Conversations

Bill Bryson and the wonders of the human body

01 Oct 2019

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? Take a jou...

Nursing on Sydney’s streets

30 Sep 2019

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

A friendship and a giant literary hoax

27 Sep 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Alison Hoddinott and Gwen Harwood were great friends with a shared love of English, family, and thumbing their noses at convention (R)

The evolution of Charlie Veron: the Great Barrier Reef's first scientist

26 Sep 2019

Contributed by Lukas

School was nearly the undoing of the intensely curious child who went on to discover nearly a quarter of the world's coral species, and be awarded th...

A vibrant life - Kath Venn at 84

25 Sep 2019

Contributed by Lukas

The late Kath Venn was a powerhouse of community spirit. After serving in Tasmania's parliament, she was State President of the Housewives Associatio...

RAF pilot Frank Dell's story of survival in Nazi occupied Holland

24 Sep 2019

Contributed by Lukas

In October 1944 Frank's De Havilland Mosquito was shot out of the sky and he parachuted into Nazi territory (R)

Secret of the native hibiscus: western science meets Indigenous knowledge

23 Sep 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Botanist and Dharawal elder Fran Bodkin uses western science to explain up to 80,000 years of Australian Indigenous plant knowledge (R)

Why is so little known about women’s bodies?

20 Sep 2019

Contributed by Lukas

After attending a conference on endometriosis in 2015, journalist Gabrielle Jackson broke down in tears. She realised she knew nothing about the dise...

One hundred acres of bamboo

19 Sep 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Durnford Dart longed to return to life on the land, where he’d spent his best childhood years. He went on to pioneer bamboo farming in Australia 

The tangled web of spirituality

18 Sep 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Seeking a connection with a higher power led Rob Donnelly into the Catholic priesthood, but the reality of a religious life was not what he expected

Ben Folds' dream about lightning bugs

17 Sep 2019

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

The indestructible nature of Corey White

16 Sep 2019

Contributed by Lukas

A childhood of abuse and neglect led Corey to an unusual place - the stage. His wit and resilience make his stand-up comedy sharply observed and dark...

Nat Young is still in search of the perfect wave

13 Sep 2019

Contributed by Lukas

For four-time world champion surfer Nat, surfing is about more than competition or exercise, it's a religion

Keeping Mum: love and dementia

12 Sep 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Daughter Nia tells how early-onset dementia has reshaped the powerful partnership of her parents, Moira and Leon Pericles

Why don’t more dads take parental leave?

11 Sep 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Annabel Crabb on the inequity between parents of different genders, prompted by the hullabaloo surrounding New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Arden’...

Prepping for the apocalypse: bunkers, bullets and billionaires

10 Sep 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Bradley Garrett explores ‘doomsday prepping’, a multi-billion dollar industry driven by dread (R)

Akmal Saleh really doesn't like the jungle

09 Sep 2019

Contributed by Lukas

An impulse decision to buy a home in the rainforest launches a comedy of errors involving a python in the roof, a half-finished home, an unexpected t...

The greatest air race: twenty planes, London to Melbourne, 1934

06 Sep 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Early aviation's most dramatic event saw courage, tragedy and a miraculous rescue involving the whole town of Albury

Sex, death and the northern quoll

05 Sep 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Overcoming breast cancer in the first year of her daughter's life led scientist Amanda Niehaus to a deeper study of reproduction and death

The life of Antarctic icebreaker Aurora Australis

04 Sep 2019

Contributed by Lukas

When the ship starts to cut through the ice, marine biologist Sarah Laverick feels the vibrations rumble through her body like a thunderstorm

The art of precision engineering with Simon Winchester

03 Sep 2019

Contributed by Lukas

The modern world functions on precision - phones, computers, cameras that operate with exactness. But in the quest for perfection, have we lost the a...

The first foreign lawyer to practice in Afghanistan

02 Sep 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Lawyer Kimberley Motley took a nine-month assignment in Kabul, and never looked back, becoming the first foreign litigator to practice in Afghanistan...

On the trail of Candidate Trump: Katy Tur

30 Aug 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Katy was described by Donald Trump as disgraceful, a liar, and 'third-rate' during her coverage of his successful Presidential campaign (R)

Bangarra's bold leader: Stephen Page

29 Aug 2019

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...

Tim Fischer's 1000 days in the Eternal City

28 Aug 2019

Contributed by Lukas

We reprise the former Deputy Prime Minister's account of his time as Australia's representative to the Vatican (R)

The travails of travelling with a parent

27 Aug 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Comedian Adam Rozenbachs booked his father on the trip of a lifetime. But it turns out his Dad doesn't like museums or monuments, galleries or landma...

The insatiable curiosity of Phillip Adams

26 Aug 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Broadcaster Phillip Adams is a filmmaker, former ad man and author - and he’s just celebrated his 80th birthday

Min Jin Lee's good fortune

23 Aug 2019

Contributed by Lukas

The author of bestselling novel, Pachinko, explores the lives of generations of Koreans in Japan

Unlocking the mystery of human remains

22 Aug 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Forensic anthropologist Lucina Hackman uses scientific evidence and rational deduction to identify the dead, and return the missing to their loved on...

Uncle Jack Charles: not true blue, true blak

21 Aug 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Uncle Jack was forcibly removed from his mother as a baby and denied his Aboriginality. A one-off trip to Fitzroy connected him with a family he didn...

Fine Cotton Fiasco bonus episode

20 Aug 2019

Contributed by Lukas

One of the all time greatest and silliest stories in Australian history

Peter Hoysted: The Fine Cotton affair, a racing fraud fiasco

20 Aug 2019

Contributed by Lukas

The farcical events that unfolded when a group of conspirators hatched a plot to defraud bookmakers of millions of dollars (R)

Dr Anne Aly is comfortable being the outsider

19 Aug 2019

Contributed by Lukas

When Anne was ten, she walked onto the school playground and a girl spat in her face after calling her ‘a dirty, Arab Muslim’. To her shock, the ...

Pygmy dinosaurs and blue-eyed Neanderthals: Europe's startling deep past

16 Aug 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Tim Flannery on the bizarre geography of prehistoric Europe, and how an asteroid the size of Manhattan ruptured everything

Discovering a partner’s secret: online child sexual exploitation material

15 Aug 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Natalie Walker supports the innocent partners and families of perpetrators of online child sex offences. She founded an organisation to provide peer ...

The sculptor's son

14 Aug 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Hung Le and his family made a terrifying escape from Saigon in 1975. All they had with them was one suitcase, a box of biscuits and some seasick pill...

Jurors behaving badly

13 Aug 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Law Professor Jeremy Gans with stories of jurors using ouija boards in court, falling in love with advocates and snoozing through proceedings (R)

How brutal politics and righteous prayers toppled a Prime Minister

12 Aug 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Niki Savva on the bungled coup which ousted Malcolm Turnbull and installed his surprise successor, Scott Morrison

Actor Bryan Brown’s ticket from Bankstown to Palm Beach

09 Aug 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...

Tommy Caldwell: born to climb the Dawn Wall

08 Aug 2019

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 ...

A heartbreaking, Machiavellian drama: what went on inside the Banking Royal Commission

07 Aug 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Dan Ziffer had a front row seat for the testimony of victims, financial advisors and bankers offered up to Australia's Banking Royal Commission

Exposing the banks: the journalist who sparked a royal commission

06 Aug 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Adele Ferguson on the dishonest dealings of Australia's banks and financial institutions, and the damage done to customers and whistleblowers

Peter Bell and the singular quest of Kyung Ae

05 Aug 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Peter's Korean birth mother spent years searching for her son in America. Then she discovered an AFL star living in Perth (R)

The Lumiere brothers, Louise Brooks, and The Humorous Rollerskater

02 Aug 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Writer Dominic Smith on the glittering, perplexing history of the silent film era

When a strong man broke

01 Aug 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Grant Edwards won the title of The Strongest Man in Australia for four years in a row by pulling trains, planes, trucks and ships. At work, he fought...

The man with five lives

31 Jul 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Roger Pulvers lived an adventurous life in the Soviet Union, Japan and Poland, before he chose a whole new identity in 1976

The determination of Dr Dinesh Palipana

30 Jul 2019

Contributed by Lukas

A severe spinal injury could not crush Dinesh Palipana's drive to become a doctor (R)

The arachnologist with a fear of spiders

29 Jul 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Robert Raven puts aside his long-held fear of spiders to collect them and uncover hundreds of new species. (R)

Candy Devine: from a cabaret in Cairns to Belfast's Downtown Radio

26 Jul 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Faye McLeod took on a stage name when she became a performer, and followed her star to the UK in the 1960s (R)

Against the death penalty: barrister Julian McMahon

25 Jul 2019

Contributed by Lukas

When Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran were executed by the Indonesian Government, their lawyer of 9 years was not far away. Theirs are among the deat...

The deep time dreaming of an ancient continent

24 Jul 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Historian Billy Griffiths on the complex history of Australia's indigenous archaeology

John Marsden's manifesto on teaching and raising children

23 Jul 2019

Contributed by Lukas

John on what he's learned in more than 30 years as an educator, parent, and founder and principal of Candlebark and Alice Miller schools

Micro-dosing, magic mushrooms, and Michael Pollan

22 Jul 2019

Contributed by Lukas

At 59, Michael became a 'reluctant psychonaut'. While on LSD he felt his sense of self disintegrate into a storm of Post-it notes

The silver medal that changed Laurie Lawrence

19 Jul 2019

Contributed by Lukas

As a child, the superstar swim coach lived with a chronic lung condition, and had part of a lung removed. In 1956, a huge event held in his family's ...

Nursing at altitude: the story of a Royal Flying Doctor flight nurse 

18 Jul 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Louise Burton has worked with the Royal Flying Doctor Service Qld for twenty years

Why Australia should prepare to fight alone

17 Jul 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Hugh White on the conundrum of how Australia can defend itself in the Asian century

Helping hoarders let go

16 Jul 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Psychologist Jessica Grisham on working with people whose wellbeing is threatened by their attachment to 'stuff' (R)

Voicing velociraptors and capturing the dawn chorus

15 Jul 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Sound designer and naturalist Douglas Quin makes field recordings from everywhere on Earth and uses them to create soundscapes for film and tv, galle...

A magical country childhood: Alison Lester

12 Jul 2019

Contributed by Lukas

From Antarctica to Arnhem Land, the pages of the books of this prolific author and illustrator are fuelled by adventure (R)

Backing the wild dreams of youth: Jan Owen

11 Jul 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Jan’s work as a champion of young people has its roots in her own story (R)

A Hong Kong childhood during WWII

10 Jul 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Barbara Laidlaw pieces together the mystery of what her parents endured as internees in Hong Kong (R)

Helping troubled kids find a way back: Bernie Shakeshaft

09 Jul 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Bernie was a wild teenager who became a jackeroo and a dingo trapper. Then he began helping kids in trouble (R)

Trent Dalton: the rise of a watchful boy

08 Jul 2019

Contributed by Lukas

As a child Trent was a quiet observer of the drama of his family and his neighbourhood. He grew up to become an award-winning writer (R)

International brickie 

05 Jul 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Bricklaying takes him around the world as a teacher and expert, but Troy Everett still finds deep satisfaction in laying bricks 

Falling for a fake - the journalist and the romantic manipulator

04 Jul 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Stephanie Wood was an acclaimed newspaper journalist when she fell for a romantic fraudsterStephanie Wood was a successful and well-travelled journal...

The seaweed scientist who survived being scalped

03 Jul 2019

Contributed by Lukas

After decades as a marine ecologist, Pia Winberg began her own seaweed farm. One ordinary working day there was a terrible accident

Australia's Romani Gypsies

02 Jul 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Mandy Sayer has uncovered the history of a thriving Gypsy community (R)

Born blind at the right time: Ron McCallum

01 Jul 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 ...

A dirt bike and a secret: Heather Ellis

28 Jun 2019

Contributed by Lukas

When she rode her motorbike solo across the Silk Road, Heather thought she had nothing to lose. Her HIV positive diagnosis was far more serious in th...

The murderer who wasn't there

27 Jun 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Zak Grieve was 19 when he was found guilty of murder, although the judge said he wasn't at the scene of the crime. Steven Schubert tells his story

A shipwrecked French cabin boy and his Australian Aboriginal family

26 Jun 2019

Contributed by Lukas

The astounding fate of Narcisse Pelletier, taken in by the people of Night Island after being abandoned on the coast of far north Queensland in 1858

A sizzle in the brain changed Lavinia Codd's life

25 Jun 2019

Contributed by Lukas

After a stroke at age 31, Lavinia Codd lost part of her memory, and half her vision. Then she became fascinated by her brain's ability to regenera...

Inside the comic mind

24 Jun 2019

Contributed by Lukas

'Becardiganed polymath' Robin Ince on the fascinating brains of stand-up comics

Stories from Elmswood Farm

21 Jun 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Patrice Newell was a model and a TV host before she began again as a biodynamic farmer

Richard Tognetti: 'Je suis Wollongong'

20 Jun 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Richard Tognetti was a boy when he first showed a brilliant talent for playing the violin. But in the town where he grew up, his talent made him a ta...

Rozsy's terrible secret

19 Jun 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Angela Hamilton was raised by a tyrannical father, who terrorised his family. Decades later, she found out the truth about what he'd done during WWII...

The evolution of Poh

18 Jun 2019

Contributed by Lukas

How a shy Mormon girl named Sharon became Poh Ling Yeow (R)

State secrets and marsupials

17 Jun 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Australia through the eyes of The New York Times Australia bureau chief, Damien Cave

Midnight Oil's Rob Hirst

14 Jun 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Chasing the back beat and adventures in wide open spaces, Rob remains essentially the same as the boy he was (R)

Not your average dentist

13 Jun 2019

Contributed by Lukas

After treating a patient named Anna, Sharonne Zaks saw the power relationship with her patients differently. She developed a new branch of dentistry ...

Water, Water: a story collection

12 Jun 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Eight stories exploring the pleasures and perils of water

Barrie Cassidy and Private Bill

11 Jun 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Barrie unearths a family wartime secret after fifty years (R)

The rise of the land dragon

10 Jun 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Alex Landragin was born into a champagne-making family in the French village of Verzenay. When he was five, his family began a new life in Australia....

Finding the erotic in everyday life with Esther Perel

07 Jun 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Esther is a therapist who spent years studying intimacy, monogamy and sexuality. She became the world's most well-known expert on modern loveWhen Est...

A mother I never knew — the secret of Peter Papathanasiou

06 Jun 2019

Contributed by Lukas

The story of family bonds so strong that one couple gave their child to another, to be raised in a country far away

Liz Jones and the fire at La Mama

05 Jun 2019

Contributed by Lukas

The matriarch of La Mama on life in and out of Melbourne’s beloved theatre

The 'Angel of Death' of Sydney's underworld

04 Jun 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Dulcie Markham was one of the most notorious characters of Sydney in the 1930s, but many of her lovers met a grisly end

The memory whisperer

03 Jun 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Lynne Kelly became a senior memory champion after she began researching ancient ways of transforming landscapes, objects and the human body into 'mem...

Operation Babylift

31 May 2019

Contributed by Lukas

In the dying days of the Vietnam War, hundreds of orphans were airlifted from Saigon to safety. Ian Shaw tells the story of two Australian women at t...

Psychotherapy on the couch

30 May 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Demystifying the art of talk therapy and the complex relationship between therapist and patientPsychotherapy, also known as 'the talking cure', is ba...

Behind the sequins: the Tony Sheldon story

29 May 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Tony became an actor against his mother's wishes. Three decades later, he won the part of a lifetime (R)

Helen Zaltzman is the Allusionist

28 May 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Travelling the world in pursuit of language and exploring its uses, abuses and transformation

The iron law of newspapers

27 May 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Sally Young unearthed a culture of 'dog does not eat dog' as she wrote a history of Australia's newspaper barons

Inside the Robbers Cave: testing tribal loyalties at a boys summer camp

24 May 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Gina Perry uncovers the strange story behind a controversial psychological experiment (R)

The great dogs of Australian history

23 May 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Dog whisperer Guy Hull on remarkable dogs, from life-saving kangaroo dogs to plane-flying Alsatians (R)

In and out of strife: Vickie Roach's turbulent life

22 May 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...

Bob Hawke on a life in power

21 May 2019

Contributed by Lukas

The late Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke on his life before politics, and his years at The Lodge (R)

How Australian Labor lost 'the unlosable election'

20 May 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Social Researcher Rebecca Huntley on Australia's new political landscape

Jessie Cole's survival story

17 May 2019

Contributed by Lukas

After two suicides within her family, Jessie returned to Northern NSW to begin again. (R)

How to change a mind

16 May 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Eleanor Gordon-Smith was a 'recovering champion debater' when a night in King's Cross upended her belief in the power of reason