Nova Peris shines bright
Nova is a woman of many firsts — an Olympic gold medallist and Northern Territory Senator. She continues to strive for excellence while showing up for mob and standing with her people
Jul 08, 2022•53 min
Conversations
Conversations draws you deeper into the life story of someone you may have heard about, but never met. Journey into their world, joining them on epic adventures to unfamiliar places, back in time to wild moments of history, and into their deepest memories, to be moved by personal stories of resilience and redemption.
Hosted by Richard Fidler and Sarah Kanowski, Conversations is the ABC's most popular long-form interview program. Every day we explore the vast tapestry of human experience, weaving together narratives from history, science, art, and personal storytelling.
Conversations Live is coming to the stage! Join Sarah Kanowski and Richard Fidler for an unmissable night of unforgettable stories, behind-the-scenes secrets, and surprise guests. Australia’s most-loved podcast — live, up close, and in the moment. Find out more at the Conversations website.
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Episodes
Quandamooka Country to Canberra — Dr Valerie Cooms
Aunty Kath, Oodgeroo Noonuccal, was Valerie's godmother, and just one of many staunch political figures on both sides of her family. Val worked her way to becoming a powerful advocate for Aboriginal people and her family CW: ATSI listeners please use discretion when listening as the program references people who have died (R)
Jul 07, 2022•52 min
How Thomas found his voice on the wharves
Torres Strait Islander man Thomas Mayor was working as a wharfie in Darwin when he became a union delegate, then an author, and a tireless advocate for Uluru Statement from the Heart
Jul 06, 2022•52 min
River, desert, island — Julie Janson's stories
After years teaching in the remote Northern Territory, Julie began to trace her ancestry among the Darug people around the Hawkesbury River. Her most recent novel was written in response to Kate Grenville's The Secret River (R)
Jul 05, 2022•52 min
Gary Lang and the jewel of dance
Gary is a Larrakia man from Darwin, whose dancing career has taken him from the early, bright lights of Glebe in Sydney, around the world, to the tomb of Egyptian Pharaoh Ramses II. It all began with his mother in her wedding dress, dancing around the dining table. A warning for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander listeners: this conversation references people who have died
Jul 04, 2022•46 min
Deserter, archaeologist and spy – the extraordinary adventures of Charles Masson
Dr Edmund Richardson tells the story of the East India Company deserter who went in search of one of Alexander the Great's lost cities, in Afghanistan (R)
Jun 30, 2022•55 min
Taming the Black Dog, and burnout
Gordon Parker is the founder of the Black Dog Institute, which works to remove the stigma around mental illness. His latest focus is the phenomenon of burnout at home and at work (R)
Jun 29, 2022•52 min
Finding a dad, zoology and a life-threatening illness
Ben Bravery tells the story of his childhood in Logan, Queensland, how he went from a career at KFC to studying male satin bowerbirds and why being a patient led him to study medicine
Jun 28, 2022•52 min
My grandfather and his pet lion
Author Victoria Mackinlay with the story of how her grandfather, Francis came to have a pet lion, as a gift from an Indian Maharaja
Jun 27, 2022•26 min
The art of taking sperm from a rhino
Dr Tamara Keeley uses reproductive technology to help save rhinos, Tasmanian devils and koalas from extinction
Jun 27, 2022•23 min
Richie Ramone and the record shop
No, he's not 'that' Richie Ramone, but this Richie Ramone's passion for punk is just as fierce.
Jun 24, 2022•52 min
Lisa Curry on winning gold and losing Jaimi
Swimmer and entrepreneur Lisa on her life in and out of the pool, and how the loss of her daughter Jaimi has changed her
Jun 23, 2022•50 min
The Needle in the Tofu
Zen priest and writer Ruth Ozeki takes us into world brimming with the voices of people and household objects, and her own experience of hearing her late father's voice in her ear (R)
Jun 22, 2022•1 hr
The Chloroformist — extraordinary Doctor Joseph Clover
Christine Ball is an anaesthetist at the Alfred Hospital in Melbourne who chanced upon an old casebook of a doctor named Joseph Clover (R)
Jun 21, 2022•54 min
A daring escape from Vietnam, and a brilliant career
Anh Nguyen Austen's family fled Vietnam by sea in 1982, on a wooden boat bound for the Philippines. When a once-in-a-century storm struck in South China Sea, they thought all hope was lost. Anh is an academic and community volunteer. She grew up in Vietnam in a Catholic family. Anh's childhood was idyllic, with a big extended family and a close friendship with her cousin named Joe. But life for the adults was complicated after the end of the war. In the early 1980s, her parents planned a daring ...
Jun 20, 2022•51 min
Howard Jacobson and the rocky path to writing
The Booker prize winning English novelist on disappointing his parents, the time before he was a writer, and his gift for unhappiness
Jun 17, 2022•54 min
Shanna Whan's best sober life
When country woman Shanna Whan hit rock bottom in 2014 after a lifelong battle with alcohol addiction, she began a grassroots movement to tackle how we talk about booze in the bush
Jun 16, 2022•52 min
RAF Pilot Frank Dell's story of survival in Nazi occupied Holland
Frank Dell survived being shot down over Nazi Germany, with the aid of courageous Dutch families and resistance fighters (R)
Jun 15, 2022•52 min
The turtle effect — their mysterious allure and surprising history
Louise Pryke returns with a cultural history of turtles, from ancient times to modern day, and from turtle tears to Al Capone, Lou attempts to understand why they are such a widely-loved creature (R)
Jun 14, 2022•48 min
Understanding Russia's 1917 Revolution and Civil War
Historian Antony Beevor depicts the conflict through the eyes of ordinary Russian workers to officers on the battlefield, to crystalise one of the most influential and devastating wars of the modern era
Jun 13, 2022•50 min
Catherine Martin: making Elvis and loving Baz
How a fashion-loving misfit from Sydney took over Hollywood with husband Baz Luhrmann, winning more Oscars than any other Australian
Jun 10, 2022•52 min
Maggie Dent — raising strong girls
Guiding daughters to become confident young woman in an age of smartphones and early sexualisation is tough. The parenting expert says in this complex arena, we can't leave these lessons to chance Maggie Dent can clearly recall her indignation at being made to wear a dress as a little girl. She was a tomboy and noticed when she was treated differently from little boys, who were allowed to be their exuberant selves when she was not. The process of raising girls has changed since Maggie was a chil...
Jun 09, 2022•54 min
The cerebral cartographer
Professor George Paxinos has mapped more parts of the brain than anyone else in the world. He's been creating atlases of this most mysterious organ for more than 40 years, and is still journeying into unchartered cerebral territory
Jun 08, 2022•47 min
Michelle versus the Atlantic Ocean
From working in a bank and behind a bar, to rowing solo across an ocean, the story of Michelle Lee's remarkable transformation and the voyage which made her reconsider her ideas about being alone (R)
Jun 07, 2022•52 min
Artificial Intelligence — a moral future
Professor Toby Walsh is a world leader in AI research. He asks questions like, 'can we train machines to be fair?' and 'how do we resist the spread of lethal autonomous weapons?' His job is making sure the future of AI is for better, not worse. Artificial intelligence has become an essential part of our lives — it helps us to navigate and communicate, and is responsible for incredibly accurate medical technology. AI is also responsible for lethal autonomous weapons. It can be used to influence w...
Jun 06, 2022•47 min
Putting lipstick on a great white shark
Rodney Fox was torn apart by a great white shark and it took 462 stitches to put him back together again. He was then instrumental in filming Jaws, the most terrifying shark film of all time. But over time, this salty seadog has become the apex predator's fiercest protector
Jun 03, 2022•54 min
The Jane Austen cure
After 50 years of marriage Ruth Wilson took some time alone. In a yellow cottage with a dogwood tree in the garden, she began re-reading the novels of Jane Austen. Eventually, Austen's heroines helped her seize a second chance at happiness
Jun 02, 2022•50 min
Gillian Bell — life and cake
Gillian has the best job in the world — travelling overseas to bake sumptuous and heartfelt wedding cakes, using foraged and fresh produce to tell a couple's story through taste, texture and fragrance. Cake has been a staple in Gillian's life, through immigration, adventure and loss
Jun 01, 2022•51 min
Megan Davis: the road to the Uluru Statement from the Heart
Megan Davis was raised as a 'Queensland Rail kid', then in a book-loving household in a housing commission home. She grew up to become a lawyer at the UN, then began a history-making process of helping Australia's First Nations people speak the truth to power (R)
May 31, 2022•52 min
Mawunyo's life in love, journalism and hip hop
Mawunyo Gbogbo grew up in a church-going Ghanaian-Australian family in the mining town of Muswellbrook, NSW. As a young woman she grabbed the chance to further her media career in New York City at the Bible of Hip Hop, The Source
May 30, 2022•47 min
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