Sophie Roden is a humanitarian worker and lawyer. At 17 Sophie would volunteer in rural Zambia, not too many years after she would choose to join the fight against Ebola in Liberia. One of the youngest guest on Tiny Island, Sophie has a great story to tell....
Adam Goodes is one of the true gentleman of Australian sport. His genuine character and desire to make our country better shines through in every action. Adam had a long career as one of the best Australian Rules footballers of his generation, won the Brownlow as best in the game a couple of times, two premierships, four time All-Australian, Indigenous team of the century, the list goes on. He did alright on the field but his actions off the field are his ongoing legacy. A cracking yarn....
While individual athletes are on their own in the sporting arena, there's still a team behind them. This week I had the chance to sit down with Mick Turner, whose been part of my team through the ups and down for the last 20 years. From his living room in the middle of the night while I race a world away, next to me on Kokoda or trying to talk me out of racing the Sydney to Hobart, Mick's been there through the lot....
In my life there's been a few key people who have said how do we make this work, rather than throw me to the Sharks, Anthony Bell is one of them. I had the distinct honour of crewing with Belly in the Sydney to Hobart onboard Loyal, a boat which won the 2011 race and raised hundreds of thousands for children's medical equipment. We recounted some of that trip and why he does what he does....
Catia Malaquias is a lawyer, board director and mother of three young children. Catia works tirelessly progressing human rights and inclusion of people with disability. I think this quote sums Catia up perfectly. “We need to take every opportunity to disrupt our culture’s mindset of exclusion of people with disability, which is so harmful. When you think about the hierarchy of human need, belonging has to be right up there and belonging is what historically has been denied to disabled people, th...
Alan Tongue and I have a lot in common. NSW country boys born in the early 80s, rugby league loving and nearly there Australians of the Year. After 10 years in the NRL playing for the Canberra Raiders, Alan's found a new direction in life and it was great to spend some time with him to share a yarn.
Warwick Green is a journalist, author & former Australian rules player for the St Kilda football club. Warwick is the author of biography's for Jim Stynes, Neale Daniher & my own....
Curtis McGrath is an incredibly humble and hard working Australian paracanoeist & Paralympian. He took up canoeing competitively after having both of his legs amputated as a result of a mine blast whilst serving in the Australian Army in Afghanistan. McGrath is the current Paralympic Champion & has won ten gold medals at ICF Paracanoe World Championships between 2014 and 2019....
Tiny Island Podcast will return from the break with fresh sounds and new stories from around Australia....
Today is a quick check in with Tiny Island listeners. We will be taking a short break between episodes. Now is a great chance to catch up on past conversations with some of the previous guests....
I am the product of Australia's world-leading and renowned public education system. Teachers changed my life, offering the support, direction and fight to guide me where I am today. They inspired me and two of my siblings to become teachers. My belief in public education is due to the work of teachers from day one that lived by the belief of equality. This weeks guest is Elaine Masters, a primary teacher and principal in rural Australia for a few decades an my first teacher. We share stories of ...
If it is possible to have Australian Sport pumping through the veins of an individual, that person has to be Lynne Anderson. Lynne was born into the renowned Canterbury Bulldog Rugby Leagues, Moore family, & has carved out a career in building sporting brands and fostering the family approach to every sport that Lynne has touched. Now the CEO of Paralympics Australia Lynne has continued to build the Paralympic Family, whilst guiding her beloved Bulldogs as Chair....
Michael Groom is an Australian mountain climber who is the fourth person ever to reach the summits of the four highest mountains in the world (Lhotse, Kangchenjunga, K2 and Everest) without the aid of bottled oxygen. He proceeded to climb the fifth-highest, Makalu, in 1999. In 1987 he lost the front third of his feet to frostbite after descending from the summit of Kangchenjunga. He later managed to summit Mount Everest in 1993 and again in 1996. Michael is made of some pretty tough stuff. We sp...
Kevin Mitchell is an Australian singer-songwriter; Mitchell uses the name Bob Evans for his primary solo project. He is also the founding lead vocalist for the alt rock band Jebediah. Kevin’s music would be the soundtrack to the lives of a generation of Australians & he takes it all in his humble creative stride....
There's an elite club of 15 athletes who have competed in full medal events at both an Olympic and Paralympic Games and one of them is an Aussie. In 2016 Milly Tapper wrote her name in the history books when she represented Australia in Rio, playing table tennis in both games, a few weeks apart. I guarantee after today's episode you will have caught some of Milly's infectious laughter and learned a bit more about what it's like to represent Australia at the highest sporting level....
Craig Foster played football for Australia in the 90s, honing his craft in leagues across Asia, Europe and here in Australia. These days he is a sports analyst for one of Australia's state broadcasters, and recently came to prominence campaigning on behalf of Bahraini footballer Hakeem al-Araibi, who was granted protection as a political refugee in Australia but was detained upon arrival in Thailand while honeymooning with his wife. We cover the power of sport, the need to give back to community...
Osher Gunsberg might be best known these days for handing out roses on the Bachelor Australia but his most important work happens away from the camera. Osher is an active advocate in the mental health space, sharing his own journey openly and trying to help others as host of the Osher Gunsberg podcast. We sat down a few weeks ago, and a week later Osher welcomed his first son, Wolfgang into the world....
It's hard to drive through a town in NSW without seeing the names of our first Governors Phillip, Hunter, or Macquarie on a sign for a landmark, but who are our most recent Governors? And what is the role of a modern Governor? My first exposure was as an 11 year old when I entered the residence of the NSW Governor, known as Government House on the door step of the Opera House. One of the few trips over the Great Dividing Range that wasn’t to see a doctor, I was receiving an award for what I beli...
Recognition for the work and life has never been something that has sat comfortably with me. But being named as one of the four recipients for the various categories of NSW Australian of the year has been an incredible honour. In particular, sharing the honour with 3 powerful people. Jarred Wheatley, Sophie Smith & Heather Lee OAM have an amazing message. This conversation covers the power of optimism, healthy lifestyle and the importance of relationships....
Do your kids enjoy a bit of downtime in their bedroom with their phone? Have you ever considered that someone posing as 'Justin Bieber' could get your innocent, clever daughter to do unimaginable things online? Nobody is immune to online crime, even our children. People like Queensland Australian of the Year DI John Rouse, are playing a leading role globally investigating and acting on crimes against children. This is a heavy topic and in this episode we talk about sexual abuse. If this is a tri...
Kevin Coombs is an Australian wheelchair basketballer and athlete who competed at 5 Paralympics including the first Paralympic Games in 1960. He is also the first Indigenous Australian Paralympic competitor. He is the most resilient man that I have met and I feel grateful to have grown up within the Australian Paralympic family that Kevin Coombs helped create. Affectionately known within the community as Uncle Kevin....
Gladys Berejiklian is an Australian politician serving as the 45th and current Premier of New South Wales and the Leader of the New South Wales Liberal party. Berejiklian was born in Sydney, the eldest of three daughters born to Armenian immigrant parents. Berejiklian spoke only Armenian until she was five years old, when she began learning English. We speak about gratitude and a strong since of duty and resilience that has assisted in the rise to the highest ranks of the NSW political stage....
George King is the 5th generation of his family to run Coombing Park, one of the founding homesteads of Carcoar. Carcoar is in the central west of NSW and where I grew up. My connection to Coombing Park is deeper then the location. My grandfather worked the property as the head stockman for around 40 years. Today we speak about how farming is changing, life in the bush and the nobility in farming....
P hil Kearns captained Australia 10 times of the 67 he pulled on the Wallabies' jersey but his impact on our nation goes well beyond his rugby career. Phil is a successful businessman and the founder of the Balmoral Burn, a charity foot race that has raised more than $30 million for the Humpty Dumpty Foundation, who supply medical equipment to childrens' hospitals across Australia. We spent some chatting about media in footy, Phil's proudest rugby moments (none as a player!) and the difference t...
On 3 January 2003, I was in my car, pulled over, teeth clenched, sweating a little, ears tuned to what would end up being one of the most memorable moments in Australian cricket history. In a test Australia lost. This week I get to chat through this moment with the man who created it, Steve Waugh, Australian cricket legend, perhaps our greatest ever captain, philanthropist and all-round good bloke. We also touch on media in sport (including sandpaper-gate), the young girls Steve supports in Indi...
I often say the 10 years of not winning was one of the major factors in my success when I eventually got there in 2004. But what if you never get that individual success because you keep coming up against the best athletes your sport has ever seen? How do you keep going? Enter Daniel Kowalski, dedicated swimmer, champion bloke, but known most for his minor medals than anything else, behind messrs Perkins and Hackett. He competed in the Olympic Games in 1996 & 2000. At the 1996 Summer Olympics , ...
Have you woken up at night wondering 'Am I doing enough'? Kumi Taguchi uses that question to drive herself. A familiar face on our screens, Kumi is an ABC TV presenter, and current host of Compass. We speak about work goals, race, the view of Australia from abroad and the changing landscape of Australia.
I'm fast learning that leading an interview is an art and not something you pick up overnight. So it was a pleasure to sit down with one of our best, Andrew Denton. Currently hosting The Interview on Channel 7, Andrew has a gift of drawing unheard insights from filmstars, politicians and even the occasional wheelchair athlete... A Rabbitohs tragic and driving force behind their reinstatement to the NRL, Andrew shares some of his wisdom with me, including a good yarn about his push for assisted d...
When you ask an Aboriginal woman what it means to her to be Australian and she responds that she's never identified as Australian you step back a little... Learn why Teela Reid, a proud Wiradjuri and Wailwan woman from Gilgandra, takes a different view on our nation and growing up in Australia. A lawyer, a Harvard emerging leader, Teela wears many hats and it was great to sit down and have a yarn...
Geoff Trappett OAM is a former Paralympic Athlete. Competing in 2 world championships, Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004 Paralympics. He won Gold in Sydney, being the first person to dip under the 14 second mark for the 100m wheelchair sprint, holding this world record through his retirement in 2005. Following on from sport, Geoff has transitioned to working professionally in multiple senior executive roles in the disability sector. He currently runs his own social policy change organisation Inclusion...
