Conversations

Latest Episodes:

The life-changing power of a choir - From Guyanese activist forming an Aboriginal Women’s choir Apr 09, 2025

Show notes

Song propelled Morris Stuart from his early life shepherding sheep in British Guyana to an unlikely love story in London. In his retirement, he found himself shaping a choir of Central Australian Aboriginal women, who had been breathing life into 138-year-old Lutheran hymns.

Morris Stuart met his Australian wife, Barbara in London in the 1960s.

The pair led a youth group attached to a nearby church, and initially tried to ignore their growing feelings for each other.

Morris was a young, Guyanese activist who was descended from African slaves, and wasn’t ready to face the social reality of marrying across racial lines.

Morris and Barb fell in love and married several years before the film Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner? was released, and featured at several screenings in London, where community members could ask them questions as a real life, interracial couple.

The couple went on to have four children and moved to Australia, where Morris became a pastor with a community church in Melbourne.

In their retirement, Morris and Barbara developed relationships with the Warlpiri community in Central Australia.

They arrived in Alice Springs in 2005 and Morris started recruiting for a choir.

More Indigenous communities started joining in and Morris formed the Central Australian Aboriginal Women’s choir.

They performed hymns brought by German Lutheran missionaries to the region in the late 19th Century, which were translated into Pitjantjatjara and Western Arrernte.

The choir’s biggest achievement is a tour to Germany in 2015 — to perform the hymns that had all but vanished from use in Germany, but have been preserved in the Central Australian desert for 138 years.

Follow the Central Australian Aboriginal Women's Choir on Facebook.

Watch the documentary about the Central Australian Aboriginal Women’s Choir tour to Germany, The Song Keepers.

This episode of Conversations touches on heritage, epic life story, origin stories, church, personal stories, childhood and reflection.

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.

The wisdom of an ancient Pencil Pine Apr 08, 2025

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Nature writer Andrew Darby on what he learned from his rambles through the wilds of Tasmania, communing with the world’s oldest surviving trees. In particular, his ‘buttock clenching’ ascent up a 60-metre-tall eucalyptus known as The Vibe Tower.

Nature writer, Andrew Darby spent more than 20 years as a Fairfax correspondent based in Tasmania.

His stories involved the natural beauty of the bush, including visits to wild places and to the people who protect them, but it was deadline-driven and he couldn’t spend the time he wanted to.

In 2017 Andrew was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer.

He underwent immunotherapy and was given a maximum 18-months to live.

It has been eight years since he entered his “second life”.

Andrew was determined to fully inhabit his beloved Tasmanian bush, so he went by himself to commune with ancient trees.

These are some of the world’s oldest surviving trees, like King’s Lomatia; some of the biggest trees, like a 60-metre-tall eucalyptus known as The Vibe Tower; and Andrew’s favourite, the dignified Pencil Pine.

The Ancients: Discovering the world’s oldest surviving trees in wild Tasmania is published by Allen & Unwin.

This episode of Conversations touches on wild Tasmania, ancient trees, Pencil Pine, King's Lomatia, King Billy Pine, Giant Eucalyptus, Peter Dombrovskis photography, Walls of Jerusalem National Park, Pool of Siloam, epic hike, solo hike, stage four lung cancer, immunotherapy, second life and loving nature, hikes of Australia.

Encore: A daring escape from Vietnam to the halls of prestigious American universities Apr 04, 2025

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Anh Nguyen Austen's family fled Vietnam by sea in 1982, on a wooden boat bound for the Philippines. When a once-in-a-century storm struck in the South China Sea, they thought all hope was lost (R)

Anh is an academic and community volunteer who grew up in Vietnam in a Catholic family.

Anh's childhood was idyllic, with a big extended family and a close friendship with her cousin named Joe.

But life for the adults was complicated after the end of the war, and so in the early 1980s, her parents planned a daring escape.

Under the noses of the regime, they secretly constructed a boat which they hoped would take them to the Philippines.

They intended to bring 40 people with them, but on the day of departure 101 people crowded on board, before the boat sailed into a once-in-a-century storm on the South China Sea.

Years later, Anh found film footage of their rescue, at a moment when almost all hope was lost.

After their rescue, her family made it to a refugee camp in the Philippines, then to America, where Anh grew up to attend some of the world's most prestigious universities before she became an academic herself.

This episode of Conversations explores family dynamics, refugee stories, migrant stories, boat people, Vietnam War, Catholcism, escapes, near death experiences, the great American dream, Harvard, Bryn Mawr College, University of Melbourne, theology, PhD, doctorate, academia, Christianity, life story, United States.

Originally broadcast in June 2022.

Since Richard spoke with Anh, she has created a walking group in Melbourne for refugees and friends of refugees. Anh says walking creates connections and can inspire belonging to land, people, and country in Australia. This is part of her research on post-traumatic growth for refugees and her upcoming memoir The History of Walking with Refugees.

If you would like to join the Melbourne Refugee Walking Group, email Anh.Nguyen.Austen@acu.edu

From petty criminal to portrait artist – Vincent Fantauzzo's life was saved by love and painting Apr 03, 2025

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When artist Vincent Fantauzzo was a boy he was a street-fighting petty criminal with dyslexia and a blazing talent for drawing. He escaped jail time, and grew up to become one of Australia's most well-known portrait artists.

VIncent Fantauzzo is one of Australia's most successful portrait artists.

For his luminous, photo-realistic paintings he's won the People's Choice Award at the annual Archibald Prize more than any other artist.

He's also won the Moran National Portrait Prize twice, once with a painting of his friend, filmmaker Baz Luhrmann, and the second time with a painting of his wife, actor Asher Keddie.

All the success is a long way from his upbringing in Broadmeadows in Melbourne, when at times it seemed like he was going to end up in jail, or dead.

Vincent struggled so badly with dyslexia that he developed elaborate rituals to avoid writing at school, which is partly how he came to drawing.

He became a street-fighting petty criminal and he was kicked out of school at 14 and was drawn into a violent world where he had to be extraordinarily streetwise to survive.

Vincent still carries the scars of surviving his childhood into the big, beautiful life he's built for himself as one of Australia's most well-known artists.

This episode of Conversations explores origin stories, social disadvantage, parenting, father son relationships, boxing, learning disabilities, struggling in school, Hollywood, the art world, Heath Ledger, Kim Ledger, Batman, family, family dynamics, life story, art, portraits, painting, juvenile crime, drug dealing, hot houses, brothers.

Unveiled, written with Craig Henderson, is published by Penguin.

'Mistakes were made' — a live storytelling experience Apr 02, 2025

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Rebecca Huntley, Rick Morton, Julia Zemiro and Sarah Kanowski bring you stories of human failure, misadventure and outright fiasco in a live storytelling event recorded at Adelaide Writers Week.

A few weeks ago, some former guests of Conversations, and our two presenters gathered at the Adelaide Town Hall.

The event was a live storytelling hour, with the theme 'Mistakes were made', in front of a rapt audience of 800 forgiving souls.

Writer and social researcher Rebecca Huntley shared her dramatic foray as a first-time driver.

Journalist Rick Morton recounted a story about a run-in between his brother's drug- and alcohol-fuelled friends, with a cameo from the rom-com 'Bridget Jones' Baby'.

TV presenter and actor Julia Zemiro told her own tale of mortification in a professional setting, and her experience of "esprit de l'escalier" — thinking of the perfect response once you have already left the building.

Our own Sarah Kanowski spoke of the time when a few very big risks were taken, that one time in the Amazon Basin.

This episode of Conversations touches on mistakes, fiascos, accidents, insults, life stories, epic personal stories, ayahuasca, The Amazon, ice, drug addiction, Bridget Jones, and more.

Two sisters, Dod and Brattle - the lesbian poet, and the evangelical Christian Apr 01, 2025

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Josie McSkimming on growing up with her bohemian sister, the poet Dorothy Porter, and how their lives took off on wildly diverging paths as they grew up.

Sisters Dorothy and Josie Porter grew up in an interesting and sometimes volatile home on the northern beaches of Sydney in the 1970s.

Together with their middle sister Mary, they lived in a world of books, a backyard menagerie of animals, and regular birdwatching excursions. Their father Chester was a well-known lawyer who was sometimes a explosive presence at home.

Josie adored her charismatic big sister 'Dod', for her wicked sense of humour, her appetite for life, and her fierce talent.

After the girls left home and began their adult lives, they set off on wildly different paths.

Dorothy ran headlong into bohemian adventures, and became a famous poet. While Josie, to her sister's dismay, became a born-again Christian for 35 years, eventually leaving the church after questioning the doctrines enforcing women's submission.

Dorothy died at just 54 years old, and decades later, Josie has written down her own version of the family story, paying tribute to the many ways her big sister shaped her life.

This episode of Conversations explores family dynamics, parenting, love, grief, sisters, sisterhood, poetry, religion, indoctrination, gay conversion, coming out, lesbians, the queer community, writing, books, family history, origin stories, parenting, mothers, fathers, Lindy Chamberlain, Australian poets, modern poets, Church, bible study, leaving the church, Mona Vale.

Gutsy Girls: Love, Poetry and Sisterhood is published by UQP.

Encore: Doctor Koppe — PTSD and me Mar 28, 2025

Show notes

Hilton Koppe was a beloved country GP for 30 years before an unexpected health crisis of his own forced him to reassess everything (R)

Hilton Koppe grew up knowing his parents wanted him to become a doctor and so when he got the marks to make it into medicine, they were overjoyed.

By the time he was 30, he'd started working as a country GP. Hilton then became a beloved local doctor in Northern NSW, and he worked there for more than three decades.

But a few years ago, Hilton's own health suddenly went awry. He started experiencing constant neck pain, and then the side of his face went numb.

He was sent him for an MRI, which revealed nothing.

But then Hilton's own GP gave him an unexpected diagnosis of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, related in part to his work as a doctor.

This news up-ended almost everything about Hilton's life.

This episode of Conversations explores medicine, Australia's medical system, Judaism, migration, post WW2 migration, Jewish families, Australian multi culturalism, family dynamics, health, wellbeing, PTSD, trauma, mental health diagnosis, South Africa, fascism.

Hilton's memoir is called One Curious Doctor.

Shaking — escaping the grip of a lifelong tremor Mar 27, 2025

Show notes

Journalist and author Sonya Voumard on the rare neurological condition that has stalked her since a family tragedy during her childhood.

Sonya Voumard was on the precipice of teen hood when her father suddenly and unexpectedly died.

In the months following his death, Sonya developed a tremor in her right hand, not dissimilar to the shaking she sometimes noticed in her father when he was cutting the top off her boiled egg at breakfast.

The tremor got worse as she got older, but working late nights as a dogged journalist, fuelled by coffee and nicotine, it almost became a badge of honour for Sonya.

One day, though, a terrifying moment while driving set her off on a decades-long quest through Australia's medical system.

This episode of Conversations explores disability, neurological condition, brain surgery, experimental medicine, grief, untimely death, death of a father, journalism, Port Arthur massacre, Mabo, Melbourne, substance abuse, alcohol, shaking, Parkinson's, being queer, unexplained medical anomalies, neurosurgeon, neuroscience, St Vincent's hospital, writing, books, memoir, Dystonia, essential tremor, familial tremor, MS, multiple sclerosis, medical system, medicare, public versus private patients.

Tremor: a movement disorder in a disordered world is published by Finlay Lloyd.

Learn more about dystonia from the Dystonia Network of Australia.

Loneliness — it's not only you Mar 26, 2025

Show notes

Loneliness is a universal experience, for each of us at some point in our lives. Journalist Ros Thomas travelled the world to investigate, and find the antidote.

To binge even more great episodes of the 'Conversation 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.

Ros spent a year travelling around the world to research something all of us have experienced — loneliness.

She met an old man who had learned to thrive through crushing grief with the help of a small, desktop robot.

Ros visited a share house in Sweden where pensioners live with young asylum seekers, who care for each other like grandparents and grandchildren.

And she explored her own early and devastating experience of loneliness — when her father abandoned the family when Ros was a tiny child.

This episode of Conversations touches on loneliness, isolation, being a friend, social connection, community modern history, life story, fatherhood, absent fathers, personal stories, family dynamics, fathers, solutions to loneliness, the loneliness epidemic, Churchill Fellowship and connection.

The fearless Kate McClymont — weathering death threats and court cases for work Mar 25, 2025

Show notes

The chief investigative reporter on her work exposing criminals and corruption, including former politician, Eddie Obeid and financial fraudster, Melissa Caddick.

Kate McClymont is chief investigative reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald.

She grew up on a farm in NSW, and during university, funded her start in Sydney by setting up a busking booth in Kings Cross.

Passers-by would pay her to answer a question, have an argument, or verbally abuse them.

Kate's start in crime reporting came from an early job writing for a gossip column.

She was instructed to cover a wedding of a family member of known criminal figure, George Freeman.

Kate compared the sequins in the bridal party's outfit to a bullet-proof vest, and received the first of many death threats throughout her career.

She has won 10 Walkley awards for her work on the biggest crime and corruption cases in NSW.

She has exposed the crimes of politician, Eddie Obeid, former Health Services Union boss, Michael Williamson and financial fraudster, Melissa Caddick, among many more.

Further information

Keep up to date on Kate's work here.