Conversations

Zach was still a teen when he was scouted by the AFL in Ireland, beginning a great adventure in Australia, where he fell in love and unexpectedly became a dad. On his way home from training, a 24-year-old Zach would have to pull over on the side of the road to cry before he got home to his young family. Zach Tuohy was just 17 years old when he was scouted by the Carlton Football Club at a Gaelic football tournament in his home country of Ireland. He did two trials for the club before taking the plunge, leaving his family behind in Portlaoise and moving to Australia to become a professional footballer, first for Carlton and then for the Cats in Geelong. By the time Zach retired from the AFL in 2024, he had accumulated an astonishing 288 games, a premiership title, a loving Aussie wife and two beautiful sons. But Zach's great Irish-Australian adventure wasn't always a dream run. He struggled as a young, first-time dad, and didn't know who to turn to. On the way home from training, Zach would feel compelled to pull over on the side of the road and cry, alone in his car before coming home to his young family, pretending everything was ok. Further information The Irish Experiment is co-authored by Catherine Murphy and published by Simon and Schuster. Keep up to date with Zach's post-footy exploits on his Instagram page. Find out more about the Conversations Live National Tour on the ABC website. This episode of Conversations was produced by Meggie Morris and presented by Sarah Kanowski. Executive Producer is Nicola Harrison It explores the AFL, Carlton, Geelong Cats, Premiership, Grand Final, West Coast Eagles, fatherhood, post postpartum depression, postnatal depression in men, young fathers, migration, Irish in Australia, Aussie Rules, hurling, grandma's love, relationships, raising children, life after sport, professional athletes, Sydney Swans, Grand Final, footy.

After a lifetime of nursing and midwifery, Janty Blair discovered her funny bone in her late 50s, following a serendipitous Bumble date (R) Janty's father, Bob, was a staff sergeant in the Australian Army, and so she grew up moving around the country. Home for Janty, a Butchulla, Mununjhali and Woppaburra woman, was really Hervey Bay in Queensland, where she would go on trips every year to visit her aunties, uncles, cousins and grandparents, all of whom were stomach-achingly funny. While Janty loved performing in the school musicals, she was quite a serious child and didn't find her funny bone until later in life. Instead of following her childhood dream of becoming an actress, Janty became a nurse and then a midwife. But in her 50s, Janty went on a serendipitous date. Two days later, she was performing in her first stand-up open mic night, and just a few months later she was crowned the winner of the biggest First Nations comedy competition in the country. Further information You can keep up to date with Janty's tour schedule by visiting her website. Conversations' Executive Producer is Nicola Harrison. This episode was produced by Alice Moldovan. Find out more about the Conversations Live National Tour on the ABC website. This episode of Conversations explores NAIDOC week, comedy, black comedians, military life, the Next Generation: Strength, Vision & Legacy, Wayne Blair, hospital, medical profession, health industry, birthing, motherhood, military family, Aboriginal, Indigenous, First Nations, online dating, dating in your 50s, Byron Bay, bumble, Sapphires, Jessica Mauboy, deadly funny, blak humour.

Leah Purcell grew up in a small town caring for her mum Florence. Her options after graduation were nursing or working at the meatworks. But after a push from her meatworks boss, Leah defied her own expectations for herself (R) Leah is now an acclaimed actor, playwright, and stage and film director. She grew up in the Queensland country town of Murgon. Although she came from a big family, it was just her and her mum for most of her childhood. Her dad lived in town, but didn’t acknowledge her as his daughter. Leah's mum Flo was well respected. For a time she was the only Aboriginal woman allowed in the lounge area of the pub, which was a whites-only zone. Leah grew up with her Aunties and Uncles yarning around the kitchen table, and became a vivid storyteller herself. When she left school, it was expected she would go to work in the local meatworks, or become a nurse. But one of Leah's bosses at the meatworks refused to give her a permanent position, because he'd seen her in the local high school musical.  When he told Leah she had a real talent, it helped change Leah's idea of herself. And so after her mum passed away, Leah left her small town. In Sydney she set off on her path to becoming an actor, a playwright and eventually a film director. Her first play 'Box the Pony' was inspired by her mother and grandmother's life story, and it became a huge hit. Today Leah is recognised as one of Australia's most important voices in the performing arts. Further information Leah was awarded an Order of Australia in 2021 for her services to the performing arts. She released her feature film, The Drover's Wife in 2022. Leah played the lead role and also wrote and directed the film. Find out more about the Conversations Live National Tour on the ABC website. This episode of Conversations explores parentification of children, children raising parents, mixed families, racism, rural Australia, family dynamics, writing, books, plays, theatre, Andrew Denton, fathers and daughters, NAIDOC, Aboriginal, Indigenous, talent, film industry, acting, love, origin stories, life story.

Bundjalung man, Jack Manning Bancroft's scholarship to a prestigious Sydney University college showed him a rarefied world that shocked him, and he used his childhood grit to channel his energy into a world-changing project. Jack's mother is Bundjalung artist, Bronwyn Bancroft.  Growing up in inner-Sydney, he was intimidated by her artistic drive and threw himself into sport, because that was the only way a young Jack thought a man could have influence in the world. When he was ten the family moved to Bundjalung country to spend time with his mum's side of the family.  The local kids refused to accept that Jack was Aboriginal.  He escaped into fantasy books and wrote long letters home to his dad, Ned Manning, in Sydney. Jack received a scholarship to St Paul's College at the University of Sydney and vowed to use his opportunity to increase the number of Indigenous kids at university. The Australian Indigenous Mentoring Experience (AIME) was born and Jack has since used his position to forge connections between communities to foster understanding across the world. Further information Watch Australian Story featuring Jack and his partner, Yael Stone on iview. Listen to Jack's dad, Ned Manning, on Conversations in 2022. This episode of Conversations was produced by Alice Moldovan. Conversations Executive Producer is Nicola Harrison. The presenter was Rudi Bremer. This episode of Conversations touches on Aboriginal culture, mentoring, changing the world, personal story, epic life story, family dynamics, Aboriginal excellence, grief, loss, depression, failure and painting.

Yvonne Orley grew up on Aboriginal missions in NSW as the child of the matron and manager.  But it turned out that Yvonne had much deeper connections to the country, and the people, that she knew at the time. Although her mother had tried to hide this part of the family story, it turned out that Yvonne herself was a Kamilaroi woman and this was her mother’s traditional country. Yvonne’s life took another unexpected turn 25 years ago when her sister asked if she would allow a group of high needs mentally disabled adults move into her home, and Yvonne said yes. Conversations' Executive Producer is Nicola Harrison. This episode was produced by Jennifer Leake. This episode of Conversations touches on Aboriginal missions, migration to Australia, racial prejudice, grief, family secrets, family history, secrets, caring for people, supported accommodation, disability care, Aboriginal identity Find out more about the Conversations Live National Tour on the ABC website.

Lech Blaine with the strange true story of his childhood, shaped by love, religious zealotry, and four wildly different parents. CW: descriptions of foster care and child removal.  Lech grew up in a big family in country Queensland, where his dad Tom ran pubs for a living.  He had six older siblings, who had come to the family as foster kids before he was born. It was a happy, knockabout, sports-obsessed childhood. But in the midst of all the love and warmth, Lech's mum Lenore lived with a creeping sense of dread. She knew that one day, the troubled biological parents of three of the children in the family would appear in their lives. Michael and Mary Shelley were Christian fanatics wandering from place to place, in and out of jail and psychiatric hospitals, and notorious for stalking politicians and judges. One evening, when Lenore was at home with some of the children, Mary Shelley knocked on her door, changing the family's life forever. This episode of Conversations explores family, origin stories, adoption, foster care, religion, Christianity, mental health, mental illness, family dynamics, parenting. Further information Australian Gospel is published by Black Inc. Help and support is always available. You can call Lifeline 24 hours a day on 13 11 14. This episode of Conversations was produced by Nicola Harrison and presented by Sarah Kanowski. It explores family dynamics, origin stories, adoption, foster care, religion, Christianity, mental health, mental illness, parenting, blended families, biological children, adoption, Australia, books, writing, journalism, memoir. Find out more about the Conversations Live National Tour on the ABC website.

For journalist Kate Halfpenny, moving to a beachside town during Melbourne's lockdowns seemed like the perfect way to unwind and escape her huge mortgage. Then she had to contend with the triple whammy of perimenopause, her husband's alcoholism and distance from family and friends. For the first time in her life, Kate had an empty house, no job commitments and no city life to distract her. She was able to indulge daily in her love of boogie boarding and surf-side walks with her dog, Maggie. One day at the beach, Kate saw her elderly father struggling in the surf. Kate's husband Chris was in the water next to him, but was acting strangely and couldn’t manage to haul him out of the dangerous water. That evening, Chris confessed his alcoholism to Kate and the couple faced the inevitable decisions they would have to navigate, together and apart. Further information Boogie Wonderland is published by Affirm Press. This episode was produced by Alice Moldovan. Conversations' Executive Producer is Nicola Harrison. Find out more about the Conversations Live National Tour on the ABC website. This episode of Conversations deals with good divorce, Melbourne covid lockdowns, seachange, addiction, alcoholism, supporting an alcoholic, women in media, perimenopause, midlife, being alone, boogie boarding and relationships.

Hannah Diviney made history in 2022 when she became the first person with a disability to film a sex scene for Australian television. Then she went viral when she confronted both Lizzo and Beyonce over an ableist slur in their song lyrics. When Hannah was growing up, the only people she saw on TV who used a wheelchair like her were Paralympians or in Road Safety ads. Hannah spent a lot of her childhood feeling lonely and left out, though she was sure she wanted to be a writer when she grew up. She was still at pre-school when she realised that names on the front of books belonged to the people who had written them. It was also around this time when Hannah became aware that her body didn’t work in the same way as her friends at childcare. Hannah has since started the Krazy Kosci Klimb, which supports young people with Cerebral Palsy to climb Australia's highest peak. Hannah always knew representation was important for young, disabled people like her to be reflected in pop culture and to belong. So she wrote to Disney, requesting they create their first princess who uses a wheelchair. That petition secured Hannah's first job in journalism with Mamamia — at the age of 15. She has since made history, becoming the first person with a disability to film a sex scene for Australian television. in 2022, Hannah went unexpectedly viral for confronting musician Lizzo about an ableist slur in her song lyrics. Several weeks later, Beyonce used the same slur, and Hannah realised she had to take on the biggest pop star in the world. Further information Hannah’s collection of autobiographical essays, I’ll Let Myself In is published by Allen & Unwin. This episode was produced by Alice Moldovan. Conversations' Executive Producer is Nicola Harrison. Find out more about the Conversations Live National Tour on the ABC website.

Hollywood actor Tim Pocock was tricked by his dying, devout mother into undergoing gay conversion therapy. After she died, Tim finally learned how to be himself, without fear and self-loathing. Tim grew up under the thumb of his charismatic, pious mother. He went to a school with links to the controversial, secretive and conservative Catholic organisation, Opus Dei. There, he desperately tried to hide his sexuality, and was ruthlessly bullied for his musical and stage talents. Despite Tim's success in Australian opera, television, and in Hollywood blockbusters, he continued to harbour many secrets about himself and his family. One day his mother, who loved Tim deeply in her own way, and who was dying from ovarian cancer, convinced her only son to come with her to therapy.  Instead of finally being able to talk about his struggles, Tim found himself being tricked into gay conversion therapy. For the last few months of his mother's life, he went to be hypnotised by a 'Catholic psychologist' every week, until eventually she died, and Tim was set free to learn how live by and for himself. Further information The Truth Will Set You Free: Growing up gay in Opus Dei is published by Hachette. You can stream the Four Corners report into schools with ties to Opus Dei, which features Tim, on ABC iview. The Pared Foundation's full responses to questions from Four Corners can be read here. Opus Dei Australia provided Four Corners with this statement. Find out more about the Conversations Live National Tour on the ABC website. This episode of Conversations was produced by Meggie Morris and presented by Richard Fidler. The executive producer is Nicola Harrison. This episode explores sexuality, LGBTQI+, homophobia, family dynamics, books, writing, mother-son relationships, shame, the Church, infidelity, cancer, death, grief, losing a mother, acting, a career in acting, memoir, epic life story, origin story, Marvel, Wolverine, Cyclopse, Dance Academy, Tangara, Redfield.

American novelist Ann Patchett reflects on Frank, Mike and Darrell, the men who made her, going a year without shopping and her power to make herself invisible (R) Ann Patchett is an acclaimed American novelist and the owner of an independent bookstore in Nashville. Ann has had three fathers — Frank, Mike and Darrell, who have each provided her with material or motivation for her writing. In 1974 Frank signed up for a subscription to the “100 Greatest Books of All Time” from the Franklin Library, every page complete with gilded edges, and a sewn-in satin-ribbon bookmark. Once all three fathers had died, Ann could finally see what they had given her throughout her life — strength, adoration and acceptance. In her new book, Ann weaves the stories of her fathers into a book of essays about going a year without shopping and becoming dear friends with Tom Hanks’ assistant. Further information These Precious Days is published by Bloomsbury. Find out more about the Conversations Live National Tour on the ABC website. This episode of Conversations explores fatherhood, fathers and daughters, male role models, writing, Tennessee, growing up, origin stories, personal stories, parenting, life story, family dynamics, America, United States, grief, death, loss of a parent, writing, books, bookstores.

In April 1980, a group of armed men invaded the Iranian Embassy in London, taking hostages, and issuing demands in the name of a cause almost no one had ever heard of. The 'Group of the Martyr', a collection of Iranian Arabs, wanted independence for their province of Iran, but their demands were impossible for the British Government to meet, and so the then-little known Special Air Service (SAS) were told to plan an invasion of the building to rescue the hostages. They had taken 26 people hostage, including staff, visitors and a police officer named Trevor who was guarding the building at the time of the attack. What followed was a six-day siege, that was eventually broken by the SAS. Their storming of the embassy galvanised the world, as people watched it all unfold on live television. Historian and author Ben McIntyre takes a deeper look at this dramatic siege and rescue operation, uncovering the real, powerful story of ordinary people responding as best they could to lethal jeopardy. Further information The Siege is published by Penguin Random House. This episode was recorded live at the 2025 Sydney Writers' Festival. It explores Iran, Tehran, terrorism, violence, threats, diplomacy, rescue missions, epic history, western democracy, dictatorship, foreign affairs, global politics, east vs west, occupation, war, civil war, BBC, journalism, live television, media ethics, Afrouz, MI5, Hyde Park, surveillance, Stockholm Syndrome, Mustapha Karkouti, Syria, Operation Nimrod, Jassim Alwan al-Nasiri, Abbas Lavasani, murder, execution, Saddam Hussein, Iraq, Iran-Iraq War, the Middle East, history books, writing. Find out more about the Conversations Live National Tour on the ABC website.

China's cultural revolution was murderously violent and culturally devastating; millions of people, artefacts and ideas went up in smoke. So what's fuelling today's Neo-Maoist movement and nostalgia for that period? In 1966, the Chinese revolutionary leader Mao Zedong went to war against his own government. What followed was ten years of murderous violence and utter insanity, until Mao's death in 1976. Children were urged to denounce their parents, teachers were beaten to death in front of howling mobs, youths were 're-educated', the economy was ruined, and so much of the precious cultural heritage of a great, ancient society went up in smoke. The 'Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution' left such deep scars on China, that subsequent leaders have tried to bury its memory. But, still some young Chinese people — 'Neo-Moaists' — have a sense of nostalgia for the violent revolution they didn't even live through. In order to understand what's going on in China today, you need to know what happened in those strange and terrifying years, and how it affected President Xi Zinping, who had a front row seat to the terror. Further information Bombard the Headquarters is published by Black Inc. Find out more about the Conversations Live National Tour on the ABC website. This episode of Conversations explores political violence, revolution, propaganda, China, Asia, totalitarianism, Farewell my Concubine, Asia Pacific, Lenin, Marxism, Socialism, civil war, the long march, neo-Maoist movement, great leap forward, political upheaval, class warfare, status quo, drain the swamp, mass murder, infanticide, conspiracy theories, Tiananmen Square, red guards, coup, dictatorship, nostalgia.

Liz Cameron was 18 years old when a stranger approached her in a book shop. It was the beginning of her induction into a cult, and it was an experience Liz barely survived. The process of brainwashing happened gradually, first came the love-bombing and the allure of finding a new purpose in life. Then came the isolation from friends and family, along with sleep deprivation, overwork and sexual manipulation. Liz was one of the many women chosen to become a kind of bride for the leader of an infamous Korean religious group. It wasn’t until she became critically ill, that her family were able to get the help she needed to escape and to begin the process of being deprogrammed. Liz Cameron’s memoir is called Cult Bride: How I was brainwashed and how I broke free. Find out more about the Conversations Live National Tour on the ABC website. Conversations' Executive Producer is Nicola Harrison. This episode was produced by Jennifer Leake. This episode of Conversations touches on cults, brainwashing, religious groups, eating disorders, sexual manipulation, deprogramming, sexual assault, sleep deprivation, family, recovery, healing, trauma, biography, psychology, Providence, JMS, Jesus Morning Star, Pastor Joshua, Jung Myung-seok.

When Kerstin Pilz found out that her charming husband Gianni had been cheating on her while he was dying and she was taking care of him, she had to decide what to do next (R)   She had fallen madly in love with this Italian man when she was in her 40s. The two married and began travelling the world together. Then Gianni suddenly fell ill. As he was in the hospital undergoing surgery for life-threatening cancer, Kerstin discovered her husband was not the man she thought he was. Further information Loving my Lying, Dying, Cheating Husband is published by Affirm Press. Originally broadcast in June 2024. This episode of Conversations was produced by Nicola Harrison and presented by Sarah Kanowski. It explores narcissism, narcissistic personality disorder, infidelity, terminal cancer, caring for your spouse, marriage breakdown, illness, betrayal, grief, writing, origin stories, love, lust, trust, couples counselling, couples therapy. cheating, dying, grief. Find out more about the Conversations Live National Tour on the ABC website.

Author Katia Ariel tells the story of Ephraim Finch, a man synonymous with death in the Melbourne Jewish community. He started life as Geoffrey William, the son of a butcher, who would go on to become a master builder before his life became unrecognisable to him. Several years ago, Melbourne author and book editor, Katia was invited to write Ephraim's biography. Katia was already familiar with his name. She had seen the way mourners uttered his name and felt a sense of calm and ease within their sorrow, because they trusted Ephraim as a master of death who would know how to lead them through the world of mourning. Ephraim started life as Geoffrey William Finch, the son of a butcher in the working class suburb of Ashfield in Sydney in the 1940s.  He learned his love of reading from his pop, who would come home from his job at the abattoir and read Oscar Wilde’s work over a cigar on the porch.  From a young age Ephraim felt an ineffable pull toward monotheism and converted to Judaism, along with his wife, Cas, after the pair met as teenagers at the Wagga Wagga Royal Show. Eventually he was drawn to his vocation — the sacred and quiet ritual of preparing bodies for burial.  And he became the go-to man in Melbourne, where over his career he has buried more than 10,000 people. Further information Ferryman: The life and deathwork of Ephraim Finch is published by Wild Dingo Press. Katia's first book, a memoir is called The Swift Dark Tide, published by Gazebo Books. Find out more about the Conversations Live National Tour on the ABC website. Conversations' Executive Producer is Nicola Harrison. This episode was produced by Alice Moldovan. This episode of Conversations touches on death, grief, mourning, burial, Judaism, Jewish, chevra kadisha, Ephraim Finch, Melbourne, Orthodox Judaism, conversion, Jewish conversion, Wagga Wagga, Herman Wouk, deathwork, funerals, epic life stories, origin stories, loss, reflection and biography.

Professor Lorimer Moseley is neuroscientist, who specialises in the complexities and mind-boggling nature of pain - what it is, why it exists, how it works and when it can go wrong. For most of us, pain is a fundamental part of being alive, and staying alive and yet none of us will ever experience the exact same pain as someone else, which makes it incredibly difficult to understand. Every day, we stub our toes and burn our tongues. Some of us break bones and suffer from more serious illnesses and conditions. What you feel when your skin is broken or a ligament is torn is there to tell your brain to be careful, that something is wrong and needs to be protected. But what happens when doctors can't find any damage? When the tissues in your hips or the pictures of your brain seem perfectly fine, but still, there is agonising pain that refuses to leave you alone? Lorimer was a physiotherapist who came to this very specific neuroscience after his own experience with chronic pain, following a pretty gruesome sporting injury that by all accounts had been fixed by surgery. He realised that as he was learning more about how changes in the body are detected (like temperature and pressure), and communicated as pain to the brain through the central nervous system, his own chronic pain started to diminish. Since then, Lorimer has published hundreds of papers and several books on the topic, in his pursuit to help people also dig themselves out of the hellish cruelty of chronic pain. Further information You can find more resources from Professor Moseley about tackling persistent or chronic pain online at TameTheBeast.org Find out more about the Conversations Live National Tour on the ABC website. The Executive Producer of Conversations in Nicola Harrison. This episode was produced by Meggie Morris and presented by Richard Fidler.  It explores persistent pain, migraine, arthritis, neurology, psychology, distrust of the medical system, pain relief, hypersensitivity to pain, doctors who believe you, chronic conditions, endometriosis.

It’s been a decade since Australian journalist Peter Greste became a global news story, spending 400 days imprisoned in Egypt. But he still misses the life he had as a foreign correspondent. Peter and two colleagues were arrested while working for Al Jazeera in Cairo, they were charged with spreading false news and aiding terrorism.  Peter then was found guilty and sentenced to seven years in jail. Back home, Peter’s parents Juris and Lois became the face of the campaign to free him and his two brothers were a constant presence in Cairo throughout the ordeal. But after the initial exhilaration of freedom Peter had to work out how to live a different kind of life.  One far away from the adrenaline of his years reporting from some of the world’s most volatile places. Find out more about the Conversations Live National Tour on the ABC website. This episode of Conversations deals with reporting from war zones, prison, solitary confinement, grief, death, press freedom, family, psychological distress, political unrest, post traumatic stress, prison life, captivity.

What happens when a man can't stop his drive and desire for more? Author Andrew O'Hagan dissects the pitfalls of more money, more success and more applause (R) Andrew O’Hagan is the author of several highly acclaimed novels. His most recent book is a sweeping portrait of modern-day London, a city ‘levitating on a sea of dirty Russian money’.  The main character, Campbell Flynn, is much like Andrew himself: a public intellectual who escaped from the Scottish council estate he grew up in and came to London to enjoy great success. But success, a big house, a loving family and expensive habits are not enough. Campbell is a man riding for a fall, and there will be many spectators at the final hurrah, when his life comes tumbling down.  Further information First Broadcast May 2024, and recorded at the Melbourne Writers' Festival. Caledonian Road is published by Allen & Unwin. Find out more about the Conversations Live National Tour on the ABC website.

The Gen X actor on making peace with her absent father, the ghosts of her Hollywood past and nursing Anthony Kiedis through his drug addiction while she was still a teenager — a relationship she shudders at today. The 1990s It girl was named for the Scottish island where she was conceived, before her enigmatic folk singer father, Donovan abandoned the family before she was born. A string of stepfathers couldn’t remedy Ione's fundamental abandonment and she grew up surrounded by creative types who flowed freely through her mother’s house in Los Angeles. Following her beloved older brother into the world of acting and modelling, Ione had an early start in Hollywood and it led her to a full, messy life in which she starred alongside the likes of River Phoenix, Keanu Reeves and John Cusack. When she was only a teenager, she began a relationship with Anthony Kiedis, the lead singer of The Red Hot Chili Peppers, who was addicted to heroin.  This dysfunctional relationship led to Ione’s marriage to the first great love of her life, Adam Horovitz of The Beastie Boys, and a period of time she describes as her 90s daydream. This happy period devolved as Ione joyfully and remorsefully explored her bisexuality and the infidelity eventually ended the marriage. Today Ione is happily married to Australian musician, Ben Lee and has two daughters. Further information Say Everything is published by HarperCollins. Find out more about Ione Skye and Ben Lee’s creative project, Weirder Together. Conversations Executive Producer is Nicola Harrison. Find out more about the Conversations Live National Tour on the ABC website. This episode of Conversations deals with absent fathers, epic life stories, personal stories, cheating, divorce, relationship breakdowns, inappropriate relationships, age gap relationships, intimacy, therapy, Hollywood, Ad-Rock, partying, substance abuse, modelling, child actors and acting.

Defence analyst Hugh White says Australian leaders are in denial about how dramatically the world has changed, and need to get a grip on the deep, troubling forces propelling us into a new order of world power. The balance of global power has changed dramatically over the last 25 years. Even in the last five years, so much has happened - the pandemic, AUKUS, the war in Ukraine, a change of government here in Australia, Donald Trump's return to the White House, and all the tumult that has followed over the past six months. According to defence analyst Hugh White, we are quickly heading into a post-American world. However, Australia's defence assumptions remain based on a world which America built for us, where the United States is still a predominant world power that is heavily invested in Asia, and in us. Hugh says political leaders in Australia are in denial about all of this, and need to get their heads out of the sand, accept the the world as we knew it is passing away, and redefine our relationships with powerful nations including the United States and China in order to make our way in this new world. We've done it before, with the United Kingdom in the post-World War II years, and we need to do it again, Hugh says. Further information You can read Hugh White's essay, Hard New World: Our Post-American Future, in the June issue of the Quarterly Essay. If you're interested in more episodes like this one, have a listen to Richard's recent conversation with Marcel Dirsus about tyrants and dictators on the ABC Listen App, or wherever you get your podcasts. Find out more about the Conversations Live National Tour on the ABC website. Conversations' Executive Producer is Nicola Harrison. This episode was produced by Jennifer Leake and presented by Richard Fidler. This episode of Conversations explores nuclear war, Russian expansionism, Ukraine, Putin, Donald Trump, Elon Musk, Los Angeles protests, riots, political landscape, Lauren Tomasi, ANZUS, Asia-Pacific, Xi Jinping, Taiwan, invasion, California, the decline of the West, National Guard, law enforcement, ICE.

As a child, chef Graeme Stockdale was embarrassed by the smell of sauerkraut and pickles that would trail him from his Polish and German grandparents' home. A transformative encounter with a barbecued duck in Singapore changed his life, though nothing would prepare him for two monumental floods in his adopted region of Lismore, NSW. Graeme was only a boy when he was introduced to the power and ferocity of fire.  As a nine-year-old living in Albany, Western Australia he lit a fire out of curiosity on a neighbour's property.  It was the look on his mother's face that turned his experience from awesome into terrifying. Graham grew up with the flavours of his grandparents' German and Polish ancestry, raised by a single mum, and experienced social isolation brought on by the judgement of kids at school.   After the barbecued duck experience, his whole world became focused on food, and he eventually opened his own restaurant in Lismore, NSW. Graeme survived two major floods, and in the aftermath, cooked on his barbecue non-stop for weeks, outside his ruined restaurant, feeding his community with help from volunteers. Further information Read more about Graeme's restaurant in Lismore, The Stockpot Kitchen. Graeme's cookbook, Red Hot & Smokin’! was published by New Holland Publishers in 2019. Conversations' Executive Producer is Nicola Harrison. This episode was produced by Alice Moldovan. Find out more about the Conversations Live National Tour on the ABC website. This episode of Conversations deals with mental health, fire, barbecue, murder, epic life stories, origin stories, sauerkraut, Singapore barbecued duck, the Albany Snake Run, cooking, restaurants, feeding, single mum, aged care, aged care mistreatment, Lismore floods, adventure, vocation.

Dr Jayashri Kulkarni on her Indian-Australian upbringing and her groundbreaking research into women's hormones and mental health (R) Jayashri Kulkarni’s family moved from India to Australia in 1961. They found there were no Indian grocery stores, few spices of any kind, and plain yoghurt wasn’t available. But the Kulkarnis adapted to their new home, teaching their neighbours how to cook Indian food, and encouraging Jayashri's love for studying. Jayashri became a doctor, and during her training as a psychiatrist she became fascinated by the relationship between women's hormones and mental health. She’s since been at the frontline of groundbreaking research, which challenged many of her colleagues and ended up helping women all over the world. Further information First broadcast in February 2024. Find out more about the Conversations Live National Tour on the ABC website. Conversations' Executive Producer is Nicola Harrison. This episode was produced by Tamar Cranswick and presented by Sarah Kanowski. It explores female health, medical research, menopause, perimenopause, hormonal health, female medical research, migration, studying medicine, depression, anxiety, gut health, why don't doctors listen to women, gender stereotypes, underrepresentation in medical research, gaslighting in women's health, women's pain, motherhood, stress, psychiatry, reproductive health, hormonal birth control.

Cheng Lei's years in detention in China, on trumped-up espionage charges, go from cruel and isolating, to absurd and romantic when she gets moved into a cell with three other women. The Chinese-Australian journalist was held in detention in China for more than three years, accused of selling state secrets to foreign people and powers. In episode one of this two-part series, Lei explained how the charges hinged on a document that was read out publicly on television, and how she survived the cruelty of interrogations and being kept in isolation. In this episode, Lei's details how her experience of detention changed as she moved out of solitary confinement, but still under lock and key with three other women. In cell 112, Lei and the other women sang songs when the guards weren't watching, they fought, they bonded and they communicated secretly with the prisoners in a cell next door. The knocking, for which Lei was punished, climaxed in a covert proposal. Eventually, Lei saw sunlight again.  With the help of the Australian Government, she was released and flown back home to Melbourne, where she was reunited with her children (now teenagers), rebuilt her life and can be publicly critical of the paranoid and image-conscious state security system that locked her behind bars for years. Further information Listen to the first part of Richard's extraordinary conversation with Cheng Lei here. Cheng Lei: A Memoir of Freedom is published by HarperCollins. Cheng Lei: My Story is a documentary made by Sky News Australia. It is available to stream at SkyNews.com.au. Conversations' Executive Producer is Nicola Harrison. This episode was produced by Meggie Morris. Find out more about the Conversations Live National Tour on the ABC website. This episode of Conversations explores CCP, Covid, propaganda, communism, paranoia, Marise Payne, Scott Morrison, family separation, career changes, jail, justice system, Chinese Communist Party, embassy, diplomatic relations, CCTV, state broadcaster, media, television, news anchor, single mothers, trade, tariffs, books, writing, motherhood, parenting, Tiananmen Square, personal stories, origin.

When journalist Cheng Lei was detained by Chinese state security agents, she thought would be freed within the week. Instead, she was held on absurd espionage charges for more than three years, much of that time spent in isolation.   When Cheng Lei moved back to the country of her birth after the dramatic opening up of China to the world, she was a part of something exciting and historic. That all changed after Xi Jinping came to power, and Australia's relations with China deteriorated. In this first episode of a two-part series, Lei explains how eventually, she found herself detained on bogus espionage charges, and held for more than three years in a Chinese detention centre. For the first six months of her detention, Lei was isolated and alone except for the rotating female guards who stood over her 24 hours a day. Lei was not allowed to speak to these guards, she was forced to sit on the edge of her bed for 14 hours a day, she had to ask permission to do anything, she was not allowed to close her eyes and intermittently she was taken to a room, tied down in a chair and interrogated about allegedly sharing state secrets with foreigners. Lei learned how to ration books, she practised German vocabulary, wrote scripts in her head and thought of her two children to stay sane under torturous conditions. Further information Listen to the second part of Richard's extraordinary conversation with Cheng Lei here. Cheng Lei: A Memoir of Freedom is published by HarperCollins. Cheng Lei: My Story is a documentary made by Sky News Australia. It is available to stream at SkyNews.com.au. Conversations' Executive Producer is Nicola Harrison. This episode was produced by Meggie Morris. Find out more about the Conversations Live National Tour on the ABC website. This episode of Conversations explores CCP, Covid, propaganda, communism, paranoia, Marise Payne, Scott Morrison, family separation, career changes, jail, justice system, Chinese Communist Party, embassy, diplomatic relations, CCTV, state broadcaster, media, television, news anchor, single mothers, trade, tariffs, books, writing, motherhood, parenting, Tiananmen Square, personal stories, origin.

In 2008 Nathan Dunne was night swimming in Hampstead Heath in the middle of winter when a psychological catastrophe struck him. He felt his sense of self split in two, and an unbearable pain overtook him. He couldn’t work out what had happened to him, and neither could the doctors. CW: This discussion contains sensitive mental health details and mentions suicide. Nathan was driven to attempt suicide, and endured years of misdiagnoses from doctors and medications that didn't work. Nathan didn't have the words to describe the confusion, pain and splitting of self he was experiencing. For years, water was the symbol of his undoing. When Nathan returned home to Australia and his parents' care, his mum gave him a copy of his grandfather's war memoirs. Here, Nathan found a link that showed him the healing qualities and the beauty that were possible in water. Eventually, Nathan found a doctor who could explain his symptoms and finally give them a name — depersonalisation. Further information If you need help, you can phone Lifeline on 13 11 14. When Nothing Feels Real is published by Murdoch Books. Read more about dissociative disorders and depersonalisation on the NHS website. Read about dissociative disorders and depersonalisation specifically in relation to young people on the Orygen website. Find out more about the Conversations Live National Tour on the ABC website. Conversations' Executive Producer is Nicola Harrison. This episode was produced by Alice Moldovan.

Kadiatu Kanneh-Mason on what it takes to keep up with her seven children — all of them gifted classical musicians (R). Kadiatu is a former English academic and the mother of seven extraordinary children. All of them are gifted classical musicians. Her eldest daughter, Isata wrote and performed her first piano concerto at the age of eleven. Her son Sheku mastered the cello and performed at the royal wedding of Harry and Megan Markle. Every day the seven Kanneh-Masons, who range from early teens to the mid-twenties, fill the family home with glorious, sometimes chaotic, music. This episode of Conversations explores music education, classical music, accessibility to music, Isata, Braimah, Sheku, Konya, Jeneba, Aminata, Mariatu, piano, violin, cello, orchestra, state school, public education, big families, motherhood, fatherhood, prejudice, mixed race families, music is for everyone, how to learn the violin, gifted children, raising gifted children, gifted and talented. Further information House of Music: Raising the Kanneh-Masons is published by Oneworld. Kadiatu's newest book, also published by Oneworld, is called To Be Young Gifted And Black.

The Irish novelist has always been open to where life can unexpectedly take him, and the excitement that comes with that kind of freedom. Colm Toibin's first big move was from rural Ireland to Dublin after his father died when he was young.  Then, it was off to experience the wild hedonism and sexual liberation of post-Franco Spain, a pleasant shock after needing a prescription to buy condoms in Ireland. Since then, he's journeyed to Sudan, Los Angeles, New York and beyond. Wherever Colm goes, he keeps a running list in his head of tiny details — observations of seemingly mundane encounters, an offhand comment or the cut of a lady's suit on a train. Every now and then, these details bubble up in Colm's memory and another of his well-loved novels, like Brooklyn, Nora Webster or The Master, is born. This episode was produced by Meggie Morris. Conversations Executive Producer is Nicola Harrison. Presented by Sarah Kanowski. It explores film adaptations, death of a parent, grief, Ireland, homophobia, growing up gay, Catholicism, epic adventure, John Crowley, Nick Hornby, Saoirse Ronan, Domhnall Gleeson, Julie Walters, Dublin, immigrant experience, the Irish immigrant experience, family separation, origin stories, falling in love, books, writers, novels, life-story, family dynamics, reflection, loss, funny, comedy, repression, orgies, condom prescriptions, journalism, foreign correspondents. Colm's latest novel Long Island is published by Pan MacMillan. He was in Australia as a guest of the Wheeler Centre, RMIT, Melbourne Writers Festival and Sydney Writers Festival.

When Hilde Hinton was on the cusp of adolescence, her mother died. For years she protected her younger siblings from the truth about their mum.   Despite the great grief of her mother's shocking death when Hilde was just 12 years old, there was also a sense of relief for Hilde.  She shielded her younger siblings, Samuel and Connie Johnson, from the truth of how and why their mother died. But when Connie also died, decades later of cancer, Hilde was propelled into writing her first novel, in between shifts as a prison officer. Her debut book, The Loudness of Unsaid things, was intensely autobiographical. While Connie never got to read the book, Hilde's brother Samuel finally 'met' their mother through Hilde's writing, and learned all that his big sister had done for them growing up. Now, from her home in Melbourne, where people who need solace freely come and go, Hilde explores in her writing the ordinary things that make life extraordinary.   This episode was produced by Meggie Morris. Conversations Executive Producer is Nicola Harrison. Presented by Richard Fidler. This episode of Conversations explores mental health, suicide, grieving, grief, death, mothers, single fathers, bipolar, mothers with mental health issues, mental health hospitals, institutionalisation, prisons, writing, books, novels, siblings, Love Your Sister, nuns, Australian Story, childhood cancer. Further information The Opposite of Lonely is published by Hachette. You can watch the episode of Australian Story, which features Hilde's brother, Samuel Johnson, online at ABC iview.

When Alex Schnell was around 5 years old, playing in rock pools around Clovelly beach in Sydney, she had an alien encounter.  The creature in the shallow water in front of her was a little octopus and unlike anything Alex had seen before, and instead of darting off in fear like a fish might, to Alex it felt like the octopus was genuinely curious in her. Alex has now spent many hours observing them in the ocean, and has discovered extraordinary things about octopus intelligence, personalities, feats of memory, and mating behaviours. The episode of Conversations explores animal intelligence, octopus, giant cuttlefish, scuba diving, animal memory and cognitive skills, South America, prisons in Chile, National Geographic, Nat Geo, Paul Rudd, nature doco, documentary, Disney, how smart are octopus. Further information You can stream Dr Alex Schnell's nature documentary, Secrets of the Octopus, at National Geographic Online.

Sean Sweeney on the complications and joys of growing up as a a hearing child in a deaf family, using Auslan, a distinctively Australian sign language. In his twenties, Sean rebelled against the deaf world, and began to look for a new life in the hearing one. But after eighteen years, he returned. He found work as an interpreter at TAFE, and he met his future wife. In 2019, Sean became well known for interpreting from English to Auslan for Australia's Rural Fire Service during Australia's Bushfire Emergency. The episode of Conversations explores family, Auslan, interpreting, bushfire emergency, family, CODA

Marcel Dirsus is fascinated by the treadmill of tyranny: how dictators gain power, how they stay there and how they fall. This is his blueprint for bringing an end to authoritarianism. With democracies seemingly faltering worldwide, political scientist and writer Marcel Dirsus is putting tyrants under the microscope to better understand how they rise and how they fall. Years ago, Marcel took a break from his university studies and travelled to central Africa, where he took a job in a brewery. One day, while walking to work, he heard shots fired and an explosion in the distance as the military was launching a coup. The experience terrified him, and drew him into a study of tyrants — the dictators and despots who make life miserable for so many people on the planet. While they project an image of strength, guarded on all sides, and surrounded by people who do their bidding, Marcel says they live in fear. For the road to power is often flanked by the road to revolution. These men know a mass uprising, an assassination, a mutiny or a foreign invasion could end their reign at any moment, and who, or what will take their place? In investigating the long history of tyrannical leaders, however, Marcel has found a renewed optimism for Western Democracy. How Tyrants Fall: And How Nations Survive is published by Hachette Australia. Marcel is appearing at the Sydney Writers' Festival on Friday 23 May. This episode of Conversations explores Putin, Xi Jinping, China, CCP, Russia, Trump, global politics, dictatorships, democracy, voting rights, election results, the new world order, Stalin, Hitler, famous leaders, Churchill, politics, books, writing, history, war, civil war, Africa, USSR, Elon Musk, Gaddafi, golden gun, torture, Libya, Syria, control, Machiavelli, monarchs, Al-Ghazali, East Germany, Congo, academia, what to study at university, coup, the elite, power systems, Cold War, Bashar al-Assad, Ukraine, surveillance, Roman Empire.

The bestselling Irish author grew up on a farm set on “50 acres on the side of a hill”. Growing up, she witnessed a harsh, misogynistic country that convinced her she would never marry. Claire shares what she has learned about writing from a litter of newborn piglets. Her works Small Things Like These and Foster have both been made into movies. Claire's stories often take place in the landscape where she grew up — the farms and small towns of Wexford in Southeast Ireland. Claire was the youngest of six children, and when she was born their farmhouse had no running water and few books. Instead, Claire fell in love with horses. As a small child she would go to the wood with her brother, who was a lumberjack. Amongst the chainsaws and workmen, little Claire would drive a harnessed horse from behind, to the roadside, to help clear the heavy trees.  And as she grew older, she developed a fierce determination to live life on her own terms. This episode was produced by Alice Moldovan. Conversations Executive Producer is Nicola Harrison. Presented by Sarah Kanowski. This episode of Conversations touches on marriage, Magdalene laundries, contraception, Ireland, Catholicism, big Irish families, horsemanship, starting brumbies, skewbald Connemara pony, New Orleans, writing, literary prizes, farms, personal stories, epic life stories, family dynamics, Cillian Murphy and modern history. Further information Listen to Sarah's interview with Queensland horseman, Ken Faulkner.

The writer had a complex relationship with his mother, whose professional reputation built a wall between them, but also saved his life more than once while working as a war correspondent. Peter Godwin was born in Zimbabwe when the country was still under colonial rule. His English mother was the only doctor for thousands of kilometres and early on, Peter realised that he came second to her patients. When Peter was little, civil war broke out at home and so he was sent away to boarding school, and then conscripted by the army when he was still a teenager. After his service, Peter became a journalist and while on the ground, his mother’s professional reputation saved his life more than once, including the time he was kidnapped while reporting in Somalia. As he grew older, Peter came to see his mother in a new light, and he finally learned the real reason she and his father had emigrated to Africa in the first place. This episode of Conversations explores PTSD, war correspondence, journalism, colonialism, the British Empire, Africa, Civil War, the United Kingdom, mothers and sons, the death of a sibling, grief, occupational hazards, mental health, grief, memoirs, biography, origin story, epic, adventure, conscription, boy soldiers. Exit Wounds is published by Allen&Unwin. Richard spoke with Peter's sister, Georgina Godwin, in 2022.

Psychiatrist Warren Ward treats patients who are severely ill with eating disorders. Understanding the mystery of human nature has driven him since he was a young doctor. Warren Ward's patients are often critically ill with diseases like anorexia. Warren says asking someone with anorexia to eat is like asking an arachnophobe to put their hand in a jar full of spiders. As a psychiatrist, Warren uses psychotherapy to help his patients. He encourages those with an eating disorder to approach their mental illness as one part of their whole self. His interest in the mystery of human nature informed his study of philosophy, and led him to examine the love lives of philosophers. Lovers of Philosophy is published by Ockham Publishing. This episode of Conversations explores mental illness, bulimia, orthorexia, anorexia, EDs, Eating disorders, disordered eating, how to help a loved one with an eating disorder, psychology, psychiatry, philosophy, romance, heartbreak, love life, relationships, inpatient treatment, mental health hospitals, feeding clinics.

When writer Hannah Kent first visited Iceland in 2003, she came across a gothic true story about Agnes Magnusdottir, the last woman hanged in Iceland. That story would change her life. Hannah's arrival to the Nordic island as an exchange student in 2003 was a difficult one. On her first night in the country, she found herself stranded late at night at Keflavik Airport and desperately homesick. But within weeks, Iceland had begun to change young Hannah — its dramatic landscapes, extraordinary light and chilling ghost stories embedded themselves in Hannah's psyche. She became particularly entranced with the haunting story of accused murderer and domestic servant, Agnes Magnusdottir, who became the last person executed in Iceland.  Hannah's later novel, Burial Rites, was inspired by Agnes' story and became a best-seller. But there were many unsolvable mysteries that lingered in her mind years after that book was released. Hannah returned to Iceland to find answers, and discovered her life was still entwined with Agnes in strange and eerie ways. Always Home, Always Homesick is published by Pan Macmillan. This episode of Conversations was recorded live at the 2025 Melbourne Writers Festival. It explores writing, books, Rotary Exchange, high school exchange, ERASMUS, Scandinavia, remote travelling, the northern lights, mountains, ghost stories, horrible histories, psychics, speaking with the dead, creepy coincidences, true stories, death penalty, execution, murder, crime.

Claude Robinson developed a heroin habit as a young man, and spent years in jail. In 2006 he began to turn his life around for good. (CW: descriptions of drug use, addiction, and crime) (R) Claude Robinson is the manager of Rainbow Lodge, a home in inner Sydney for men just out of prison. Claude knows the place well because nearly 20 years ago he was sent there himself. Claude was a heroin addict who had taken to crime to pay for his habit and wound up in a minimum security jail. But after he assaulted a prison guard, he ended up in one of Australia's toughest jails - Goulburn Correctional Centre.  While Claude was inside, his father died, and he found out that he had inherited $60,000. It was a chance to start a new life when he got out of prison. But instead, he and a girlfriend checked into a hotel in Kings Cross and bought some backs of heroin. Within weeks, all of Claude's inheritance was gone. In 2006, Claude was back in prison when he decided to finally change his story. He got off drugs, went to TAFE, and started working his way back to Rainbow Lodge, where he helps men who have walked a similar path to his own. Help and support is always available:  The National Alcohol & Other Drug Hotline is a free and confidential 24/7 phone service that provides counselling, advice, and information for those struggling with addiction. Call 1800 250 015. Learn more about Rainbow Lodge Read about Australia's Justice Reform Initiative's campaign Jailing is Failing  This episode of Conversations discusses drug use, substance abuse, addiction, crime, mental health, toxic masculinity, manhood, fatherhood, parenting, turning your life around, getting clean, rehabilitation, rehab, intervention, AA, NA, sponsors, inheritance, heroin, methadone, ice, meth, illicit substances, incarceration, recidivism.

From relationships and loneliness, to indecision and burnout, Jemma Sbeg is your guide to navigating your 20s, and looking back on that decade with a new perspective. When Jemma Sbeg started recording a podcast in the back of her Subaru about her quarter life crisis, she had no idea just how many people she would reach. But other people her age were desperate for guidance through their 20s - a decade a lot of us romanticise before we get there, and after we leave. It's a decade of massive growth for humans, when we make big decisions about relationships, careers and our own identities, but Jemma felt like she had no idea HOW to make the right choices. She had studied psychology at university, and so looked to psychological research papers to help her and her friends navigate attraction, heartbreak, friendship, imposter syndrome, career anxiety, burn out, mental health and living a happy life. Jemma's biggest lesson is realising while time is finite, we do have so much of it to "figure it out", and chances are you'll still be working many things out in your 30s, 40s, 50s and 60s. Person in Progress: A Roadmap to the Psychology of Your 20s is published by Hachette Australia. Jemma's podcast is called The Psychology of your 20s. If you liked this episode of Conversations, you might also enjoy listening to Doctor Hilton Koppe on his experience of PTSD, journalist Ros Thomas on her research into loneliness or psychologist Dr Tracy Westerman on psychology in remote Australia. This episode of Conversations explores psychology, podcasts, research, books, writing, anxiety, TikTok, social media, ADHD, self-diagnosis, growing up, how to survive your 20s, stay at home dads, heartbreak, mortality, death anxiety, social anxiety, university, what to study, how to get over heartbreak, first loves, building a career in media.

Winnie Dunn was a teenager when the Chris Lilley character 'Jonah from Tonga' became a national joke and as a Tongan Australian the stereotype made her feel uncomfortable. Despite being born into a big Tongan family in Western Sydney, Winnie felt conflicted about her heritage growing up. But over time her understanding of what it means to be Tongan evolved, and at the age of 28, Winnie became the first Tongan Australian to have a novel published. Conversations Live is coming to the stage! Join Sarah Kanowski and Richard Fidler for an unmissable night of unforgettable stories, behind-the-scenes secrets, and surprise guests. Australia’s most-loved podcast — live, up close, and in the moment. Find out more on the Conversations website.

Jamila’s craniopharyngioma had been growing for years, unbeknownst to her. In hindsight, it was her son who gave the first clue, when he stopped breastfeeding overnight at 11 months old. Today Jamila is an author, a broadcaster and the deputy managing director of Future Women, dedicated to achieving gender equity in Australian workplaces. A few years back, her life was on a powerful trajectory — she had been the chief of staff for a federal MP, written best-selling books and was a regular guest on TV panel shows. Then in 2017, she realised something was wrong with her health. At first she wasn’t worried.  Then, at 31 she was diagnosed with craniopharyngioma — a rare and recurring brain tumour. When Jamila left the world of the well, her life changed completely, in funny, strange, and harrowing ways. Jamila's book Broken Brains: For anyone who's been sick or loved someone who was is co-authored with Rosie Waterland and published by Penguin Random House. This interview was produced by Alice Moldovan. Conversations' EP is Nicola Harrison. The presenter was Richard Fidler. Conversations Live is coming to the stage! Join Sarah Kanowski and Richard Fidler for an unmissable night of unforgettable stories, behind-the-scenes secrets, and surprise guests. Australia’s most-loved podcast — live, up close, and in the moment. Find out more on the Conversations website.

Whale and dolphin researcher, Barry McGovern’s love of sea creatures started in Clare, Ireland, when as a child he met the county’s solitary, friendly dolphin, named for the singer Dusty Springfield.   Barry grew up in a tiny surfing village where he knew all the bird calls off by heart. His interest in animal science led him to Edinburgh Zoo, where he fed cassowaries and regularly, accidentally spooked a flock of Chilean flamingos. He assisted on a mammal research trip in Namibia, where he learned just how many people are required to take biopsy sample from a giraffe.  Eventually he settled on whales, and he learned the lesson that while animals can be lots of fun to study, they come with a heavy research load, and not much time spent out in the wild. Barry has been slapped in the face by a whale’s tail and watched mother humpback whales squirt-feed their calves breast milk like cottage cheese. And he couldn’t be happier.  Today, Barry works at the Pacific Whale Foundation, Australia.  This episode was produced by Alice Moldovan. Conversations' EP is Nicola Harrison. Presented by Sarah Kanowski. Conversations Live is coming to the stage! Join Sarah Kanowski and Richard Fidler for an unmissable night of unforgettable stories, behind-the-scenes secrets, and surprise guests. Australia’s most-loved podcast — live, up close, and in the moment. Find out more on the Conversations website.

After a caesarean section on his labour ward went catastrophically wrong, Adam Kay took a radical inventory of his entire life. CW: traumatic childbirth, eating disorders. Adam was not far off qualifying as an obstetric consultant in the United Kingdom, when he decided he couldn't be a doctor any longer. He couldn't face ever again experiencing the tragedy of death during childbirth, nor could he understand the blunt response from his boss in the aftermath, and so he quit doctoring altogether.  After a period of grief and depression, Adam reassessed his goals, his dreams and his relationships, completely up-ending the conventional life he had felt backed into. He turned to the diaries, which he had kept throughout his seven years working in hospitals, and became a stand-up comedian, then a television writer, an acclaimed author, the executive producer of a wildly popular TV series based on Adam's book, and most recently a father. CONTENT WARNING: This episode of Conversations contains accounts of traumatic childbirth and of disordered eating, which may distress some listeners. Help and support is always available. You can call Lifeline on 13 11 14. Find out more about the Red Nose counselling services available to parents who have lost a child by calling the Red Nose Bereavement Support Line on 1300 308 307. If you or someone you know needs help with disordered eating, the Butterfly National Helpline is available on 1800 33 4673. This episode of Conversations explores studying medicine, the medical system, Medicare, overworked doctors, young doctors, junior doctors, obstetrics and gynaecology, delivering babies, careers, disordered eating, sexuality, marriage, LGBTQI+, fatherhood, surrogacy, mental health, comedy, touring, music, university life, should I study medicine. This Is Going To Hurt is published by Pan Macmillan. Undoctored is published by Hachette. Adam's debut novel, A Particularly Nasty Case, will be published by Hachette in August. You can stream the television series based on Adam's first book, This Is Going To Hurt, on ABC iView. Conversations Live is coming to the stage! Join Sarah Kanowski and Richard Fidler for an unmissable night of unforgettable stories, behind-the-scenes secrets, and surprise guests. Australia’s most-loved podcast — live, up close, and in the moment. Find out more on the Conversations website.

Briana Blackett was a journalist in Qatar when she realised her baby son Max wasn't responding to his name. When Max and his little brother Freddy were both diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder, Briana left Doha to begin an entirely different life (R)

Jonno Seidler with the story of his Dad Ray,  a much-loved and successful doctor, who hid his private struggles from the world. Behind closed doors, Ray Seidler was locked in a herculean fight with his own mental health. His frequent bouts of depression caused him to regularly 'run away' from his own home and family, and eventually led to his suicide.  His son, Jonno Seidler, has written about his father's life, and Jonno's own mental health diagnosis, which he's been determined not to keep secret. This episode of Conversations focuses on men's mental health, suicide, Ray Seidler, Jonno Seidler, bi polar, family, family history, harm reduction, Seidler family, Jewish faith, grief, loss, male suicide epidemic. It's a Shame about Ray is published by Allen and Unwin. Conversations Live is coming to the stage! Join Sarah Kanowski and Richard Fidler for an unmissable night of unforgettable stories, behind-the-scenes secrets, and surprise guests. Australia’s most-loved podcast — live, up close, and in the moment. Find out more on the Conversations website.

Erna Walraven was one of the first female zookeepers to work at Sydney's Taronga Zoo in the 1980s. Despite practical jokes from her male colleagues, like animal dung in her gumboots, Erna kept her nerve. She was born in The Netherlands, to parents who were involved in the Dutch resistance during World War II. Erna's love of languages took her to Spain, where she lived for many years with her widowed sister and young nephew. It was there she met a penniless Australian backpacker and fell in love, starting Erna on the path to the rest of her life. Erna's memoir Hear Me Roar is published by Affirm Press. This episode was produced by Alice Moldovan. The executive producer of Conversations is Nicola Harrison. This interview was presented by Sarah Kanowski.  Conversations Live is coming to the stage! Join Sarah Kanowski and Richard Fidler for an unmissable night of unforgettable stories, behind-the-scenes secrets, and surprise guests. Australia’s most-loved podcast — live, up close, and in the moment. Find out more on the Conversations website.

Mawunyo Gbogbo was raised as a church-going African Australian girl in the sleepy mining town of Muswellbrook, before she grew up to become a hip-hop journalist and a writer (R) Mawunyo's parents had met in Ghana, migrating to Australia when she was a baby. At high school, Mawunyo fell hard for a charismatic boy, and for the first time, she was introduced to hip hop music. When she was offered a chance to further her budding media career in New York City at the Bible of hip hop, The Source magazine, she grabbed it. But while her time in New York was thrilling, it also threatened to derail her dreams. This episode of Conversations explores Biggie, Tupac, hip hop, rappers, Eminem, Kanye, music, addiction, African diaspora, regional NSW, religion, God, faith, love, migrant communities, relationships, first love. Hip Hop and Hymns is published by Penguin. The book has has been optioned by Tony Briggs, who created and wrote The Sapphires She is now working on her next book, a novel about a psychiatrist who is more unhinged than his patients.

Luke Hura has an innate ability to understand and communicate with animals, and for decades he's been training them for film, television and the stage. You’ve probably seen one of Luke's dogs in action — he trained Bouncer, the labrador from Neighbours, the kelpie from the film Red Dog, and the maremma who starred in Oddball. Luke has trained cats, chickens and even earned the trust of a big, black pig with tusks, whom he says was a dream to work with. Training takes patience, discipline, and endless repetition but Luke says building trust and being able to understand body language, energy and emotions is the most important. This episode of Conversations explores dog training, how to train dogs, Muster Dogs, how to train cats, dog behaviourist, pets, animals, vets, stage dogs, acting, Red Dog, neighbours, the television industry, working with animals. Luke and his groodles are currently performing in the musical Annie, which is touring Australia this year. You can find out more about the production online.

In 2007, Jeremy Austin was asked by the Royal Australian Navy to help them identify the remains of an unknown sailor from World War II.  Using the best forensic DNA technology, he embarked on a quest to figure out who this man was and to track down his surviving descendants. This episode of Conversations explores DNA science, world war 2, Australian navy, history, technology, family history, HMAS Sydney, genealogy, unidentified remains

The Masterchef graduate shares what he learned from his grandmother, who won the lottery in Malaysia when she was a 25-year-old widow with three children to care for. After Adam's parents met and married, the family emigrated to Australia when Adam was three-years-old. He and his brother sped through school in Adelaide and Adam went on to become a lawyer. In 2010, he won the second season of Masterchef with Peter Gilmore's delicate Snow Egg, and he has been travelling the world ever since, spreading love for the five different tastes. This episode was produced by Alice Moldovan. The executive producer is Nicola Harrison and it was presented by Richard Fidler. Watch The Cook Up with Adam Liaw, Adam’s Dateline episode on the new Changi Prison, and Destination Flavour: Singapore all on SBS. This episode of Conversations focuses on Adam Liaw, cook books, epic life story, family dynamics, Peranakan food, cooking, food, recipes, Malaysia, Singapore, winning the lottery, The Cook Up, Dateline, Masterchef, Changi Prison, reflection, history and Hainanese Chicken rice.

In 2023, Arnold Dix helped rescue 41 men trapped in a tunnel after it collapsed high in the Himalayas. As an engineer and tunnel expert, he was uniquely placed to assist, but Arnold also used another skill in the high risk operation: he listened to the mountain. The successful rescue made Arnold a hero to millions of people across India and it was in news all over the world, including back home in country Victoria, where the story surprised the community who knew him as a part-time truck driver and flower farmer. Arnold’s life has taken him from geology to law to tunnels, he’s been shot at in Albania, saved lives in Qatar and driven trucks to make ends meet.  He also worked in the tunnels of Ground Zero after 9/11. The episode of Conversations explores tunnels, the Himalayas, rescue, trapped workers, science, geology, law, 9/11, mountains, memoir, hero, engineering, career change. The Promise is published by Simon and Schuster

Angelica Ojinnaka-Psillakis grew up in Sydney, famous for its coastline and beachside existence. But for reasons beyond her control, she didn't learn to swim until she took the plunge as an adult. Angelica Ojinnaka-Psillakis has achieved a lot in her young life. She is a social researcher at Western Sydney University, she has represented Australia at the United Nations, she advices groups like UNESCO and a couple of years ago she was awarded the NSW Premier's Youth Medal. But for her family, Angelica's greatest achievement is learning to swim as an adult. Australia has a sense of itself as a nation of swimmers, and presents this image to the world in its tourism campaigns, films and ownership of the pool at the Olympics. But in reality, a quarter of Australian adults are very weak swimmers or cannot swim at all, including Angelica, who grew up in Western Sydney, the eldest of nine siblings in a big, blended family. Instead of going to swimming lessons after school, Angelica spent a lot of her time helping to take care of her little sisters and brothers, one of whom lives with severe disabilities. It wasn't until she was in her mid-20s that Angelica had the time to learn how to swim, so she could finally understand the calming and cooling effects of the water. Angelica's podcast documenting her quest to learn to swim as an adult is called Sink or Swim and was produced by Impact Studios. You can stay up to date with what Angelica is up to at her website. This episode of Conversations explores swimming, royal surf life saving, drowning, learning to swim, beaches, Sydney, Bondi, Western Sydney, Blacktown, Randwick, pools, public pools, climate change, summer, hot summers, carers, family dynamics, divorce, Nigeria, first generation Australians.

In 2013, Raynor Winn and her husband, Moth lost their beloved farm in Wales, it was where they'd lived for 20 years and raised their children. In the same week, Moth was diagnosed with a rare degenerative brain disease and doctors gave him just two years to live. Homeless and with their future together rapidly shrinking, Raynor and Moth decided to walk the South West Coast path. They camped wild in all weathers and often didn't have enough money for food. But amazingly, Moth's health began to improve. When they completed the walk, they found themselves in the midst of a whole new chapter. This episode of Conversations explores adventure, long walking trails, coastal trek, terminal illness, memory, Wales, marriage, writing, memoir, risk taking, Cornwall, partnership, homelessness, south west coast path, travel, wild camping. The Salt Path and The Wild Silence are published by Penguin.

Writer and tour guide Simon Tancred on the little-known ANZAC story of how a group of POWs made a daring escape on foot to neutral Switzerland. Simon Tancred fell in love with Italy as a young man, and set up a job for himself leading hikes and tours across the country, and into the Alps.  So Simon was familiar with the old trails and passes that crisscross the mountains, and which have been used for hundreds of years by shepherds, traders and travellers.  But one day, someone approached him with the unknown story of how a group of Australian prisoners of war from the Second World War escaped from Italy to freedom in neutral Switzerland. Four mates from Moree evaded the enemy by using these ancient, winding tracks. They didn't speak Italian, they battled wintry conditions, and never knew if the civilians they encountered along the way would help them or turn them over to the occupying German forces. Simon was so intrigued by this story, he bought some old maps and set out to follow their journey to freedom, by tracing their steps across the Alps. This episode of Conversations explores fascism, politics, war, civil war, prisoners of war, unknown stories of WWII, the Anzacs, Anzac Day 2025, Italy, Italian Alps, modern history, books, writing, walking tours in Italy, travel, Mountaineering, Partisans, Nazis, Nazi Germany, neutral Switzerland, World War Two history, religion, Madonna, Mary, Italian Catholicism, where to hike in Italy. Trails to Freedom is published by Hardie Grant.

Justin Heazlewood fled a complicated early life in Tasmania searching for fame as an artist on the mainland. Recently he moved back to his home town of Burnie, and realised community is where you find it.   Justin Heazlewood grew up in Burnie, a coastal town on the North West coast of Tasmania. For years he imagined his hometown as somewhere he had to leave, especially if he was going to be any kind of artist. And there were other, more personal reasons that made staying in Burnie complicated. Justin's Mum has schizophrenia, and growing up he was often forced into the role of being her carer. It was something he did his best to hide from his friends and other people in his life. So after school, Justin headed to the mainland and began a life as a comedian and a songwriter. But a few years ago, he found himself returning to his home town for good.  This episode of Conversations explores mental health, caring for parents, parents with mental illness, small towns, leaving your hometown, big city life, regional Australia, creatives in regional Australia, mother son relationships, returning home, community, fame, triple j, bedroom philosopher, radio, writing, music, musicians, learning guitar, grandmothers. Get Up Mum is published by Affirm Press and Justin's new book, Dream Burnie, celebrates the creative humans like him making art far from the big cities, and some of the teachers who recognised the young artists while they were at school. You can learn more about Justin's book Dream Burnie online. The Young Carer's Hotline is open Monday-Friday on 1800 422 737

The artist Loribelle Spirovski on her unusual childhood in the Philippines, meeting her father for the first time at 7 years old, and making her way as one of Australia's most exciting young painters. Loribelle Spirovski grew up in the Philippines, with her mum and her extended Filipino family. Her Serbian father, whom she had never met, was in Australia, driving taxis and waiting for the visa that would allow him to bring Loribelle and her mum to join him. Loribelle didn't meet her father until she was 7 years old, and when she saw him for the first time at Manila Airport, she was shocked by how hairy his arms were and the way he smelled just like she did. Eventually, the family was properly reunited in Sydney, Australia, where Loribelle had to navigate family and cultural ties, where she found love and where she made her way as one of Australia's most exciting young artists. This episode of Conversations explores painting, creativity, writing, books, love, marriage, Simon Tedeschi, William Barton, the Archibald Prize, art education, art teaching, chronic pain, chronic injury, identity, memoir, family dynamics, origin stories, refugees, Serbia, former Yugoslavia, music, piano, singing, language, mothers, fathers, long-distance relationships. White Hibiscus is published by Upswell. You can see some of Loribelle's art at her website and on her Instagram page.

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) In 2018, Dr Bo Remenyi was made the Northern Territory’s Australian of the Year for her work as a paediatric cardiologist.  But her path to receiving that honour,  and to her work in remote communities, has been filled with unexpected twists and risks. After escaping communist Hungary as a child, she got her first job flipping burgers in a Townsville Hungary Jacks. From there, she put herself through medical school by cleaning the very lecture theatres in which she was studying.  Somewhere along the way, Bo decided to play 60 hours of professional poker a week, and she was very good at it. This episode of Conversations explores Aboriginal health, Indigenous health outcomes, closing the Gap, Soviet Union, Communism, fleeing the Iron Curtin, Putin, medicine, studying medicine, studying medicine in Australia, university life, gambling, multiculturalism, migrant stories, first generation Australians, the Northern Territory, remote Australia, FNQ.

Journalist Kerrie Davies with the story of how novelist Miles Franklin went undercover as a maid for a year, in Sydney and Melbourne's wealthy houses, well before gonzo journalists became household names. The real-life story of novelist Stella Maria Miles Franklin had an unexpected chapter after publishing My Brilliant Career. In 1903, Miles became a 'girl stunt reporter' by going undercover as a servant. For a year, she lived as a maid in Sydney and Melbourne's wealthy houses and wrote about the humiliations and drudgery in the daily lives of servant girls, or 'slaveys'. During her experiment she hand-rolled heavy, wet clothes through a washing mangle; served her employers pre-breakfast tea and toast in bed, which she thought was an obscene indulgence; she cleaned guest rooms and parlours; helped at high-society balls and kept fires burning in winter. The manuscript Miles wrote about this year pre-dated George Orwell's Down and Out in Paris and London by three decades, yet it never found a publisher. Journalist Kerrie Davies has investigated this little-known chapter of Miles' life, finally bringing this story to life in her own book. This episode of Conversations explores feminism, suffragettes, biography, books, servants, writing, Australian fiction, boy sober, class warfare, adventures, adventurous women, risk-taking, origin stories, gonzo journalism, Nellie Bly, Rose Scott, early 20th century Sydney, Chicago, women's rights, trad wives, motherhood, partnership, self-partnering. Miles Franklin Undercover is published by Allen and Unwin.

Song propelled Morris Stuart from his early life shepherding sheep in British Guyana to an unlikely love story in London. In his retirement, he found himself shaping a choir of Central Australian Aboriginal women, who had been breathing life into 138-year-old Lutheran hymns.   Morris Stuart met his Australian wife, Barbara in London in the 1960s. The pair led a youth group attached to a nearby church, and initially tried to ignore their growing feelings for each other. Morris was a young, Guyanese activist who was descended from African slaves, and wasn’t ready to face the social reality of marrying across racial lines. Morris and Barb fell in love and married several years before the film Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner? was released, and featured at several screenings in London, where community members could ask them questions as a real life, interracial couple. The couple went on to have four children and moved to Australia, where Morris became a pastor with a community church in Melbourne. In their retirement, Morris and Barbara developed relationships with the Warlpiri community in Central Australia.  They arrived in Alice Springs in 2005 and Morris started recruiting for a choir. More Indigenous communities started joining in and Morris formed the Central Australian Aboriginal Women’s choir. They performed hymns brought by German Lutheran missionaries to the region in the late 19th Century, which were translated into Pitjantjatjara and Western Arrernte. The choir’s biggest achievement is a tour to Germany in 2015 — to perform the hymns that had all but vanished from use in Germany, but have been preserved in the Central Australian desert for 138 years. Follow the Central Australian Aboriginal Women's Choir on Facebook. Watch the documentary about the Central Australian Aboriginal Women’s Choir tour to Germany, The Song Keepers.  This episode of Conversations touches on heritage, epic life story, origin stories, church, personal stories, childhood and reflection.

Nature writer Andrew Darby on what he learned from his rambles through the wilds of Tasmania, communing with the world’s oldest surviving trees. In particular, his ‘buttock clenching’ ascent up a 60-metre-tall eucalyptus known as The Vibe Tower.   Nature writer, Andrew Darby spent more than 20 years as a Fairfax correspondent based in Tasmania. His stories involved the natural beauty of the bush, including visits to wild places and to the people who protect them, but it was deadline-driven and he couldn’t spend the time he wanted to. In 2017 Andrew was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer. He underwent immunotherapy and was given a maximum 18-months to live.  It has been eight years since he entered his “second life”. Andrew was determined to fully inhabit his beloved Tasmanian bush, so he went by himself to commune with ancient trees. These are some of the world’s oldest surviving trees, like King’s Lomatia; some of the biggest trees, like a 60-metre-tall eucalyptus known as The Vibe Tower; and Andrew’s favourite, the dignified Pencil Pine. The Ancients: Discovering the world’s oldest surviving trees in wild Tasmania is published by Allen & Unwin. This episode of Conversations touches on wild Tasmania, ancient trees, Pencil Pine, King's Lomatia, King Billy Pine, Giant Eucalyptus, Peter Dombrovskis photography, Walls of Jerusalem National Park, Pool of Siloam, epic hike, solo hike, stage four lung cancer, immunotherapy, second life and loving nature, hikes of Australia.

Anh Nguyen Austen's family fled Vietnam by sea in 1982, on a wooden boat bound for the Philippines. When a once-in-a-century storm struck in the South China Sea, they thought all hope was lost (R)   Anh is an academic and community volunteer who grew up in Vietnam in a Catholic family. Anh's childhood was idyllic, with a big extended family and a close friendship with her cousin named Joe. But life for the adults was complicated after the end of the war, and so in the early 1980s, her parents planned a daring escape. Under the noses of the regime, they secretly constructed a boat which they hoped would take them to the Philippines. They intended to bring 40 people with them, but on the day of departure 101 people crowded on board, before the boat sailed into a once-in-a-century storm on the South China Sea. Years later, Anh found film footage of their rescue, at a moment when almost all hope was lost. After their rescue, her family made it to a refugee camp in the Philippines, then to America, where Anh grew up to attend some of the world's most prestigious universities before she became an academic herself. This episode of Conversations explores family dynamics, refugee stories, migrant stories, boat people, Vietnam War, Catholcism, escapes, near death experiences, the great American dream, Harvard, Bryn Mawr College, University of Melbourne, theology, PhD, doctorate, academia, Christianity, life story, United States. Originally broadcast in June 2022. Since Richard spoke with Anh, she has created a walking group in Melbourne for refugees and friends of refugees. Anh says walking creates connections and can inspire belonging to land, people, and country in Australia. This is part of her research on post-traumatic growth for refugees and her upcoming memoir The History of Walking with Refugees. If you would like to join the Melbourne Refugee Walking Group, email Anh.Nguyen.Austen@acu.edu

When artist Vincent Fantauzzo was a boy he was a street-fighting petty criminal with dyslexia and a blazing talent for drawing. He escaped jail time, and grew up to become one of Australia's most well-known portrait artists. VIncent Fantauzzo is one of Australia's most successful portrait artists. For his luminous, photo-realistic paintings he's won the People's Choice Award at the annual Archibald Prize more than any other artist. He's also won the Moran National Portrait Prize twice, once with a painting of his friend, filmmaker Baz Luhrmann, and the second time with a painting of his wife, actor Asher Keddie. All the success is a long way from his upbringing in Broadmeadows in Melbourne, when at times it seemed like he was going to end up in jail, or dead. Vincent struggled so badly with dyslexia that he developed elaborate rituals to avoid writing at school, which is partly how he came to drawing.  He became a street-fighting petty criminal and he was kicked out of school at 14 and was drawn into a violent world where he had to be extraordinarily streetwise to survive. Vincent still carries the scars of surviving his childhood into the big, beautiful life he's built for himself as one of Australia's most well-known artists. This episode of Conversations explores origin stories, social disadvantage, parenting, father son relationships, boxing, learning disabilities, struggling in school, Hollywood, the art world, Heath Ledger, Kim Ledger, Batman, family, family dynamics, life story, art, portraits, painting, juvenile crime, drug dealing, hot houses, brothers. Unveiled, written with Craig Henderson, is published by Penguin.

Rebecca Huntley, Rick Morton, Julia Zemiro and Sarah Kanowski bring you stories of human failure, misadventure and outright fiasco in a live storytelling event recorded at Adelaide Writers Week.       A few weeks ago, some former guests of Conversations, and our two presenters gathered at the Adelaide Town Hall. The event was a live storytelling hour, with the theme 'Mistakes were made', in front of a rapt audience of 800 forgiving souls. Writer and social researcher Rebecca Huntley shared her dramatic foray as a first-time driver. Journalist Rick Morton recounted a story about a run-in between his brother's drug- and alcohol-fuelled friends, with a cameo from the rom-com 'Bridget Jones' Baby'. TV presenter and actor Julia Zemiro told her own tale of mortification in a professional setting, and her experience of "esprit de l'escalier" — thinking of the perfect response once you have already left the building. Our own Sarah Kanowski spoke of the time when a few very big risks were taken, that one time in the Amazon Basin. This episode of Conversations touches on mistakes, fiascos, accidents, insults, life stories, epic personal stories, ayahuasca, The Amazon, ice, drug addiction, Bridget Jones, and more.

Josie McSkimming on growing up with her bohemian sister, the poet Dorothy Porter, and how their lives took off on wildly diverging paths as they grew up. Sisters Dorothy and Josie Porter grew up in an interesting and sometimes volatile home on the northern beaches of Sydney in the 1970s. Together with their middle sister Mary, they lived in a world of books, a backyard menagerie of animals, and regular birdwatching excursions. Their father Chester was a well-known lawyer who was sometimes a explosive presence at home.  Josie adored her charismatic big sister 'Dod', for her wicked sense of humour, her appetite for life, and her fierce talent. After the girls left home and began their adult lives, they set off on wildly different paths. Dorothy ran headlong into bohemian adventures, and became a famous poet. While Josie, to her sister's dismay, became a born-again Christian for 35 years, eventually leaving the church after questioning the doctrines enforcing women's submission. Dorothy died at just 54 years old, and decades later, Josie has written down her own version of the family story, paying tribute to the many ways her big sister shaped her life. This episode of Conversations explores family dynamics, parenting, love, grief, sisters, sisterhood, poetry, religion, indoctrination, gay conversion, coming out, lesbians, the queer community, writing, books, family history, origin stories, parenting, mothers, fathers, Lindy Chamberlain, Australian poets, modern poets, Church, bible study, leaving the church, Mona Vale. Gutsy Girls: Love, Poetry and Sisterhood is published by UQP.

Hilton Koppe was a beloved country GP for 30 years before an unexpected health crisis of his own forced him to reassess everything (R) Hilton Koppe grew up knowing his parents wanted him to become a doctor and so when he got the marks to make it into medicine, they were overjoyed. By the time he was 30, he'd started working as a country GP.  Hilton then became a beloved local doctor in Northern NSW, and he worked there for more than three decades. But a few years ago, Hilton's own health suddenly went awry. He started experiencing constant neck pain, and then the side of his face went numb. He was sent him for an MRI, which revealed nothing. But then Hilton's own GP gave him an unexpected diagnosis of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, related in part to his work as a doctor. This news up-ended almost everything about Hilton's life. This episode of Conversations explores medicine, Australia's medical system, Judaism, migration, post WW2 migration, Jewish families, Australian multi culturalism, family dynamics, health, wellbeing, PTSD, trauma, mental health diagnosis, South Africa, fascism. Hilton's memoir is called One Curious Doctor.

Journalist and author Sonya Voumard on the rare neurological condition that has stalked her since a family tragedy during her childhood.   Sonya Voumard was on the precipice of teen hood when her father suddenly and unexpectedly died. In the months following his death, Sonya developed a tremor in her right hand, not dissimilar to the shaking she sometimes noticed in her father when he was cutting the top off her boiled egg at breakfast. The tremor got worse as she got older, but working late nights as a dogged journalist, fuelled by coffee and nicotine, it almost became a badge of honour for Sonya. One day, though, a terrifying moment while driving set her off on a decades-long quest through Australia's medical system. This episode of Conversations explores disability, neurological condition, brain surgery, experimental medicine, grief, untimely death, death of a father, journalism, Port Arthur massacre, Mabo, Melbourne, substance abuse, alcohol, shaking, Parkinson's, being queer, unexplained medical anomalies, neurosurgeon, neuroscience, St Vincent's hospital, writing, books, memoir, Dystonia, essential tremor, familial tremor, MS, multiple sclerosis, medical system, medicare, public versus private patients. Tremor: a movement disorder in a disordered world is published by Finlay Lloyd. Learn more about dystonia from the Dystonia Network of Australia.

Loneliness is a universal experience, for each of us at some point in our lives. Journalist Ros Thomas travelled the world to investigate, and find the antidote.      Ros spent a year travelling around the world to research something all of us have experienced — loneliness. She met an old man who had learned to thrive through crushing grief with the help of a small, desktop robot. Ros visited a share house in Sweden where pensioners live with young asylum seekers, who care for each other like grandparents and grandchildren. And she explored her own early and devastating experience of loneliness — when her father abandoned the family when Ros was a tiny child. This episode of Conversations touches on loneliness, isolation, being a friend, social connection, community modern history, life story, fatherhood, absent fathers, personal stories, family dynamics, fathers, solutions to loneliness, the loneliness epidemic, Churchill Fellowship and connection.

The chief investigative reporter on her work exposing criminals and corruption, including former politician, Eddie Obeid and financial fraudster, Melissa Caddick.       Kate McClymont is chief investigative reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald. She grew up on a farm in NSW, and during university, funded her start in Sydney by setting up a busking booth in Kings Cross. Passers-by would pay her to answer a question, have an argument, or verbally abuse them.  Kate's start in crime reporting came from an early job writing for a gossip column.  She was instructed to cover a wedding of a family member of known criminal figure, George Freeman. Kate compared the sequins in the bridal party's outfit to a bullet-proof vest, and received the first of many death threats throughout her career.  She has won 10 Walkley awards for her work on the biggest crime and corruption cases in NSW. She has exposed the crimes of politician, Eddie Obeid, former Health Services Union boss, Michael Williamson and financial fraudster, Melissa Caddick, among many more. This episode of Conversations covers crime, corruption, true crime, Melissa Caddick, Eddie Obeid, corrupt politicians, investigative reporting, Walkley awards, Kings Cross, George Freeman, Minder, SMH, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, Fairfax, Nine.

As a young woman, Krystyna thought her father had taught her everything about Poland’s history, but she didn’t know that what he’d left out would become a focus of her life (R) Growing up, Krystyna Duszniak's father didn't speak a word of English to her, instilling in her a love of the Polish language, literature, history and culture. As the child of immigrants who had survived World War II, history was all around Krystyna, and while her patriotic father taught her so much about his homeland, she found he left out a vital part that turned out to be the focus of her career. Krystyna has made it her life's work to decipher historical records and bring the past back to life. She helps families connect to long forgotten events and people in the old country. Often, she will unearth unsavoury war stories, hidden first children of remarried parents, or secrets no one wants to hear about their relatives. This episode of Conversations explores family history, modern history, ancient history, Europe, War, family dynamics, migrant stories, patriotism, secrets, family secrets, genealogy, ancestry.

Peter Norris's father was a notorious bank robber who lived life on the run, dragging his boy across the country with him, until Peter refused to go with him one last time. It was the hardest decision he ever had to make. Peter Norris grew up on the run with his criminal father, Clarence 'Clarry' Norris. Every time Clarry was arrested, he would find a way out of custody and fulfil his promise of coming back to his son, and every time they reunited they would be off once more tearing across Australia. Peter climbed out windows at foster homes, and escaped group homes for boys to be with his dad, in Sydney, in Shepparton, Perth and Port Hedland. Until one day, his father came back to Peter when he had landed on his feet in the home of a beautiful foster family in regional Victoria. The faith the Dullards had in Peter gave him the courage to finally say "no" to his loving, caring, criminal, complicated dad. It was the hardest decision he ever made, but while desperately Peter wanted to be with his father, but didn't want to be him. It was the last time Peter ever saw his father.  This episode of Conversations discusses family dynamics, origin stories, crime, criminality, theft, intergenerational trauma, foster care, abandoned children, group homes, remand centres, Baltara, homelessness, abuse, parenting, grief, closure, fatherhood, father son relationships. The Bank Robber's Boy is published by Simon & Schuster

Martha Jabour was a young mum when her baby son Michael died suddenly. In the thick of her grief, she worried for the devastated young police officer who had come to her home that day, before he unexpectedly reappeared in her life (CW: this conversation discusses the death of a child).   Martha Jabour has lived through the worst possible day for a parent.  When she was a young mum, she put her baby Michael to bed one night, and by the morning he had died in his sleep.  Michael was just 7 weeks old, and because his was an unexplained death, there were police on her doorstep, and a post-mortem, and an ambulance which took away her baby boy. At the time of Michael's death in the 1980s, not much was known about Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). Martha threw herself into support groups, fundraising, and helping to change the story for parents like her, affected by the shocking and unexplained loss of their babies.  Within a few years, research discovered more about the causes, and today rates of SIDS have fallen by nearly 90%. Martha trained as a grief and trauma counsellor, and her work with grieving parents saw her tapped on the shoulder to start a Homicide Victims Support Group. It was a job she initially said she’d only do for a year - but it became her life’s work. This episode of Conversations explores SIDS, death of a child, grieving, grief, policing, community policing, motherhood, fatherhood, parenting, birth stories, sick children, sudden loss, cot death, trauma, shock, counselling, therapy, support groups, where to find support. Help and support is always available. You can call Lifeline 24 hours a day, 7 days a week  on 13 11 14, or text them 0477 13 11 14. Red Nose also offers counselling services to parents who have lost a child. Their number is 1300 308 307.

While working as an undercover cop, Nick Kaldas played a drug baron in the market for vast quantities of hemp oil, tracked a fugitive with a penchant for hair transplants, and posed as a hit man for a spurned lover. Nick was a 21-year-old immigrant lad from Egypt when he decided to join the NSW Police Force. He soon rose up the ranks from working as a junior constable on the beat, then as one of the first Arab-Australian undercover cops, to becoming one of the most senior police officers in Australia. While undercover, Nick tracked a fugitive with a hair transplant, bought hemp oil and heroin at the Sydney Hilton, and was hired as a hit man by a spurned lover. He then had stints as the head of the homicide squad, the gangs squad and led some of NSW's biggest criminal investigations as Deputy Police Commissioner.  Nick's work also took him to Iraq to rebuild the police force after the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime. Since leaving the NSW Police, Nick has continued his work in international law enforcement.   This episode of Conversations explores crime, gangs, Egypt, migration, the Arab world, Syria, Iraq, Saddam Hussein, policing, law enforcement, corruption, inquiry, undercover cops, films, Batman, Northern Territory, NT Police Commissioner, Michael Murphy. Behind the Badge is published by Angus and Robertson.

Football tragic Andy Paschalidis was in his 50s when a dear friend and fellow player died during an over-35s soccer game. The tragedy inspired him to begin a whole new story for himself, and the sport (R) Andy grew up in Sydney's Balmain when it was a working-class suburb, full of migrant families. His parents had arrived in Australia from Greece a few years before, seeking a different life. Andy grew up to be one of the first Greek-Australian sports broadcasters on TV and radio on SBS and 2GB, and he never lost his zeal for football. When he was in his early 50s, Andy joined an ordinary weekend over-35s football game as he did each weekend. His friend and fellow player Matt Richardson had a heart attack on the pitch that day and died. He was just 42 years old.  Then Andy discovered another friend had recently seen his teammate die exactly the same way.  He decided to take six months off work to find a way to reduce the number of deaths in Australian amateur football.  Since then Heartbeat of Football has saved many lives. This episode of Conversations explores grief, mateship, masculinity, male health, health and wellbeing, heart attacks, heart disease, cardiac arrest, signs of heart attack, exercise, football, FIFA, soccer, senior sports, older sports, amateur sports, deaths on the field, health, safety, migration, migrant Australians, first generation Australians, post-war migration, Sydney. When Andy's conversation with Richard first went to air, a listener named Kevin Whitby realised he was having a heart attack. Minutes later, he presented himself to the emergency department at Wollongong Hospital, where medical staff confirmed he needed immediate treatment. Since we last spoke with Andy, last year in Sydney alone, six footballers (the youngest of which was 13 years old) have been saved in the midst of on-field cardiac incidents by the defibrillators provided by Andy's charity. Learn more about the work of Heartbeat of Football.

Australian writer Tim Winton on the stories which inspired his latest novel, 'Juice', a story of determination, survival, and the limits of the human spirit.   'Juice' is an astonishing feat of imagination. It takes us to a far-off future on a superheated planet, where people must live like desert frogs in Northwest Australia.  They go underground for the murderously hot summer months, before emerging in winter to grow and make what they can. The nameless narrator of the book is travelling with a child under his protection. They are taken hostage by a man with a crossbow, who takes them to the bottom of a mine shaft. There, the narrator has to tell his story to the bowman in the hope that he won't kill them. This episode of Conversations explores climate change, science, climate justice, storytelling, writing, books, narrative, fiction, Australian writers, Cloudstreet, Western Australia, coral bleaching, Pilbara, Ningaloo Reef, Putin, Trump, American politics, global politics, Russia, oligarchs, tariffs, trade wars, artists protesting, romantasy, climate change refugees. Juice is published by Penguin. This conversation was recorded in front of a live audience at Adelaide Writers' Week.

The Polish-French physicist and chemist is famous for discovering radium, but Marie Curie was more than her accomplishments. From 'the flying university' to great loves and losses, Dava Sobel investigates her extraordinary life. Marie Curie was the first woman to be awarded a Nobel Prize, and the first person to win a second Nobel Prize.  But alongside her discovery of radioactivity, Marie’s life was marked by her fierce love for husband Pierre, a scandalous affair following his death, and feats of heroism during the First World War.  Dava Sobel is one of the world's best loved science writers, who has written about revolutionary innovators from an 18th century clockmaker who changed marine navigation forever to Copernicus, Galileo's daughter. Now, Dava explores the extraordinary and surprising life of Marie Curie. This episode of Conversations touches on epic stories, origin stories, weird science, physics, chemistry, women in STEM, female scientists, family dynamics, grief, sudden death, modern history, human innovation, technology, military technology, medical technology, medical advancements, radium, polonium, the elements, Pierre Curie, University of Paris, academia, war. Dava Sobel's book about Marie Curie is called The Elements of Marie Curie: how the glow of radium lit a path for women in science, and is published by Harper Collins. This episode of Conversations was recorded in front of a live audience at Adelaide Writers' Week.

Would you want to live for longer? Forever? Have your mind preserved and uploaded into something non-human? And is it even possible? Neuroscientist Dr Ariel Zeleznikow explores challenging ideas about life and death.   From adding a few decades onto a life span, to suspending the aging process altogether, and more radically, uploading a preserved brain and consciousness into an entirely different physical structure, Ariel's research is at the cutting edge of neuroscience. These seem like strange ideas, scientifically and morally, but Ariel says that with the advent of new techniques of brain preservation and the recent successful attempts at mapping consciousness, we could be looking at drastically longer lives in the future. This episode of Conversations explores weird science, epic stories, brain preservation, the aging process, how to stop ageing, getting older, brains, minds, souls, humanity, morality, lifespan, cancer, brain disease, Walt Disney, cryogenic freezing, genomes, biology, neurology, philosophy, ethics. The Future Loves You: How and Why We Should Abolish Death is published by Penguin.

Gold Coast lawyer Chris Nyst on his 45 years in criminal law, defending career criminals, going head to head with corrupt police, heroin addicts and a postcard bandit (R) When Chris Nyst finished studying law in the mid 1970s, he moved to a town by the beach to begin his life as a lawyer, not because it was a glitzy and glamorous city back then, but because he wanted to surf. But his nearly five decades as a criminal lawyer on the Gold Coast turned out to be a wild ride through crime, corruption, and shady characters. Chris has used some of the most dramatic chapters in his working life as inspiration for his crime fiction and for the film Getting Square. This episode of Conversations explores drug crime, surf culture, addiction, substance abuse, the justice system, the Fitzgerald Inquiry, the Fitzgerald Report, Tony Fitzgerald, Queensland corruption, cops, petty crime, bank robbing, robbery, murder, Australian crime, Brenden Abbott, career criminals. Millen is published by Angus and Robertson.

Durkhanai Ayubi and her family keep alive the stories and flavours they carried to Australia from Afghanistan, in the dining room of their 'accidental' and thriving restaurant (R)   Durkhanai was two years old when she and her family came to Australia from Afghanistan. She grew up with stories of the old country from her parents, but her most powerful sensory connection to Afghanistan developed in the kitchen of her mother, Farida. Both her parents had other professions in their homeland, but in 2009, sensing an opportunity to share their culture's rich tradition of hospitality, they opened a restaurant. They named it Parwana, meaning butterfly, and serve traditional Afghan food cooked by Farida. This episode of Conversations explores migration, multiculturalism, cooking, food, history, the Silk Road, trade, refugee, war, civil war, family, parenthood, multicultural Australia, origin stories, epic journeys. Parwana: Stories and Recipes From an Afghan Kitchen (by Durkhanai Ayubi with recipes by Farida Ayubi) is published by Murdoch Books.

Writer Geraldine Brooks on love, grief and letting go after her husband died in a shocking and unexpected way.   In 2019, Australian writer Geraldine Brooks was forced into a world of practicalities when her beloved husband, Tony, collapsed on the street in the United States and died. She had to immediately manage finances and family life, organise a funeral and work out what had happened for Tony to so suddenly and unexpectedly die. As time went by, Geraldine realised she had never let herself properly grieve his loss and the loss of their imagined future together. So she rented a shack on Flinders Island in the Bass Strait to face what had happened, to reflect on their big, itinerant life together, and to finally feel peace again. This episode of Conversations explores grief, grieving a loved one, death, how to cope with an unexpected death, marriage, death of a spouse, letting go, origin stories, love stories, relationships, writing, books, America, Australia, politics, journalism, war correspondence, Syria, Israel, Iran, Palestine. Memorial Days is published by Penguin Random House.

It took a catastrophic car accident for the singer and actress to leave a decorated career in architecture and focus on her artistic ambitions, including a tribute show to her friends Sinead O'Connor, and Shane MacGowan of The Pogues.   Irish-French singer and performer Camille O’Sullivan grew up in County Cork, with her Irish father and French mother. Although she sang throughout her youth, she was persuaded to become an architect and went on to win awards for her work. But after she nearly lost her life in a harrowing car crash, she decided she had to be honest with herself and become the singer she always wanted to be.  Camille has brought her unique voice to the songs of Jacques Brel, Edith Piaf, Nick Cave and Radiohead. In her newest show, she’s honouring two late Irish singers who were her friends: Sinead O’Connor and Shane MacGowan from The Pogues.  This episode of Conversations touches on epic life stories, origin stories, Ireland, Irish singing, Jacques Brel, friendship, songwriting, poetry, and performing.

Lindsey Fidler’s quest to find her biological father started with jazz and an American Air Force Base. It ended with a trip to the U.S. through a disastrous free flights promotion run by the British division of Hoover Vacuums.   Sociologist Lindsey Fidler’s parents met and married in the 1960s in East Anglia, United Kingdom. They would go to jazz clubs and socialise with the men from the American Air Force base nearby. Lindsey’s father was known as The Typewriter King because he could fix any typewriter in the area. He had contracts to repair machines on the nearby base, and even in London, where he was responsible for some of the Royal typewriters. This was the world Lindsey knew — the one she was born into.  However, she was always separated from it somehow. Adults behaved strangely around her, and she felt she didn’t fit in. She was 22 when her parents sat her down and told her why. This episode of Conversations touches on biological fathers, family secrets, secrets we keep, epic life stories, belonging, identity, race, infidelity, siblings, affairs, being mixed race, blended families, biological parents, step parents, sociology, finding dad, personal stories, origin stories, typewriters, jazz, U.S. military, motherhood and self.

Paul is a musician, author and performer best known for his comedic alter-ego, Flacco. In recent years he's joined an eclectic band of people who ring the bells at his local church tower in inner Sydney (R)     Paul is a musician, author and performer best known for his comedic alter-ego, Flacco. In recent years he's joined an eclectic band of people who ring the bells together at their local church tower in inner Sydney. Every week Paul and his fellow bellringers climb high into the tower where they stand in a circle and create a beautiful noise that ripples across the city. He's also been working as a hospital volunteer, listening to and writing down the stories of people at the end of their lives, after his own brush with mortality. This episode of Conversations touches on comedy, death and dying, caring, being a carer, cancer, palliative care, biography, volunteering, bell ringing, churches, ringing bells and personal stories.

The renowned physician discusses the role of trauma in our lives, showing up as addiction, chronic disease and mental illness — and how recognising his own led to true healing.     Dr Gabor Maté was born in Budapest to a Jewish family, just before Nazi tanks rolled into the city. His mother risked handing him to a stranger on the street to try and get him to safety. Many years later, after establishing himself as a successful physician in Canada, Gabor looked at the problems in his work and marriage and wondered if they were linked to that early trauma. He uses his own experiences as the test case for the effects of trauma on the body and is now internationally renowned for arguing that trauma casts a long shadow in our lives, showing up in addiction, ADHD, chronic disease and mental illness. Gabor argues that realising the impact of trauma of all kinds allows for real healing — as has happened in his own life. Dr Gabor Maté's new book written with Daniel Maté is called The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness and Healing in a Toxic Culture and is published by Penguin Random House. This episode of Conversations deals with trauma, early childhood trauma, mental illness, addiction, ADHD, chronic illness, epic life stories, origin stories, healing, autoimmune disease, and therapy.

When Nadia Mahjouri travelled to Marrakech with her four-month-old baby to find her long lost father, she also underwent the process of matrescence — becoming a new version of herself as a mother.     Nadia Mahjouri is a Moroccan-Australian author and counsellor. Growing up in Launceston, Tasmania, Nadia didn’t know anyone else who had her height, dark skin and curly hair. She knew her father was Moroccan, but that was the extent of the information she had about him.  When she had her first baby at 21, Nadia decided to go to Morocco to try to find him.  All she had was her family name, a photo of her parents on their wedding day, and the name of a suburb in Marrakech. Nadia's journey to Morocco intersected with the process of inhabiting a new role in her life — mother. Nadia's book Half Truth is published by Penguin Random House. This episode of Conversations focuses on family dynamics, epic life story, grief, fatherlessness, matrescence, motherhood, personal stories, origin stories, ancestry, Morocco, Tasmania and becoming a mum. Nadia's book Half Truth is published by Penguin Random House.

Two of the most important men to Gus Worland departed his life in shocking and unexpected ways. Gus' grief led him to dig deeper into what it means to be a strong man and re-frame vulnerability as something powerful. TV and radio host Gus Worland grew up with some deeply rooted ideas about what it meant to be a man and a good bloke. When Gus was just 10 years old, his father left the family home for reasons Gus didn't understand or even know about until many years later. Then, when Gus was an adult, the role model who had filled the gap left by his father also disappeared. All the unresolved grief he felt prompted Gus to almost spontaneously open up one morning on his radio program on Triple M. What began as an impulsive moment of vulnerability turned into a national conversation, and led Gus to dig deeper into his own understanding of what it means to be a strong man. Content warning: this episode of Conversations discusses suicide and mental health issues. If you or anyone you know needs help there is always someone available at: Lifeline on 13 11 14 Beyond Blue on 1300 22 46 36 MensLine Australia on 1300 789 978 This episode of Conversations explores sexuality, fatherhood, parenting, love, homosexuality, male suicide epidemic, masculinity, vulnerability, honesty, origin stories, opening up, seeking help, depression, anxiety, suicidal ideations, speaking up, mateship, friendship, the Grill Team, mental fitness, coming out stories. Further information You can learn more about Gus' work in suicide prevention at the Gotcha4Life Foundation here. Boys Do Cry is published by Penguin.

Brigitte Muir's dream to climb the seven highest mountains on each of the seven continents took much longer and cost her more than she expected, but she also discovered more about herself than she could have imagined (R) Brigitte Muir fell in love with the outdoors and adventure as a teenager in Belgium. Initially she was exhilarated by going caving, deep in the earth, and then rock-climbing, until she made her way closer and closer to the heavens and became a mountaineer. In her thirties Brigitte became fixated on a big dream — to climb the seven highest mountains on each of the seven continents. To achieve what she set out to do, she pushed her mind and her body to their limits, and was even left for dead near the summit of Mount Everest. Brigitte lost loved ones along the way, but also found some unexpected truths about herself. This episode of Conversations explores epic adventures, explorers, expeditions, extreme conditions, the Himalayas, Nepal, the lives of Sherpas, grief, death, natural disasters, avalanches, nearth death experiences.

For poet David Whyte, the power of poetry lies in its unmatched ability to meditate and focus on what's right in front of us -- whether it's a mountain, a loved one, or our own reflection. He explains how one line of poetry is enough to change your life. David grew up amongst the moors and fields of West Yorkshire, with an English father and an Irish mother who had a gift for lyricism and language. He started writing poems at just seven years old, but it wasn't until he was working as a guide in the Galapagos Islands that David truly understood what poetry was and what it could do for us. A near-death experience there prepared him for life as a poet by teaching him to pay attention to what lay right in front of him at any given time. Since then, David has written hundreds of poems loved by the world, recited as often at weddings and funerals as they are on less auspicious occasions. This episode of Conversations explores literature, language, prose, philosophy, epic stories, nature, marine biology, zoology, near death experiences, mortality, grief, love, origin stories, adventure, Charles Darwin, Ted Hughes, William Blake, Bronte sisters, Carl Jung David has written and published several collections of poems and essays. His latest is Consolations II, published by Canongate.

When Dannielle Miller became a teacher, she was given the classes no one else could handle. She was given a whistle on her first day, to call for help. She didn’t need it — in fact, she had something in common with some of her students.   Dannielle Miller is the CEO of Enlighten Education and Director of Education for Women's Community Shelter. As a young teacher, fresh from university, Dannielle was given a class of vulnerable students no other teacher could handle in a Western Sydney school. Dannielle took to these students immediately, and found they responded to her with trust and affection. Dannielle shared a certain understanding with her students —as a child, she saw domestic abuse and gaslighting in her house. When she was very small, Dannielle was burned in a shocking attack. The care she received following her burn has stayed with Dannielle and has informed her resilience, which she now uses to shepherd teenage girls and boys through one of life's most challenging times. This episode of Conversations touches on epic life stories, origin stories, domestic violence, family violence, respectful relationships, teenage girls, teenage boys, teens, adolescence, burns, women's shelters.

Historian, Professor Clare Wright tells the story of a formative moment — before the Mabo decision — in Australia’s democracy that you may not have heard of.   Historian Clare Wright moved her family to Yirrkala in North-East Arnhem land in 2010.  She became a part of the Yolngu community and kept in touch after the family returned to Melbourne. Little by little, Clare learned about an extraordinary moment in Australian history, when Yolngu people used their artwork and their language, Yolngu Matha to petition the Federal government over a planned bauxite mine on their traditional lands. The bark petitions were not sent in the traditional sense, pleading up to an authority, but rather asserted Yolngu custodianship of the land, and spoke as equal partners to the Australian government. This episode of Conversations touches on Indigenous stories, Yolngu, Yirrkala, Australian democracy, the Bark Petitions, Naku Dharuk, Yolngu Matha, mining, the Australian Government, Menzies, Kim Beazley Snr.

Singer-songwriter Jimmy Webb on how growing up as the child of an Oklahoma preacher opened up a door to music, and inspired his songwriting (R)   Jimmy Webb grew up poor in Oklahoma, where his mother encouraged him to play the piano, revealing a prodigious musical talent. After moving to Los Angeles, Jimmy wrote his first hit for the Fifth Dimension: Up, Up And Away. Shortly after, he met Glen Campbell, who had already recorded Jimmy's song By the Time I Get to Phoenix. Glen asked Jimmy to write a song especially for him - Wichita Lineman, which became another huge hit for Campbell. Jimmy's many other famous songs, including MacArthur Park, Adios, and The Highwayman, have been recorded by artists including Frank Sinatra, Isaac Hayes, Barbra Streisand, Art Garfunkel and Donna Summer. While he's best known as a songwriter, Jimmy is a renowned performer in his own right. This episode of Conversations explores music history, rock music, Americana, Hollywood, the recording industry, the Mid-west, middle America, religion, origin stories, personal stories, celebrity culture, country music, rock n roll, songwriting, yacht rock.

When Linda Peek's mother Margaret died, Linda collected the scraps of handwritten notes strewn around the home and put together Margaret's remarkable tale of survival on Malta during WWII. When Linda was growing up, Margaret, would tell her these remarkable stories from her wartime childhood -- stories of survival, friendship and tragedy. Margaret had spent her most formative years on the island of Malta during World War Two. The Mediterranean island was not only an idyllic paradise, it was also a British stronghold in a highly strategic position, and Adolf Hitler wanted it. And so the Axis powers laid siege to Malta for more than two years, dropping thousands of bombs and trying to starve the island into submission. Somehow, Malta survived, and so did Linda's mother. This episode of Conversations explores Italy, Sicily, island life, modern history, the second world war, Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, Churchill, Royal Engineers, air raids, personal history, family history, family dynamics, life story, ancestry, travel. Malta: A Childhood Under Siege is published by Woodlands Publishing.

Volcanologist Teresa Ubide opens volcanoes up from the outside, like a doll's house, searching for tiny crystal balls to help her predict when the next eruption might occur Humans have always had a complicated relationship with volcanoes — they are striking to look at and create fertile soils for farming, but they can be destructive and deadly. Today, around 10 per cent of the world's population lives within 100km of an active volcano, which means volcanology — the science of studying volcanoes — is becoming increasingly important. Volcanologists like Teresa Ubide, spend their time getting to know the 'personalities' of different volcanoes: how they work, the composition of the magma, the likelihood of eruption, and how spectacular that explosion of lava could be. When Teresa was a little girl, a teacher opened her imagination up to what she calls the 'guts of a volcano' and today, as an Australian Research Council Future Fellow and a lecturer at the University of Queensland, she travels the world visiting volcanoes and predicting their future by looking at tiny crystal balls. This episode of Conversations explores natural disasters, Pompeii, Mount Vesuvius, La Palma, Stromboli, Spain, Italy, Argentina, copper mining, sustainable mining, electric vehicles, smartphones, geology, magma, exploration, epic history, chemistry.

Warren Brown drove through 80 countries in searing heat and pouring rain in a vintage Bean car to recreate the 1927 world tour of Australian motorist, Francis Birtles. Today we bring you the next chapter in the adventurous exploits of author and cartoonist Warren Brown. Some years ago Warren Brown stumbled on the true story of a pioneering Australian motorist, Francis Birtles, who set out to drive a 'Bean' car from London to Melbourne in 1927. For nine months he rattled through Europe, Turkey, Iran and India, through murderous mountain ranges and blustering blizzards. Warren has just returned from his own recreation of Birtles' epic journey, in the very same model of car and 1920s outfits.  He and his co-pilot Matthew Benns travelled through 80 countries in the open-top car in searing heat and pouring rain while recreating Beans' escapades. To his great surprise, while they were en route, their trip made them accidental celebrities in Saudi Arabia. This episode of Conversations explores modern history, Australiana, Australian explorers, car rallies, Peking to Paris, motorsport, motoring, motoring history, automobiles, Gaza, Suez Canal, travel, Ford, historical re-enactment, politics, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Pakistan, Middle East, Cairo, Pyramids, royal family, Laurence of Arabia.

Nazeem Hussain honed his comedy in Melbourne's suburbs in the 1990s. After his father left the family, his fearless mother taught Nazeem how to use humour to get bullies off his back. (R)           Comedian, Nazeem Hussain honed his comedic chops in the suburbs of Melbourne in the 1990s. It was there, after his father left the family, that his fearless mother taught him how to use humour to get bullies off his back. Since then Nazeem has performed all over the world. He hosted his own Netflix special and opened for Dave Chappelle in New York City, before deciding to write a children's book to celebrate his journey into parenthood. This episode of Conversations touches on personal story, origin story, fatherhood, dads, absent dads, fatherless children, father figures, Nazeem Hussain, comedy, ASIO, 9/11, September 11, racism, family and kids.

Lawyer turned journalist Eileen Ormsby on her journey deeper and deeper into the internet's 'evil twin', where, under the cloak of anonymity, people sell buy and share anything a person is willing to pay for.  Eileen Ormsby had just returned to university to study journalism when her friend told her about a website called The Silk Road. Created by American libertarian, Ross Ulbricht, it was essentially like any other e-commerce marketplace, the kind that people use to order books and homewares, except that it sold illicit drugs and fake ids. Eileen became fascinated with the platform, how it operated, who used it and where existed -- in a secretive part of the internet colloquially known as 'the dark web'. As Eileen journeyed further and further into the darkest corners of the underbelly of the internet, she came across scammers, hit men and horrendous truths, some of which spilled out into her real life. This episode of Conversations explores the dark web, Ross Ulbricht, libertarian, drug dealing, the deep web, FBI, CIA, AFP, undercover agents, Facebook, Meta, Google, Instagram, social media, Donald Trump, Elon Musk, AlphaBay, illicit drugs, addiction, murder, hitman, scams, bitcoin, crypto, crypto currency, investigative journalism, presidential pardon, assassination.

Journalist Hedley Thomas grew up knowing that his grandmother Gladys had vanished in the sea off Sydney in the 1950s when she was just 35 years old. Decades later, her story spurred him on to begin a new life as a hugely successful true crime podcaster   Hedley Thomas has had a storied career in journalism, which has seen him win many Walkley Awards and expose a lot of corruption and dodgy dealings. But it has also placed Hedley and his family in harm's way.  In 2002 Hedley and his wife Ruth were at their home when bullets were fired into their bedroom, missing their heads by just centimetres. The shooter was never found, and Hedley grappled with PTSD after the event. A couple of decades later Hedley decided to begin a podcast about a story which had stayed with him for years. It was the about a woman named Lyn who 'went missing' from her home in the Northern Beaches of Sydney in the 1980s, and was never seen again.  Hedley's podcast, The Teacher's Pet, became a huge hit. Five years after it began, Lyn's former husband Chris Dawson was convicted of her murder and sentenced to 24 years in jail. Just recently, Hedley has started speaking out about how his commitment to Lyn's story, and to finding justice for her was partly inspired by a tragedy in his own family which occurred decades earlier, just a few kilometres from where Lyn vanished. This episode of Conversations touches on family dynamics, true crime, femicide, domestic violence, family origins, life story, secret family, ancestry, parenting, PTSD, Donald Trump, Hong Kong, London, New York, Australian expats, foreign correspondents, police corruption. Further information Help and support is always available. Beyond Blue provides 24/7 support on mental health issues.

Lucinda Light was running a speed dating company in Byron Bay when she auditioned for 'Married At First Sight'. While on the show, she became a huge hit with fans because of her emotional intelligence and open-hearted soul. When it ended, she embarked on an unexpected new life     In 2024, a woman named Lucinda Light burst on to Australian TV screens on the reality show juggernaut 'Married at First Sight'. At first, Lucinda seemed to be another wild and kooky reality TV character.  She was filmed hugging a tree, twirling on a beach, and reading out from her 'Man-ifesto' — a list of things she hoped for in her prospective groom, whom she was about to meet for the very first time live on TV. During her season on the show, Lucinda gained a loyal tribe of fans for her optimism, empathy, and hilarious antics as she pranced around in an animal mask, and declared her disdain for sharing a toilet with a lover. While things didn't work out with her TV husband, Lucinda emerged from the show with an entirely new career. This episode of Conversations touches on reality television, MAFS, MAFS2025, Timothy Smith, relationship expert, falling in love, John Aiken, Mel Schilling, Alessandra Rampolla, MAFS experts, MAFS Australia, Lauren and Eliot, Rhi and Jeff, Katie and Tim, relationships, love after 40, love after divorce, queer relationships, dinner parties, commitment ceremonies, the experts, dating, dating apps, dating after 30

Mark Balla was on a business trip to India when he met two young men on a train. They invited him back to see their home, one of the world's biggest slums. This meeting changed the course of Mark's life. (R) A former Lonely Planet writer and researcher, Mark was wary of participating in 'slum tourism', but something made him say yes to the invitation. That visit changed the course of his life: it was where he learned many millions of people go about their lives with no access to a toilet - at home, work or school. Mark became obsessed and began learning as much as he could about the situation, particularly in relation to Indian schools. From there, he met Mr Toilet, Poop Guy, and eventually Mark earned the title of Toilet Warrior. This episode of Conversations touches on developing world, humanitarian aid, career changes, sanitation, preventative disease, exploration, travel, schooling, education, India, Mumbai, menstruation, women's health, girls' education, infectious diseases.

Belinda Probert knew her father as an English war hero named Bill. What she didn't know, was that he was born Roy and that his spying did not end when the war did.   Belinda Probert knew her father to be a decorated English war hero and successful businessman, whose family had all died long ago.  But a few months after Bill Probert died as an old man in France, a letter arrived at her mother’s house from a man claiming to be her father’s nephew. Slowly, the much more complicated story of Bill's life unfurled — a story of forgotten family, new identities, spying, and a man who simply decided to make himself anew. Belinda decided to track down the truth of her father’s origins and in doing so she also learned that his work with the British intelligence didn’t end when the war was over. This episode of Conversations explores family secrets, family dynamics, spying, MI6, MI5, ancestry, origin stories, epic adventures, love, Wales, coal mining, classism, class warfare, World War Two, France, Normandy, Nazis, Germany, emigration, brotherhood, parenting, fathers and daughters.

A chance find at age 14 at Flinders Street Station led Tim Chappel to a life of silver lamé, sequins, girdles, and an Oscar.    Costume designer, Tim Chappel can’t remember all the places he lived, growing up on Army bases around the country, and overseas.  His one constant interest was nature.  He’d look for stick insects to pin into his collection and draw endless terrestrial orchids.  Tim was ready to focus his life on botany. This all changed when he found a copy of French Vogue at Flinders Street Station in Melbourne. He was entranced by the glamour of the clothes he saw, and felt an instant connection to the tailoring. Tim was creating shorts for bartenders and costumes for drag queens at Sydney's Albury Hotel when he was asked if he would like to design the costumes for an Australian film called The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. This episode of Conversations touches on film-making, the Oscars, award season, LGBTQI+, queerness, Hollywood, Oprah, Tom Cruise, Los Angeles, Army Brat, military families, orchids, flowers, Guy Pearce, Hugo Weaving, Stephan Elliott, Terence Stamp.

The musician reflects on the epic evolution of her singing from practical childhood speech therapy to sacred musical fluency. Meg Washington was born in a musical home in Port Moresby, where her parents had met as Australian expats. Meg and her sister spent a lot of their time watching classic Hollywood musicals and also down at the local yacht club where their dad DJ'd every Saturday night. Singing became something Meg was encouraged to do herself after she developed a stutter as a little girl. And eventually it grew from a therapy into a thrill. Meg's stutter was something she did her best to disguise while building her career as a singer and songwriter in Australia. But after going public about her speech impediment in a TedX Talk, Meg realised she no longer cared about hiding who she was. This honesty led to a whole host of exciting new opportunities – including becoming the voice of Calypso in Bluey, and making a film with her husband based on the iconic Paul Kelly song, “How To Make Gravy”. This episode of Conversations explores origin stories, parenting, artists, music-making, Hugo Weaving, reflection, family dynamics, Australian music scene, Christmas movies, motherhood, TedX, Ted Talk, public speaking, speech impediments, speech therapy, Papua New Guinea, PNG, expats, Australian expats, Christianity, religion, spirituality, The Deb, Rebel Wilson, The Killers, Hot Fuss, Batflower Records.