Sarah Konoski

The way you describe it, it sounds really clear that she wasn't getting the support that she needed, but nor were you as her child.

Was there anyone that you confided in or could reach out to help?

You made a lot of cassette recordings of your family in your childhood.

What was that about?

How was it a survival technique, those cassettes?

Your Uncle Ken had an influence on you in terms of recording and music.

Tell me about him and how he helped kind of awaken your own songwriting.

What were your first songs about?

It stands up.

How did the audience respond at that talent quest?

How did a conversation with one of your teachers at high school change your plans for after school?

Were you keen to leave Burnie by that stage?

Like, were you thinking much about what the world outside of your hometown might be like?

You talk about the isolation of Burnie, particularly in that era.

You know, isolation has all kinds of consequences for places and it can create different kinds of humour, I think.

What kind of humour flourished in Burnie when you were growing up there and what was unique about the way people made each other laugh in Burnie?

With that edge and the inspiration of your theatre teacher and not being stopped by your family, you headed off to Canberra to university.

What were you like as a first-year student?

Fonz, because you were so cool, how did you land Fonz?

You threw yourself into writing and performing at university in Canberra and you won the ABC competition Haywire, which led to you having a regular gig as the bedroom philosopher on the Triple J Breakfast Show.