Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcast

Indonesia celebrates 80 years of independence

16 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On 17 August 1945, Indonesian nationalist leaders Soekarno and Mohammad Hatta declared Indonesia’s independence, formally ending 350 years of Dutch...

Tweet of the week 30 November, 2025

14 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This week's mystery caller is a highly secretive inhabitant of arid grassland – the Night Parrot.

Tweet of the week, 8 February 2026

14 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This week's mystery caller is cloaked in sparkling, iridescent blue-black plumage – the Spangled Drongo.

Tweet of the week, 8 March 2026

14 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This week's mystery caller is a tiny, but colourful, nectivore found across the south of the country – the Purple-crowned Lorikeet.

Tweet of the week, 15 March 2026

14 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Can you guess this week's tweeter?

The Year that Made Me: Bret McKenzie, 1999

09 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Bret McKenzie is part of the world-conquering New Zealand comedy duo Flight of the Conchords.  And if that wasn't enough, his song written for the...

Tweet of the week 10 August 2025

09 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This week's mystery caller skulks in dense cover near mudflats and marshes all over mainland Australia – the colourful Buff-banded Rail.

How global polarisation is effecting the Anglican church

09 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The Right Reverend Susan Bell is the 12th Bishop of Niagara in Canada and is in Australia to give the Barry Marshall Memorial Lecture at the Universi...

Everything you never wanted to know about the bagpipes

09 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

While the bagpipes are the national instrument of Scotland, how global is their history? The first written account of someone playing the bagpipes wa...

Should the SRY test be used to determine gender in sport?

09 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Women competing at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo in September will have to undergo an SRY gene test before competing. But the professor ...

Who is responsible for eradicating modern slavery?

09 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Australian Uyghurs are taking Kmart to court, in a bid to determine whether Kmart engaged in misleading and deceptive conduct around the use of force...

Kenneth Roth reflects on a career fighting for human rights

09 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

For almost twenty years under the leadership of Kenneth Roth, Human Rights Watch carried out investigations in 100 countries to uncover and expose hu...

Croak of the Month - 3 August 2025

02 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Can you guess this week's tweeter?

The Year that Made Me: John Simpson (2024)

02 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

How personal tragedy drove John Simpson to establish a foundation that aims to better connect urban and rural Australia. GUEST: John Simpson AM Dep...

Everyday objects that changed our lives

02 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The socks that fell up not down, Stackhats and the kitchen knives that were always sharp.Those are just a few examples from what is a quintessential ...

Marie Curie lectures to focus on quantum physics

02 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

2025 is UNESCO's International Year of Quantum Science and Technology and so the annual Marie Curie lecture series is being given by two women who ha...

The challenges of getting a degree when you are blind

02 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Santiago Velasquez Hurtado has just graduated with a degree in electrical engineering at QUT and he is only the second blind person in the southern h...

Is Australia losing the war on smoking?

02 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The sale of illicit tobacco in Australia is rampant, with high tobacco prices fuelling demand for cheaper cigarettes.More than a decade after Austral...

Celebrating the 25th Garma Festival

02 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The 25th Garma Festival is a much bigger event than the first Yolgnu community meeting  back in 1999. It has now become a huge event, with arts and ...

Remember the children of Hiroshima in new peace memorial

02 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Hiroshima and Nagasaki will mark the 80th anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bomb this August. Among the hundreds of thousands who died in the...

Tweet of the week 27 July 2025

26 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This week's tweeter is the Brown Falcon.It's a medium-sized bird of prey, measuring about 40- to 50-centimetres. And, like its close relatives, femal...

The Year that Made Me: Peter de Waal, 1957

26 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Peter de Waal arrived in Australia in 1957 from the Netherlands as a young man uncertain about his sexuality. Within ten years he had found his life ...

Open House Melbourne

26 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

There’s a city wide Open House in Melbourne this weekend.Churches, banks, numerous private houses and public buildings - even an Egyptian style mau...

Are emoji a new language?

26 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Whether you favour a thumbs up, a laughing face, or a smiling poop, chances are you’ve used an emoji.There’s currently 3790 different emojis sit...

Lowering the vote to 16 can improve democracy, research shows

26 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The United Kingdom has just announced that it will be lowering the voting age to 16 for all future elections. But the UK is not the first country to ...

Questions about the Salt Path

26 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

100 word including guest & book

The romance scam evidence rejected in Donna Nelson's Appeal

26 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Western Australian woman, Donna Nelson was in Japanese court this week, appealing her 6 year sentence for drug smuggling. Romance scam expert, Monica...

No end in sight to toxic algal bloom

26 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

It's a microscopic single cell organism, known by the scientific name Karenia Mikimotoi.And right now this micro-algae is wreaking havoc on a large s...

The Year that Made Me: Yael Stone; 2020

19 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Actor Yael Stone had finally secured a  Green Card - that ticket to the American dream that gives outsiders the legal right to live and work in the ...

The ethical considerations of killing mosquitos

19 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Malaria killed an estimated 600,000 people globally in 2023 and 94% of those deaths were in Africa. Advances in genome editing means that it may now ...

National Excel Champions

19 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

How good are you at Microsoft Excel? Not as good as the young people in a new documentary called Spreadsheet Champions. Having its Australian Premier...

Planning for the robotic future that's already here

19 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

While city streets teeming with robots might feel like a scene from a sci-fi movie, service robots are already commonplace in the public spaces of ci...

An $8 million Mars rock and the science behind it

19 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Sotheby's sold a meteorite from Mars for US$5.3 million last Wednesday to an undisclosed buyer. Sotheby's claims is the largest Martian meteorite in ...

Inmate awarded PHD for prison garden design

19 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

It is hard enough to complete a PHD, but imagine doing it without access to libraries or the Internet. One inmate from the maximum security Macquarie...

Tasmania Votes

19 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Tasmanians are going back to the polls, after a successful no-confidence motion was made against the Premier Jeremy Rockliff.The snap poll comes just...

Paul and Eslanda Robeson ABC Interview from 1960

12 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Audio from the ABC Archives of Bob Moore interviewing Paul Eslanda Robeson, during their 1960 Australian visit. 

Paul and Eslanda Robeson ABC Interview from 1960

12 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Audio from the ABC Archives of Bob Moore interviewing Paul Eslanda Robeson, during their 1960 Australian visit. 

The Year that Made Me: Blak Douglas, 1999

12 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Blak Douglas has spent his artistic career painting bold and graphic artworks infused with political commentary of the realities of First Nation expe...

Tweet of the week 13 July 2025

12 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This week's mystery caller is small of stature but sings energetically with a powerful voice – the Inland Thornbill.

Backstage on Paul Robeson's tour to Australia in 1960

12 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

When Paul Robeson toured Australia in 1960, it was not only a concert tour, but also a political tour. Paul Robeson was a hero to the political left ...

Perth opera singer wins prestigious award in Montréal

12 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Fleuranne Brockway is the first Australian singer to win the Montreal International Musical Competition in its 23 year history. She faced singers fro...

Is there an epidemic of adult diagnoses of ADHD?

12 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Is there really the problem with ADHD over-diagnosis? GPs are now licensed in multiple states to prescribe ADHD medication, while shortages of those...

USA Africa summit confirms the future is trade not aid

12 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

What do Gabon, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mauritania, and Senegal have in common? They were all invited to the USA-Africa Summit hosted by President Tru...

Rethinking Australia's Security Strategy

12 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Former Director of War Studies for the Australian Army, Albert Palazzo, shares his vision for a radical rethink of Australia's National Security str...

Tweet of the week 6 July 2025

05 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This week's mystery caller could be a beneficiary of unusually wet conditions on the east coast – the nectar-loving Regent Honeyeater.

The Year that Made Me: Gill Hicks, 2005

05 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Gill Hicks was the last survivor to be pulled from the wreckage of a bomb blast, when 4 bombs went off in a co-ordinated attack across London on July...

What can we learn from an axolotl's special powers of regeneration

05 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Axolotls are the gold medallists when it comes to limb regeneration. Researchers from Northeastern University have discovered not only how an axolotl...

Mr Squiggle: The Man from the Moon

05 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Before Bluey, before B1 and B2, even before Play School, there was Mr Squiggle. The puppet man from the moon with a pencil for a nose was a fixture ...

Broken: Australia's university system crumbles

05 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Australian university sector is in crisis, with headlines repeatedly warning of job cuts, declining enrolments and concerns over the cuts to face-to-...

New CEO of Plan International - Reena Ghelani

05 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Reena Ghelani has been working in humanitarian aid for over 25 years crossing the globe supporting communities in crisis. Born in Uganda, but raised ...

Mohamad Mahathir turns 100

05 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On the 10th July, the former Prime Minister of Malaysia Mohamad Mahathir turns 100. He remains in excellent health and continues to work long days ta...

Ukraine withdraws from landmine treaty

05 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

More than ONE million lives have been lost on both sides of the war in Ukraine,  since Russia’s invasion in February 2022.Throughout the conflict,...

What happened to the Wagner group?

28 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Two years ago, the head of Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin ordered 25,000 of his troops to march towards Moscow. 24 hours later they were ordered to stand ...

The Year that Made Me: Christopher Thé, 2019

28 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

When a friend asked pastry chef Christopher Thé to make them a wedding cake and to "go wild" he didn't realise that in a few years his strawberry wa...

The hazlenut spread dispute that angered France's Algerian community

28 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Last European summer, a hazelnut spread from Algeria took France by storm. The sweet white spread called El Mordjene became the darling of tik-tok in...

Croak of the Month - June 2025

28 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

It’s the Moaning Tree Frog! Heleioporus eyrei has an unmistakable call, but the frog itself is nearly indistinguishable from related species in So...

Tattoo Stories

28 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

From sailors, to bikies, to hipsters – the history of the tattoo industry in Australia can be traced back to the convict era.What began as somethin...

Reframing the history of Zambian women

28 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Objects that tell the lost history of women's stories in Zambia are at the heart of a new exhibition Frame, part of the virtual Women's History Museu...

The Iphone turns 18

28 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Launched amid much fanfare back in 2007, Apple's iconic Iphone changed the way we communicated, listened to music and searched the web.But 18 years o...

Is the US-Australia alliance at a crossroad?

28 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Australia's longstanding ties to the United States, have rarely been tested.But some uncertainty has crept into the strategic and diplomatic framewor...

Tweet of the Week 22 June 2025

21 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This week's mystery caller is common in inland towns, scrub and woodland – the Yellow-throated Miner. 

The Year that Made Me: Rodney Croome (1994)

21 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Rodney Croome was among a group of people arrested at Hobart’s Salamanca Market back in 1988, for defying a ban on a stall, set up to collect signa...

Is your smartphone a parasite?

21 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Are we in a parasitic relationship with our smart phones? A new article in the Australiasian Journal of Philosophy suggests that rather than being a ...

Mennonites establish a new colony in the Angolan diamond fields

21 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The Mennonites are a Christian faith stream established in the Netherlands in the 16th century. They are a pacifist faith and live largely without te...

When Midnight Oil went to Burnie

21 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In 1981 Midnight Oil released their Place without a Postcard album including a song called Burnie inspired by a tour the band did to North West Tasma...

Justin Heazlewood's Burnie: a small town that dreams big

21 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Justin Heazlewood is an author, songwriter, comedian and performer whose creative work takes him all over the world. But after returning to his home...

Australian NGOs struggle without USAID support

21 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Australian NGOs have been devastated by Trump's USAID cuts, according to a new report by the Australian Council for International Development. Aid or...

Tasmania goes back to the polls

21 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Tasmanians are going, somewhat reluctantly, to an election on July 19th.It's been just 16 months since the last state election, with the snap poll be...

Tweet of the week 15 June 2025

14 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This week's mystery caller is the Spotted Catbird. It's often found between about Townsville and Cooktown, and especially in forest around Cairns.Fr...

The Year that Made Me: Ann Odong (2011)

14 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Ann Odong's journey from a child in war torn Uganda, to growing up in the suburbs of Perth is a story in itself.But that was just the beginning for a...

Samantha Ellis: Chopping Onions on My Heart

14 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

A lot of people can’t get their head around the phrase our next guest uses to describe herself - to some it sounds like a contradiction in terms, o...

Swimming with Jaws to save the sharks

14 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

For the 50th Anniversary of the release of Jaws, endurance swimmer, Lewis Pugh, swam around the island of Martha's Vineyard, the setting of the Jaws ...

The Wrong Gods heads to Melbourne

14 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

S Shakthidharan had a huge hit with his first play Counting and Cracking which covered the history of Sri Lanka's conflict and the migrant experience...

Global tensions cast long shadow over the G7

14 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The Trump Tariffs, the war in Ukraine and Israel's war in Gaza are all casting a long shadow over this years G7 summit, being held this week in Canad...

Israel and Iran Air Strike update

14 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Barbara Slavin brings us latest news in the direct hostilities in the Middle East, which began on Friday when Israel launched strikes on Iran’s nuc...

Tweet of the week 8 June 2025

07 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This week's mystery caller is famously adaptable and opportunistic, even at Lake Eyre – the Silver Gull.The winner is Dave from Lune River Tasmania...

Samantha Ellis: Chopping Onions on My Heart

07 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

A lot of people can’t get their head around the phrase our next guest uses to describe herself - to some it sounds like a contradiction in terms, o...

The first Nigerian film to win at Cannes premieres at SFF

07 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Akinola Davies was awarded the Camera D'Or Special Distinction for his film My Fathers Shadow at the Cannes Film Festival this year. It is the first ...

Rewilding our cities

07 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

You’ve probably heard of the term Rewilding - its an approach that aims to restore wildlife to their former habitats in the face of humans and thei...

Elections for judges: Democracy in action or a gateway to corruption?

07 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Mexico's president claims the public election of judges will make for a more transparent democracy. But with only 13% of Mexicans turning out for the...

Who took the photo of 'Napalm Girl' ?

07 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On the 8th June 1972, Vietnamese photographer Nick Ut won the Pulitzer Prize for the photograph of Kim Phuc, a young girl running burnt and naked dow...

Syria after Assad

07 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Six months after Bashar Assad fled the country, Syria is slowing emerging from 50 years of authoritarian rule.Former Al Qaeda fighter Ahmed Al Sharaa...

The Year that Made Me: Everald Compton, 1956

07 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Everald Compton has met every PM since Menzies, counts John Howard as a friend, and says Julia Gillard was the best political negotiator he ever saw....

Tweet of the week 1 June 2025

31 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Can you guess this week's tweeter?

The Year that Made Me: Peter Klinken, 1982 - 1983

31 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

After accidentally blowing up the family hills hoist as a kid, Professor Peter Klinken AC realised he loved science. He's went on to become a leading...

A sea change from London to 'Jurassic Park'

31 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In 2013 Kelly Green swapped her busy life as a flight attendant to move to Tristan Da Cuhna - part of a volcanic archipelago in the South Atlanic Oce...

Archaeological evidence of the women in Ancient Greek myths

31 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Who decides which people and stories get preserved in our history books? It's a question historian Emily Hauser has been grappling with after spendi...

Amy Wang on her new movie Slanted

31 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Just how far could a Chinese-American teenager go to become prom queen? Writer, director and producer Amy Wang tries to answer this question in her n...

The Karl Popper Memorial Lecture

31 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

How much should intolerance be tolerated?And how should we decide what sort of intolerances are tolerable?They’re just some of the questions that o...

Stolen Generations redress in WA

31 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In this Reconciliation Week the government of Western Australia announced a redress scheme for survivors of the Stolen Generations. More children we...

South Korean Presidential election testing democracy

31 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

After a turbulent six months in South Korea which has seen martial law declared and a President impeached and put on trial for insurrection, the coun...

Tweet of the week

24 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Can you guess this week's tweeter?

The Year that Made Me: Suzanne Chick (1991) and Gina Chick (2001)

24 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

When Suzanne Chick sent a request for her birth certificate to find out who her birth mother was, she was just hoping for a name. When her birth moth...

Does our electoral system need fixing?

24 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The 2025 federal election will go down in history as a second term Labor landslide?But has the result also shown up some flaws in our system of votin...

20 years of The Monthly

24 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In an era where media is moving rapidly online, some print publications are managing to not only survive but thrive.The Monthly magazine is celebrati...

Tanzania's opposition leader on trial for treason

24 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Tundu Lissu, the leader of the opposition in Tanzania was arrested last month and has been barred from running in this years election race. Now that ...

Navi Pillay - Sydney Peace Prize winner

24 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Navi Pillay has been awarded the Sydney Peace Prize for 2025, following in the footsteps of Arundhati Roi, Julian Burnside and Mary Robinson. She is ...

Reconciliation week

24 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

It was the biggest political demonstration in Australian history, when a quarter of a million people marched across the Sydney Harbour Bridge in supp...

The Year that Made Me: Erna Walraven, 1983

17 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

When newly qualified zookeeper Erna Walraven started work at Taronga Zoo in 1983, it was a dream come true. Some of her male co-workers were not so w...

Melanie Cheng: The library that made me

17 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Melanie Cheng was  seven when her family moved from Australia to Hong Kong. So finding her favourite authors in the Hong Kong City Hall library made...