Conversations

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)

Ben Folds' dream of lightning bugs

17 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Ben on his musical career, the art of song writing and his brief stint as a one-man polka band in a German restaurant (R)

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