Conversations

Micaela Sahhar grew up hearing stories of her Palestinian family's life in Jerusalem before 1948, and what happened when they had to leave. There was her grandfather’s tourism business, her grandmother’s wedding necklace, and the dramatic circumstances of her father’s birth. Most of all there was the house, built by her grandfather for his extended family, at 8 Asa Street Jerusalem. This was the h...

Raising girls in an age of smartphones and early sexualisation is tough and in this complex arena, parenting educator Maggie Dent says we can't leave these lessons to chance. Growing up Maggie 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. She can clearly recall her indignation at being made to wear a dres...

Political journalist, George Megalogenis has mapped key areas in our population, workforce and geopolitical standing in recent decades, and looks at how these shifts are impacting our collective political future. For the first time since Federation, Australia’s population is mostly made up of migrants and their children.  Professional women have now replaced men doing blue collar jobs as the large...

Melissa Redsell was in Year 12 when her doctor told her she was going to have a baby.  After her baby was born, she was told she had 'ruined her life'. Then she set out to prove all her doubters wrong. When Mel broke the news to her parents, they were disappointed and at school, the Principal instructed her to not expect any special treatment. At 7 months pregnant, Mel graduated, and a little whil...

Paul E Mullen has spent decades interviewing and studying men who have committed unthinkable acts of violence and says these tragic events represent the endpoint of a slow-building private narrative of resentment, isolation and rage. (CW: descriptions of violence) Now retired, Paul dedicated much of his life's work to the extreme end of the human condition. First focusing on victims, researching t...

Guitarist and engineer Josie Scott battled crippling gender dysphoria for decades before finally deciding to live openly as a trans woman in her 60s. In 1984 in Adelaide, two brothers formed a pioneering alternative rock band called The Mark of Cain. They wanted to make music that was heavy and intense with lyrics about war, and death, and being misunderstood. Over the years the band gained an int...

Former Detective Sergeant, Deb Wallace on policing the heroin hotspot of Cabramatta in the 1990s and how Sun Tzu's 'The Art of War' gave her new ideas for clamping down on illegal gang activity. When Deb joined the NSW Police Force in 1983, there were very few women on the front line.  She quickly discovered she had the cool-headed resilience ideal for police work, and she was determined to make a...

Mark Woodland is an unexpected CEO — he started his career in the Army as a tribute to his late brother, then went on to revolutionise his mum's paper-based childcare company. As a young man Mark Woodland was at a loss with what to do with his life. After years of moving around, the family — headed by Mark's single mum — settled in Ipswich, Queensland, where Mark showed himself to be a playful and...

Mary Li was a star ballerina when she fell in love with her dance partner Li Cunxin.  When their daughter Sophie was born profoundly deaf, Mary walked away from dance for many years. Mary says she was the least likely girl to grow up to be a ballerina, She grew up in a family of eight kids in the rough and tumble of the Queensland country town of Rockhampton. But in a little timber hall, with catt...

After a catastrophic car crash in the parking lot of her hospital, Dr Olivia Ong became a paraplegic. But her obsession with learning how to walk again was stronger than her incomplete spinal cord injury. When Olivia Ong was 28 years old, she had the world at her feet. She had recently qualified as a doctor, something she had dreamed of since she was a child growing up in Malaysia. She had married...

Lynne Shori grew up with her hero dad, thinking her Papua New Guinean mother was dead. As an adult, she discovered the truth and set about finding her lost family. When Lynne was growing up, it was just her and her dad. Lynne's dad was her hero; he was different and adventurous but she always felt safe with him when they went on hair-raising adventures together in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea...

Steve Biddulph spent decades working to understand what children need as they grow, but then in his mid-50s, Steve gained an insight that shifted almost everything about how he saw himself. Steve likes to remind us that humans are 'big sensitive mammals' with needs for connection and self awareness. As a psychologist (now retired) and parent educator, he has been at the forefront of an evolving co...

Environmental journalist, Michael Dulaney looks at viruses and bacteria that can move between bats, horses, seals, pigs, voles and even polar bears, and the conditions that lead to human infection. These diseases are known as zoonoses. Michael says climate change, urban sprawl, animal farming and even homelessness contribute to wild animals coming into ever closer contact with people, leading thes...

Colleen Gwynne led the investigation into the murder of the British backpacker and eventually confronted his killer in prison. In 2001, Peter Falconio and his girlfriend Joanne Lees were ambushed on a remote stretch of road in the outback and Peter was shot dead. Colleen was working as a cop in Alice Springs when she was asked to take over the complex murder case. With help from the F.B.I, her wor...

Nikki Goldstein was in a coma in the ICU at St Vincent's Hospital when she first 'met' Rabbi Eli Schlanger. When she woke, the pair embarked together on a project to share the wisdom, compassion and universality of several Jewish teachings. Although they were from very different worlds, when Nikki gained consciousness and met Rabbi Eli properly the two became fast friends. Then, they started writi...

Gardening Australia's Hannah Moloney on the heartwarming and heartbreaking reasons humans continue to lovingly tend to their gardens — for healing, beauty and joy. For thousands of years, tending to a garden or a small farm meant human survival.  But now, with massive commercial farms, genetically modified crops, refrigerated freight and modern irrigation, we don't need to tend to our own gardens...

Zenith Virago was a married mother of two, when she left her family to begin again as a lesbian.  Then she found a new path as a death walker, helping people navigate their life's end.  Zenith grew up in England, and she was still at school when she fell in love with another student.  At seventeen, she married Richard, Head Boy of the local Comprehensive school.  They had two children, Jodie and T...

Conductor Alexander Briger has led orchestras all over the world. But his niche occupation is not the only fascinating thing about him. Alex's family history is wild. Alexander Briger has stood in front of musicians all over the world, summoning a gigantic, beautiful noise from them. Classical music was a huge part of Alex’s story growing up. He is the nephew of the famous conductor, the late Sir...

Adele Dumont was a teenager when she first started pulling out her hair, an urge that became so uncontrollable she was left with a bald spot. She would sometimes enter a trancelike state, covertly sitting on her bathroom floor, picking at her scalp for hours on end. The urge to pull at her hair was uncontrollable, and secret. When Adele finally put a name to her behaviour, she learnt that trichoti...

Ralph Jackman was a sports journalist who retrained as a teacher in midlife, and got his first job at Melbourne’s Parkville Youth Detention Centre, where he was tested by the troubled and bright, charismatic young men. At the centre he found students who struggled with basic literacy, and he also met boys who were yearning for more than juvenile justice could provide. Ralph created bonds with some...

After a near-death experience, Kate Clinch became drawn into the astonishing, Gothic story of a young Australian woman named Eileen O'Connor, who is buried under the floorboards of a home in Coogee. Kate was working as a GP in country South Australia when an ectopic pregnancy nearly killed her. She had a vivid near death experience, which prompted her to start interrogating inexplicable and miracu...

Costume designer Tim Chappel on the chance discovery at a train station that led him into a life of designing for films and the stage. Tim can’t remember all the places he lived, growing up on Army bases around the country, and overseas.  His one constant as a kid was nature.  He’d look for stick insects to pin into his collection and draw endless terrestrial orchids.  Tim was ready to focus his l...

Growing up, para powerlifter, Hani Watson’s passion for lifting had been ignited by her dad and the pack of Arnold Schwarzenegger-types in their string singlets who would accompany him to lift weights. The gym has seen Hani through agonising moments in life, and all the way to the Paralympic Games. Warning: discussion of sexual assault. Throughout her childhood she was having operation after painf...

At just 15 years old, Jarvis Cocker wrote a manifesto that laid out his vision for a band he hoped would take over the music industry. Jarvis discovered the document while sorting through the boxes of stuff from his early life that he’d stashed away in his attic. It was in an an old school exercise book from when he was a fifteen-year-old schoolboy in Sheffield. He'd filled it with detailed plans...

Hannah had a beautiful love story with her husband Matt. After he died in a surfing accident, grief broke her open and changed her life in unexpected ways  As a young couple, writer Hannah Richell and her husband Matt left London for a new life in Australia.  They loved the ocean, the sun, and the people. Then one morning before work, Matt went for a surf at Bronte Beach, and, in a tragic accident...