Podcast
Conversations
Hosted by ABC Australia · EN
Conversations draws you deeper into the life story of someone you may have heard about, but never met. Journey into their world, joining them on epic adventures to unfamiliar places, back in time to wild moments of history and politics, and into their deepest memories, to be moved by personal stories of resilience and redemption.
Hosted by Richard Fidler and Sarah Kanowski, Conversations is the ABC's most popular long-form interview program. Every day we explore the vast tapestry of human experience, weaving together narratives from history, science, art, and personal storytelling.
Conversations Live is coming to the stage! Join Sarah Kanowski and Richard Fidler for an unmissable night of unforgettable stories, behind-the-scenes secrets, and surprise guests. Australia’s most-loved podcast — live, up close, and in the moment. Find out more on the Conversations website.
73episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
The forensic psychiatrist fascinated with the minds of lone mass killers
Yesterday00:52:57Tap to summarizePaul E Mullen has spent decades interviewing and studying men who have committed unthinkable acts of violence and says these tragic events represent the endpoint of a slow-building private narrative of resentment, isolation and rage. (CW: descriptions of violence)Now retired, Paul dedicated much of his life's work to the extreme end of the human condition.First focusing on victims, researching the psychology of stalking and domestic violence.But after he was caught up in the aftermath of a massacre carried out by a lone gunman, the trajectory of his career changed.Paul began studying the minds of men who commit a mass killings, to unlock the workings of their minds and recognise the warning signs.Further informationRunning Amok: Inside the mind of the Lone Mass Killer is published by NewSouthThis episode was produced by Jen Leake, the Executive Producer of Conversations is Nicola Harrison.It explores violence, murder, lone actor mass murder, Pt Arthur, psychiatry, forensic psychiatry, resentment, rage, fame, isolation, gun violence and gun control, media, serial killers, criminally insane, fantasy rehearsal, depression, suicide, narcissistic injury, early intervention, prevention, threat assessment.To binge even more great episodes of the Conversations podcast with Richard Fidler and Sarah Kanowski go the ABC listen app (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. There you’ll find hundreds of the best thought-provoking interviews with authors, writers, artists, politicians, psychologists, musicians, and celebrities. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Transcribe →The post-punk guitarist who decided to finally live openly as herself, a trans woman
4d ago00:53:36Tap to summarizeGuitarist and engineer Josie Scott battled crippling gender dysphoria for decades before finally deciding to live openly as a trans woman in her 60s.In 1984 in Adelaide, two brothers formed a pioneering alternative rock band called The Mark of Cain.They wanted to make music that was heavy and intense with lyrics about war, and death, and being misunderstood.Over the years the band gained an international following and plenty of fans at home in Australia.Earlier this year, one of the band's two founders, Josie Scott, announced on the band's website that she was a trans woman.At the age of 63, Josie wrote that she had finally decided to 'embrace rather than endure who she is'.And her decision to go public with her story was met with a huge and loving response from fans of the band.Help and support is always availableCall QLife on 1800 184 527 for LGBTIQA+ peer supportLifeline is available on 13 11 14 for 24/7 crisis supportKids Helpline on 1800 551 800 is available for young people aged 5 to 25. This episode was produced by Jen Leake and the Executive Producer is Nicola Harrison.It explores gender identity, music, Australian music, living authentically, transgender issues, male to female transition, drug abuse, substance abuse, addiction issues, romance, love, relationships, mother child relationships, heavy metal, Adelaide's music scene.To binge even more great episodes of the Conversations podcast with Richard Fidler and Sarah Kanowski go the ABC listen app (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. There you’ll find hundreds of the best thought-provoking interviews with authors, writers, artists, politicians, psychologists, musicians, and celebrities. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Transcribe →Encore: Catching killers and breaking up bikie gangs
5d ago00:53:20Tap to summarizeFormer Detective Sergeant, Deb Wallace on policing the heroin hotspot of Cabramatta in the 1990s and how Sun Tzu's 'The Art of War' gave her new ideas for clamping down on illegal gang activity.When Deb joined the NSW Police Force in 1983, there were very few women on the front line. She quickly discovered she had the cool-headed resilience ideal for police work, and she was determined to make a career of it.In the mid-1990s Deb was a junior Detective when she was given a tough assignment — breaking up the gangs who ruled the streets of the Sydney suburb of Cabramatta.At the time, Cabramatta was a vibrant place full of migrant families trying to carve out a new life in Australia, but crime was surging, and the train station was the centre of a thriving heroin trade.After reading Sun Tzu's "The Art of War", Deb met up with the gang members in person to ask them about their lives. They told her that they were lost to the world crime, but she should focus on the next generation, so she helped set up a street school with Father Chris Riley.Some years later Deb was given a new challenge — leading Strike Force Raptor, a squad charged with breaking up bikie gangs. Deb retired after 36 years on the force and now volunteers at Grace’s Place, a site of healing and restoration for young people affected by homicide.Further informationOriginally broadcast May 2023.Read more about Graces's Place.Michael Murphy, one of the men convicted for the murder of Anita Cobby, died from cancer at Long Bay Jail in 2019.This episode was produced by Nicola Harrison. The Executive Producer was Carmel Rooney.It explores gang violence, drugs, toxic masculinity, Vietnamese community, improving the next generation, street school, bikies, outlaw motorcycle gangs, culottes, female cop, bar brawls, DV, domestic violence, happy childhood, legislation, cops, Anita Cobby, murder, how policing has changed, beat, partner, colleague.To binge even more great episodes of the Conversations podcast with Richard Fidler and Sarah Kanowski go the ABC listen app (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. There you’ll find hundreds of the best thought-provoking interviews with authors, writers, artists, politicians, psychologists, musicians, and celebrities. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Transcribe →Helping other people became my business success story
6d ago00:54:25Tap to summarizeMark Woodland is an unexpected CEO — he started his career in the Army as a tribute to his late brother, then went on to revolutionise his mum's paper-based childcare company.As a young man Mark Woodland was at a loss with what to do with his life.After years of moving around, the family — headed by Mark's single mum — settled in Ipswich, Queensland, where Mark showed himself to be a playful and enthusiastic boy, but school wasn't his first priority. When he graduated, Mark was most interested in driving around with his friends, playing music loudly with the windows down. When he needed money to fill the tank, Mark found a job at McDonald's.His younger brother was a new recruit to the Army when he was killed in a car accident. Ben was just 18.Mark decided to honour his brother by keeping Ben's wish alive, and so Mark joined the army, and served for 10 years.He left to help his mum run her childcare business, and Mark revolutionised the business' administrative system, moving from paper to a digital world.Today Mark is the founder and CEO of tech healthcare company Kismet.Further informationRead more about the short film, Versa.This episode was produced by Meggie Morris. The Executive Producer is Nicola Harrison.It covers infant loss, NDIS, digitisation, childcare subsidy, daycare, family business, Army, Navy, not giving up, not quitting, car accident, morgue, Ipswich, Brisbane, Puckapunyal, Albury-Wodonga.To binge even more great episodes of the Conversations podcast with Richard Fidler and Sarah Kanowski go the ABC listen app (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. There you’ll find hundreds of the best thought-provoking interviews with authors, writers, artists, politicians, psychologists, musicians, and celebrities. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Transcribe →Encore: Falling in love with 'Mao's Last Dancer'
1w ago00:51:28Tap to summarizeMary Li was a star ballerina when she fell in love with her dance partner Li Cunxin. When their daughter Sophie was born profoundly deaf, Mary walked away from dance for many years.Mary says she was the least likely girl to grow up to be a ballerina,She grew up in a family of eight kids in the rough and tumble of the Queensland country town of Rockhampton.But in a little timber hall, with cattle trains rolling by outside, Mary discovered a talent for dance.That talent, and a huge amount of hard work and family support took her to the Royal Ballet School in London at sixteen.She then became the principal dancer with the London Festival Ballet, then the Houston ballet.There in Houston Mary fell in love with her dance partner Li Cunxin.Li had also come a long way from his home in rural China, defecting to the U.S. as an adult and then becoming an internationally celebrated dancer.In Houston Li and Mary married and had their first child, a beautiful daughter named Sophie.But when Sophie was 16 months old their lives were turned upside down.This episode was first broadcast in 2020Further informationMary's Last Dance is published by Penguin Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Transcribe →The doctor who learnt to walk again, using exercise
1w ago00:53:56Tap to summarizeAfter a catastrophic car crash in the parking lot of her hospital, Dr Olivia Ong became a paraplegic. But her obsession with learning how to walk again was stronger than her incomplete spinal cord injury.When Olivia Ong was 28 years old, she had the world at her feet.She had recently qualified as a doctor, something she had dreamed of since she was a child growing up in Malaysia.She had married a man she loved deeply, and they were busy building their future together.Then, everything changed after a car crashed into her in the parking lot of the hospital she worked in.Olivia now refers to herself as a 'walking paraplegic'.She spent years working hard to walk again, using simple exercise therapies she discovered in the United States.Back On My Feet: From Doctor to Patient is published by HarperCollins.This episode of Conversations was produced by Meggie Morris. Executive Producer is Nicola Harrison.It explores medicine, university, love, faith, spinal cord injuries, paraplegia, car crashes, from doctor to patient, marriage, love, motherhood, pain specialist, rehab specialist, California, Project Walk, exercise therapy, surgery, wheelchair user, people living with disability, parenting with disability, accessibility.To binge even more great episodes of the Conversations podcast with Richard Fidler and Sarah Kanowski go the ABC listen app (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. There you’ll find hundreds of the best thought-provoking interviews with authors, writers, artists, politicians, psychologists, musicians, and celebrities. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Transcribe →Finding my mother alive and becoming invincible
2w ago00:54:14Tap to summarizeLynne Shori grew up with her hero dad, thinking her Papua New Guinean mother was dead. As an adult, she discovered the truth and set about finding her lost family.When Lynne was growing up, it was just her and her dad.Lynne's dad was her hero; he was different and adventurous but she always felt safe with him when they went on hair-raising adventures together in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea.He had always told Lynne that her mum had died in childbirth.But when she became an adult, Lynne discovered this wasn't true.Just as she turned 40, Lynne set off to a remote island in northern Papua New Guinea to discover the truth of her family story.Once she started gathering all the answers to her lifelong questions, Lynne and her father then set about healing their own, very special relationship.Find out more about Wantaim PNG, and the work they're doing across remote Papua New Guinea, online.This episode of Conversations was produced by Meggie Morris. Executive Producer is Nicola Harrison.It explores the Pacific, Pasifika, family origin stories, Stolen Generations, charity work, tok Pisin, Manus Island, father daughter relationships, mixed race children, Australia's relationship with PNG, sanitation, education, discovering your truth, mental health, mother daughter relationship, Melanesian culture, family, siblings, blended families, Oceania, geopolitics, knowing your parents, therapy, estrangement, reunion, forgiveness, grief, identity, Sydney, finance, mid-life crisis, rehab, sense of community, family secrets.To binge even more great episodes of the Conversations podcast with Richard Fidler and Sarah Kanowski go the ABC listen app (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. There you’ll find hundreds of the best thought-provoking interviews with authors, writers, artists, politicians, psychologists, musicians, and celebrities. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Transcribe →
Encore: A parenting educator on making sense of his own childhood
2w ago00:49:30Tap to summarizeSteve Biddulph spent decades working to understand what children need as they grow, but then in his mid-50s, Steve gained an insight that shifted almost everything about how he saw himself.Steve likes to remind us that humans are 'big sensitive mammals' with needs for connection and self awareness.As a psychologist (now retired) and parent educator, he has been at the forefront of an evolving conversation about masculinity, emotional intelligence, caring for our children and making sense of our own childhoods.His best-selling books include The Secret of Happy Children, Raising Boys, Raising Girls and Manhood.But it wasn't until he was in his mid-50s that Steve gained an insight into a huge facet of his own story.He was having a lunch with a friend, a psychiatrist, who began asking him a series of pointed questions.That conversation shifted almost everything about how Steve saw himself.This episode of Conversations was first broadcast in 2021 The producer was Nicola Harrison and the Executive Producer was Carmel Rooney.Further informationFully Human: A New Way of Using Your Mind is published by Pan Macmillan Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Transcribe →Zoonoses — the diseases that jump from animals to people
2w ago00:52:25Tap to summarizeEnvironmental journalist, Michael Dulaney looks at viruses and bacteria that can move between bats, horses, seals, pigs, voles and even polar bears, and the conditions that lead to human infection.These diseases are known as zoonoses.Michael says climate change, urban sprawl, animal farming and even homelessness contribute to wild animals coming into ever closer contact with people, leading these illnesses to move from creatures to us.To understand how this process works, Michael has researched the volunteers dedicating their lives to conservation. He has camped out on a freezing Victorian night to try to catch ducks with a net shot from a cannon, to test them for bird flu. He has gone frog hunting in the jungles of Indonesia, and he’s visited a suburban Melbourne apartment where a dedicated citizen gives up her master bedroom to a collection of injured flying foxes, while she sleeps in the spare room.Michael also explains how the curious case of Trench Fever fits into the zoonotic puzzle. It was found first in Edmonton, Canada in 2022, when patients developed a serious heart condition after they were given organs donated by homeless victims of the opioid crisis.Further informationSentinels: When diseases spread between animals and humans is published by Scribe.This episode was produced by Alice Moldovan. Conversations' Executive Producer is Nicola Harrison.This episode covers H5N1 bird flu, covid-19, pandemic, lockdown, flu, cat flu, swine flu, hendra virus, horse racing, horse trainer, fly by night bat clinic, Werribee poo ponds, necropsy, chicken farms, disease-proof pigs, PRRS, CRISPR, vaccines, vaccination, smallpox, pox virus, borealpox and northern red-backed vole.To binge even more great episodes of the Conversations podcast with Richard Fidler and Sarah Kanowski go the ABC listen app (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. There you’ll find hundreds of the best thought-provoking interviews with authors, writers, artists, politicians, psychologists, musicians, and celebrities. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Transcribe →
Encore: The cop who stared down Peter Falconio's outback killer
2w ago00:50:45Tap to summarizeColleen Gwynne led the investigation into the murder of the British backpacker and eventually confronted his killer in prison.In 2001, Peter Falconio and his girlfriend Joanne Lees were ambushed on a remote stretch of road in the outback and Peter was shot dead.Colleen was working as a cop in Alice Springs when she was asked to take over the complex murder case.With help from the F.B.I, her work saw Bradley John Murdoch arrested and charged.She confronted him in prison, and refused to be intimidated, despite his intense aggression towards her.Murdoch was sentenced to life imprisonment and died in 2025.After leaving the police force, Colleen took up another challenging job.She became the Northern Territory Children's Commissioner, tasked with protecting vulnerable children.Colleen's own story mean she brings a unique understanding to the work.This episode was first broadcast in 2018 The producer was Nicola Harrison and the Executive Producer was Pam O'Brien. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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