When I Was Young

Patrick Bonello takes us to the 1970s and 80s, to the working-class suburb of Coburg, where his young self was destined to start his life’s journey as an identical twin. We venture through the ups and downs of childhood and into his passion for radio and all things gadgets. All the while, Patrick is learning that he must keep the secret that he is gay, to keep himself safe.  Come with us on this h...

New podcast out now featuring Christine Nixon. Join us as we have a chuckle talking about childhood northern beaches summers, fierce independence, love of swimming and Brownies, before we get into Christine’s most impressive, change-making career. Imagine the burly world of policing in NSW in 1972 when there were only 130 women in the police force, and 8,000 men. Now imagine being asked at a job i...

Dan shares the stories of his childhood, growing up in Melbourne’s northern suburb of Bundoora in the 1970s and 80s. Cricket and football in the street, boundless bike rides, the freedom he was given to roam and explore. At fourteen Dan loses his sight. His parents fight to keep him in mainstream education and with the help of a few great teachers and aides, he learns new ways of learning. He cont...

Fiona shares the stories of her childhood, growing up in Northern Ireland during the civil war known as The Troubles. Her life was on a steady path of fitting into the expectations set out for Irish Catholic women in the 1980 and 90s, until she went to Uni in Dublin and met a lovely girl from Australia. This friendship opened up the possibilities of the world to Fiona, and with some action and cou...

Kate is an innovative scientist who notices the systems in the natural world and applies this thinking to technology that supports people and communities. She is an entrepreneur with a med-tech start-up under her belt that achieved awards and grants for seven years, for technology advancement. During that time, her company raised more than $20 million in capital for technology development. Now Kat...

When I Was Young features Mathan Ratinam who shares his early life story in Sri Lanka, of being persecuted during the civil war, and immigrating to Australia to discover a whole new world. Mathan's teen years in the 1980s in Perth, learning English from TV shows like MacGuyver and the A Team. Discovering his tribe at Hip Hop concerts and later in Drum and Bass. Mathan studied architecture and work...

When I Was Young features Merita Tabain who shares her journey as the child of new immigrants, growing up in the suburbs of Melbourne in the 1960s and 70s. Merita's story starts with the painful experience of being seen as different at school and moves into the mind-blowing moments of seeing the Sex Pistols on Count Down and discovering Australia's alternative music scene in the 1970s. With all th...

In this episode Dr Trishima Mitra-Kahn shares her early experiences of family violence and how this set her on a path to research the sociology question, 'Why do some people use violence?'. Come with us as we walk through Trishima's childhood and early adult years in New Delhi, London, and now in Melbourne. Trish is a remarkable person who has spent her whole career working towards a goal of elimi...

In this episode Nina interviews Pat who shares the story of his early life growing up in Frankston North. When Pat was a young lad this was a very working-class town, full of commission homes, outside Melbourne, Australia. Pat's story is set in the 1960s and 70s and is very much a story of the Aussie battler. With his sharp wit and intelligence and a keen love of sport, Pat was able to gain a broa...

In this episode Nina interviews Kabinga Mazaba, International Bestselling Author and Inspirational Speaker. Kabinga takes us back to her early life in Zambia where we talk about her experiences of marriage customs, funeral customs and property grabbing in Zambia, as well as her childhood experiences of love, family, loss and sexual abuse. Then Kabinga shares her journey with her husband and childr...

This episode of When I Was Young features Vivienne Nguyen, Victoria's Multicultural Commissioner. Vivienne talks about her early years in Vietnam during the Vietnam/American war, travelling as a refugee first to Malaysia and then onto Australia, living and studying in Melbourne as a young adult, and how she found her feet in both the Vietnamese and broader Victorian communities. Vivienne's journey...