Episodes
Capturing the souls of abandoned pets
Nov 19 2019
When Peter Sharp's severe back pain forced him to give up work, he believed he was unemployable. Then began photographing lost and abandoned dogs, cats, guinea pigs and chickens
Ray Bonner, Bolivia and the big risk
Nov 18 2019
New York Times journalist Ray Bonner spent decades reporting from some of the world's most dangerous places. Then he moved to Australia, and made one of the riskiest decisions of his life
Postcards from God — artist William Robinson
Nov 15 2019
William is considered one of Australia's greatest living artists. But it took years for his work to be recognised as brilliant
The ferocious power of Rebekah
Nov 14 2019
At the age of 2, Rebekah Robertson's son George calmly explained to his mum that he was a girl. After years of turmoil in the family, Rebekah began devoting much of her life to helping Georgie be herself. In the process, she changed history
Clare Bowditch and the breakthrough
Nov 13 2019
How Clare overcame grief she'd stored away since childhood, found a way to manage anxiety, and embraced a joyful, messy life
Inside the dictator's mind
Nov 12 2019
Frank Dikotter on the common personality traits of Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, Mao and other twentieth century dictators
Armistice: The Good Friends
Nov 11 2019
The story of two men who fought for different sides on the western front, and an unexpected friendship between their descendants (R)
Talking magpies, grieving tawny frogmouths and canny galahs
Nov 08 2019
Gisela Kaplan fell under the spell of birds when hand-rearing a magpie nestling. After it learned to speak, she was so intrigued she switched careers and began her research into avian behaviour. Her many books on Australian native birds have been ground-breaking
Finding new ways to grow old
Nov 07 2019
After both her parents died young, Charlotte Wood grew up believing she would never grow old. When she reached her 50s, she began to ask some big questions about aging
My second family is in Vanuatu
Nov 06 2019
Physiotherapist Sky Fosbrooke’s stint as a volunteer health worker led to a deep attachment to the people of a small South Santo village
David McAllister: a life in dance
Nov 05 2019
When David McAllister began ballet lessons in Perth in the 1970s, being a 'ballet boy' was a kind of social death. But his school bullies helped spur him on to become one of the world's best dancers
William Dalrymple on the ruthless rise of the British East India Company
Nov 04 2019
The outrageous story of a group of financiers from a poor and damp island on the outer rim of Europe, who created a private company that became the biggest military and political power in all of India
Archie Roach: turning spirit into song
Nov 01 2019
Archie tells of writing Took the Children Away and playing it in public for the first time, of his belated reunion with his siblings, and his love story with Ruby Hunter
Di Morrissey and the tragedy on Lovett Bay
Oct 31 2019
Di Morrissey grew up in a tiny village only accessible by rowboat, with film star Chips Rafferty and poet Dorothea Mackellar as her neighbours. In 1954, a terrible accident on Lovett Bay changed everything
The writer and the Prince
Oct 30 2019
While fleeing the aftermath of a failed marriage, Hilary McPhee accepted a job in Jordan to write the autobiography of a Hashemite Prince. Living alone for the first time, she was plunged into extreme loneliness
Murgon's shining star: Leah Purcell
Oct 29 2019
Leah was a teenager working in a small-town meatworks when she discovered her true path in life (R)
The force of Will
Oct 28 2019
Winemaker Will Rikard-Bell was working at Hunter Valley winery when a catastrophic explosion knocked him off his feet. He sustained burns to 70% of his body, and his skin needed to be almost entirely rebuilt (R)
In the shadowlands: McMafia author Misha Glenny on organised crime
Oct 25 2019
As a young man studying in Europe, Misha formed underground links that would propel his whole career. The former BBC correspondent interviews criminals all over the world to understand the all-pervasive webs of modern organised crime
Que Minh Luu doesn’t need a hug
Oct 24 2019
How hot young widows, perceptive friends and twitter kept television executive Que afloat after the death of her husband
Tara Westover's escape from ignorance
Oct 23 2019
Tara was raised by parents who were radical Mormon survivalists, preparing for the End of Days. Although they didn't believe in traditional schooling, Tara taught herself in secret and made it to Cambridge and Harvard (R)
Life in the shadow of Long Bay
Oct 22 2019
Patrick Kennedy on growing up next door to some of Australia's most violent criminals (R)
Surviving kidnap in Sierra Leone
Oct 21 2019
Aminata Conteh-Biger was kidnapped by rebel militia when they stormed her village and ransacked her family home. A strange series of events saw her released, but then she was still being hunted (R)
The chair with five legs
Oct 18 2019
As a girl, Davida Allen was brought up to be a proper young lady. Instead, she covered her naked body in paint and rolled around to make art. She grew up to become one of Australia's most famous painters (R)
Child convicts, lost boys and the murder at Point Puer
Oct 17 2019
British boys as young as nine were transported to Van Diemen's Land for petty crime. 3000 of them were incarcerated at Point Puer, the first prison in the world built exclusively for children
Strange rescuers: my father's Holocaust
Oct 16 2019
Juliet Rieden traces the story of her Czech father, who was taken as a child refugee to Britain a week before the Nazis arrived in Prague, and thus spared the fate of his extended family
Kumi’s Japanese inheritance
Oct 15 2019
Australian journalist Kumi Taguchi grapples with divided loyalties after the death of her father
Story of a blood red rose
Oct 14 2019
Kate Forsyth tells the origin story of a fairy tale staple, the ever-flowering red rose. Her version has its roots in Imperial China, and arrives via the French Revolution
Dear Dolly Doctor, Am I normal?
Oct 11 2019
Dr. Melissa Kang explained sex, puberty and periods to teen girls in her role as Dolly magazine's ‘Dolly Doctor’. She spent 23 years answering questions sent by mail, that young people were too embarrassed to ask out loud
Dinosaur fields: finding fossils on the family farm
Oct 10 2019
The random find of a dinosaur bone on her Queensland property led Robyn Mackenzie to develop an outback museum of international importance, and a deep sense of wonder at prehistoric geology
Chasing the dream that was Prague
Oct 09 2019
Author Favel Parrett’s grandmother escaped from Czechoslovakia as a teenager, but her sister stayed behind - suffering the twin nightmares of Nazism and Stalinism
Finding the right formula with Eddie Woo
Oct 08 2019
Waiting in line to enrol for a teaching degree in history and English, Eddie was persuaded to pursue maths instead. Despite never really liking maths at school, he signed up. The split-second decision changed his life, and the lives of many of his future students
The lucky accident of Sydney's Opera House
Oct 07 2019
Helen Pitt on how the luminous shells of Australia's most loved building nearly didn't make it off the drawing board (R)
Discovering my father's secret life in France
Oct 04 2019
Growing up, Louisa Deasey knew very little about her late father's life. Then she found a bundle of his lost love letters (R)
The sex life of brains
Oct 03 2019
Neuropsychologist Dr Amee Baird on the mysterious connections between our brains and our desires
What's next for the Greens?
Oct 02 2019
From the party of protest to the balance of power, journalist Paddy Manning looks at the history of Australia's most successful third party
Bill Bryson and the wonders of the human body
Oct 01 2019
Why is scratching an itch so pleasurable? How can someone leap from a burning plane in the sky and survive with a few bumps and scratches? Take a journey through the wondrous complexity of the human body
Nursing on Sydney’s streets
Sep 30 2019
When working with people experiencing homelessness, Erin Longbottom looks to their strengths to help them find their way to health and a home
A friendship and a giant literary hoax
Sep 27 2019
Alison Hoddinott and Gwen Harwood were great friends with a shared love of English, family, and thumbing their noses at convention (R)
The evolution of Charlie Veron: the Great Barrier Reef's first scientist
Sep 26 2019
School was nearly the undoing of the intensely curious child who went on to discover nearly a quarter of the world's coral species, and be awarded the Darwin Medal (R)
A vibrant life - Kath Venn at 84
Sep 25 2019
The late Kath Venn was a powerhouse of community spirit. After serving in Tasmania's parliament, she was State President of the Housewives Association, a marriage celebrant and much else besides (R)
RAF pilot Frank Dell's story of survival in Nazi occupied Holland
Sep 24 2019
In October 1944 Frank's De Havilland Mosquito was shot out of the sky and he parachuted into Nazi territory (R)
Secret of the native hibiscus: western science meets Indigenous knowledge
Sep 23 2019
Botanist and Dharawal elder Fran Bodkin uses western science to explain up to 80,000 years of Australian Indigenous plant knowledge (R)
Why is so little known about women’s bodies?
Sep 20 2019
After attending a conference on endometriosis in 2015, journalist Gabrielle Jackson broke down in tears. She realised she knew nothing about the disease that had been wreaking havoc with her body
One hundred acres of bamboo
Sep 19 2019
Durnford Dart longed to return to life on the land, where he’d spent his best childhood years. He went on to pioneer bamboo farming in Australia
The tangled web of spirituality
Sep 18 2019
Seeking a connection with a higher power led Rob Donnelly into the Catholic priesthood, but the reality of a religious life was not what he expected
Ben Folds' dream about lightning bugs
Sep 17 2019
Ben on his musical career, the art of song writing and his brief stint as a one-man polka band in a German restaurant
The indestructible nature of Corey White
Sep 16 2019
A childhood of abuse and neglect led Corey to an unusual place - the stage. His wit and resilience make his stand-up comedy sharply observed and darkly humorous
Nat Young is still in search of the perfect wave
Sep 13 2019
For four-time world champion surfer Nat, surfing is about more than competition or exercise, it's a religion
Keeping Mum: love and dementia
Sep 12 2019
Daughter Nia tells how early-onset dementia has reshaped the powerful partnership of her parents, Moira and Leon Pericles
Why don’t more dads take parental leave?
Sep 11 2019
Annabel Crabb on the inequity between parents of different genders, prompted by the hullabaloo surrounding New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Arden’s baby, and the corresponding lack of concern about Australia’s Prime Minister having young children
Prepping for the apocalypse: bunkers, bullets and billionaires
Sep 10 2019
Bradley Garrett explores ‘doomsday prepping’, a multi-billion dollar industry driven by dread (R)
Akmal Saleh really doesn't like the jungle
Sep 09 2019
An impulse decision to buy a home in the rainforest launches a comedy of errors involving a python in the roof, a half-finished home, an unexpected tax bill and two reality TV shows
The greatest air race: twenty planes, London to Melbourne, 1934
Sep 06 2019
Early aviation's most dramatic event saw courage, tragedy and a miraculous rescue involving the whole town of Albury
Sex, death and the northern quoll
Sep 05 2019
Overcoming breast cancer in the first year of her daughter's life led scientist Amanda Niehaus to a deeper study of reproduction and death
The life of Antarctic icebreaker Aurora Australis
Sep 04 2019
When the ship starts to cut through the ice, marine biologist Sarah Laverick feels the vibrations rumble through her body like a thunderstorm
The art of precision engineering with Simon Winchester
Sep 03 2019
The modern world functions on precision - phones, computers, cameras that operate with exactness. But in the quest for perfection, have we lost the art of craftsmanship?
The first foreign lawyer to practice in Afghanistan
Sep 02 2019
Lawyer Kimberley Motley took a nine-month assignment in Kabul, and never looked back, becoming the first foreign litigator to practice in Afghanistan's conservative and male-dominated courts
On the trail of Candidate Trump: Katy Tur
Aug 30 2019
Katy was described by Donald Trump as disgraceful, a liar, and 'third-rate' during her coverage of his successful Presidential campaign (R)
Bangarra's bold leader: Stephen Page
Aug 29 2019
When they were kids, Stephen and his brothers would climb onto the laundry roof and put on a show for their neighbourhood. Stephen's since made an exceptional career as a dancer, and at the helm of Bangarra Dance Theatre
Tim Fischer's 1000 days in the Eternal City
Aug 28 2019
We reprise the former Deputy Prime Minister's account of his time as Australia's representative to the Vatican (R)
The travails of travelling with a parent
Aug 27 2019
Comedian Adam Rozenbachs booked his father on the trip of a lifetime. But it turns out his Dad doesn't like museums or monuments, galleries or landmarks, or travelling much at all
The insatiable curiosity of Phillip Adams
Aug 26 2019
Broadcaster Phillip Adams is a filmmaker, former ad man and author - and he’s just celebrated his 80th birthday
Min Jin Lee's good fortune
Aug 23 2019
The author of bestselling novel, Pachinko, explores the lives of generations of Koreans in Japan
Unlocking the mystery of human remains
Aug 22 2019
Forensic anthropologist Lucina Hackman uses scientific evidence and rational deduction to identify the dead, and return the missing to their loved ones
Uncle Jack Charles: not true blue, true blak
Aug 21 2019
Uncle Jack was forcibly removed from his mother as a baby and denied his Aboriginality. A one-off trip to Fitzroy connected him with a family he didn’t know about, and promptly landed him in jail
Fine Cotton Fiasco bonus episode
Aug 20 2019
One of the all time greatest and silliest stories in Australian history
The Fine Cotton affair: a racing fraud fiasco
Aug 20 2019
The farcical events that unfolded when a group of conspirators hatched a plot to defraud bookmakers of millions of dollars (R)
Dr Anne Aly is comfortable being the outsider
Aug 19 2019
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, the teacher did nothing. The incident sparked Anne's ongoing passion for justice
Pygmy dinosaurs and blue-eyed Neanderthals: Europe's startling deep past
Aug 16 2019
Tim Flannery on the bizarre geography of prehistoric Europe, and how an asteroid the size of Manhattan ruptured everything
Discovering a partner’s secret: online child sexual exploitation material
Aug 15 2019
Natalie Walker supports the innocent partners and families of perpetrators of online child sex offences. She founded an organisation to provide peer support, and transform the stigma applied to secondary victims
The sculptor's son
Aug 14 2019
Hung Le and his family made a terrifying escape from Saigon in 1975. All they had with them was one suitcase, a box of biscuits and some seasick pills. As they left, they saw Saigon on fire. Later, Hung's father became the 'lost artist' of Vietnam
Jurors behaving badly
Aug 13 2019
Law Professor Jeremy Gans with stories of jurors using ouija boards in court, falling in love with advocates and snoozing through proceedings (R)
How brutal politics and righteous prayers toppled a Prime Minister
Aug 12 2019
Niki Savva on the bungled coup which ousted Malcolm Turnbull and installed his surprise successor, Scott Morrison
Bryan Brown’s ticket from Bankstown to Palm Beach
Aug 09 2019
Bryan’s played more than 80 roles on stage and screen. Raised in working-class Sydney, his talent, hard work, and unmistakable presence have been his ticket to the world
Tommy Caldwell: born to climb the Dawn Wall
Aug 08 2019
Yosemite’s most punishing climb is the 3000ft sheer face of El Capitan mountain called the Dawn Wall. Tommy grew up exploring Yosemite and in 2015 he and his partner Kevin Jorgeson became the first to free-climb the wall
A heartbreaking, Machiavellian drama: what went on inside the Banking Royal Commission
Aug 07 2019
Dan Ziffer had a front row seat for the testimony of victims, financial advisors and bankers offered up to Australia's Banking Royal Commission
Exposing the banks: the journalist who sparked a royal commission
Aug 06 2019
Adele Ferguson on the dishonest dealings of Australia's banks and financial institutions, and the damage done to customers and whistleblowers
Peter Bell and the singular quest of Kyung Ae
Aug 05 2019
Peter's Korean birth mother spent years searching for her son in America. Then she discovered an AFL star living in Perth (R)
The Lumiere brothers, Louise Brooks, and The Humorous Rollerskater
Aug 02 2019
Writer Dominic Smith on the glittering, perplexing history of the silent film era
When a strong man broke
Aug 01 2019
Grant Edwards won the title of The Strongest Man in Australia for four years in a row by pulling trains, planes, trucks and ships. At work, he fought child exploitation and human trafficking. But while protecting others, Grant forgot to look after himself
The man with five lives
Jul 31 2019
Roger Pulvers lived an adventurous life in the Soviet Union, Japan and Poland, before he chose a whole new identity in 1976
The determination of Dr Dinesh Palipana
Jul 30 2019
A severe spinal injury could not crush Dinesh Palipana's drive to become a doctor (R)
The arachnologist with a fear of spiders
Jul 29 2019
Robert Raven puts aside his long-held fear of spiders to collect them and uncover hundreds of new species. (R)
Candy Devine: from a cabaret in Cairns to Belfast's Downtown Radio
Jul 26 2019
Faye McLeod took on a stage name when she became a performer, and followed her star to the UK in the 1960s (R)
Against the death penalty: barrister Julian McMahon
Jul 25 2019
When Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran were executed by the Indonesian Government, their lawyer of 9 years was not far away. Theirs are among the deaths which continue to drive Julian’s efforts to have capital punishment abolished worldwide
The deep time dreaming of an ancient continent
Jul 24 2019
Historian Billy Griffiths on the complex history of Australia's indigenous archaeology
John Marsden's manifesto on teaching and raising children
Jul 23 2019
John on what he's learned in more than 30 years as an educator, parent, and founder and principal of Candlebark and Alice Miller schools
Micro-dosing, magic mushrooms, and Michael Pollan
Jul 22 2019
At 59, Michael became a 'reluctant psychonaut'. While on LSD he felt his sense of self disintegrate into a storm of Post-it notes
The silver medal that changed Laurie Lawrence
Jul 19 2019
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 in his family's backyard changed the course of his life
Nursing at altitude: the story of a Royal Flying Doctor flight nurse
Jul 18 2019
Louise Burton has worked with the Royal Flying Doctor Service Qld for twenty years
Why Australia should prepare to fight alone
Jul 17 2019
Hugh White on the conundrum of how Australia can defend itself in the Asian century
Helping hoarders let go
Jul 16 2019
Psychologist Jessica Grisham on working with people whose wellbeing is threatened by their attachment to 'stuff' (R)
Voicing velociraptors and capturing the dawn chorus
Jul 15 2019
Sound designer and naturalist Douglas Quin makes field recordings from everywhere on Earth and uses them to create soundscapes for film and tv, galleries and museums
A magical country childhood: Alison Lester
Jul 12 2019
From Antarctica to Arnhem Land, the pages of the books of this prolific author and illustrator are fuelled by adventure (R)
Backing the wild dreams of youth: Jan Owen
Jul 11 2019
Jan’s work as a champion of young people has its roots in her own story (R)
A Hong Kong childhood during WWII
Jul 10 2019
Barbara Laidlaw pieces together the mystery of what her parents endured as internees in Hong Kong (R)
Helping troubled kids find a way back: Bernie Shakeshaft
Jul 09 2019
Bernie was a wild teenager who became a jackeroo and a dingo trapper. Then he began helping kids in trouble (R)
Trent Dalton: the rise of a watchful boy
Jul 08 2019
As a child Trent was a quiet observer of the drama of his family and his neighbourhood. He grew up to become an award-winning writer (R)
International brickie
Jul 05 2019
Bricklaying takes him around the world as a teacher and expert, but Troy Everett still finds deep satisfaction in laying bricks
Falling for a fake
Jul 04 2019
Stephanie Wood was an acclaimed newspaper journalist when she fell for a romantic fraudster
The seaweed scientist who survived being scalped
Jul 03 2019
After decades as a marine ecologist, Pia Winberg began her own seaweed farm. One ordinary working day there was a terrible accident
Australia's Romani Gypsies
Jul 02 2019
Mandy Sayer has uncovered the history of a thriving Gypsy community (R)
Born blind at the right time: Ron McCallum
Jul 01 2019
Left totally blind by treatment he received as a premature baby, Ron credits technology, love, and good timing with his success in life and the law
A dirt bike and a secret: Heather Ellis
Jun 28 2019
When she rode her motorbike solo across the Silk Road, Heather thought she had nothing to lose. Her HIV positive diagnosis was far more serious in the 1990s than it is today
The murderer who wasn't there
Jun 27 2019
Zak Grieve was 19 when he was found guilty of murder, although the judge said he wasn't at the scene of the crime. Steven Schubert tells his story
A shipwrecked French cabin boy and his Australian Aboriginal family
Jun 26 2019
The astounding fate of Narcisse Pelletier, taken in by the people of Night Island after being abandoned on the coast of far north Queensland in 1858
A sizzle in the brain changed Lavinia Codd's life
Jun 25 2019
After a stroke at age 31, Lavinia Codd lost part of her memory, and half her vision. Then she became fascinated by her brain's ability to regenerate (R)
Inside the comic mind
Jun 24 2019
'Becardiganed polymath' Robin Ince on the fascinating brains of stand-up comics
Stories from Elmswood Farm
Jun 21 2019
Patrice Newell was a model and a TV host before she began again as a biodynamic farmer
Richard Tognetti: 'Je suis Wollongong'
Jun 20 2019
Richard Tognetti was a boy when he first showed a brilliant talent for playing the violin. But in the town where he grew up, his talent made him a target
Rozsy's terrible secret
Jun 19 2019
Angela Hamilton was raised by a tyrannical father, who terrorised his family. Decades later, she found out the truth about what he'd done during WWII
The evolution of Poh
Jun 18 2019
How a shy Mormon girl named Sharon became Poh Ling Yeow (R)
State secrets and marsupials
Jun 17 2019
Australia through the eyes of The New York Times Australia bureau chief, Damien Cave
Midnight Oil's Rob Hirst
Jun 14 2019
Chasing the back beat and adventures in wide open spaces, Rob remains essentially the same as the boy he was (R)
Not your average dentist
Jun 13 2019
After treating a patient named Anna, Sharonne Zaks saw the power relationship with her patients differently. She developed a new branch of dentistry to help care for survivors of sexual assault
Water, Water: a story collection
Jun 12 2019
Eight stories exploring the pleasures and perils of water
Barrie Cassidy and Private Bill
Jun 11 2019
Barrie unearths a family wartime secret after fifty years (R)
The rise of the land dragon
Jun 10 2019
Alex Landragin was born into a champagne-making family in the French village of Verzenay. When he was five, his family began a new life in Australia. Then a freak accident changed everything.
Esther Perel: finding the erotic in everyday life
Jun 07 2019
Esther is a therapist who spent years studying intimacy, monogamy and sexuality. She became the world's most well-known expert on modern love
A mother I never knew: the secret of Peter Papathanasiou
Jun 06 2019
The story of family bonds so strong that one couple gave their child to another, to be raised in a country far away
Liz Jones and the fire at La Mama
Jun 05 2019
The matriarch of La Mama on life in and out of Melbourne’s beloved theatre
The 'Angel of Death' of Sydney's underworld
Jun 04 2019
Dulcie Markham was one of the most notorious characters of Sydney in the 1930s, but many of her lovers met a grisly end
The memory whisperer
Jun 03 2019
Lynne Kelly became a senior memory champion after she began researching ancient ways of transforming landscapes, objects and the human body into 'memory palaces.'
PRESENTS — Shutup 01 — Talking about speaking
May 31 2019
As a bonus for our podcast subscribers, we're including five episodes of Sami Shah’s Shutup — A free Speech Investigation in the Conversations feed today. What is freedom of speech and how much of it do we have? Sami Shah goes in search of the origins and limits of our free and frank speech.
Shutup 02 — Going mad
May 31 2019
Sami Shah finds out what political correctness is and why it’s so darn mad. This is a bonus for our podcast subscribers. Five episodes of comedian and journalist Sami Shah’s Shutup — A free Speech Investigation.
Shutup 03 — Getting Yassmined
May 31 2019
A young woman posted on Facebook on Anzac Day and Australia went mad. Sami Shah investigates why every comedian of colour is afraid of being 'Yassmined'. This is a bonus for our podcast subscribers. Five episodes of comedian and journalist Sami Shah’s Shutup — A free Speech Investigation.
Shutup 04 — Frontlines and punchlines
May 31 2019
Sami Shah looks at where the free speech lines are being drawn in our newsrooms and comedy clubs. This is a bonus for our podcast subscribers. Five episodes of comedian and journalist Sami Shah’s Shutup — A free Speech Investigation.
Shutup 05 — Not shutting up
May 31 2019
Online, on campus, everywhere we’re losing free and frank speech. Sami Shah discovers the consequences of this loss but also finds some solutions. This is a bonus for our podcast subscribers. Five episodes of comedian and journalist Sami Shah’s Shutup — A free Speech Investigation.
Operation Babylift
May 31 2019
In the dying days of the Vietnam War, hundreds of orphans were airlifted from Saigon to safety. Ian Shaw tells the story of two Australian women at the heart of Operation Babylift
Psychotherapy on the couch
May 30 2019
Demystifying the art of talk therapy and the complex relationship between therapist and patient
Behind the sequins: the Tony Sheldon story
May 29 2019
Tony became an actor against his mother's wishes. Three decades later, he won the part of a lifetime (R)
Helen Zaltzman is the Allusionist
May 28 2019
Travelling the world in pursuit of language and exploring its uses, abuses and transformation
The iron law of newspapers
May 27 2019
Sally Young unearthed a culture of 'dog does not eat dog' as she wrote a history of Australia's newspaper barons
Inside the Robbers Cave: testing tribal loyalties at a boys summer camp
May 24 2019
Gina Perry uncovers the strange story behind a controversial psychological experiment (R)
The great dogs of Australian history
May 23 2019
Dog whisperer Guy Hull on remarkable dogs, from life-saving kangaroo dogs to plane-flying Alsatians (R)
In and out of strife: Vickie Roach's turbulent life
May 22 2019
Vickie's met with trouble all through her life, starting with a police record at the age of two. She went on to challenge a Federal law on the rights of prisoners
Bob Hawke on a life in power
May 21 2019
The late Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke on his life before politics, and his years at The Lodge (R)
How Australian Labor lost 'the unlosable election'
May 20 2019
Social Researcher Rebecca Huntley on Australia's new political landscape
Jessie Cole's survival story
May 17 2019
After two suicides within her family, Jessie returned to Northern NSW to begin again. (R)
How to change a mind
May 16 2019
Eleanor Gordon-Smith was a 'recovering champion debater' when a night in King's Cross upended her belief in the power of reason
Irvine Welsh: the origins of Trainspotting
May 15 2019
As a young man, Irvine Welsh fell off a double-decker bus and won a tidy sum in compensation. Then he began to write 'Trainspotting'
The story of The Snowy
May 14 2019
Tales of drowned towns, pugnacious unionists, terrifying brumbies and a love story in a laundry floor came to light in Siobhan McHugh's history of the Snowy Scheme
Revealing the scars: the life of Kate Mulvany
May 13 2019
Kate has used tragic events in her own life as creative fuel to write more than 25 plays (R)
When the library burned
May 10 2019
Writer Susan Orlean on the enduring mystery of who set fire to the Los Angeles Central Library
The brutal and beautiful world of Australia's native bees
May 09 2019
The Sugarbag bees who headbutt their queen to her death are among the many Australian bee species which fascinate ecologist Toby Smith
How a milkmaid with cowpox changed history
May 08 2019
David Isaacs on the surprising history of human vaccination
This is your captain speaking
May 07 2019
On 9/11 Captain Beverley Bass diverted her American Airlines jet to a tiny town in Newfoundland, along with thousands of other airspace refugees
Monsters and morals: Sarah Perry
May 06 2019
Sarah’s life took a gothic turn as she crafted her version of Melmoth
The power of Less: Andrew Sean Greer
May 03 2019
The Pulitzer Prize winner was working as an odd-jobs man for an Italian Baroness when a phone call upended his life
How George Saunders became 'a genuinely freaky person'
May 02 2019
George Saunders was a knuckle puller in a slaughterhouse and drove a chicken delivery van before he became a writer
Hunting the turquoise-blooded frog
May 01 2019
Biologist Jodi Rowley has identified 26 new species of frogs in South-East Asia and Australia (R)
Taking the pulse of a dopesick nation
Apr 30 2019
The opioid crisis is destroying hundreds of thousands of American lives and Beth Macy has been up close to it
An erratic family saga
Apr 29 2019
Vicki Laveau-Harvie was estranged from her parents for decades, before she was summoned to their isolated ranch on the Canadian prairies (R)
Mary Bryant: no ordinary highwaywoman
Apr 26 2019
The epic life story of a First Fleet rebel as told by Meg Keneally
Questioning the line of duty
Apr 25 2019
Why Gwen Cherne became an advocate for war widows after the death of her husband Pete (R)
Listening to China
Apr 24 2019
Professor David Walker on the history of the Australia-China relationship
Stan Grant on Australia Day
Apr 23 2019
Reflections on what it means to be Australian
Vasilisa the Wise and the witch Baba Yaga
Apr 22 2019
Kate Forsyth explores a classic Russian folk tale and delves into the romantic life of the Brothers Grimm (R)
Diving bells, gangsters and the women of the Brooklyn Navy Yards
Apr 19 2019
Acclaimed novelist Jennifer Egan dives into the chaos, romance, and hard graft of the old Navy Yards (R)
Melina Marchetta: that Italian girl
Apr 18 2019
The real story behind Looking for Alibrandi
Mark Scott on stepping outside the echo chamber
Apr 17 2019
Mark led the ABC through a decade of dramatic change. Now he's on a quest for digital minimalism
How the iPhone rewrote the teenage brain
Apr 16 2019
David Gillespie on how Fortnite and Instagram are altering the neural pathways of a generation
The ethics of everything: Simon Longstaff
Apr 15 2019
Simon Longstaff's life was changed by one of the most searing ethical dilemmas imaginable
Climbing K2, custody and other extreme challenges
Apr 12 2019
Adventurer Adrian Hayes on what he learned while attempting the world’s second tallest summit
Sam Thaiday: how to build a Bronco
Apr 11 2019
An NRL champion talks candidly about his challenges on the road to football fame
The truth about space junk
Apr 10 2019
Space archaeologist Dr Alice Gorman on the unexpected artefacts of the space age
The secret life of the 'Beauty Queen Killer'
Apr 09 2019
Duncan McNab on how Australian-born criminal Christopher Wilder became America's most wanted
A mountaineer's reckoning
Apr 08 2019
Mountaineer Neill Johanson was trekking near Everest Base Camp when a 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit the roof of the world
Fearless Alice Anderson and her all-girl garage
Apr 05 2019
The story of an Austin-driving Australian maverick who died in mysterious circumstances
Mamma Simba: love and Tanzania
Apr 04 2019
Donna Duggan fell in love with a Tanzanian man and together they built a safari company
Unlocking the mystery of Motor Neurone Disease
Apr 03 2019
Dominic Rowe is asking how common degenerative brain diseases begin (R)
Finding Mer-Neith-it-es
Apr 02 2019
When archaeologist Dr Jamie Fraser opened an 'empty' Egyptian sarcophagus, he found a 2600 year old mummy of a temple Priestess inside
Letters to a serial killer
Apr 01 2019
Crime writer Candice Fox began exchanging letters with a serial killer on death row. Then he asked to meet her in person
Prisoner to PhD: the rise of Kerry Tucker
Mar 29 2019
An opportunity to further her education while serving time proved the making of Kerry (R)
Felafel and fatherhood
Mar 28 2019
John Birmingham on rebuilding his life after devastating loss, years after he wrote his 90s cult novel
More than kindness: compassion and its uses
Mar 27 2019
Paul Gilbert on how our brains are wired for inner conflict and possible cruelty, and what to do about it
Anton Enus, son of the Masked Marvel
Mar 26 2019
Journalist Anton Enus grew up as the son of a professional wrestler, in apartheid-era South Africa
Death on the summit of Mount Kosciuszko
Mar 25 2019
Historian Nick Brodie on how a 1928 adventure on the slopes of Australia's highest mountain went horribly wrong
Disrupting forensic science and playing with fire
Mar 22 2019
Chemist and fire scene investigator Niamh Nic Daeid on doing science in the service of justice
Cradle Mountain's great love story
Mar 21 2019
Kate Legge traces the lives of pioneering naturalists Kate Cowle and Gustav Weindorfer in Tasmania's sublime wilderness
Women of the American heartland
Mar 20 2019
Sarah Smarsh on the idiosyncratic women who raised her in Kansas
Dr Budgerigar
Mar 19 2019
Bob Doneley is one of the only Australian vets specialising in the health of budgerigars (R)
Going back to Baghdad
Mar 18 2019
Doctor Munjed Al Muderis on returning to Iraq to operate on soldiers and civilians wounded in the war against ISIS
Undercover in the asylum
Mar 15 2019
Thousands of citizens were housed in Melbourne's asylums during the 19th Century, and they received surprisingly humane treatment
Meryl Tankard: dancing beyond ballet
Mar 14 2019
How a former ballerina revolutionised Australia’s dance landscape
The adventures of Captain Patch
Mar 13 2019
How Travis Saunders and his son Patch are helping rewrite the story of autism.
The evolution of Courtney Act
Mar 12 2019
At five, Shane Jenek won his first talent quest. Sixteen years later he became Courtney Act, one of the world's most recognisable drag queens
Kuranda's compass
Mar 11 2019
When Kuranda Seyit was thrust into the public eye after 9/11, he unearthed a history which had to be told
How Australia's first female detective took on Sydney's razor gangs
Mar 08 2019
Leigh Straw tells the story of Lillian Armfield, arch enemy of serial criminals Tilly Devine, Kate Leigh et al (R)
Changing how we talk about rape
Mar 07 2019
Sohaila Abdulali was seventeen when she was gang raped and forced to fight for her life
John Prine: from Paradise to Nashville
Mar 06 2019
A songwriter's songwriter, John has turned his often bemused view of people and politics into songs for fifty years
Chair's tenacious daughter
Mar 05 2019
Caro Llewellyn was in her 40s when she got a distressing diagnosis: Multiple Sclerosis
The future of cyber war
Mar 04 2019
Journalist David Sanger on how the internet became 'the perfect weapon'
Basketball and belonging: Cheryl Kickett-Tucker
Mar 01 2019
Cheryl is a Wadjuk traditional owner, playing the long game in her Swan Valley community
Abu Dhabi's temporary people
Feb 28 2019
What is it like when home is a country that doesn't want you? Deepak Unnikrishnan's family story
Hello Carly Findlay
Feb 27 2019
Carly was born with facial difference, and says the rudeness of strangers has sometimes been more painful than the disability she's grown to embrace
Digging with his pen
Feb 26 2019
Irishman John Connell was an acclaimed journalist when his life began to unravel
The guiding light
Feb 25 2019
When Dorothy Hoddinott became Principal of Holroyd High School, she began a wave of change for her students
Joan and the bone men
Feb 22 2019
The rewards and challenges of working in orthopaedics
From the Shetlands to Vera: crime writer Ann Cleeves
Feb 20 2019
Award-winning novelist Ann Cleeves lived many lives before her career as an author took off (R)
Joan Jett's life in music
Feb 19 2019
When Joan Marie Larkin was given a guitar at the age of 13, she was on the path to becoming the Godmother of Punk
The marvellous Miss Matters
Feb 18 2019
Historian Clare Wright on the true story of how Adelaide's Muriel Matters began to change the world
Charles Kingsford Smith: king of the Milky Way
Feb 15 2019
The life of 'Smithy' Australia's greatest aviator
Becoming Zenith
Feb 14 2019
Zenith Virago married at 17, and had two children. Then she left her young family to create a life of her own on the other side of the world
The homesickness letters
Feb 13 2019
Growing up on the biggest council estate in Western Europe, Jeff Green dreamed of a life in Australia. Then he got his own chance to emigrate
How Osher learned to love his mind
Feb 12 2019
Osher Gunsberg was living in Los Angeles when his mental health took a dramatic turn for the worse
The power of Hope
Feb 11 2019
Louisa Hope was seriously injured in the Sydney siege. From her hospital bed, she began a charity to help her nurses
Singing with strangers and Spooky Men
Feb 08 2019
Choir master Stephen Taberner was raised a Christadelphian, but in his adult life he celebrates the pleasure of music
The girl in the vintage lace
Feb 07 2019
In the 1980s, Lydia Pearson began a wildly successful fashion label with her best friend. In 2016, everything changed
Wake In Fright and walking the dog with Ken
Feb 06 2019
Renowned biographer Jacqueline Kent recalls her volatile year of love with Kenneth Cook
Judith Lucy, and her men
Feb 05 2019
Comedian Judith Lucy has been reflecting on what has gone right, and wrong in her relationships with men
The joy of hovercraft
Feb 04 2019
Peter Venn built his first hovercraft in the early 1970s. By 1988 he had a fleet of them on the Brisbane River, and was giving joyrides to 140 000 World Expo visitors (R)
The state of your nation begins in your street
Feb 01 2019
Hugh Mackay on how our neighbourhoods hold the key to the isolation felt by so many (R)
How to catch a wild bull
Jan 31 2019
Lach McClymont mustered hundreds of wild cattle, untouched for decades, from a remote area of the Northern Territory
The voice of a child who can’t speak
Jan 30 2019
Samantha Wheeler’s daughter Charlotte has Rett Syndrome, a rare ‘locked-in’ disorder
Ghostwriting love stories
Jan 29 2019
Melanie Lewis is the secret hand behind many wedding ceremonies
Naomi Price and the business of show
Jan 25 2019
From Annie to Sweet Charity, by way of The Voice and Rumour Has It: Naomi on music that's shaped her career so far
Rome in the Balkans
Jan 24 2019
Uncovering the little-known history of the late Roman Empire in Serbia
What makes a body perfect?
Jan 23 2019
How scars and physical differences affect our idea of human beauty
When Sister Margaret found her voice
Jan 22 2019
Margaret Harrod grew up as her father's 'proxy wife'. To escape him, she became a nun, until a chance conversation changed everything
How 'the man in the hat' walked free
Jan 21 2019
Journalist Sam Vincent on the lingering questions about Canberra's most notorious murder
Best of 2018: William McInnes
Dec 14 2018
William’s stories of fatherhood (R)
Best of 2018: Bringing life-saving dialysis to the bush
Dec 13 2018
Sarah Brown always wanted to be a remote area nurse. Then she began a medical revolution (R)
Best of 2018: Hunting the deadly coastal taipan
Dec 12 2018
How an elusive copper-coloured snake species terrorised post WWII North Queensland (R)
Best of 2018: Jenny Briscoe-Hough
Dec 11 2018
After a bruising experience with her own mother's funeral, Jenny Briscoe-Hough set up a d.i.y. funeral home in an old fire station (R)
Best of 2018: Colleen Gwynne
Dec 10 2018
Colleen rescued her mum from a violent marriage. Later, she solved one of Australia's most complicated murder cases (R)
Colin Hay's real life
Dec 07 2018
How the Men at Work front man managed the trip to mega-stardom and back again (R)
More power to the mums
Dec 06 2018
Natalie Millar is at the centre of a 20 000-strong network of mothers in Logan City
The true story of Chow Hayes, Australia's first gangster
Dec 05 2018
Jack Hoysted tells of the violent standover man and extortionist who was the first local criminal to be described by Australian police as a gangster (R)
Life in 248 dimensions
Dec 04 2018
Mathematician Geordie Williamson spent eight years cracking the code to find the weight of atoms in space
The sufferings of 'Sydney's top ratbag'
Dec 03 2018
Psychiatrist Robert Kaplan on the strange illness which altered the personality of Bea Miles, making her one of her city's most famous eccentrics
What Jack Reacher did next
Nov 30 2018
How a Birmingham boy became best-selling thriller writer, Lee Child
Hunting Heliconias in Panama
Nov 29 2018
An Australian's epic journeys to glimpse rare tropical flowers
Gardeners' secret lives
Nov 29 2018
Landscape designer Georgina Reid on some of the world’s most unusual gardens
Bruce Dunstan and Georgina Reid
Nov 29 2018
Two botanical conversations: plant-hunter Bruce Dunstan, and great gardens with Georgina Reid
Eric Idle's life on the bright side
Nov 28 2018
Before and after Monty Python's Flying Circus
Inside the Coroner's Court
Nov 27 2018
A guide to the investigation of sudden or unexplained deaths
Speed skater Steven Bradbury's race to Salt Lake City
Nov 26 2018
Steven Bradbury nearly died on the ice when he was 20. Then he won history's most unexpected gold medal (R)
The foreign correspondent and the fear of flying
Nov 23 2018
Lisa Millar has reported some of the world's biggest stories, including acts of terrorism, political upheaval, and gun massacres
Backing the wild dreams of youth
Nov 22 2018
Jan Owen’s work as a champion of young people has its roots in her own story
Mikey Robins' bizarro tour though the history of food and sin
Nov 21 2018
A wander through some of the strange habits, rituals and obsessions people have developed around food and eating
The end of the Milky Way
Nov 20 2018
Astrophysicist Lisa Harvey-Smith on how Andromeda is due to collide with our galaxy in five billion years time
The blood-soaked history of the Münster Anabaptists
Nov 19 2018
Historian Paul Ham explains the short life and terrible death of Christendom's most defiant sect
How Johnathan Thurston became one of the greats
Nov 16 2018
When Johnathan was a boy he was written off as too skinny and too wild for rugby league
Pink diamonds and crocodiles: a Kimberley tale
Nov 15 2018
How Frauke Bolten-Boshammer raised a farm, a family and a diamond empire from the red dirt of Kununurra
With ears wide open: stories from a master field recordist
Nov 14 2018
Chris Watson worked alongside David Attenborough for 20 years, pioneering up-close field recording of birds and animals (R)
David Marr on his perplexing, beloved country
Nov 13 2018
David began his working life digging ditches, before he found his calling as a writer
An unexpected mid-life love story
Nov 12 2018
Susan Francis was in her 50s when she met Wayne, who became the great love of her life. But their story together didn't turn out as planned (R)
Armistice: The Shattered Village
Nov 09 2018
A century ago the little town of Pozieres was known as the worst place on earth