Conversations
Episodes
The speech collector
04 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Tony Wilson was always drawn to the world's great speeches. Then, without warning, he was called on to make the most difficult speech of his life
Kindness and coincidence — Naomi Shihab Nye
01 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Naomi is an American poet and author living in San Antonio, Texas. Her family story is marked by life-changing coincidences, and narrow escapes
Not fourteen for ever
30 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
How Shannon Molloy survived the worst year of his life, as a gay teenager at an all boys' school on the coast of Central Queensland
Magda Szubanski — my father, the assassin
29 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
A much-loved performer digs into the challenging truth of her father's past (R)
Christiaan Van Vuuren's fully sick life
28 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
While confined to a hospital room for months with a rare form of tuberculosis, Christiaan found love and an entirely new path in life
Disappointing Dickens — Charles Dickens' son in the Australian outback
27 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Tom Keneally with the story of Edward 'Plorn' Dickens who was sent to live in Australia when he was sixteen in the hope he might redeem himself
The life and death of boxer Davey Browne
24 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In 2015, Sydney boxer Davey died of brain swelling after he was knocked out in the ring. When journalist and boxer Stephanie Convery reported on the ...
A therapist peers inside her own mind
23 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
When therapist Lori Gottlieb found herself in therapy after a devastating breakup, she began to rethink her own life story
John Prine — from Paradise to Nashville
22 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
A songwriter's songwriter, John turned his often bemused view of people and politics into songs for fifty years (R)
16 sunrises and sunsets in a day — life aboard the Space Shuttle
21 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Astronaut Jim Bagian on working, eating and sleeping in micro-gravity while orbiting the earth at 28 000 kilometres an hour
The healing power of dogs
20 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Kate Leaver became fascinated by the curative qualities of dogs after her Shih Tzu Bertie helped her through her darkest days
Big Adventures — aviator Charles Kingsford Smith
17 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Biographer Ann Blainey with the tale of Smithy, king of the Milky Way, and his audacious flight across the Pacific in his plane the Southern Cross (R...
Big Adventures — Alexander McCall Smith
16 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
How a lifetime exploring different landscapes inspires the author of the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series, who's also one of the world's most...
Big Adventures — Paula Constant Part 2
15 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Walking the Sahara, towards the fabled city of Timbuktu and into Niger (R)
Big Adventures — Paula Constant Part 1
14 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
A breathtaking Saharan adventure: camels, bandits and one fearless woman (R)
Etgar Keret's seven good years
13 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
A writer recalls the precious stretch of time between the birth of his son, and the death of his father (R)
Min Jin Lee's good fortune
10 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The author of bestselling novel, Pachinko, explores the lives of generations of Koreans in Japan (R)
Bonus: when Sarah's Dad's fruit shop map went viral
09 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Thanks to her dad’s hand-drawn map, a shopping trip Sarah Kanowski made for her parents during the Covid-19 crisis gladdened hearts on social media...
Hugh Mackay on building community in a crisis
09 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Social researcher Hugh Mackay on the many ways Australian society can pull together while we're meant to live apart
Paul Kelly and the poetry
08 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Australia's storyteller in song on poems he's loved since childhood, and how reading and learning great poetry has changed his song writing (R)
Ray Collins — life in the black, and the blue
07 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Ray was a coal miner when an accident underground left him lying prone in a tunnel a kilometre beneath the earth. What he did next changed the course...
Julia Baird on finding shards of light in dark times
06 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
After journalist Julia Baird survived a terrible bout of cancer, she began to think about what sustains us when the world goes dark
Doll's prams and hand-knitted togs: a Hockney family portrait
03 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
John Hockney grew up in an unconventional family of five siblings in post-war Yorkshire. As a child, his brother David drew constantly on any paper h...
A father and son odyssey
02 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
When Daniel Mendelsohn signed up for a Mediterranean cruise to Ithaca with his aging father, neither of them could have predicted what would happen n...
Bill Bailey — seriously funny amateur naturalist
01 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Bill Bailey's passion for twitching began as boy growing up in England's west country (R)
Tales from captivity
31 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Stories of imagination, poetry and menace while living in captivity, from Kari Gislason and Candice Fox
Elizabeth Gilbert on love and letting go of normal
30 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
How a flash of insight about her life saw Liz upend almost everything in it
Bringing life-saving dialysis to Central Australia
27 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Sarah Brown always wanted to be a remote area nurse. Then she began a medical revolution (R)
Saving tiny lives — the mission of a flying midwife
26 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Jan Becker on saving the lives of newborn babies in the 'golden minute' after birth (R)
Graham Martin on going from doctor to patient
25 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Psychiatrist Graham Martin learned a lot of new things about medicine when he unexpectedly and painfully became the patient (R)
Nursing on Sydney's streets
24 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
When working with people experiencing homelessness, Erin Longbottom looks to their strengths to help them find their way to health, and a home (R)
The man who saved a million brains: Creswell Eastman's pioneering work with iodine deficiency disorder
23 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Abolishing iodine deficiency throughout the world was this doctor's mission (R)
The Queen of Country — Joy McKean
20 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Travelling Australia with her husband Slim Dusty brought challenges and rewards
Ten women — a series of murders in Depression-era Sydney
19 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Tanya Bretherton tells the story of the victims whose killings were largely ignored by police, and whose fate haunted the streets of eastern Sydney
The story of the Snowy
18 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
When Siobhan McHugh set out to write a history of Australia's Snowy Scheme, she unearthed stories of pugnacious unionists, drowned towns and a love s...
The life of Angela Lansbury
17 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The warm, funny and slightly terrifying Angela Lansbury opens up about her seven-decade long career on stage and screen (R)
Life after Troll Hunting
16 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
After she was trolled online, Ginger Gorman turned to face her attackers, and developed a completely new understanding of why people abuse others onl...
Building a school for the world’s poorest children — Gemma Sisia's story
13 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
A donation of land and $10 was all Australian-born Gemma needed to establish The School of St Jude in Tanzania
Parenting our parents — Jean Kittson on looking after Mum and Dad
12 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
As Jean negotiated the maze of caring for her ageing parents, she began collecting the information she found useful, as well as asking herself and ot...
Hannah Kent and the Good People of Ireland
11 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The fairies of Ireland's folk culture were capricious twilight creatures who could bestow favour or grave misfortune (R)
The miracles and limits of modern medicine
10 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Doctor Karen Hitchcock peers into the culture of modern medicine, from the flu season to female viagra, to dementia and the humble sick day
Devices and democracy: will Big Tech control us?
09 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Jamie Susskind on how digital technologies such as artificial intelligence, blockchain, robotics and virtual reality are transforming our political s...
Changing how we talk about rape
06 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Extraordinary survivor Sohaila Abdulali was seventeen when she was gang raped and forced to fight for her life (R)
This anxious life: Dr Mark Cross
05 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Mark is an experienced consultant psychiatrist who also suffers from Australia's most common mental health condition, anxiety. His direct insight hel...
The secret life of the Grey Plover
04 Mar 2020
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...
The songs of trees
03 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Biologist David George Haskell on how he discovered the unique songs of trees, and the way they interconnect (R)
Julia's forgetful heart
02 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Julia Stevens was one of Australia's top triathletes when doctors told her they needed to implant a tiny defibrillator inside her chest wall to keep ...
Matt Okine on growing up when everything is falling apart
28 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Matt on his Brisbane childhood, losing his mum at the age of 12, and how a chance conversation with his university drama teacher altered the course o...
Jackie French and the Valley
27 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Jackie has lived in the Araluen Valley of NSW for 46 years, where powerful owls boom through the nights and lyrebirds scratch up the garden. In recen...
How a former ironman made the beach accessible to everyone
26 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
For a time, surf-loving athlete Nick Marshall was a professional Ironman. Then he created a new way for kids with special needs to be included at the...
A revolutionary idea to stop good food going to waste
25 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Ronni Kahn saved 45,000 tonnes of food from landfill and changed how we think about food waste
Eric Idle's life on the bright side
24 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Eric on life before and after Monty Python's Flying Circus (R)
Mike Hayes and the Holy Grail of winemaking
21 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Mike was 15 when he left school to chip weeds in a Queensland vineyard. Forty years later he found himself in Portugal holding one of the world's old...
Thea Hayes the walkabout nurse
20 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
When Thea was hired as a nurse on one of the largest cattle runs in the world, the job expanded to include hostessing and saving cows with clover blo...
Botox, castrations and beauty pageants: Inside the world of Australia's only camel vet
19 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Margie Bale's car is loaded with ultrasounds, milk crates and angle grinders. All the things needed when you're tending to 7-foot tall camels in the ...
Young Hitler
18 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
How WWI helped a homeless vagabond named Adolf Hitler become the dictator of the German Reich (R)
The pavlova in the suitcase
17 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Michelle Garnaut on how she began one of the world's most famous restaurants in communist-era Shanghai (R)
The unusual life of Rima Hadchiti
14 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
At 100cm tall, Rima is one of the smallest people in the world. But throughout her life, she's demanded to be heard
Lorenzo Montesini's Vietnam War love story, and life after Pitty Pat
13 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In 1990 Lorenzo shocked Sydney society by leaving heiress Primrose Dunlop at the altar in Venice to run off with his best man. But behind the headlin...
Benny and the pact with God
12 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
When doctors told Benny Agius her baby son had Down syndrome, she was full of anxiety about his future. Then Richard grew up to defy everyone's expec...
Taking the pulse of a dopesick nation
11 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The opioid crisis is destroying hundreds of thousands of American lives and Beth Macy has been up close to it (R)
Villainesses, Vulcans and a new sort of sexuality — the life of Judith Anderson
10 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Judith was an Australian who found screen stardom in 1940s Hollywood, and has since became a lesbian icon. Biographer Desley Deacon tells her story
Fish, frogs and a photographer
07 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Nature photographer Gary Cranitch on his working life floating off the Great Barrier Reef to capture a split-second image of the 'biggest orgy on the...
Steve's life in the London squats
06 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Steve Bevington talks about his years in the thick of an underground movement of London squatters, who would break into abandoned buildings, change t...
When Robert met Maida
05 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Former politician Robert Tickner grew up in country NSW, 'showered with love' by his adoptive parents. When he began the search for his biological mu...
Life in 248 dimensions
04 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Mathematician Geordie Williamson spent eight years cracking the code to find the weight of atoms in space (R)
The truth about space junk
03 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Space archaeologist Dr Alice Gorman on the unexpected artefacts of the space age (R)
Higher ground — rebuilding a town after disaster
31 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Jamie Simmonds on the successful relocation of Grantham, Queensland after it was destroyed by catastrophic flooding
Grantham — the town that washed away
30 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
When an inland tsunami smashed into a rural Queensland town in January 2011, people were killed and the town destroyed. Jamie Simmonds became the rig...
1956: Australia's pivotal year
29 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Historian Nick Richardson on the year that changed Australia forever
Toad vs toad: outwitting the cane toad with ingenious biology
28 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Rick Shine used one toad to defeat another, by a process of evolutionary conditioning, to save the snakes he was studying in Northern Australia (R)
William McInnes on being a dad
27 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
William wanders through stories of fatherhood, from growing up in Queensland in the 1970s, to raising his own children as a single dad (R)William is ...
After triple zero — a paramedic's tale
24 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Benjamin Gilmour describes the hectic work of saving lives, and what it's like to bring people back from the brink of suicide
Mary's three gurus
23 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
How a young woman fell under the spell of spiritual cult leaders in the 1970s
How Sean Sweeney found his deaf heart
22 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Sean was the first hearing baby to be born to his mother’s family in four generations. He became an Auslan interpreter, and an instantly recognisab...
Claire G. Coleman's many lives
20 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Claire grew up running wild in the Banksia forests of Southern Western Australia. As an adult she had a period of homelessness, living on the streets...
Leaving the Westboro Baptist Church
19 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Megan Phelps-Roper grew up inside the notorious Westboro Baptist Church family. In 2012 she left the church, and her family, to live in the world she...
Best of 2019 — Bryan Brown
20 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Bryan’s played more than 80 roles on stage and screen. Raised in working-class Sydney, his talent, hard work, and unmistakable presence have been h...
Best of 2019 — Ron McCallum
19 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Left totally blind by treatment he received as a premature baby, Ron credits technology, love, and good timing with his success in life and the law ...
Best of 2019 — Archie Roach
18 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Archie tells of writing Took the Children Away and playing it in public for the first time, of his belated reunion with his siblings, and his love st...
Best of 2019 — Pia Winberg
17 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Pia began her own seaweed farm after decades as a marine ecologist. One ordinary working day there was a terrible accident (R)
Best of 2019 — Vickie Roach
16 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Vickie's met with trouble all through her life, starting with a police record at the age of two. She went on to challenge a Federal law on the rights...
Peter Helliar's gothic side
16 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
When comedian Peter Helliar was a child, he was fascinated by the idea of death, and wrote about it endlessly. Then he grew up to become the 'world's...
Summer Holidays: a story collection
13 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Tales of the great Australian summer holiday from Mark Trevorrow, Alice Pung, Jack Hoysted and Steph Tisdell
Ben and the Big Issue
12 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Ben grew up in Drumchapel, a Glasgow housing estate. As a young man, he built a thriving career as a musician, went to University and married. But so...
Writer and diarist Helen Garner: from Paris to Moonee Ponds
11 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Helen recently published her diaries from 1978-1987. They include her thoughts on writing and work, parenting, love affairs, the quest for the right ...
The end of the Milky Way
10 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Astrophysicist Lisa Harvey-Smith on how Andromeda is due to collide with our galaxy in five billion years time (R)
The true history of the Ark before Noah
09 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
How Irving Finkel stumbled upon the true story of the Ark before Noah on a Babylonian clay tablet
British actor Timothy Spall digs deep
06 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Timothy’s stellar screen career, including roles in ‘Mr Turner’, ‘Secrets and Lies’, the Harry Potter films, and his latest, ‘Mrs Lowry &...
Dylan Moran and the white-knuckle ride of stand up comedy
05 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Irish comic Dylan Moran on his unusual childhood, the story behind Black Books, and why he's given up drinking for good
Craig Foster and the battle to save fellow footballer, Hakeem al-Araibi
04 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
After Hakeem was imprisoned while on his honeymoon in Thailand, Craig fought the power of two monarchies, a military junta, and the world's largest s...
The doctor known as 'The God of Sight'
03 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Nepalese surgeon Dr Sanduk Ruit on his work in the villages of Nepal which has restored the sight of more than 150 000 people (R)
Rescuing the boys from the cave — Richard Harris
02 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
An anaesthetist and cave diver, Richard had the exact combination of skills needed to help save the lives of a Thai soccer team trapped deep underwat...
Paul Kelly and the poetry
29 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Australia's storyteller in song on poems he's loved since childhood, and how reading and learning great poetry has changed his song writing
Drones and forgiveness
28 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
How a young computer scientist found his way out of a traumatic childhood
War crimes, bombings, secret lives — Tony Jones turns truth into thrillers
27 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
The retiring host of Q&A reflects on his time with the show, and how his years reporting from the former Yugoslavia have helped him craft best-se...
How Christos found radical compassion
26 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Writer Christos Tsiolkas broke away from the Christian church as a teenager. As a grown man, in a moment of personal crisis, he rediscovered the lett...
Inside the engine room of power
25 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
How Samantha Power became one of world's most influential foreign policy thinkers
The honourable fight: 16 years as Director of Public Prosecutions NSW
22 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Nicholas Cowdery oversaw some of Australia's most sensational cases during his 16 years in the role. His decisions often made him enemies in politics...
Watching the universe from the Hubble Space Telescope
21 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
NASA astronomer Jennifer Wiseman on exploring the design of the universe (R)