Territory Story

Sophia Scaturchio was born in the British Virgin Islands. Educated in the UK and Australia, Sophia is a lawyer, migration agent, jazz musician and actor. She married a local and moved to Darwin last year. A few months ago, Sophia started work at Ward Keller as a migration lawyer. Sophia has a fascinating Territory Story. She talks about her life and acting roles including a cameo on Aquaman. Credi...

Owen Pike is like a durian. People either love him or loathe him. A larrikin of sorts, Owen was born in Bunbury, Western Australia and grew up in the goldfields near Kalgoorlie. He followed his father up to Darwin at the age of 13, but completed his education and university studies in Perth. Taking over from his parents, Owen has been running the family business with his older brother since 2002....

This is the essence of Boundless Possible. It’s a story about a Darwin girl with big dreams. Dreams that took her from Wulagi Primary to New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts and Broadway. It’s the story of Venessa’s Territory and is out now on the Boundless Possible podcast.

Dr Gavin Bedford is proof that you don’t have to have great marks in high school to go on and earn a PhD. After failing his matriculation miserably, Gavin went on to earn a PhD in science, studying the differences between Darwin and Alice Springs pythons. He also has a degree in Economics, has been a bank manager and run the reptile exhibits at Crocosaurus Cove in the Darwin CBD. In short, Gavin i...

Matt Graham is a 23 year old digital nomad. Born in Canberra, Matt has no fixed address. He has lived in Europe since completing his university studies and he works for Australian Frequent Flyer as Editor. Matt has a passion for travel and commercial aviation. He loves flying at the front of the aircraft and Matt knows all the tricks of the frequent flyer programs to get there. If you’ve ever wond...

Gerry Riskin lives on a tropical island in the Caribbean. Born in Edmonton, Canada, he’s the grandson of Russian immigrants. At the age of 11, Gerry decided he wanted to be a lawyer. Being naturally inquisitive and bright meant finishing law school and becoming a lawyer was a matter of course. But after a few years of practising law, Gerry started to realise he had a slightly different calling. He...

Sometimes in life, really bad things happen. Then at other times, you can be the recipient of profoundly good luck. In both situations, you may really have had no control over the circumstances. This is Angie’s story. Angie was born out of wedlock in a country and at a time where society did not look kindly on the situation. So her parents (who subsequently did get married), put her up for adoptio...

In parts of the world where people are protesting for democratic rights, it is hard to believe that the Territory suffers from voter apathy. It seems the right to vote is not seen as particularly important by a large segment of the Territory population. In the Federal election this year, the Northern Territory had the worst voter turnout in the country; and this is in a country where voting is com...

Terry Mills came to the Territory in 1999. He’s been a farmer, a school principal, a politician and even the Chief Minister of the Northern Territory. Through all of this Terry has always had a focus on community. Disillusioned with the current state of politics in the Territory, Terry has decided to start his own political party, Territory Alliance. Terry shares his story, a fascinating and inspi...

What can we say about Tony Burns? He’s the Tony Robbins of Darwin. A man that has more drive than a Ferrari, Tony brings true passion and grit to the Territory. From humble beginnings on the Sunshine Coast, Tony rose to play professional tennis on the world circuit against the likes of Pat Rafter and Andre Agassi before finally hanging up his boots and turning his mind to other challenges. Tony ta...

Dr. Elisha Harris has a PhD in Structural Engineering from Sydney University. She also has a Law degree. This would make Elisha one of the most qualified engineers in Australia, let alone the Northern Territory. But here she is, in the Northern Territory, an owner in Kmon Harris Engineering Solutions, a company that is helping to build the Territory. Elisha talks about her journey from growing up...

Not the Brexit we read about in news, this is the ‘other’ Brexit. Sarah Roberts tells her Territory Story about coming out to Australia from the UK (hence Brexit) as a 22 year old backpacker, to meet up with friends and ‘stay’ for 3 months....Well, 3 months turned into 6 months, she moved from Sydney to Melbourne in search of ‘Neighbours’ weather and then took that fateful road trip across the Nul...

Peter Kafkas is the ‘Professor’ of social media in Darwin. He was one of the first podcasters in Darwin having started ‘Keeping up with Kafkas’ and then, in collaboration with Peter Gowers, they started ‘2P’s in a Pod’. He is certainly bold and fearless, and on this episode, we first get Peter’s ‘Territory Story’, which includes his connection to Greece and Cyprus and then, somehow, we meander int...

Celine Mitchell is a spritely Canadian. Her Territory Story is very interesting. Originally from Vancouver, Celine and her husband, just did not like the long cold Canadian winters. So, they started studying Google Maps and where in the world they could live that was warm all year round. They chose Darwin. This is truly a boundless possible story and one that should bring all Territorians pride ab...

Luke Gosling is the member for Solomon. This makes him Darwin’s representative in the House of Representatives in Canberra. One of things that makes the Territory great is that almost everyone is just one degree of separation from anyone, and so our access to politicians is second to none in the country. Luke graciously agreed to come on the podcast and talk about his former life as a soldier in t...

Dr. Andrew Taylor has a PhD in demographics. Given that growing the Territory’s population is the number one thing on everyone’s mind here in the Territory, who better to talk to about this than a ‘population doctor’. In this episode, we learn a lot about the population, including the fact that 80% of Australia’s indigenous population live in cities and not outback communities as is the common per...

Peter and Leon really show their age this week when they speak with David Moore and Nestor Sanchez. David and Nestor run Next Tier ESports, a local gaming organisation that is dedicated to bringing ESports events to the Territory. So what the heck is ESports? Peter and Leon find out in this fascinating story about a global phenomenon with a huge fan base rivalling World Cup and Super Bowl audience...

Tessa Czislowski has just been made a Partner at Ward Keller at the tender age of 28. This makes Tessa possibly the youngest person to be made a partner in the history of the firm. Tessa is in charge of the firm’s Criminal and Family law practices and she talks about the difficulties facing clients right now with the economic downturn making it hard for parties that are separating, to sell the fam...

Lynn and Phil are from Madison, Wisconsin. Last month they travelled to Australia for the first time and spent most of their time in the Northern Territory, visiting Darwin, Uluru and surrounding areas. The trip has been on their bucket list but especially for Lynn, who wanted to make a spiritual connection with indigenous culture. By all accounts they had a wonderful time in the Territory and for...

Like most Territorians, Jo Robertson came from interstate - in this case, Wodonga in Victoria. She arrived in Darwin at the ripe old age of 21 and has now lived in the Territory for almost 20 years. Jo is a sole trader and she runs a business called Communicate NT where she does copy editing and runs seminars teaching punctuation, grammar and writing. In a world where communication is facing an on...

On this episode we interview a young Territory entrepreneur. Angus Copelin-Walters is nine years old and founder of Croc Candy, a Territory business that sells rock candy, croc eye lollipops and candy pillows. Angus talks about what motivated him to start his business and some of the interesting people he has met along the way including Prime Minister, Scott Morrison. Listeners can order Angus’s c...

Andrew Lewis is CFO of Jacana Energy. He is a newly minted Territorian having only moved to Darwin in January with his South African wife and two young children. Originally from the UK, Andrew has moved around; spending time in Cape Town, Doha and Dubai, before arriving in Darwin. We discuss all these moves and of course, what prompted him to come to Darwin and experience Boundless Possible.

The Australian Federal election was held on Saturday 18 May 2019. Leon and Peter discuss the outcome of the election, the lessons both parties are likely to take away from it and the implications for the Northern Territory.

Dave Malone is CEO of Master Builders NT. Dave was born in Darwin and has mostly grown up here. He’s spent all of his working life in the Territory, at various times as a public servant and with Master Builders NT, the peak body for the construction industry. Dave shares his early childhood stories; he was in Darwin when cyclone Tracy demolished the city. We also ask Dave about his thoughts on the...

This week’s podcast was recorded in Milan, Italy, where Leon was attending the Lawyers Associated Worldwide, Europe Africa and Middle East Regional Meeting. Leon took the opportunity to speak with Debbie Foster, from the Affinity Consulting Group, who was one of the presenters, about the issue of diversity and inclusion. It is a hot topic and following AJ Kulatunga’s comments on last week’s podcas...