Conversations

The family and the jail sentence — the ripple effect of losing a parent to prison

11 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Dennis Van Someren works as a transport volunteer with young people going to visit a parent in the prison system. Dennis does the work because he's b...

Knuckles, ruffles, flesh-bags and fences: the story of Australia's first dictionary

10 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Kel Richards with the story of the gentleman thief James Hardy Vaux, who wrote Australia's first dictionary of convict slang

Inside the world of Australian camel vet Margie Bale

07 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Margie's car is loaded with ultrasounds, milk crates and angle grinders: all things needed when tending to seven ft camels in the middle of nowhere (...

Love and letting go — Sarah, Eric, and Coco

06 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

When Sarah Sentilles became a foster parent she gave herself wholeheartedly to caring for baby Coco. A year later her understanding of love, motherho...

Enron, schizophrenia, the Bowls Club and me - the life of Glenn Jarvis

05 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Glenn was working at Enron in London when his mental health began to unravel. He was diagnosed with schizophrenia, and lost nearly everything. Then a...

Kitty Flanagan's unlikely path to comedy

04 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Kitty has woven together a series of true stories from her life including being locked in a crayfish freezer for talking too much (R)

Confronting my grandmother the Baba Yaga

03 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Krissy Kneen grew up under the strict control of her grandmother, Lotty, who was the eccentric and sometimes cruel matriarch of her small family. Kri...

Sarah Dingle — finding my donor dad

30 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Sarah was twenty-seven when she discovered she had been conceived using a sperm donor. When she set out to find her biological father, she found out ...

Hope, hype and exploitation — the wild history of stem cell science

29 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Physician scientist Professor John Rasko on some of the charlatans and shining lights from the problematic and often tragic field of regenerative med...

The blue budgie in Berlin — Gisela Kaplan's story

28 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Animal behaviourist Gisela Kaplan grew up in devastated post-WWII Berlin, forced to eat soap and wild nettles to survive. A brilliant student who lov...

The green suitcase and the secret family

27 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Betty O'Neill's father disappeared when she was a baby. Decades later, inside a tiny apartment in the Polish city of Lublin she opened a green suitca...

The bloody futility of WWI's Battle of Passchendaele

26 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Historian Paul Ham and the story of the terrible 'wearing down war' that took place in Ypres (R)

Meeting Japan's ghosts

23 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The story of the 2011 earthquake that triggered multiple disasters in Japan, and took many thousands of lives, as told by Richard Lloyd Parry (CW: de...

Veronica Gorrie stands up

22 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Ronnie looks back on the ten years she worked as a police officer; the childhood which shaped her, and pays tribute to the guiding strength of her pr...

Helen Zaltzman is the Allusionist

21 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Lacking the patience required to work on a dictionary, Helen turned her abiding interest in language into the subject of a highly successful podcast....

Territory taxidermist — Jared Archibald

20 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Jared spent his childhood behind the scenes at the Museum of the Northern Territory, up close to prehistoric kangaroo fossils, opulent trading pearl...

Lily Brett — love and Shelter Island

19 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

New York-based Australian writer Lily Brett moved her family to Shelter Island during the pandemic. There she's found a different speed of life and b...

Tina Arena — singing it loud

16 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Raised in a loving but strict Italian household, Pina Arena became ‘Tina’ to compete on Young Talent Time. Reinventing herself as an adult singer...

The AIDS angel of Arkansas

15 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Ruth Coker Burks was a young single mum in Hot Springs, Arkansas, when she began helping the dying men everyone else had rejected

Floating through the dolines — cave diving under the Nullarbor and around the world

14 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Stefan Eberhard on his life as a subterranean ecologist cave diving around the world, including inside the vast glowing chambers found beneath the Nu...

Villainesses and Vulcans — the life of Judith Anderson

13 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Widely known for her performance as Mrs Danvers, in the Hitchcock film, Rebecca, Judith gained a new cult following when she played a Star Trek Vulca...

Why Dr Brad's diet pills won't help you lose weight

12 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Sydney GP Dr Brad McKay is often in the media warning against taking health advice from those unqualified to give it, such as Instagram 'wellness inf...

The girl in the vintage lace

09 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Lydia Pearson with the story of the chance meeting which saw her co-found a fashion label which became a global sensation

Judith Lucy - flying solo

08 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Judith was nearly 50 and dealing with grief, menopause and a world in climate crisis when the unthinkable happened

Outposts — what Dan found at the ends of the Earth

07 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Dan Richards follows his curiosity to some of the most remote habitable places in the world including an Icelandic cabin and a monastery high in th...

After the crash

06 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Lech Blaine was 17 when he walked away unscratched from a fatal head-on collision outside Toowoomba which killed three of his friends and left two of...

The secret life of the Grey Plover

05 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Andrew Darby flew around the world on the trail of a small, unassuming migratory shorebird called the Grey Plover. In the middle of his journey, with...

Stories from Elmswood Farm

02 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Patrice Newell was a model and a TV host before she began a new life as a biodynamic farmer (R)

Love, sex and the secret life of retirees

01 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Screenwriter Samantha Strauss on her grandmother's vibrant last years in a Gold Coast retirement home where love, sex and startlingly pragmatic conve...

Blood like honey — Kirsty's two rounds with childhood cancer

31 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Instead of becoming an Olympic gymnast as she'd dreamed, by nineteen Kirsty Everett had survived leukaemia twice and fought her way to university. A ...

George Saunders on life lessons from Russian writers

30 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Writer George Saunders says stories by Russian writers Chekhov, Turgenev, Gogol and Tolstoy can guide us as to 'how we are supposed to be living down...

Stan Grant on a world of crisis and hope

29 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

With countries in lockdown, the showdown with China accelerating and the rise of white supremacy, the planet stands on a precipice. Journalist Stan G...

The male midwife working in remote Arnhem Land

26 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Midwife Christian Wright with tales of emergency evacuations and surfing with crocodiles while working in remote Indigenous communities in Arnhem Lan...

My brother, our farm, and seeking the source of consciousness — Mark Solms

25 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

When he was a young boy in South Africa, Professor Mark Solms watched his older brother fall from a roof and crack his skull.His brother survived but...

Hamilton producer Jeffrey Seller — Broadway and me

24 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Jeffrey tells stories of grit, brilliance and tragedy behind the making of the smash hit musicals 'Rent' and 'Hamilton'

Robina Courtin — listening to prisoners on death row

23 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

In 1978 Australian Robina Courtin became one of the first westerners to be ordained as a Buddhist nun. Then a letter from a young prisoner in a Calif...

Rachael Maza's tale of three islands

22 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Palm Island, Mer Island, and Australia are the cornerstones of Rachael's work as an actor and a director (R)

Pandemic nurse

19 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Simone Sheridan on working at the coalface of Australia's Covid-19 pandemic

The Admiral and the Ecstasy

18 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

When Admiral Chris Barrie retired as the Chief of the Defence Force, he became increasingly concerned about life for veterans with PTSD. Then he disc...

A very vulnerable year

17 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

After Rick Morton was unexpectedly diagnosed with complex post-traumatic stress disorder he set out on a year-long mission to rediscover love

The life-changing power of honeybees

16 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

When Helen Jukes was given a colony of bees they helped release her from the numbing grind of her working life (R)

Barlinnie, the Gorbals and me

15 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Thriller writer Helen Fitzgerald on her life as a social worker inside some of Scotland's toughest prisons

Singing with strangers and Spooky Men

12 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Choir master Stephen Taberner was raised a Christadelphian, but in his adult life he celebrates the pleasure of music (R)

The horse whisperer

11 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Candy Baker was a cash-strapped single mum with too many horses when she moved to the hills outside Byron Bay and discovered a new way of communicati...

Keenan's courage

10 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Justice advocate Keenan Mundine broke the cycle of crime and incarceration in his own life after a chance meeting at a birthday party (CW: mentions...

The babies of Holnicote House

09 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Deborah Prior was one of more than 2000 mixed-race babies born to white British women and black American GI's during WWII. As an adult, she finally f...

Deborah's fight for her wings

08 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Deborah Lawrie had her first flying lesson at 16, then became a flying instructor herself. But when she applied for a job as a pilot, she found herse...

The determination of Caroline O'Connor

05 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

When Caroline O'Connor was told she had 'too much personality' for the ballet, she turned to musical theatre and braved cattle calls and years of wor...

Two spoons and a dugout canoe — the story of Jock McLaren

04 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Tom Gilling with the story of how a Scottish-born soldier named Jock McLaren became one of Australia's greatest World War II guerrilla fighters

Bill Birtles on China

03 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Bill began his dream job as the ABC's China Correspondent in 2015. Five years later, seven State Security police officers visited him in the middle o...

A twitcher's life

02 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Sean Dooley's passion for birdwatching began with the coo of a spotted turtle dove. Decades later he broke the Australian birdwatching record (R)

The cold case secret in a Brisbane garage

01 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

When Mark McKenna set out to write a history of the centre of Australia, and Uluru, he unearthed new evidence about an 86-year old cold case *CW: For...

Raised in a cult

26 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Serafina Tanè was born into a doomsday cult led by a charismatic and abusive man who claimed he'd been abducted by aliens

Water, Water — a story collection

25 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Eight thrilling encounters in and on the water, as told by previous Conversations guests (R)

When Jeanne was Jean — sailing the high seas disguised as a man

24 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Danielle Clode with the story of the adventurous Jeanne Barrett, a French peasant from Burgundy who became the first woman to sail around the world

Trump's Last Stand

23 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Political reporter Jonathan Swan with the inside story of Donald Trump’s last few months in office

The history of libraries from before stone tablets to printed books

22 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Stuart Kells' life as a bibliophile began with one ancient, leather-bound, blue book (R)

The race to live on Mars

19 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Cosmologist Tamara Davis on the complicated scientific quest to explore and colonise the Red Planet

Curlew Man of the south west

18 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

After Kim Scott became a teacher and a father, he started looking for his Aboriginal family *CW: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander listeners ple...

The Cloudspotter

17 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Gavin Pretor-Pinney loved gazing at clouds as a child. As an adult, his fascination with clouds drew him from England to Australia's Gulf of Carpenta...

Mary Wilson — Dream Girl

16 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The late Mary Wilson rose up from Detroit's housing projects to find worldwide fame with The Supremes (R)

Oumuamua's secrets

15 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Avi Loeb was Harvard's top astronomer when he became intrigued by reports of a pancake-shaped object the size of a football field hurtling through ou...

Secret agents in the suburbs: a real life family spy story

12 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Sue Ellen Kusher’s father was an ASIO agent, and she and her siblings were taught to memorise number plates, spot unusual behaviour, and keep the f...

Upside down in Bass Strait

11 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Ocean racing navigator Will Oxley first learned his trade through celestial navigation, using a sextant and the stars. He then began ocean racing aro...

The mystery of Lasseter's Reef

10 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Warren Brown with the story of the fever sparked by claims of a gold reef in the Central Australian desert during the Great Depression (R)

The secret life of George

09 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Georgina Godwin grew up in Zimbabwe with a father who was the model of a British gentleman. Many years after she fled Africa for London, she discover...

The hunt for Hitler's horses by an art detective

08 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Art detective Arthur Brand met neo-Nazis, billionaire collectors and underground art dealers on his hunt for the two enormous bronze horse sculptures...

Gail Force

05 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Gail Austen was 7 years old when she started her first business, selling hand-made billycarts on the streets of Redfern. She grew up to become a lege...

Philippa Perry says yes to feelings

04 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Philippa's parents wanted her to move in the 'right' circles, so they sent her to a Swiss finishing school. Instead she became a debt collector, went...

When Robert found Maida

03 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Former politician Robert Tickner grew up in country NSW, 'showered with love' by his adoptive parents. When he was reunited with his biological mum i...

A life inside the rock 'n' roll circus - Part 2

02 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

In 1973, Tana Douglas found her calling. She became the world's first woman roadie in rock and roll, touring with AC/DC, Iggy Pop and Elton John *CW:...

A life inside the rock 'n' roll circus - Part 1

01 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

In 1973, Tana Douglas found her calling. She became the world's first woman roadie in rock and roll, touring with AC/DC, Iggy Pop and Elton John

The strange new science of ageing

29 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Andrew Steele on the race to crack the scientific code of why we get old, and whether we can delay or suspend ageing for good

Pink Diamonds and Crocodiles: A Kimberley Tale

28 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

How Frauke Bolten-Boshammer raised a farm, a family and a diamond empire from the red dirt of Kununurra (*CW: this episode contains discussion of sui...

Benjamin's epic flight

27 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

When Benjamin Jordan landed his paraglider in a swarm of millions of Monarch butterflies over-wintering in a Mexican valley, the experience changed h...

Hidden histories of Chinese Australia

26 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Tim Watts MP has a deeply personal reason for wanting to resurface stories about Chinese migrants to Australia. From pre-Federation, to the Kelly gan...

The story of the Bible in Australia

25 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Historian Meredith Lake with the Bible's Australian history, from the convict era, to the Mabo land rights campaign, and the modern-day Pentecostal c...

The life of Anna Meares

22 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Anna's stellar cycling career saw her smash Australian Olympic records and become the World Champion 11 times. Then to the surprise of many, she walk...

Lighthouses, daring rescues, and an ANZAC tortoise

21 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Shona Riddell on the adventurous lives of women lighthouse keepers

Wilma Reading's life in song

20 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Cairns-born Wilma Reading was sixteen when her friends first urged her to get up and sing in a Brisbane cafe. Her show-stopping voice later made her ...

Cyrus the Great: 'the anointed one'

19 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Stephen Dando-Collins with the story of the life and deeds of the Persian King Cyrus the Great, whose exploits inspired Alexander the Great and Juliu...

Dr Fish Feelings

18 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Dr Culum Brown's work on fish cognition has proven fish have long memories, sharks have friends, and sting rays know when it's the weekend (R)

Best of 2020 — Joy McKean

11 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Joy's travels with her late husband Slim Dusty brought both challenges and rewards (R)

Best of 2020 — Peggy McDonald

09 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Peggy has spent much of her life as wildlife carer specialising in helping wedge-tail eagles, falcons, owls and other raptors recover their ability t...

Best of 2020 — Peter O'Brien

08 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The lessons Peter learned as a brand new teacher in a one-room bush school in 1960, in the tiny town of Weabonga, New South Wales. The living was har...

Best of 2020 — Nardi Simpson

07 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Yuwaalaraay writer and storyteller, Nardi Simpson of the band, Stiff Gins, talks about her life, art and the meaning of country (R)

Judy Brewer's Mudgegonga love song

04 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Judy on life with her late husband, the politician Tim Fischer, and how her son Harrison helped inspire a new beginning on her farm

Kai and the 99th koala

03 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Arborist Kai Wild used his tree-climbing expertise to rescue burned, injured and orphaned koalas during the Black Summer bushfires (*CW: this episode...

Sir Michael Parkinson — my father John

02 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Broadcaster Michael Parkinson with the life story of his late father John William - Yorkshireman, miner, humourist and fast bowler

Fabulous Ada Delroy — serpentine dancer and vaudevillian

02 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Kaz Cooke traces the dramatic life of a singular woman (R)

A very William McInnes Christmas

01 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

William returns to reminisce about the Christmases of his childhood and his brief but brilliant stint as a department store Santa

Dara McAnulty and the joys of nature

30 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The young naturalist shares his deep connection to the wild landscapes and creatures of Northern Ireland. Dara's first book has been highly awarded, ...

Australia's fearless women pilots

27 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Kathy Mexted with true stories of extraordinary Australian women compelled to take to the skies in Spitfires, Tiger Moths, Cessnas and fighter jets

The girl from Orroroo — Fleur McDonald

26 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Fleur grew up in a fuel depot in a tiny South Australian town. As a girl she would ride along in road trains with her Dad, singing songs and eating s...

Intrepid and curious Charlotte Waring Atkinson — as told by Kate Forsyth

25 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Charlotte was Australia's first children's author. She came to the colony of NSW from London in 1826, and now her trailblazing, tragic and dramatic l...

The true history of the Ark before Noah

24 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

How Irving Finkel stumbled upon the true story of the Ark before Noah on a Babylonian clay tablet (R)

A very modern history of swearing

23 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Amanda Laugesen with the rich history of Australian 'bad language', and how the words we classify as swearing have changed over time. *CW: Discussion...

From the ashes of a failed farm 

20 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Robert Pekin lost his family’s 4th-generation farm, and in despair, walked away from everything and into the wilderness. After much soul-searching ...

The hunt for the world’s largest owl

19 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Wildlife biologist Jonathan Slaght on his adventurous quest to save the rare, shaggy fish owls of Russia's Far East

Falafel and Fatherhood

18 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

John Birmingham found himself rebuilding his life years after the devastating loss of his father (R)