Conversations

Best of 2024 — Rebecca Huntley

09 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Reflecting on a year of phenomenal guests, we are bringing you a selection of the Best Conversations of 2024.Rebecca Huntley spent 50 years trying to...

Best of 2024 — Troy Cassar-Daley

08 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Reflecting on a year of phenomenal guests, we are bringing you a selection of the Best Conversations of 2024.Troy Cassar-Daley is one of Australia's ...

Helen Garner's love letter to her grandson, and football

06 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

When writer Helen Garner began following her grandson’s under-16s football team, she gained a new appreciation for 'the ordinary beauty of human so...

Cyclone Tracy 50 years on — the epic survival stories of a cub reporter and a woman in the navy

05 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Finance journalist Alan Kohler and Patricia Collins, who had just joined the Women's Royal Australian Naval Service, recall their vivid memories from...

Love, jail, Jesus, and pubs — a tangled tale of four very different parents

04 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Lech Blaine with the strange true story of his childhood, shaped by love, religious zealotry, and four wildly different parents. CW: descriptions of ...

Professor Richard Scolyer — Melanoma expert turned brain cancer patient

03 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

When Richard's team developed pioneering treatment for melanoma, he didn't expect he would become the first person in the world to use this experimen...

Antarctica, Kiribati and outback Australia — the adventures of a GP doctor

02 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

When Dr Gillian Deakin became a GP, she knew she didn’t want to work behind a desk. Instead, she travelled overseas to make a difference. More rece...

Jonathan Haidt on 'attention fracking' and how to stop tech companies from stealing your child's focus

29 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Social psychologist Jonathan Haidt says it is time to reinstate the play-based childhood to bring our kids back from life online and into the real wo...

The secrets in the stars — what we can learn about habitable planets, alien life and ourselves

28 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Dr Laura Driessen takes you 26,000 light-years away, into the centre of our galaxy and beyond in the search for radio stars, supermassive black holes...

Alice Zaslavsky's hunger for life

26 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The Masterchef graduate and cookbook author grew up in Georgia as the Soviet Union was crumbling, gorging on plums in her grandfather's garden. Durin...

Pip Williams — from dyslexia to the Dictionary of Lost Words

26 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Pip Williams was diagnosed with dyslexia as a teenager. She grew up to write a novel inspired by the history of the Oxford Dictionary, which soon bec...

Jon Ronson on psychopaths, sociopaths and how to spot them

25 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The journalist delves into the history of experimental psychopathy treatment in Canada, which included mass, nude LSD trips.Years ago,  journalist J...

Heroin, Ivan Milat, rehab and redemption — the incredible life of Claude Robinson

22 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

For years Claude Robinson was doing crime to fund his heroin addiction. He was eventually locked up with murderers in Goulburn Prison, where he share...

Darren Hayes on the bruising truth behind his Savage Garden stardom

21 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

During the height of his fame as one half of Savage Garden, Darren Hayes struggled to reconcile what he'd lived through as a child growing up in Loga...

Alice Roberts on the skeletons' secrets

20 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Professor Alice Roberts examines the bones of those who died between five and ten centuries ago, solving the mysteries of how they lived and died.Pro...

Cows on a plane — an epic journey from Tullamarine to Chennai

19 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Paul McVerry is an experienced cattleman and a stud breeder, who had a wild vision to fly a gift of cattle to India with the help of winemaker Dan Mu...

From Jaipur with love — building a romantic life in Australia

18 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Screenwriter, Mithila Gupta thought her life would mimic her beloved Bollywood films — full of swooning and drama. But something was stuck, and she...

The magic of metallurgy — inside the ancient trade of blacksmithing

15 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Matt Mewburn, one of Australia's last blacksmiths, takes you inside the "iron cathedral", where blacksmithing is still very much alive.Matt didn't gr...

'It was meant to be me' — the teenage TV star who feels 'lucky to be paraplegic'

14 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Louise Philip had just scored her breakout role on Australian television, in Bellbird, when a horrific car crash threatened to derail the life she wa...

Exploring death and grief with heart and healing

13 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

As a forensic counsellor and then a grief counsellor, Wendy Liu has spent many years right up close to death. Her work with people who are processing...

How a macabre country childhood spawned a best-selling dressmaker’s tale

12 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Author Rosalie Ham grew up in a country town three blocks long and three blocks wide. She paid close attention to the characters there, like the woma...

The epic mystery of a female pope and the birth that was her undoing

11 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Writer Emily Maguire on losing her own faith, but finding awe and inspiration in a controversial myth about a female pontiff who some people believe ...

From Yugoslavia to Australia — Jelena Dokic on tennis and the truth

08 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Jelena Dokic overcame adversity, poverty and violence to rise to the top of the tennis world. Years later, her revelations about her father's abuse s...

Journey inside Africa's cave of Great Apes to upend your understanding of the human origin story

07 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Lee Berger, National Geographic Explorer in Residence and real-life Indiana Jones with tales of his hominid discoveries, many of which have rewritten...

Why Andrew sets the table under the stars in the Australian Outback

05 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

As Andrew Dwyer ventured further into the desert, he fell in love with the people and the landscape. He battled sandstorms, floods and isolation to s...

Byron Bay, reality TV and Shane Warne's bowel movements — why Akmal Saleh hates the jungle

04 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

An impulse decision to buy a home in the rainforest results in a comedy of errors involving a python in the roof, an unexpected tax bill, two reality...

From the Commonwealth Games to Everest and the Channel swim — Gerrard doesn’t need to see to believe

01 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Athlete Gerrard Gosens didn't realise he was blind until his first day at primary school. His adventurous spirit led him to become a three time Paral...

What Jack Reacher did next — Lee Child on our favourite lone wolf

31 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

How a Birmingham boy became best-selling thriller writer, Lee Child, and the creator of one of the literary world's most popular loners. (R)James Gra...

The Indigenous psychologist doing things differently - From the Pilbara to Perth and beyond

30 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Dr Tracy Westerman grew up in the Pilbara, where suicide and mental health issues have deeply scarred Indigenous communities. So this Nyamal woman de...

How a famous, broken bible changed the story of a family

29 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Michael Visontay with the true tale of how fragments of a rare Gutenberg Bible were sold off, leaf by leaf, in New York in the 1920s, and how the sal...

From Bankstown to the Barossa: the story of Maggie Beer

28 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Legendary cook, author, food producer and educator Maggie Beer had a circuitous path to the food world, which began when she left school at 14. (R)Le...

Panic attacks, pride, the navy, and Nate Byrne

25 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In 2024 Nate Byrne went from presenting the weather to making the news when he acknowledged live on air that he was experiencing a panic attack. Keep...

A life-changing quince, backyard butchery, and ethical food obsession

24 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Chef Ben Shewry grew up on a farm in New Zealand where his family grew or hunted most of their own food.Ben was 10 when he started working in restaur...

Lee Miller: surrealist photographer, war correspondent, and gourmet chef

23 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Antony Penrose grew up knowing little about his remarkable mother Lee Miller, who had studied with Man Ray in Paris, and become a model, a photograph...

Helping people die on their own terms — why Bhawani became a VAD practitioner

22 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Bhawani O'Brien's first name means "giver of life" in Tamil, which is ironic she says, because one of the greatest privileges of her life has been he...

Kanye and me — why John Safran squatted in Ye's Hollyweird mansion

21 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Australian Gonzo author and documentary filmmaker John Safran has made a career out of getting into places he probably shouldn't be. He put his sanit...

Changing prisoners' minds with Vedic meditation at Rikers Island

18 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Joh Jarvis was a high-flying boss when grief from a terrible loss began to overwhelm her. She tried therapy, exercise and healthy eating. Then she fo...

A wild Bollywood adventure — from Sydney to Mumbai and back again

17 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Indian-Australian actor and playwright, Nicholas Brown on being cast as a villain, and what made him end his time in Mumbai for a different life back...

Aunty Ruth Hegarty’s life of defiance, faith and finding her voice

16 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The hardship, cruelty and loneliness of the mission system during the Great Depression didn't crush Aunty Ruth Hegarty's spirit. She found her voice,...

Arnhem Land to Everest — surviving worst case scenarios in the wilderness

15 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

From the unforgiving tropics of the Kokoda track to Mt Everest, wilderness guide Steve Ellis has made a career teaching bushcraft and survival skills...

I was a political prisoner in Myanmar — and I could never hate the Burmese

14 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Following the coup of 2021, Australian economist Sean Turnell received an email from a "secret friend", warning him he was being watched by Myanmar's...

Raising kids diffently and being generous with love: Writer Nikki Gemmell

11 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

From Wollongong to London, via Alice Springs, this is writer Nikki Gemmell on her deeply romantic life, and how she defied expectations to become a f...

A Sri Lankan hotel, a Harlem nightclub and orgasm-induced amnesia — Dasha Ross' epic adventures

10 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Dasha Ross' most epic adventures were chartered with her larger-than-life husband John Pinder, including the time they managed a beachside hotel in S...

Prostate cancer, testosterone and Tim Baker's masculinity

09 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

When surf writer Tim Baker was diagnosed with Stage 4 prostate cancer, he had no idea how the hormones which saved his life would fundamentally chang...

Obsessive-compulsive disorder and how Penny loosened its anxiety-inducing grip

08 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Penny Moodie grew up consumed by catastrophic thoughts and developed habits to try to ward off impending doom. It turned out she had been living with...

Melbourne's seedy underbelly and the gangsters who run the joint

07 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

They're violent and scary, some of them are madmen and others are convicted killers, but the gangsters who control organised crime syndicates in Melb...

Play School's Noni Hazlehurst — Australia's TV mum

04 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Beloved Australian actor, Noni Hazlehurst looks back on her life on stage and screen.Noni Hazlehurst has been on Australian TV screens and theatres f...

How not to be a d***head with country music singer Kasey Chambers

03 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The country music star remembers a childhood spent roaming the Nullarbor Plain, and the number one lesson she learned from her father.Kasey Chambers ...

Embracing wilderness and wildness with Gina Chick

02 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Gina Chick, the winner of Alone Australia on her life as a creative, outrageous, nature-loving misfit who grew up to live through great depths of lo...

Shakespeare's stories aren't boring — we are teaching them wrong way

01 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Irish journalist and author, Fintan O'Toole on how the Victorians changed the meaning of Shakespeare's plays, and how we can bring them back to life....

How Tolstoy and Chekhov schooled George Saunders on life's great lessons

30 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Writer George Saunders on how famous short stories by writers like Chekhov, Tolstoy, Turgenev and Gogol are like miniature models of the world and ho...

The unexpected plot twist: how a solo hiker stayed alive after shattering her pelvis in Joshua Tree National Park

27 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Claire Nelson hadn't told anyone where she was going, and her phone lost signal shortly into her hike. As an experienced bushwalker, she never dreame...

The unexpected plot twist: the story of how suicide survivor Oceane, who became a beloved midwife

26 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

At the age of 18, Oceane Campbell tried to take her own life. She survived and fought her way back into life, becoming a midwife and a mother of thre...

The unexpected plot twist: The story of Toni Jordan's lucky life

25 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Toni Jordan grew up working in a T.A.B. with her cyclonic mother, and going to the greyhound races. Then she grew up to become a best-selling noveli...

The unexpected plot twist: The tech nerd who changed course to help the homeless

24 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Jon Owen's mum enrolled him in a computer science degree at University - expecting him to build a flourishing career; which he did. It just wasn't th...

The unexpected plot twist: From the David Jones food hall to Opera Australia

23 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

After a stint being homeless and living in his car, Stephen Smith was working at David Jones Food Hall when one of his colleagues noticed his remarka...

An odyssey across Australia — how 11,000 sheep were walked from Victoria into the outback

20 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In 1882, thousands of sheep set off from a property in Western Victoria. Their destination was a huge station in the Northern Territory, land which a...

Antibiotic resistant superbugs and how to fight them

19 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Professor Ian Henderson has spent his career searching for new treatments in the fight against antibiotic resistance superbugs

A life spent making — ‘Mr Millimetre’s’ memories with master maker Jeffrey Broadfield

18 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Jeffrey Broadfield has made building his life. It has taken him around the world, and given him a place to belong.Jeffrey Broadfield is a master make...

Fish sperm sausages, and eyeball icecream: the Josh Niland story

17 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

From using fish eyes in ice cream, and not wasting the liver, to creating recipes with fish sperm, chef Josh Niland on his mission to revolutionise h...

The architects of ancient Arabia – speaking to the sky

16 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The deserts of Saudi Arabia are still holding on to many ancient secrets, hidden inside burial tombs and mysterious monumental structures called must...

The epic highs and lows of Ji's life on the trampoline

13 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Ji Wallace was at the top of his career as a gymnast and acrobat when a terrible injury and surprising diagnosis brought him back down to earth, temp...

Treating dementia — a new way of caring for the elderly

12 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Psychiatrist Duncan McKellar wrote the report that triggered the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety. He has seen how care changes whe...

The man with the magnificent voice James Earl Jones, and his legacy including Star Wars and the Lion King

11 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The late James Earl Jones grew up with a stutter and hardly said a word for years. After an English teacher intervened, he grew up to become one of t...

Epic sharks — the ancient origins of the monsters of the sea

10 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

From sharks with wheels of teeth, to gargantuan sharks like the megalodon, palaeontologist John Long has traced the long and storied history of these...

Words of love — writing stories of Aboriginal land

09 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Author and professor Anita Heiss on her parents' story of romance, and how she brings true history alive in her work.Anita Heiss is a Wiradjuri woman...

My brother's death — writing the story of a family's grief and loss

06 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

For decades, Gideon Haigh and his mother were the only two people who really knew what happened on Jaz's last night. This year, it all poured out.Gid...

Quitting alcohol – the story of how Seana got sober

05 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

After a childhood spent trying to escape her father's booze-fuelled outbursts, Seana developed her own problem relationship with drinking. But by her...

How dogs think — and what they think of us

04 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Dog behaviourist Laura Vissaritis uses science and psychology to better understand what our dogs really are telling us and how our behaviour influenc...

My Stolen Generations story: how Brenda was taken from her family, twice

03 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

As a young child, chunks of Brenda Matthews' early memories were missing until her biological mother told her the truth of what happened. Together th...

The story of the melancholy spy

02 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

When a devastating injury ended Jack Beaumont's career as a jet fighter pilot, he decided to become a spy, in the French Secret Service.Jack Beaumont...

The psychedelic revolution — how MDMA mended Rebecca's mind

30 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

While struggling with PTSD, social researcher Rebecca Huntley chose an unconventional and underground path to healing — MDMA therapy.Rebecca Huntle...

Smuggled out of Wewak — Carolyn's dramatic escape from Papua New Guinea

29 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

When Carolyn Blacklock's passport was confiscated from her in a foreign country she was faced with a scary reality that got wilder at every turnCarol...

When the pirate got paid on the island of Corfu

28 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Kári Gíslason was 18 when he met a mysterious stranger called 'the Pirate' on the Greek island of Corfu. When he fled the island, he left behind a ...

The spark that saw Andy become solar-powered

27 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Andy McCarthy found passion for solar power as a high school dropout. He began one of Australia's biggest solar businesses, right in the heart of Vic...

The sprawling history of the human soul — part two

26 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In this two-part series, historian Paul Ham traces how our definition and understanding of the human soul has transformed over thousands of years. Hu...

The trailblazing papergirl, lawyer and playwright

23 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Suzie Miller's frugal and free range St Kilda childhood taught her to question almost everything. She grew up to become a trailblazing writer and law...

My aunt was smuggled to Tashkent by Stalin

22 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Helen Vatsikopoulos' family never spoke about what happened to her aunt, Aspasia after the Greek Civil War. She uncovered a story of secret evacuatio...

Heavenly beings: the icon paintings of Michael Galovic

21 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Artist Michael Galovic had been painting mysterious and mystical icons for decades before he truly understood the theology behind what he was doing —...

Dave Gleeson needs a damn good lie down

20 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Dave Gleeson is known for his blistering performances in The Screaming Jets and The Angels, but he grew up singing at Mass in Cardiff, with a mum ...

The sprawling history of the human soul — part one

19 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In this two-part series, historian Paul Ham traces how our definition and understanding of the human soul has transformed over thousands of years. Hu...

The Natural Horseman

16 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

People travel from all over the world to learn about horses from Ken Faulkner. But after a life-threatening riding accident on his favourite horse, S...

Love, death and walking : writer Ailsa Piper

15 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In 2014, Ailsa Piper's husband's unexpected death cast her adrift in a sea of grief. Then bit by bit, life called her back. Ailsa Piper is a writer ...

The farm that Carol built

14 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

On Carol Perry’s communal farm there’s ‘no loneliness, and no mortgages’. It’s a long way from the life her parents expected her to lead, a...

Mummy bundles, fossils and DNA

13 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Kim McKay is the Director and CEO of The Australian Museum, responsible for 22 million objects that tell the history of the world (Content warning: ...

'More than cheesecake' — humanity's shared musical history

12 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Like tracing the cultural history of breathing or love, it's difficult to pinpoint exactly when, how or why humans started making music. But composer...

Conversations Gold: The silver medal that changed Laurie Lawrence

09 Aug 2024

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 ...

Conversations Gold: Jana Pittman's turning point

07 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Jana Pittman became one of Australia's most famous athletes as a young woman. Then at age 30, she found herself at a painful crossroads (R)

Conversations Gold: Paralympian Christie Dawes is super/normal

05 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The Tokyo Paralympics were Christie's seventh as a wheelchair racing competitor, but Christie almost gave up marathons after the 2013 Boston Marathon...

Conversations Gold: The life of Anna Meares

02 Aug 2024

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...

Conversations Gold: Lisa Curry on winning gold and losing Jaimi

31 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Swimmer and entrepreneur Lisa Curry's life has been full of highs and lows both in and out of the pool. But it was the death of her daughter, Jaimi, ...

Conversations Gold: Patrick Johnson's golden run

29 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

How a boy who grew up on a fishing trawler became the first man in Australia to run 100 metres in under 10 seconds (R)

Bruce McAvaney — what a legend, what a champion

26 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Bruce McAvaney is the voice of Australian sport, with a commentating style built on his relentless work ethic and genuine passion. But if he hadn't c...

Louise Kennedy on Belfast, bombs and a disastrous pav

25 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Writer Louise Kennedy grew up at the height of The Troubles, just outside of Belfast, where violence was ever-present. When her family's pub was bomb...

It's 'all sweet' for Tony Armstrong

24 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Tony Armstrong felt like a failure when his AFL career ended. But he found his feet again, falling upwards into a different life, calling footy match...

Lele's home under the Morning Star

23 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Forced to flee West Papua, Lele's family wandered for years before coming to Australia. When they eventually received Australian citizenship and pass...

Tidying up the crematorium

22 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

When writer Lily Brett went to visit Auschwitz, the death camp both her parents had survived, she couldn't help but start tidying up the place where ...

PRESENTS — I Was Actually There | The Boxing Day tsunami 2004

20 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

I Was Actually There is a new ABC podcast featuring gripping stories told by people who witnessed history first-hand. Hear what it was like to be a p...

The many magnificent, mysterious faces of Monte Punshon

19 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Monte Punshon was 103 years old when she was crowned the world's oldest lesbian, but that wasn't how she summed up her extraordinary life. Historian ...

Writer Winnie Dunn on identity and the meaning of homecoming

18 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Winnie Dunn is the General Manager of Sweatshop Literacy Movement. Here she tells the story of how family and writing brought her home to Tonga, and ...