Conversations

Author Helen Pitt has written a history of the iconic fun park and it's a tale bound up with con men, crooked cops, and developers who have long wanted to snatch up the prime piece of waterfront real estate.Millions of people have happy memories of walking through the teeth of the gigantic face on the edge of Sydney Harbour but it wasn't the first Luna Park in Australia, that honour goes to the Melbourne version which opened a decades earlier.

But the tale of Sydney's Luna Park is arguably the most dramatic and it's one of only two amusement parks in the world protected by government legislation.  Helen Pitt's book is called Luna Park: the extraordinary story of the showmen, shysters and schemers who built Sydney's famous funk park is published by Allen And Unwin.

This episode of Conversations explores Luna Park, amusement parks, Sydney, Sydney Harbour, history, show rides, engineering, the Great Depression, the Ghost Train fire, tragedy, historical preservation, waterfront real estate, protest, Martin Sharp, the Big Dipper, protein spills.

When Sonia Henry signed up to work as a GP in a remote mining town in the Pilbara, the experience changed almost everything she believed about Australia.

An unfortunate romantic entanglement just before her final exams left her questioning everything, just as she was about to qualify as a doctor.

To escape her life in Sydney, she signed up to work in some of Australia's most far-flung medical clinics.

While working as a GP in places like the Pilbara, outback NSW, the Northern Territory and Broome Sonia had many experiences with her patients which completely altered how she saw Australia.

Content Warning – suicide and adult themes. Listener discretion advised.

Further information

Put Your Feet in the Dirt, Girl is published by Allen and Unwin

• Lifeline on 13 11 14
• MensLine Australia on 1300 789 978
• Suicide Call Back Service on 1300 659 467
• Beyond Blue on 1300 22 46 36
• Headspace on 1800 650 890
• Doctors' Health Advisory Service is a 24 hr support line for doctors, medical students, dentists, veterinarians and students of these professions.

Jane Messer grew up with a loving father who never really understood why as a child his mother left him and his older sister at a boarding school, so she decided to find out the full story and prove that he was in fact, loved.

Her father Michael was born in Berlin in the years between the two world and to escape Nazi Germany he was sent to live in England as a child.

There were a few fleeting visits but then Michael didn’t see his mother again for another 13 years and he always said she never loved him.

As Jane grew older and became a mother herself, she knew there had to be more to Bella’s story and so she went on the trail from pre-war Berlin to Tel Aviv to Melbourne, to try to understand the choices made in extraordinary circumstances. 

Further informationJane Messer's family memoir is called Raven Mother 

This episode of Conversation explores family history, the Holocaust, Nazi Germany, suicide, boarding school, Palestine, the Nakba, Berlin, World War 2, immigration, the British Mandated Palestine, memoir.

Novelist Emma Pei Yin ran away from Hong Kong as a teenager to start fresh in Australia. But she found herself repeatedly drawn back home whenever she put pen to paper.

Emma grew up in England and Hong Kong. But her life in Hong Kong wasn’t so much about the neon skyscrapers as it was about her family’s ancestral village, tucked away in the New Territories.

Emma spent her school holidays there with her grandparents, learning how to take care of the family cemetery and joining in Chinese Festivals.

Sometimes her grandfather would share his memories of the Second World War, when the Japanese military invaded and occupied Hong Kong.

As Emma became into a teenager, her relationship with her parents deteriorated. She eventually decided to leave them and Hong Kong, coming to Australia to make a life for herself as a writer.

But whenever she wrote, Emma found herself drawn back to Hong Kong; to the hundreds of islands, the fishing villages on stilts, the mountains, woodlands and beaches – all the things that tourists who think of Hong Kong as a city of neon lights and free Wi-fi don’t know about.

Content warning: This episode of Conversations contains discussion about sexual assault.

Help and support is always available. You can call Lifeline 24 hours a day on 13 11 14.

Emma's debut novel, When Sleeping Women Wake, is published by Hachette and was recently awarded the 2026 Indie Book Award for Debut Fiction.

This episode of Conversations was produced by Meggie Morris, the executive producer is Nicola Harrison.

It explores family dynamics, multiculturalism, China, Hong Kong, modern history, writing, books, literature, historical fiction, Japanese occupation, World War 2, assault, victim-blaming, abortion, filmmaking, black sheep, family honour, London, forgiveness.

Writer Cynthia Banham on discovering the shocking truth about her great-grandmother, reckoning with buried family secrets, and the criticisms mothers face from others and sometimes most harshly, from themselves.

Cynthia Banham grew up hearing the story of her great-grandmother, Natalina, who had supposedly been orphaned in Italy in the 19th century.

But when Cynthia became a mother herself she felt compelled to look for the real story of her maternal line, which suddenly stopped three generations back.

What she found shocked her -- a period of time when infant relinquishment was so common, the era became known as the 'century of foundlings', and her great-grandmother was one of them.

She had not been orphaned, as the family thought, but abandoned by a nameless mother.

Cynthia took off to Bologna, Italy with her own young family in tow to find the truth. Along the way she uncovered the stories of 'bastardini' (a home for bastards), literate midwives, epigenetics and possible incest.

Cynthia also stood in the house where Natalina was born, and came to terms with her own harsh judgement of herself as a mother.

Mother Shadow is published by Upswell.

Richard also spoke to Cynthia in 2023 about surviving the 2007 Garuda plane disaster in Indonesia.

This episode of Conversations was produced by Meggie Morris. Executive Producer is Nicola Harrison.

It explores ancestry, epigenetics, anthropology, family history, writing, books, orphans, adoption, child abandonment, truth, journalism, parenting with a disability, mothers in wheelchairs, self confidence as a mother, self criticism as a mother, marriage, love, mothers and sons, school communities, Indonesia, Garuda Indonesia Flight 200, memoir, modern history, travel, family bonding, wild gardening.

Toxic people are around us in our workplaces, our families and our dating lives. Research psychologist Leanne ten Brinke is here to tell you how to spot them, and get rid of them from your orbit.

Leanne ten Brinke is a research psychologist whose special area of expertise is what she calls 'dark personality types'.

These are particularly cruel, malicious, manipulative people who lack empathy, people who are psychopaths, narcissists or sadists.

Psychologists estimate than one per cent of any population shows serious levels of psychopathy.

They walk among us in our workplaces and in our relationships, they could be an gaslighting partner, a narcissistic parent or a colleague who's a bully.

There are also more serious cases, like abusive husbands or murderous mothers.

Leanne also makes the point that any one of us is capable of losing our moral bearings or enabling malicious people by cheering them on, hiring them or voting them into office.

But there are ways to resist them, and make your own life the better for it.

Poisonous People: psychopathy, narcissism, manipulation, sadism: how to resist them and improve your life is published by Simon & Schuster Australia.

This episode of Conversations was produced by Meggie Morris. Executive Producer is Nicola Harrison.

It explores toxic relationships, is my partner a narcissist, what to do about my narcissist mother, what to do about my toxic boss, how many psychopaths are there, sadism, serial killers, morality, amorality, Ted Bundy, Charles Manson, Jeffrey Dahmer, sociopath, Patric Gagne, anti-social personality disorders, thriller, scammers, dating world, escaping abuse, peaceful living, finding peace.

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.

Born with a magnificent voice, Opera star Teddy Tahu Rhodes fought against his destiny for years until a letter he'd been avoiding reading changed everything (R) 

Dr Nada Andric wants to improve the health of people who are marginalised in the community and their access to healthcare.

She works at the Reverend Bill Crews GP clinic, a place where people who might be completely off the database of society can get help.

Whether they're facing homelessness, dealing with mental health issues, addiction, or simply don't have a Medicare card or passport to their name. 

This year, the clinic in the Sydney suburb of Ashfield turns 40.

This episode of Conversations was produced by Alice Moldovan, the Executive Producer is Nicola Harrison.

It explores health care, addiction, homelessness, poverty, doctors, domestic violence, mental health, society, Reverend Bill Crews.

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.

Two-time World Debating champion Bo Seo on how love and listening can improve how we disagree, so we're not at each other's throats online and offline (R).

When Bo was 8 years old, he and his parents migrated from Korea to Australia. 

Bo was a quiet boy and sometimes felt overwhelmed at school. 

But in Year Five, something happened which changed his life: one of his teachers introduced Bo to debating.Debating became a way for Bo to excel socially and academically. 

He went on to win world titles for Australia and for Harvard University.

Now Bo is sharing insights from the strategy, structure and history of debating to try to encourage all of us to disagree better.

Originally broadcast in May 2023.

Good Arguments is published by Simon and Schuster.

This episode of Conversations was produced by Nicola Harrison. Executive Producer was Carmel Rooney.

It explores keyboard warriors, how to argue well, communication skills, how to disagree without offending, writing, responding not reacting, self reflection, how to get your point across, books, agreements, disagreements, law, lawyers, legal industry, author, journalist, Harvard University, community building, how to build community, how to have constructive conversations, political divide.

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.

Stephen Grosz has welcomed people into his office for more than 40 years, and believes our greatest task in life is to see ourselves and others with more clarity, in order to live more easily and with more please.

Stephen has sat with people as they have shared their darkest fears, strangest dreams and their most explosive love affairs.

Through thousands of hours of these conversations, he has tried to help patients understand themselves so they can live with more ease and with greater satisfaction.

Stephen believes our greatest task in life is to see ourselves and others with more clarity.

That's the quest that his driven his work dissecting compelling stories of love, desire and heartbreak from his consulting room.

Love's Labour is published by Penguin.

This episode of Conversations was produced by Jennifer Leake. Executive Producer is Nicola Harrison.

It explores therapy, love, marriage, relationships, writing, books, analysis, counselling, introspection, looking inwards, how to self reflect, how to survive heartbreak, what do I do with desire, how to live a fulfilling life, how we lose and find ourselves, United States, University of California Berkeley, Oxford, Institute of Psychoanalysis, mental wellbeing, University College of London.

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.