Conversations

As current CEO of Fairtrade Australia and New Zealand, Molly wants to put an end to human exploitation by delivering transparent supply chains throughout the world. But whether working in the White House, or from a tiny village outside Canberra, Molly's work fulfills the purpose she discovered as a college student raised in a Quaker family

Roger Pulvers lived an adventurous life in the Soviet Union, Japan and Poland, before he chose a whole new identity in 1976 (R)

Anaesthetist Christine Ball traces the world-changing work of the man who brought an end to surgery performed on conscious patients

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 right in his family's backyard changed the course of his life (R)

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 walked away (R)

At the age of 20, speed skater Steven Bradbury nearly died on the ice. Then he won history's most unexpected gold medal (R)

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)

Christie splits her time between training for road and track wheelchair races, holding down several jobs, and raising her family. The Tokyo Paralympics will be her seventh as a competitor, but Christie almost gave up marathons after the 2013 Boston Marathon, and the most frightening experience of her life (CW: mention of suicide)

How a boy from Glasgow named Norman Swirsky grew up to become Australia's most famous doctor

From his daily coffee addiction to the 'war on drugs', science writer Michael Pollan's research into three psychoactive substances derived from plants was broad in scope. In this episode he talks about how caffeine, opium and mescaline affect our brains, change us as people, and make a profound impact on societies that use them (CW: Drug references)  

Brisbane-born Carol followed her heart to Papua New Guinea in the 1960s. Her husband, Buri Kidu, a young lawyer from a village near the capital with a deep sense of duty went on to became the nation's first Indigenous Chief Justice. After Sir Buri's premature death, Carol entered politics, blazing a trail for women in a intensely patriarchal political system

Philosopher Tim Dean on why human morality needs an update for the modern world

When archaeologist Dr Jamie Fraser opened an 'empty' Egyptian sarcophagus, he found a 2600 year old mummy of a temple Priestess inside (R)

Being a single mother and student doctor in 1960s Ireland was merely the 'first act' in Caroline's gutsy adult life. She became a pioneering obstetrician, delivering sometimes contraband contraception, and babies, for fifty years

Gordon Parker is the founder of the Black Dog Institute, which works to remove the stigma around depression, mental illness and bipolar disorder. For the past few years he's been looking closely at the phenomenon of burnout at home and at work

From Scotland's Orkney Islands, stories of how a chance meeting in a pub led Andrew Greig to climb the Himalayas, how golfing helped him recover from a near death experience, and his quest for the Loch of the Green Corrie

A former ABC chief foreign correspondent, Philip began at the ABC as a stagehand in 1975. He left the organisation 46 years later after reporting from Japan, Washington, the Middle East, Nyngan and the Ukraine

When Anne was ten, she walked onto the school playground and a girl spat in her face after calling her ‘a dirty, Arab Muslim’. To her shock, her teacher did nothing. The incident changed how she saw the world, and helped set her on the path to becoming the first Australian Muslim woman elected to parliament (R)

Darwin's Ben Graetz on becoming one of Australia's best-known Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Drag Queens

Surf-loving athlete Nick Marshall is a former professional ironman. Now a physiotherapist, he's created a new way for kids with special needs to be included at the beach (R)

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

Zooarchaeologist Dr Melanie Fillios uses the remains and fossils of animals, including dingoes, to understand more about ancient humans (R)

George Megalogenis looks at the Morrison government's response to the pandemic so far, and asks whether the 'exit strategy' fully comprehends the changed landscape of the post-COVID world

Cheryl is a Wadjuk traditional owner playing the long game in the Swan Valley community where she grew up (R)

A Gangulu elder, Mick was Co-Commissioner of the high profile Royal Commission into the Protection and Detention of Children in the Northern Territory. Mick's fierce advocacy for young people is due in part to a sliding doors moment in his teens (CW: Discussion of suicide.  And for ATSI listeners please be advised this conversation contains the names of people who have died.  Take care when listen...