, but they can also be quite scary. Dr Alison Pouliot spends her time trying to explain these strange alien-like things
53 min
playlist_add
Mar 27, 2023
Keenan's courage
Justice advocate Keenan Mundine broke the cycle of crime and incarceration in his own life after a chance meeting at a birthday party (CW: mentions suicide, references to drug use. Strong language. Discretion advised) (R)
52 min
playlist_add
Mar 26, 2023
Saul Griffith's electrifying mission
Saul Griffith believes that the key to solving the climate crisis is to electrify everything, starting with our homes. The inventor, engineer and entrepreneur is spearheading this mission in his own postcode with Electrify 2515, which aims to have all household machines powered by renewable energy
51 min
playlist_add
Mar 23, 2023
A daughter's unswerving love — Sarah Holland-Batt and her father
Sarah Holland-Batt's dad Tony was a loving father, her intellectual mentor and her friend. At 18, she became one of his carers. Later she battled an aged care system which let him down in the worst way possible (R)
53 min
playlist_add
Mar 22, 2023
Lee Berger & the Cave of Lost Hominids
Lee Berger, the National Geographic Explorer in Residence and real-life Indiana Jones, has found remarkable things underground. His discoveries are revolutionising what we understand about our own origins
52 min
playlist_add
Mar 21, 2023
Rockstar animals and the Orthodox Church
John Simons is fascinated by the lives of animals which have become stars. From a famous hippo at London Zoo, to a wombat owned by a Pre-Raphaelite painter in England, these are the rock stars of the animal world
47 min
playlist_add
Mar 20, 2023
Briana, Max and Freddy: love, trains and mouth music
Briana Blackett was a journalist working in Qatar when she realised her baby son Max wasn't responding to his name. When Max was diagnosed with autism, and in time her second son Freddy was too, she left Doha to begin an entirely different life (R)
53 min
playlist_add
Mar 19, 2023
The Vietnam vet and the Arnhem Land community
Neville White was trying to heal from the trauma of the Vietnam War when he travelled out to a remote community in Arnhem Land called Donydji. Their stories became increasingly intertwined as he spent more and more time there
47 min
playlist_add
Mar 16, 2023
The Great Fire of Salonika
Gail Jones grew up in an old quarantine station, wondering about the soldiers who stayed there on their way home from WWI. Her new novel imagines life on the eastern front in 1917
52 min
playlist_add
Mar 15, 2023
Alex and the tree-climbing lions
Alex Braczkowski is a big cat exert and National Geographic explorer. For years he's been following a rare group of tree-climbing lions, including the charismatic, enigmatic, three-legged Jacob
51 min
playlist_add
Mar 14, 2023
Louise Kennedy on Belfast, bombs and a disastrous pav
Writer Louise Kennedy spent her early childhood just outside of Belfast. It was the height of The Troubles and violence was ever-present. After that violence came too close to home, Louise’s family moved to the Republic of Ireland. After 3 decades working as a chef, a chance invitation to a writer's group lead to an unexpected new career.
53 min
playlist_add
Mar 13, 2023
Peter Garrett: rock and roll changemaker
Midnight Oil frontman Peter Garrett on his life in music, environmental action, and politics, and the end of The Oils.
53 min
playlist_add
Mar 12, 2023
Amar Singh's love for faith, family and country
Amar Singh's sense of belonging to Australia has only grown since he leant into his Sikh faith, growing out his beard and his hair, wearing a turban and committing himself to the service of his entire community
53 min
playlist_add
Mar 9, 2023
Judith Heumann - disability warrior
One of the most influential disability rights activists in history tells her story of her fight for the right to receive an education, have a job, and just be human (R)
53 min
playlist_add
Mar 8, 2023
Putting lipstick on a great white shark
Rodney Fox was torn apart by a great white shark and it took 462 stitches to put him back together again. He was then instrumental in filming Jaws, the most terrifying shark film of all time. But over time, this salty seadog has become the apex predator's fiercest protector (R)
54 min
playlist_add
Mar 7, 2023
Esther Freud's unconventional family
Esther Freud has many famous men in her family, including psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud. But it is her mother's story which has left the greatest mark on the writer
52 min
playlist_add
Mar 6, 2023
Fintan O'Toole: the evolution of modern Ireland
Fintan O’Toole grew up in an Ireland undergoing great change but before the country could move forward, it would have to deal with its sometimes dark past.
51 min
playlist_add
Mar 5, 2023
Is there a cheating gene?
Once journalist and author Kate Legge recovered from the news her husband of 30 years was cheating on her, she uncovered four generations of infidelity through his family
51 min
playlist_add
Mar 2, 2023
The fastest woman in the sky
Jess Johnston found skydiving after a tough few years, and while it might sound like a contradiction, plummeting towards the earth at 400 km/h saved her life
51 min
playlist_add
Mar 1, 2023
Richie Ramone and the record shop
No, he's not 'that' Richie Ramone, but this Richie Ramone's passion for punk is just as fierce (R)
53 min
playlist_add
Feb 28, 2023
The 700-room nightmare
For a thousand years, Colditz Castle has existed in some form, perched on the edge of a cliff in eastern Germany. From a royal hunting lodge, to a madhouse, and then most famously as an inescapable prisoner of war camp during World War II
51 min
playlist_add
Feb 27, 2023
The poker-playing cardiologist
As a child, before she escaped communist Hungary, Bo Remenyi had no ambitions. But when she got to Australia all of that changed. She's gone from cruising the casino floor as a high-stakes professional poker player, to saving the lives of children in remote Australia (R)
52 min
playlist_add
Feb 26, 2023
The forgotten children of the Empire
When Margaret Humphreys received a letter from Australia, she had no idea it would unearth a huge, heartless scheme that forcibly removed children from their homeland and sent them alone, isolated and confused to the other side of the world
51 min
playlist_add
Feb 23, 2023
Ben and the birth of Miss Ellaneous
Darwin's Ben Graetz on becoming one of Australia's best-known Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Drag Queens (R)
53 min
playlist_add
Feb 22, 2023
My mother, South Africa and me
Franceska Jordan with the story of her remarkable mother Isabella — a South African trade unionist and anti-apartheid activist who inspired her daughter to carry on her community work
49 min
playlist_add
Feb 21, 2023
Judy's fight for Victoria's first safe injecting facility
Growing up in Wangaratta, Judy Ryan learned we all have a responsibility to look after each other. When she moved to inner-city Melbourne that meant caring for the injecting drug users dying in her neighbourhood
53 min
playlist_add
Feb 20, 2023
Mark and the rainbow connection
Mark Trevorrow on how the music of composers Anthony Newley and Paul Williams influenced the course of his life and began the evolution of his alter ego, Bob Downe (R)
38 min
playlist_add
Feb 19, 2023
Mammal mania
Kris Helgen loves mammals and he's ventured to some dangerous, isolated places to find them. In fact, Kris has helped name and discover more than 100 magnificent mammals
52 min
playlist_add
Feb 16, 2023
The vivacious Umberto Clerici
The new chief conductor of the Queensland Symphony Orchestra, on the chair of spikes that accompanied his early musical career, and why he doesn't tone down his Italianness in Australia
46 min
playlist_add
Feb 15, 2023
Love and music
Two years ago, Karin Bäumler found herself in the fight for her life after being diagnosed with ovarian cancer. In the thick of it all, making music with her husband Robert Forster became her refuge
53 min
playlist_add
Feb 14, 2023
Run-away memories: Anne's story of retrograde amnesia
After a serious brain operation, Anne Howell woke up in hospital with retrograde amnesia, thinking she was nine years old. With no real understanding of who she was or who she could trust, she set about rediscovering her identity
51 min
playlist_add
Feb 13, 2023
The case of the unknown sailor
DNA expert Dr Jeremy Austin on his 14-year quest to help solve one of Australia's enduring military mysteries: the identity of the 'unknown sailor' (R)
47 min
playlist_add
Feb 12, 2023
The mystery of the travelling Taranaki panels
Taranaki descendent Rachel Buchanan with the story of priceless Maori artwork and their role in the ransom of a child, kidnapped by Italian gangsters
49 min
playlist_add
Feb 9, 2023
Nance, Ruby & Nell: the women who changed Australian cricket
How women cricket players saved the "gentleman's" game and repaired diplomatic relations between England and Australia
50 min
playlist_add
Feb 8, 2023
Teen mum Melissa Redsell proved everyone wrong
Melissa Redsell was 16 and in her last year of school when she found out she was pregnant. Although many people told her she'd 'ruined her life' she went on to prove everyone wrong
51 min
playlist_add
Feb 7, 2023
Bronnie and the jaws of life
Firie Bronnie Mackintosh is built from tough stuff - she attends emergencies to cut people out of crushed cars and rescue them from burning buildings. Her strength was forged in Rotorua, New Zealand, where she experienced a violent undercurrent and the first frothy coffees, introduced by her parents
51 min
playlist_add
Feb 6, 2023
The boy with op shop fever
Writer Tony Birch with tales of his Fitzroy childhood including his grandmother Alma's 'op shop fever', his love for pine cones and blankets, and the macabre holiday he lived through when he was 5 years old (R)
52 min
playlist_add
Feb 5, 2023
How Australia speaks to the world (and spies)
Listened to around the world by locals, spies and military officials, Radio Australia has long been rated by its hundreds of thousands of global listeners as more informative than the BBC World Service. So why don't we know anything about it?
51 min
playlist_add
Feb 2, 2023
Dr Koppe's new life
Hilton Koppe on how his life as a soccer-obsessed country GP changed forever when he became a patient himself
54 min
playlist_add
Feb 1, 2023
Deborah's fight for her wings
Deborah Lawrie had her first flying lesson at 16, then became a flying instructor herself. But when she applied for a job as a pilot, she found herself in the fight of her life (R)
53 min
playlist_add
Jan 31, 2023
Where the Music Began — a story collection
Vic Simms, Jen Cloher, Vika and Linda Bull, Rob Hirst, Elena Kats-Chernin, William Barton with stories from their formative years
52 min
playlist_add
Jan 30, 2023
John Grisham: lawyering, writing and innocence
Novelist John Grisham with his life story; from his work as a trial lawyer, to writing, and how he became involved in a movement using DNA testing to exonerate the innocent (R)
51 min
playlist_add
Jan 29, 2023
Danielle, Jimmy the pig, and the inferno
Academic Danielle Celemajer on how the Black Summer bushfires brought she and her rescue pig Jimmy into a terrible proximity with the inferno, changing both of their lives forever
53 min
playlist_add
Jan 26, 2023
How Aunty Val became the 'Afar Angel'
Valerie Browning moved to the northern deserts of Ethiopia as a naive young nurse in 1973. A chance meeting on the streets of neighbouring Djibouti changed her life, and women's health in the region
46 min
playlist_add
Jan 25, 2023
From Croatia to the Canefields: a love story
Debra Gavranich with the story of her mother Marija, who left her tiny Croatian island to make a life with a man she’d never met, in Far North Queensland's Cassowary Valley (R)
51 min
playlist_add
Jan 24, 2023
The ghosts of Babylonia
Dr Irving Finkel on the ghosts who joined the ancient Assyrians and Babylonians in their day to day lives (R)
51 min
playlist_add
Jan 23, 2023
Tim Ferguson: breaking barriers and taking names
Tim Ferguson was in the midst of a high-flying comedy career when he started experiencing 'whacky symptoms'. In his early 30s, doctors told him he had Multiple Sclerosis
49 min
playlist_add
Jan 22, 2023
A song connection: Genevieve and the Tiwi strong women
When Dr Genevieve Campbell heard the intoxicating music of Tiwi song women, it made her hair stand on end. Immediately she knew she needed to meet the women, and these relationships have changed her ideas of what music is
53 min
playlist_add
Jan 19, 2023
Dave Gleeson needs a damn good lie down
Dave Gleeson is known for his blistering performances in The Screaming Jets and The Angels, but he grew up singing at Mass in Cardiff, with a mum who opened their home to hundreds of foster children
54 min
playlist_add
Jan 18, 2023
The last keeper of Boston Light
One of America's oldest lighthouses was built in 1716 and survived the Revolutionary War. Its first two keepers met dismal ends, but Sally Snowman was always enamoured by it. She is the first woman to care for the lighthouse, and now she will be the last (R)
47 min
playlist_add
Jan 17, 2023
Cynthia's Swans
When Cynthia Banham survived the unthinkable, she had to reinvent herself, with the support of her family, and the kindness of the Sydney Swans AFL team
48 min
playlist_add
Jan 16, 2023
Edita’s 600 days of longing
Edita Mujkic fled the Bosnian War in Sarajevo with her two children, 50 American dollars in her pocket and no real plan. It took her almost two years to get her husband Goran out of the deadly siege situation, all the way from the Lake District in England
51 min
playlist_add
Jan 15, 2023
Making peace with stuttering
Lifelong stutterer Jonty Claypole on how fluency can be a barrier to our creativity, authenticity and persuasiveness
53 min
playlist_add
Dec 15, 2022
Best of 2022 — Elizabeth Chong
At 90, Elizabeth Chong recalls the familiar abundance of the Queen Victoria Market of the 1930s, how her father popularised the dim sim in Australia and the 37,000 people she has taught to cook (R)
53 min
playlist_add
Dec 14, 2022
Best of 2022 — Tony Bull
Tony spent three decades in and out of jail. Inside Hobart's Risdon Prison, he joined a debating club with Chopper Read, and found his voice for the first time. Then a few years ago, on a fishing trawler far out to sea, he began the painful process of changing his life (R)
51 min
playlist_add
Dec 13, 2022
Best of 2022 — Kelvin Kong
Professor Kelvin Kong is one of Australia's leading ENT surgeons. The proud Worimi man changes the course of children's lives by looking inside their ears (R)
54 min
playlist_add
Dec 12, 2022
Best of 2022 — Lindy Lee
As a Chinese-Australian girl growing up in the era of the White Australia Policy, artist Lindy Lee always felt that she didn't belong. When she became a student of Zen Buddhism, big shifts began in her life, and her art (R)
54 min
playlist_add
Dec 11, 2022
Best of 2022 — Stephen Walker
The author tells the thrilling, surreal story of Yuri Gagarin, the loyal communist and father of two who became the first person to journey into space, in a capsule perched on top of a modified Soviet R-7 missile (R)
53 min
playlist_add
Dec 8, 2022
Ken Done's vivid life
Artist Ken Done grew up in a country town in NSW, drawing, fishing and listening to the Argonauts. Before he became a became a full-time artist, he had a wild career in advertising in the 1960s
45 min
playlist_add
Dec 7, 2022
Life on the inside when you're cast out
Greg Fisher, CEO of Sydney's first queer museum, wanted to replicate his family's warm, loving spirit with his own future family. He and his wife didn't see his being gay as an obstacle
52 min
playlist_add
Dec 6, 2022
Niki Savva's brutal assessment of Scott Morrison
Niki Savva has seen ten prime ministers move in and out of the lodge during her decades as a political reporter, but one of those leaders stood out to her from the rest
53 min
playlist_add
Dec 5, 2022
The story of English
Linguist Kate Burridge with the story of how Old English began on a small, damp island on the periphery of the world (R)
51 min
playlist_add
Dec 4, 2022
Cephalopods — magicians of their watery world
Professor Peter Godfrey-Smith on the mystery of the octopus and giant cuttlefish, and why cephalopods are the closest we will come to meeting an intelligent alien
52 min
playlist_add
Dec 1, 2022
Victor Perton and the secret to optimism
Victor's refugee mother was widowed at a young age, his grandparents were tortured and killed by the Soviets, but Victor says he comes from four generations of radical optimists
52 min
playlist_add
Nov 30, 2022
Eva's arrested development
When Eva's parents fled from their home in communist Poland, she was told to "ask no questions". But once she got to the 'free world' she couldn't stop asking questions, trying to reclaim her stolen childhood
52 min
playlist_add
Nov 29, 2022
Richard E. Grant and his pocketful of happiness
The actor on the late love of his life, his wife Joan Washington, and the final message she left him
53 min
playlist_add
Nov 28, 2022
Dee Madigan's precarious early life
Gruen's Dee Madigan on her turbulent early life as one of four children to a former Catholic Priest
39 min
playlist_add
Nov 27, 2022
Nick Cave and the bruises of experience
Nick Cave on how living through addiction, love and unthinkable loss has changed his inner life
49 min
playlist_add
Nov 24, 2022
What rugby stole from Michael Lipman
Michael's professional rugby career came to a brutal end after dozens of concussions took their toll on his brain
52 min
playlist_add
Nov 23, 2022
Anna Yen, the Nanjing Acrobats and the family stories
When acrobat and circus performer Anna Yen decided to become a playwright, in the process of finding out her family stories she unearthed a new facet of Australia’s Chinese history
48 min
playlist_add
Nov 22, 2022
How Sarah built a tall ship
Sarah Parry first saw a tall ship sailing into Sydney Harbour in 1965. Two decades later, in an abandoned Hobart warehouse, she began building her own full-sized Square Rigger from scratch. In the process, she realised it was time to change her own life
50 min
playlist_add
Nov 21, 2022
The hero of the Zebra
Hannah Kent with the true story of the Prussians who fled Europe for a new life in South Australia (R)
52 min
playlist_add
Nov 20, 2022
The grief tapes
After the loss of his mum Carol, James Crawley tried to push down his own grief. Then he watched 35 hours of raw and turbulent footage of his Dad Richard grieving in real time (CW: loss, grief and drug use)
46 min
playlist_add
Nov 17, 2022
A rebel on the bench
David Heilpern with stories of drama, crime and heartache from his 21 years as a country magistrate (CW: references to drug use and sexual assault) (R)
52 min
playlist_add
Nov 16, 2022
Heather Rose and the mystery at the heart of things
Heather Rose on her decades-long quest to make peace with life and loss after a tragedy befell her family when she was a girl (CW: grief and loss)
54 min
playlist_add
Nov 15, 2022
Paulie Stewart and the punk nuns of Timor-Leste
Paulie Stewart made a name for himself as the frontman of legendary Melbourne punk band Painters and Dockers, but he's also spent much of his life campaigning on behalf of the people of East Timor
53 min
playlist_add
Nov 14, 2022
Surviving two volcanoes — Ngaiire's story
The singer-songwriter shares memories of her mother's sacred, ancestral mountain, surviving childhood cancer and being rescued via a message on AM radio after a double volcanic eruption in Papua New Guinea (R) (CW: Some listeners may find parts of this conversation upsetting. Please use discretion when listening)
48 min
playlist_add
Nov 13, 2022
Sandi Toksvig and the school of life
The Danish-British author and comedian on her father's laissez faire attitude to school, and how this opened her mind and brought her to NASA's mission control room for the moon landing of 1969
47 min
playlist_add
Nov 10, 2022
Diana Nguyen on making peace with her mother
Diana Nguyen's mother would walk out of her performances at interval in protest of her career, but Diana forged on and in the process healed this mother-daughter relationship
50 min
playlist_add
Nov 9, 2022
Jo Medlin teaches adults to read and write
Almost half of Australian adults struggle with some level of literacy — writing a shopping list, or reading a text message in private. Jo helps her students turn their lives around
33 min
playlist_add
Nov 8, 2022
The most perplexing musical instrument
The French horn is made up of metres and metres of brass coiled around and around until it opens into a big bell. Let Peter Luff lead you through the maze of this mysterious instrument
54 min
playlist_add
Nov 7, 2022
The untold stories of the Battle of Long Tan
Peter FitzSimons has written many books on Australian military history, but pulling out the remarkable stories from the Battle of Long Tan was a long process, despite the fact that many of the participants in this great defining moment are still alive
46 min
playlist_add
Nov 6, 2022
What humans can learn from animals
Animal communication specialist, Justin Gregg on killer whales' grief behaviour, the Piping Plover's broken wing strategy, and what would happen if humans toned down the need to be 'why specialists'
53 min
playlist_add
Nov 3, 2022
Lamorna and the sea
When Lamorna Ash began to explore her Cornish ancestry she started work on a rusty yellow fishing trawler called the Filadelfia, scaling fish, gutting them and hauling in the nets (R)
53 min
playlist_add
Nov 2, 2022
Love, power, and my PNG family — Dame Carol Kidu
When Carol, an Australian, and Buri Kidu, a young Papua New Guinea man, fell in love in the 1960s, their partnership defied convention (R)
52 min
playlist_add
Nov 1, 2022
Jonno Seidler: breaking the silence around men's mental health
Ray Seidler was a brilliant doctor and a family man, whose secret struggle with depression ultimately claimed his life. Now his son Jonathan is helping to change the story when it comes to his own mental illness (CW: mentions suicide, drug use)
54 min
playlist_add
Oct 31, 2022
Costa Georgiadis: Heart and Soil
Costa is the friendly face of Gardening Australia, a devotee of composting, keeping chickens and developing insect hotels (R)
52 min
playlist_add
Oct 30, 2022
Mat Rogers finds his own game
Mat Rogers on football, family, stepping out of his Dad's shadow, and stealing the Queen's spoons (CW: mentions suicide)
55 min
playlist_add
Oct 27, 2022
The enigmatic legend of Jimmy Possum
Who was the legendary chair maker? An emancipated convict? An Irish refugee? A First Nations man? All we know is that he lived in a tree
49 min
playlist_add
Oct 26, 2022
Pub Choir — beer, singing and Kate Bush
Brisbane choir director, Astrid Jorgensen shares how she thinks in sound, and why it's not about you, darl, when you come to sing in a group
44 min
playlist_add
Oct 25, 2022
The salty sweet life of Aaron Fa’Aoso
Aaron Fa’Aoso on the mistakes, heartaches, and lucky breaks on his path to success as an actor and producer
53 min
playlist_add
Oct 24, 2022
A Renaissance scholar on love, power, Florence and folly
Dale Kent is an esteemed scholar of the Italian Renaissance who grew up in Australia. Rejecting her Christian Science upbringing, she forged an unapologetic life of her own design (R)
53 min
playlist_add
Oct 23, 2022
Suburban crime and mishap in 1950s and 1960s Sydney
Crime writer, Peter Doyle delves into the notes and photographs kept by his uncle, Detective Sergeant Brian Doyle on the Kingsgrove Slasher and other cases that he helped crack
Play
playlist_add
Oct 20, 2022
When I am dead I will love this
From Scotland's Orkney Islands, stories of how a chance meeting in a pub led Andrew Greig to climb the Himalayas, how golfing helped him recover from a near-death experience (R)
52 min
playlist_add
Oct 20, 2022
The making of an epic adventurer
From walking alone across Antarctica, to crossing the Simpson Desert using wind, Geoff Wilson has led a life full of adventure. Content Warning: Graphic discussion of natural disaster death toll
53 min
playlist_add
Oct 18, 2022
Chris, the lunchbox, and the impossible problems
Chris Pepin-Neff grew up as an identical twin in a small town in Connecticut. When he was four years old, his family suffered a terrible loss. Then Chris grew up to help change history (CW: loss and grief)
53 min
playlist_add
Oct 17, 2022
The life of Angela Lansbury
Recorded in 2013, celebrate the seven-decade long stage and screen career of the remarkable actor (R)
53 min
playlist_add
Oct 16, 2022
Dai Le's harrowing journey to power
Dai Le tells the story of her family fleeing Saigon and travelling across 2 oceans to make it to Australia, and how a sense of fairness drew her into public life
53 min
playlist_add
Oct 13, 2022
The secret powers of snakes
Dr Christina Zdenek wants to change our minds about Australia’s deadly snakes, not just because their venom holds healing secrets
52 min
playlist_add
Oct 13, 2022
Babushka Lena and the Soviet cookbook
When cooking teacher Anna Kharzeeva began a quest to cook her way through an iconic Soviet-era book of recipes, her grandmother Lena became her guide
54 min
playlist_add
Oct 11, 2022
The Beatles, Brian Epstein and me
Joanne Petersen recalls working as a personal assistant to The Beatles' manager, the freedom of the Swinging Sixties in London and eloping to the Bahamas with a Bee Gee
53 min
playlist_add