Conversations
Episodes
The animal that walked into my life — story collection
16 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
A cat, a hawk, a monkey, a crow and a lop-eared rabbit: animals who walked into the lives of five people leaving the humans to wonder, 'What am I to ...
Alannah Hill — behind the mask
13 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
At sixteen, Alannah fled Tasmania and a traumatic past. In Melbourne, she began her wildly distinctive fashion label, which became an empire. Then th...
What happened to the USA?
12 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Nick Bryant reports from New York for the BBC. It's a city he's loved since his first visit in the 1980s. Now when he looks at the USA he wonders if ...
Tim Cope in the footsteps of Genghis Khan — Part Two
11 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Tim continues his epic three-year adventure on horseback across the Eurasian Steppe, in this episode journeying from Kazakhstan all the way to Hungar...
Tim Cope in the footsteps of Genghis Khan — Part One
10 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Tim's epic journey across the Eurasian Steppe on horseback, in the style of the Mongol nomads, took him three years (R)
Night of the midget subs — Sydney under attack
09 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In 1942 three midget submarines armed with torpedoes made their way into Sydney Harbour to launch an attack on Allied warships. They were sent by the...
Sophie, the ballerina and the red balloon - Chasing the impossible dream and sacrificing ambition for love
06 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Mary Li was a star ballerina when she fell in love with Li Cunxin, her dance partner at the Houston Ballet. When their daughter Sophie was born profo...
Born to climb the Dawn Wall — Tommy Caldwell
05 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Yosemite’s most punishing climb is the 3000ft sheer face of El Capitan mountain called the Dawn Wall. Tommy grew up exploring Yosemite and in 2015 ...
Cheat!
04 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The most audacious sports cheats aren't always elite athletes. Titus O'Reily takes a look at the ignoble art of winning by breaking, or bending, the ...
How Richard Glover survived a strange upbringing
03 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Richard's family story is hard to beat in a game of who has the strangest parents. The Sydney broadcaster began to understand more about his eccentri...
Comedian Fiona O’Loughlin on living in the light
02 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Fiona’s alcoholism took her a long time to acknowledge and cost her a great deal. In recent years she’s been reckoning with all that’s happened...
Losing baby Miles
30 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
When Annabel Bower’s fourth child Miles was stillborn, she decided to begin to break the silence around stillbirth and miscarriage
From the meatworks to mending men's souls
29 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Peter Stojanovic was working in a Melbourne meatworks when a spiritual epiphany led him to a new life, working with violent men to help change their ...
Introducing — Days Like These
28 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
During Australia's worst bushfires Cate Tregellas and her family were forced to evacuate their home in Mallacoota and retreat to the local wharf as f...
How to catch a wild bull
28 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Lach McClymont mustered hundreds of wild cattle, untouched for decades, from a remote area of the Northern Territory (R)
When Cathy went to Canberra
27 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Cathy McGowan never imagined a future for herself as a politician. So when she became Federal Member for Indi she began doing politics very different...
Ajay Rane and the gift of the earthenware pot
23 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Ajay is an obstetrician and urogynecologist who grew up in rural India. His father, born to one of India’s lowest classes, was also a surgeon — a...
Lamorna and the sea
22 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
When Lamorna Ash began to explore her Cornish ancestry she started work on a rusty yellow fishing trawler called the Filadelfia, scaling fish, guttin...
Finding Stalin's wine cellar
21 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
John Baker on hunting down a cache of rare and impossibly valuable French wine which had been hidden away by Josef Stalin, deep in the Republic of Ge...
Jacqui Lambie — the unlikely Senator
20 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
From painkiller addiction to parliament, Jacqui's life has been a rollercoaster (R)
Mary-Louise and her fourth pandemic
19 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Epidemiologist Mary-Louise McLaws on life during COVID-19, the virus she classifies as both vulnerable and ruthless
Robert Dessaix — just as I please
15 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Robert built a whole life out of things which sparked his curiosity, whether they were languages, people or places. But when he met his birth mother ...
Psychotherapy on the couch
14 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Demystifying the art of talk therapy and the complex relationship between therapist and patient (R)
Harry and the monster croc
13 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Harry Bowman tells adventurous tales from his three decades driving tour boats in the crocodile-infested Adelaide River, including the day he saved t...
Robin Ince — inside the comic mind
12 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Becardiganed polymath Robin Ince on the fascinating brains of stand-up comics (R)
Jimmy Barnes — a broken homecoming
09 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Jimmy Barnes grew up as a boy called James Swan in Glasgow, then in South Australia. In his late teens, he joined a band called Cold Chisel and becam...
Hetty McKinnon — lessons from my mother's kitchen
08 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Cookbook author Hetty McKinnon was raised by a mum who was a passionate and creative cook. But Hetty was never particularly interested in cooking her...
David Astle's brain on puzzles
07 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
How one of the world's most influential crossword setters became increasingly interested in the science behind them (R)
Richard and the island
06 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Richard Flanagan on writing his apocalyptic novel on a remote island, as bushfires burned through Tasmania's forests
Kumi's Japanese inheritance
05 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Television presenter Kumi Taguchi's story of searching for her Japanese heritage began with searching for her grandparent's house in Tokyo, which non...
The railway child - Monica from Clare
02 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Monica McInerney grew up in a family of railway children, as her Dad was the stationmaster in the tiny South Australian town of Clare. At 16, she lef...
Sick in the Land of the Well
01 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Jacinta Parsons was in her 20s when she became horribly unwell with Crohn's disease, a chronic disease of the digestive system. Then, doctors gave he...
Sophie and Russell and Bear and Poppy
30 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
How Sophie Townsend kept on, after losing her beloved husband to a sudden illness
Tracking the trial of a Mississippi murder
29 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
John Safran had a personal interest in the death of white supremacist, Richard Barrett. What he discovered when digging into the case revealed more t...
A restaurant named Parwana — Afghan treasure in Adelaide
28 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Durkhanai Ayubi and her family keep alive the stories and flavours they carried to Australia from Afghanistan, in the dining room of their 'accidenta...
Wil Paterson aka Mr Ordinary — Not Quite What I Had Planned
25 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Wil Patterson was a suburban dad who wanted all the good things in life for his family. Then he made a decision which upended everything
Helen Elliott — Not Quite What I Had Planned
24 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Helen was working as a psychologist when she became so ill she was held in a locked psychiatric ward. There she was given ECT, one of the most extrem...
Zenith Virago — Not Quite What I Had Planned
23 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Zenith Virago married at seventeen, and had two children. Then she left her young family to create a life of her own on the other side of the world ...
Akmal Saleh — Not Quite What I Had Planned
22 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
When Akmal and his wife decided to have a treechange by moving to Byron Bay, almost immediately a comedy of errors ensued, involving a python in the ...
From having a severe stutter to becoming the man with the magnificent voice - James Earl Jones
21 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
How the man who voiced Darth Vader and Mufasa overcame a childhood stutter to build a career on his rich, resonant voice (R)James grew up with a stut...
Dave Graney — a musician's take on the art of the bludge
18 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Dave looks back on the many forms of employment and unemployment to have sustained him as a hard working musician (R)
The Salami Sisters, Puberty Blues, and beyond
17 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In the late 70s, Gabrielle Carey co-wrote a blisteringly honest novel about the real lives of teenage surfie chicks in Cronulla which caused a storm ...
The story of a tank named Mephisto
16 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Why the only remaining WW1 German A7V tank is in Brisbane, Australia (R)
A Herdwick shepherd's epiphany
15 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
A new conversation with James Rebanks on how he saved his family farm by returning to ancient ways of growing crops and meadows
Mudlarking and beachcombing — a family story of London rubbish
10 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Lisa Woollett's family made their living from combing through London's waste for treasures. Her great-grandfather was a scavenger and her grandad was...
Bangarra's bold leader: Stephen Page
09 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
When they were kids, Stephen and his brothers would climb onto the laundry roof and put on a show for their neighbourhood. Stephen's since made an ex...
How Dyarubbin became the crucible of a colony
08 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Grace Karskens with the story of the riverlands of the Hawkesbury-Nepean, where ancient and modern Australia first collided
Maggie Dent - helping teenage boys grow into good men
07 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Maggie grew up around boys, then raised four sons of her own. Now she helps parents understand the changes teenage boys are going through as they cro...
Ivan Milat, tribal law, and making my father proud — Andrew Boe's story
04 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Andrew was a 4 year old when his family migrated to Australia from Burma. By his mid-20s he had his own criminal law practice. When he took on a clie...
One thumb, one toe — Billy's escape from paralysis
03 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
When a powerful wave he was riding sent him smashing into the sand, breaking his neck, former Army Ranger Billy Hedderman came within a breath of dyi...
Craig Foster's fight to save Hakeem
02 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
After young Australian soccer player Hakeem al-Araibi was imprisoned in Thailand, Craig fought the power of two monarchies, a military junta, and the...
Geoff Goodfellow's poetry captures the spirit of working-class Australia
01 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
A former boxer and builder's labourer, Geoff is now a highly successful poet (R)
The amazing life of Frida DeGuise
31 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
How a girl from the suburbs of Melbourne grew up to become Australia's first female Muslim standup comedian
Melina Marchetta — that Italian girl
28 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The true story behind Looking for Alibrandi (R)
Richard Fidler's Prague
28 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Richard shares stories gathered while writing his biography of the city of Prague. Some emerged from his research trip of 2019, others involved deep ...
Taking your cat for a walk and why dogs never stop loving — Jeffrey Masson
27 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Jeff's latest book on animal behaviour tackles grief — the loss we feel when a beloved pet dies, as well as the understanding other species have of...
Timothy Spall — the British actor digs deep on screen and in life
26 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Timothy’s stellar career, including roles in ‘Mr Turner’, ‘Secrets and Lies’, the Harry Potter films, and his latest, ‘Mrs Lowry & So...
Ray versus the road toll — a lifelong campaign against road deaths
25 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Dr Raymond Shuey saved countless lives during his career with Victoria Police, driving significant change to road rules, as well as how police respon...
The great hope of Isaiah Dawe
24 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Isaiah lived in 17 places in his first 18 years, none of them with his parents. Now he's established an organisation to give Indigenous young people ...
A daughter's unswerving love — Sarah Holland-Batt and her father
21 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Sarah Holland-Batt's dad Tony was a loving father, her intellectual mentor and her friend. At 18, she became one of his carers. Later she battled an ...
The ancient trails of the South East Forests
20 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
After decades walking in the South East Forests of NSW, John Blay thought he knew them well. Then Indigenous friends showed him the Bundian Way, a tr...
Dylan Moran and the white-knuckle ride of standup
19 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Dylan Moran on his County Meath childhood, making Black Books, and why he gave up drinking for good (R)
Rozanna's curious life
18 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Rozanna Lilley was raised in a bohemian household by her parents, writers Dorothy Hewett and Merv Lilley. In her early teens, her childhood was carel...
Walking from Camooweal to Birdsville with nine goats
17 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Owen Davies on his 98-day trek with goats and dogs, walking more than 990 kilometres down the Georgina River in outback Queensland (R)
The brutal and beautiful world of Australia's native bees
14 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Sugarbag bees who headbutt their queen to death are among the many Australian bee species which fascinate ecologist Toby Smith (R)
Stranded — what Claire learned from falling
13 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Claire Nelson was in the Joshua Tree National Park hiking alone when she strayed from the trail and slipped, shattering her pelvis. Her phone was out...
Falling for a fake
12 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Stephanie Wood was a successful, confident journalist when she fell for a romantic fraudster (R)
The apartment on Memorial Drive
11 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Natasha Trethewey was 19 when her mother Gwendolyn was brutally murdered. During this great rupture in her life Natasha began to garner acclaim for h...
The Weabonga lessons
10 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Peter O'Brien was a new minted teacher in 1960 when he took a job at a one-room bush school in Weabonga, NSW. The living was hard, but the job was in...
Myth and Legend — Kate Forsyth on the dark origins of beloved fairytales
07 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The stories which preceded modern iterations of Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, and Little Red Riding Hood were often much more disturbing (R)
Myth and Legend — Battles, fairie curses and the evil eye: why old Irish tales still delight us
06 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Irish novelist Paedar O'Guilin weaves old myths into startling new stories (R)
Myth and Legend — the creation of Wonder Woman
05 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Historian Jill Lepore untangles the secret history of one of the 20th Century's most striking superheroes. She explains the myths, politics and eccen...
Myth and Legend — Neil Gaiman on classic Norse mythology
04 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Neil explores some of the stories from Nordic mythology which have captivated him since childhood (R)
Myth and Legend — the monsters and morals of Sarah Perry
03 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Sarah's life took a gothic turn as she crafted her version of Melmoth (R)
The world of the holocaust's 'hide-away' children
30 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Author Bart van Es with the story of the young Jewish girl Lien de Jong, hidden by Bart's Dutch grandparents during WWII when they joined the resista...
Bronze age pigs and ancient dingoes — stories from the bones
29 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
How zooarchaeologist Melanie Fillios uses the remains and fossils of animals, including dingoes, to understand more about ancient humans
The sister who stayed behind
28 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Writer Favel Parrett’s grandmother fled Prague as a teenager, but her sister stayed on, and then lived through both Nazism and Stalinism (R)
Stan Grant's life in storytelling
27 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Stan Grant on his life as a journalist, author and filmmaker from the Wiradjuri, Kamilaroi and Dharawal First Nations of Australia
Swimming, the Sisters of Mercy, and the search for meaning
24 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
At 15, Rebecca McCabe was on track to compete in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics for swimming. As swam, she would often ask herself big questions about...
Fascinating fungi — the intelligent kingdom
23 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Biologist Merlin Sheldrake's extreme experiments, many of which involve his physical body and varying forms of fungi, have led to equally remarkable ...
Rise and fall of the Rock Star
22 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
David Hepworth charts our fascination with that most earth-bound of gods, the rock star; and discusses some of music history's striking examples
Eddie Woo on finding the right formula
21 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Despite never really liking maths at school, Eddie made up his mind in the teaching sign-on queue, to become a maths teacher. This split-second decis...
Floating though the dolines
20 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Cave diver Stefan Eberhard has spent decades exploring the vast underwater caves of the Nullarbor Plains, where the water teems with blind shrimp and...
From a mountain monastery
17 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Paul Haller grew up Catholic in Belfast, and his pursuit of meaning has since taken him around the world. Now a Zen priest, Zen practice and teaching...
Lying on the job — the story of an undercover officer
16 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Keith Banks spent twenty years in his dream career with the Queensland Police. He was awarded for bravery several times, but left the job angry and d...
Bill Bryson and the wonders of the human body
15 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Why is scratching an itch so pleasurable? How can someone leap from a burning plane in the sky and survive with a few bumps and scratches? A journey ...
Territory taxidermist — Jared Archibald
14 Jul 2020
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 pearls...
Nardi Simpson on Crocodile Country
13 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Yuwaalaraay writer, storyteller and performer, Nardi Simpson of the Stiff Gins talks about her life, art and the meaning of country
A boy, his pony and the Sydney Harbour Bridge
10 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Lennie Gwyther was 9 years old when he rode Ginger Mick from country Victoria to Sydney to be at the opening of the Bridge (R)
In Pico Iyer's Japan the air is thronged with ghosts
09 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Pico was a journalist in New York when a 20-hour layover at Narita airport in Japan made him question everything. He decided to begin again as a monk...
The raptor whisperer
08 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Peggy McDonald has spent much of her life as wildlife carer who specialises in helping wedge-tail eagles, falcons, owls and other raptors recover the...
Magic mushrooms, micro-dosing and Michael Pollan
07 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
How Michael Pollan 'shook the snowglobe' of his mind by investigating the therapeutic effects of psychedelic substancesIn 2006 writer Michael Pollan ...
The epic hunt for the deadly Taipan
03 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Brendan James Murray on the elusive copper-coloured snake species which terrorised post WWII North Queensland (R)
Not your average dentist
02 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Sharonne Zaks was working as a dentist when an encounter with a patient named Anna led her to develop a radical new branch of dentistry (R)
The life of 'Mr Eternity'
01 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Throughout the 1930s and 40s, Arthur Stace rose before dawn to write a one-word sermon in chalk on the footpaths of Sydney. Writer Roy Williams unear...
Leigh Sales and the days after the worst possible day
30 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Leigh went through an event in 2014 which changed her profoundly. She was left questioning how we cope when the unimaginable happens (R)
Tim Rogers' daydreams
29 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The frontman of You Am I on his life in music, his Kalgoorlie childhood, and his battles with anxiety (R)
Reframing identity through motherhood and marriage with Glennon Doyle
26 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Glennon made a big name for herself in the US as a ‘Christian mommy blogger’ with her candid and often hilarious writing when she fell wildly in ...
Deborah Feldman: rejecting my Hasidic roots
25 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Writer Deborah Feldman grew up inside the claustrophobic world of an ultra-orthodox Jewish sect in Brooklyn, and as a teenager she was married off to...
The daredevil of Monte Cristo
24 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Lawrence Ryan grew up in a dilapidated Victorian-era homestead called Monte Cristo. From when he was young, he knew he'd grow up to become a professi...