Conversations: Our Evolving World

People travel from all over the world to learn about horses from Ken Faulkner. But after a life-threatening riding accident on his favourite horse, Smoke, Ken had to learn to walk and ride again, rediscovering himself in the process

Ken Wyatt was born at Roelands Mission in outback WA, where his mother had been taken as a small girl, after she was stolen from her family. More than 60 years later, he became Australia's first Indigenous Minister for Indigenous Australians

Ken Wyatt was born at Roelands Mission in outback WA, where his mother had been taken as a small girl, after she was stolen from her family. More than 60 years later, he became Australia's first Indigenous Minister for Indigenous Australians

Ken Wyatt has Yamatji, Wongi and Noongar ancestry. He came into the world as a premature baby on a mission south of Perth called Roelands Farm, run by the Protestant Church. 

From 1938 to 1973, Roelands housed more than 500 forcibly removed Aboriginal children from all over Western Australia. One of those children was Ken's mother Mona, who was separated from family at just 4 years old.

Mona married Don and they built a life for themselves away from Roelands, in Nannine, a railway fettler’s camp in remote WA. That's where Ken grew up, as one of 10 children. 

Ken went on to enjoy a fulfilling life as a teacher, and he was in his fifties when he decided to have a tilt at politics.

He joined the Liberal Party, and in 2010 he was elected as the first Aboriginal member of the House of Representatives. 

Wearing a kangaroo skin cloak given to him by Noongar elders in Perth, Ken made his first speech in Federal Parliament, about his extraordinary journey from Roelands to Canberra.

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, singers, psychologists, musicians, and celebrities.

Archaeologist David Wengrow has discovered an entirely new way to think about the history of humanity, from the origins of farming, cities, democracy and slavery to civilisation itself.

What sort of world could we create if we stopped believing that inequality is the price of progress?

More than a decade ago, archaeologist David Wengrow started exploring this question with his friend the late David Graeber, an anthropologist.

Together they unearthed a new picture of humanity's past and our shared future.

The two Davids found many examples from human history of societies which flourished without kings, bureaucracies, palaces and poorhouses.

They realised that the notion that humans have to surrender equality for modernity is not only untrue; it's boring, because it fails to recognise how politically creative humans can be.

On Anzac Day in 1935, a tiger shark vomited up a tattooed human arm inside a Sydney aquarium.

When Phil Roope looked into the cold case he found an astounding true tale of Sydney's fascination and horror around sharks in the 1930s, a severed arm emblazed with boxing tattoos, a homicide, police corruption, a Gladstone Bag, and a thriving smuggling racket for drugs, stockings and lead paint.

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.

Further information

Shark Arm is published by Allen and Unwin

Further information

The Dawn of Everything is published by Penguin

Richard's conversation with David Wengrow was recorded live at the Sydney Writers' Festival

Bri Lee on the brutal series of events which began her life as a writer tackling injustice in our courts, the beauty industry, and in our schools (CW: description of legal processes relating to sexual assault)

The hardship, cruelty and loneliness of the mission system during the Great Depression didn't crush Aunty Ruth Hegarty's spirit. She found her voice, God and her family.

In 1929 during the Great Depression, Ruth Hegarty travelled with her mother and grandparents to Barambah, later known as Cherbourg Aboriginal Mission. After being told someone there would help them find a new home, they soon discovered they weren't allowed to leave.

At 4 years of age, Ruth was separated from her family. She grew up as a dormitory girl, and was sent out to work as a domestic servant when she turned 14.

But the cruelty and loneliness of the mission system didn't crush Ruth's spirit.

Ruth found her voice, she found God, and she became a matriarch to five generations of descendants.

Content warning: this episode contains discussions about abuse, family violence, and Stolen Generations

Further Information

Ruth's books Is that you, Ruthie? and Bittersweet Journey are published by University of Queensland Press.

Ruth's life story has been adapted into a play written and directed by Leah Purcell.

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, singers, psychologists, musicians, and celebrities.

Darryl Jones on the dramatic lives of Australia's city-dwelling native birds 

Kylie Moore-Gilbert spent two years inside the Iranian prison system, secretly communicating with fellow women prisoners while she waited for news from Australia

Suzie Miller with stories from her free range St Kilda childhood, her drama-filled life as a lawyer, and the inspiration behind her play Prima Facie

Forensic scientist Dr Xanthe Mallett on her work analysing skeletal remains, investigating cases of wrongful conviction and studying the decomposition of the human body (CW: contains references to death and crime)

 Xanthe is a forensic anthropologist, criminologist and author who works with police to analyse skeletal remains.

Xanthe worked for years at Scotland's Centre for Anatomy and Human Identification in Dundee, and presented her research in facial identification to the FBI in Quantico.

She also looks at cases of wrongful conviction, including mothers falsely accused of killing their children, with specific reference to the wrongful convictions of Lindy Chamberlain and Kathleen Folbigg.

Currently Xanthe spends some of her working life at a taphonomy facility outside Sydney studying the details of human bodily decomposition.

Further information

Learn more about the Forensic Taphonomy facility run by UTS

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, singers, psychologists, musicians, and celebrities.

Tanya Latty is an insect scientist with a quirky taste in pets, and a keen eye for detail. But it's the lessons from her brainless pet slime mould that she's most fascinated about.

Scientist, Tanya Latty, studies the behaviour of ants and bees. She's particularly interested in their ability to work effectively as a team to achieve a common goal.

But her pet project is focused on a creature that defies classification.

Slime moulds are neither plants nor animals. They can move, but they don't have legs or wings.

They appear to make complex decisions, often motivated by the promise of food. Yet they don't have a stomach or a brain.

Despite slime moulds' unique biology, Tanya was struck by their apparent intelligence and by similarities in their patterns of behaviour to ants and bees.

Tanya believes the knowledge gained from studying the behaviour of slime moulds and insects could help to solve complex organisational problems in the human world.

Further information

For more information on Dr Latty’s research head to the Invertebrate behaviour and ecology lab website.

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, singers, psychologists, musicians, and celebrities.