Podcast Episodes

How I went from young delinquent to running a university

Professor George Williams was uninterested in school, instead spending his time melting down lead to sell to a nearby scrap yard. Then a special prim…

8 months ago

What leaving my family’s Baha’i faith taught me about love and life

Brisbane teacher and author, Sita Walker on the strong matriarchs who have helped her weather the storm of family tragedy, divorce and the beauty of …

8 months ago

Remembering Midnight Oil's Rob Hirst

Rob Hirst, the former drummer for the band Midnight Oil has died at age 70. In 2018 Sarah sat down with Rob for a wide-ranging conversation about mus…

8 months ago

Encore: Melissa Lucashenko and the story of Edenglassie

Melissa Lucashenko grew up on the outskirts of Brisbane, where her Aboriginal mother grew plants and her Russian father built an improbable number of…

8 months, 1 week ago

From drug smuggling and opium dens to marching in the first-ever Mardi Gras—Kate's coming out

Kate Rowe's life has been full of wild adventures and hard living. But when she found sobriety, Kate discovered something big about herself. CW: This…

8 months, 1 week ago

I was a teenage Navy diver in the Iraq War. Then I had to make a new life for myself

Aaron Tait was 18 when he was deployed after September 11. His dad's guidance had set Aaron up with the grit he would need as an elite Navy diver, bu…

8 months, 1 week ago

The secret life of a hostage negotiator

Hostage negotiation isn't at all like what you see in Hollywood blockbusters. There is no lying, no promise-making, not even any names. Vince Hurley …

8 months, 1 week ago

Upside down in Bass Strait

Navigator Will Oxley expected the 1998 Sydney to Hobart yacht race to be a challenging one. But when he and his crew met with 12-metre waves and 80km…

8 months, 1 week ago

New Beginnings: How Rafael Bonachela let out his inner showgirl with Kylie Minogue

Rafael Bonachela was born in the dying years of Franco’s Spain, into a patriarchal culture that didn’t appreciate little boys who wanted to dance. 

As…

8 months, 2 weeks ago

New Beginnings: Justin Heazlewood on swapping fame for his hometown

Justin Heazlewood fled a complicated early life in Tasmania searching for fame as an artist on the mainland but then moved back to his home town of B…

8 months, 2 weeks ago