Conversations

By ABC Radio

Society & Culture

What's Conversations about?

Spend an hour in someone else's life. 'Conversations with Richard Fidler' draws you deeper into the life story of someone you may have heard about, but never met.

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LAST EPISODE

A heart full of ancestors

09.17.2021

Museum curator Imelda Miller on the history and vibrancy of Australian South Sea Islanders

Conversations episodes:

09.17.2021 A heart full of ancestors Museum curator Imelda Miller on the history and vibrancy of Australian South Sea Islanders
09.16.2021 The mystery of the hole in the universe Physicist Paul Davies on the mysteries of our universe, including the puzzle of the 'super-void' inside the constellation of Eridanus
09.15.2021 Psychics, mediums, astrologers and me Journalist Gary Nunn on what he learned about grief, comfort, and the influence of clairvoyants during his two year investigation of the supernatural industry
09.14.2021 The healing power of dogs Kate Leaver became fascinated by the curative qualities of dogs after her Shih Tzu Bertie helped her through her darkest days (R)
09.13.2021 John Safran and the truth behind the push to 'unsmoke the world' Tobacco giant Philip Morris was financing what looked like anti-smoking initiatives around the world, but what they were advertising wasn't safe
09.10.2021 How Nicole Highet helps new mothers cope She didn't know it at the time, but religiously eavesdropping on her mother's phone conversations and counselling her grandmother through a breakup made her the psychologist she is today
09.09.2021 Canopy Meg: the Arbornaut Treetop scientist Meg Lowman on her working life among the leaves, birds and insects in the world's forest canopies, which she calls the '8th continent'
09.08.2021 Life as a quadruple amputee and more – Mandy McCracken Mandy's life changed completely in 2013 when she fell terribly ill with sepsis. Since then, with prosthetic replacements for all four limbs, she has learned to walk and drive again, and she doesn't want applause for living her life like ...
09.07.2021 Stranded - what Claire learned from falling Claire Nelson was in the Joshua Tree National Park hiking alone when she strayed from the trail and slipped, shattering her pelvis. Her phone was out of range, and she knew she had to stay alive long enough for someone ...
09.06.2021 John Howard recounts being in Washington on September 11, 2001 Former Australian Prime Minister John Howard on witnessing the events of September 11th, 2001 from the window of a Washington hotel room (R)
09.03.2021 From Croatia to the Canefields: a love story Debra Gavranich with the story of her mother Marija, who left her tiny Croatian island to make a life with a man she’d never met, in Far North Queensland's Cassowary Valley
09.02.2021 Deserter, archaeologist and spy – the extraordinary adventures of Charles Masson When the red-headed Englishman deserted the East India Company in 1827 to conduct his own archaeological digs in Afghanistan, he never imagined the Company would find him again, or try to blackmail him into spying
09.01.2021 The boy with op shop fever Writer Tony Birch with tales of his Fitzroy childhood including his grandmother Alma's 'op shop fever', his love for pine cones and blankets, and the macabre holiday he lived through when he was 5 years old
08.31.2021 Hayley Katzen's unexpected life as a farmer's wife When Hayley moved to a cattle property to live with her farmer girlfriend, the rural idyll wasn't quite as she imagined (R)
08.30.2021 Eliminating fear and unlocking the mysteries in our brains Professor Pankaj Sah has a special interest in researching the amygdala and the possibility of treating PTSD to remove the fear and anxiety that come with it
08.27.2021 Krystyna Duszniak and Poland's lost histories As a young woman, Krystyna thought her father had taught her everything about Poland’s history, but she didn’t know that what he’d left out would become a focus of her life
08.26.2021 Judith Heumann - disability warrior One of the most influential disability rights activists in history tells her story of her fight for the right to receive an education, have a job, and just be human
08.25.2021 Bill Crews and the Calais epiphany Reverend Bill Crews on the moment which changed how he saw his own life story, and his ideas on how we can all cultivate compassion, tolerance, empathy and love in difficult times
08.24.2021 The art of precision engineering with Simon Winchester 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? (R)
08.23.2021 The hunt for deep sea bioluminescence (and a giant squid) Marine biologist Dr Edith Widder was inside a submersible searching for bioluminescence in the ocean depths when she saw a giant squid as big as a two story house
08.20.2021 Friends with a fox Biologist Catherine Raven was living off-grid in a remote valley in Montana when she unexpectedly became friends with a wild red fox
08.19.2021 David McAllister: A life in dance 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 (R)
08.18.2021 Inside a rogue force Journalist Mark Willacy on his investigations into alleged war crimes by Australian Special Forces in Afghanistan CW: Some listeners may find elements of this conversation upsetting
08.17.2021 Anna Sale talks about hard things Anna hosts Death, Sex and Money a podcast about money, race, #MeToo, and what to say when someone dies
08.16.2021 Linda Jaivin on the sprawling, messy history of China From kung-fu to tofu, tea to trade routes, sages to silk, China has influenced cuisine, commerce, military strategy, aesthetics and philosophy across the world for thousands of years. Linda Jaivin has written a new account of China which pulls together ...
08.13.2021 Amani, Salwa and Layla In 2015, Amani Haydar suffered the unimaginable when she lost her mother in a brutal act of domestic violence perpetrated by her father (CW: Domestic violence)
08.12.2021 Fascinating fungi - the intelligent kingdom Biologist Merlin Sheldrake's extreme experiments, many of which involve his physical body and varying forms of fungi, have led to equally remarkable discoveries (R)
08.11.2021 Modern slavery and the value of things — Molly Harriss Olson As current CEO of Fairtrade Australia and New Zealand, Molly wants to put an end to human exploitation by delivering transparent supply chains throughout the world. But whether working in the White House, or from a tiny village outside Canberra, ...
08.10.2021 The man with five lives Roger Pulvers lived an adventurous life in the Soviet Union, Japan and Poland, before he chose a whole new identity in 1976 (R)
08.09.2021 The Chloroformist — extraordinary Doctor Joseph Clover Anaesthetist Christine Ball traces the world-changing work of the man who brought an end to surgery performed on conscious patients
08.06.2021 The silver medal which changed Laurie Lawrence 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 right in his family's backyard changed the course of his life (R)
08.05.2021 The life of Anna Meares Anna's stellar cycling career saw her smash Australian Olympic records and become the World Champion 11 times. Then to the surprise of many, she walked away (R)
08.04.2021 The struggle and strife behind Steven Bradbury's win at Salt Lake City At the age of 20, speed skater Steven Bradbury nearly died on the ice. Then he won history's most unexpected gold medal (R)
08.03.2021 Patrick Johnson's golden run How a boy who grew up on a fishing trawler became the first man in Australia to run 100 metres in under 10 seconds (R)
08.02.2021 Paralympian Christie Dawes is super/normal Christie splits her time between training for road and track wheelchair races, holding down several jobs, and raising her family. The Tokyo Paralympics will be her seventh as a competitor, but Christie almost gave up marathons after the 2013 Boston ...
07.30.2021 The life of Dr Norman Swan How a boy from Glasgow named Norman Swirsky grew up to become Australia's most famous doctor
07.29.2021 Getting psychoactive — plant-derived drugs that change our minds From his daily coffee addiction to the 'war on drugs', science writer Michael Pollan's research into three psychoactive substances derived from plants was broad in scope. In this episode he talks about how caffeine, opium and mescaline affect our brains, ...
07.28.2021 Love, power, and my PNG family — Dame Carol Kidu Brisbane-born Carol followed her heart to Papua New Guinea in the 1960s. Her husband, Buri Kidu, a young lawyer from a village near the capital with a deep sense of duty went on to became the nation's first Indigenous Chief ...
07.27.2021 Reconsidering morality Philosopher Tim Dean on why human morality needs an update for the modern world
07.26.2021 Finding Mer-Neith-it-tes When archaeologist Dr Jamie Fraser opened an 'empty' Egyptian sarcophagus, he found a 2600 year old mummy of a temple Priestess inside (R)
07.23.2021 Rebel doctor Caroline de Costa — smuggling condoms and scaring priests Being a single mother and student doctor in 1960s Ireland was merely the 'first act' in Caroline's gutsy adult life. She became a pioneering obstetrician, delivering sometimes contraband contraception, and babies, for fifty years
07.22.2021 Taming the Black Dog, and burnout Gordon Parker is the founder of the Black Dog Institute, which works to remove the stigma around depression, mental illness and bipolar disorder. For the past few years he's been looking closely at the phenomenon of burnout at home and ...
07.21.2021 When I am dead I will love this From Scotland's Orkney Islands, stories of how a chance meeting in a pub led Andrew Greig to climb the Himalayas, how golfing helped him recover from a near death experience, and his quest for the Loch of the Green Corrie
07.20.2021 40 years in journalism — Philip Williams and his brilliant career A former ABC chief foreign correspondent, Philip began at the ABC as a stagehand in 1975. He left the organisation 46 years later after reporting from Japan, Washington, the Middle East, Nyngan and the Ukraine
07.19.2021 Dr Anne Aly's passion for justice 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, her teacher did nothing. The incident changed how she saw the world, and ...
07.16.2021 Ben and the birth of Miss Ellaneous Darwin's Ben Graetz on becoming one of Australia's best-known Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Drag Queens
07.14.2021 Megan Davis: the road to the Uluru Statement from the Heart Megan Davis was raised as a 'Queensland Rail kid', then in a book-loving household in a housing commission home. She grew up to become a lawyer at the UN, then began a history-making process of helping Australia's First Nations people ...
07.13.2021 PRESENTS — Unravel Juanita We wanted to share this special preview of the new ABC Unravel True Crime podcast series. In 1975, Australia was transfixed by the disappearance of Juanita Nielsen. Juanita was a journalist, fashion model, socialite and Sydney’s most famous anti-gentrification activist. ...
07.12.2021 Australia after COVID-19 George Megalogenis looks at the Morrison government's response to the pandemic so far, and asks whether the 'exit strategy' fully comprehends the changed landscape of the post-COVID world
07.09.2021 Basketball and belonging — Cheryl Kickett-Tucker Cheryl is a Wadjuk traditional owner playing the long game in the Swan Valley community where she grew up (R)

Older episodes

Conversations

What's Conversations about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

Conversations episodes:

A heart full of ancestors

The mystery of the hole in the universe

Psychics, mediums, astrologers and me

The healing power of dogs

John Safran and the truth behind the push to 'unsmoke the world'

How Nicole Highet helps new mothers cope

Canopy Meg: the Arbornaut

Life as a quadruple amputee and more – Mandy McCracken

Stranded - what Claire learned from falling

John Howard recounts being in Washington on September 11, 2001

From Croatia to the Canefields: a love story

Deserter, archaeologist and spy – the extraordinary adventures of Charles Masson

The boy with op shop fever

Hayley Katzen's unexpected life as a farmer's wife

Eliminating fear and unlocking the mysteries in our brains

Krystyna Duszniak and Poland's lost histories

Judith Heumann - disability warrior

Bill Crews and the Calais epiphany

The art of precision engineering with Simon Winchester

The hunt for deep sea bioluminescence (and a giant squid)

Friends with a fox

David McAllister: A life in dance

Inside a rogue force

Anna Sale talks about hard things

Linda Jaivin on the sprawling, messy history of China

Amani, Salwa and Layla

Fascinating fungi - the intelligent kingdom

Modern slavery and the value of things — Molly Harriss Olson

The man with five lives

The Chloroformist — extraordinary Doctor Joseph Clover

The silver medal which changed Laurie Lawrence

The life of Anna Meares

The struggle and strife behind Steven Bradbury's win at Salt Lake City

Patrick Johnson's golden run

Paralympian Christie Dawes is super/normal

The life of Dr Norman Swan

Getting psychoactive — plant-derived drugs that change our minds

Love, power, and my PNG family — Dame Carol Kidu

Reconsidering morality

Finding Mer-Neith-it-tes

Rebel doctor Caroline de Costa — smuggling condoms and scaring priests

Taming the Black Dog, and burnout

When I am dead I will love this

40 years in journalism — Philip Williams and his brilliant career

Dr Anne Aly's passion for justice

Ben and the birth of Miss Ellaneous

Megan Davis: the road to the Uluru Statement from the Heart

PRESENTS — Unravel Juanita

Australia after COVID-19

Basketball and belonging — Cheryl Kickett-Tucker

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