In July 2017, new research was published that pushed the opening chapters of Australian history back to 65,000 years ago. It is the latest development in a time revolution that has gripped the nation over the past half century.

In today’s episode of Essays On Air - the audio version of our Friday essay series - we’re reading you Billy Griffiths, Lynette Russell and Richard “Bert” Roberts’ essay When did Australia’s human history begin?

This essay seeks to move beyond the view of ancient Australia as a timeless and traditional foundation story to explore the ways in which scientists and humanists are engaging with the deep past.

Find Essays On Air in Apple Podcasts, in Pocket Casts or wherever you get your podcasts.

Snow by David Szesztay

Tourism Australia advertisement

Didgeridoo by Jimmie P Rodgers

I am Australian by The Seekers

This episode was edited by Jenni Henderson. Illustration by Marcella Cheng.

Originally for adults, many fairy tales can be brutal, violent, sexual and laden with taboo. When the earliest recorded versions were made by collectors such as the Brothers Grimm, the adult content was maintained. But as time progressed, the tales became diluted, child-friendly and more benign.

Adults consciously and unconsciously continue to tell them today, despite advances in logic, science and technology. It’s as if there is something ingrained in us – something we cannot suppress – that compels us to interpret the world around us through the lens of such tales.

That’s what we’re exploring on the latest episode of Essays On Air, the audio version of our Friday essay series. Today, Marguerite Johnson, Professor of Classics at the University of Newcastle, is reading her essay Why grown-ups still need fairy tales.

Join us as we read to you here at Essays On Air, a podcast from The Conversation.

Find us and subscribe in Apple Podcasts, in Pocket Casts or wherever you get your podcasts.

Snow by David Szesztay

Mourning Song by Kevin MacLeod

Jack and the Beanstalk by UB Iwerks

Cinderella (1950), produced by Walt Disney

Candle in the Wind/Goodbye England’s Rose by Elton John

P. I. Tchaikovsky: Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy, performed by Kevin MacLeod from Free Music Archive.

This episode was recorded by Eddie O'Reilly and edited by Jenni Henderson. Illustration by Marcella Cheng.

From the initial avalanche of mail triggered by Germaine Greer’s book The Female Eunuch grew a collection of 50 years of letters, emails, faxes, telegrams and newsletters from academics, schoolchildren, radicals and housewives all over the world. They’re now stored in 120 grey, acid-free boxes at the University of Melbourne Archives.

Lachlan Glanville, assistant archivist of the Germaine Greer Archive at the University of Melbourne has pored over these letters.

In the latest episode of Essays On Air, the audio version of our Friday essay series, Glanville says the collection offers a powerful, often amusing, sometimes perplexing glimpse into the lives of the people affected by her work, as well as the many faces of Greer herself – academic, feminist, provocateur, confidant.

Today, Conversation editor Lucinda Beaman reads Glanville’s fascinating essay, Reading Germaine Greer’s mail.

Find us and subscribe in Apple Podcasts, in Pocket Casts or wherever you get your podcasts.

Snow by David Szesztay

Dreaming in the Non-Dream by Chris Forsyth and the Solar Motel Band

Germaine Greer interview (1999)

TV Heaven 1971 - Germaine Greer - The Female Eunuch

This episode was edited by Jenni Henderson. Illustration by Marcella Cheng.

In the age of the globalisation of everything – and the privatisation of everything else - libraries can and must change. In fact, it’s already underway, as new technologies take books and libraries to places that are, as yet, unimaginable.

That’s what we’re unpacking today on Essays On Air, where we bring you fascinating long form essays in audio form.

Today, Camilla Nelson, Associate Professor of Writing at the University of Notre Dame, reads her essay, titled Why libraries can and must change.

Nelson takes us from the ancient Library of Alexandria to the New York Public Library and explores the problems that arise when books are excluded, destroyed, censored and forgotten. And, indeed, when libraries are decimated.

Join us as we read to you here at Essays On Air, a podcast from The Conversation.

Find us and subscribe in Apple Podcasts, in Pocket Casts or wherever you get your podcasts.

Snow by David Szesztay

Big chain by daveincamas

Traffic noise in the street by jcgd2

Automatic door by Kyodon

Kids Birthday Party Crowd by jakobthiesen

Cardboard burning by Rare Mess Recordings

Plunger-pop by Quistard

environment 1st floor by mariiao2

Moderate waves on the edge of a river by Duophonic

breaking objects by deleted_user_3667256

Vacuum cleaner, by InspectorJ

Morning docks by nathanaellentz

Tearing paper by ScreamStudio

Shhh Sounds by AryaNotStark

Best Bernard Black Moments, Black Books by Channel 4

Ye Olde Green Inn by MAT64

Robo Hobo by The Freeharmonic Orchestra

This episode was edited by Jenni Henderson. Illustration by Marcella Cheng.

While Australia debates how to reduce our wild horse numbers, other countries are working to re-establish wild horse herds in Europe and Asia. Could Australia’s attempts to “manage” brumbies be an act of hubris?

That’s the question asked in the latest episode of Essays On Air, where we read to you the best essays penned by Australian researchers.

Today’s moving and deeply personal essay, titled The cultural meanings of wild horses, is by Michael Adams, a geographer and writer who researches human-nature relationships.

He explores how cultures across the world have represented and related to horses and asks whether attempts to manage wild horse populations mean we need to rethink the concept of “wildness”.

Join us as we read to you here at Essays On Air, a podcast from The Conversation.

Find us and subscribe in Apple Podcasts, in Pocket Casts or wherever you get your podcasts.

A.B. (Banjo) Paterson The Man from Snowy River Poem

Stranger Eight - Ambient Acoustic

Vonora - Cuckoo & The Nightingale Duet

Oymaldonado - Movie Score Classical Theme - Sad Moody Strings

Funky Films - Walking Through Leaves

Captain Vince - Helicopter Distant Los Angeles

Canukfa - Crowd at the fence during a race

Inspector J - Stream, Water, C.

Steph 64 - Cows’ Bells

Cosmician - Meadow, fly, horse, crickets

Vincentmalstaf - Horses

Dobroide - 20070918. Galloping Horse

Inchadney - Distant motorcycle from a forest

Trianglex - Emotional Piano

Kubuzz - Horse’s whinny

Trollarch - Nature/Rain/Animals

Snow by David Szesztay

Banjo Patterson’s The Man from Snow River television theme song

This episode was edited by Sarah Matthews. Illustration by Marcella Cheng.

A central convention of Greek mythological narratives is katabasis, the hero’s journey to the underworld or land of the dead – and it’s a theme modern directors return to again and again.

That’s what we’re exploring today on our first episode of Essays On Air, a new podcast from The Conversation. It’s the audio version of our Friday essays, where we bring you the best and most beautiful writing from Australian researchers.

In this episode, Paul Salmond, Honorary Associate in Classics and Ancient History at La Trobe University, reads his essay Journeys to the underworld – Greek myth, film and American anxiety.

Here, he explains how films like Chinatown, The Silence of the Lambs and Apocalypse Now evoke narratives played out in Homer’s Iliad, the story of Theseus and the minotaur and other classic Greek tales.

Join us as we read to you here at Essays On Air, a new podcast from The Conversation.

Find us and subscribe in Apple Podcasts, in Pocket Casts or wherever you get your podcasts.

Cinematic Music - Eerie - David Szesztay

Above Us - David Szestzay

Looking Back - David Szesztay

Chinatown - My sister, my daughter

Chinatown - Evelyn’s last stand

McCarthyism in America

The Searchers - John Wayne’s Brutal Moment

Apocalypse Now - Because it’s judgement that defeats us

Fool Boy Media - 80s vibe

The Sopranos - Best Moments and Quotes (season 2)

Berkeley Pro-Trump Rally in Chaos

Trump: Russia investigation is a witch hunt - CNN

Hell or High Water - I’ve been poor my whole life

Sicario - Official Trailer

Wind River - Official US Trailer

Sicario - A Land of Wolves

Wind River - Cory’s Daughter

Captain America: Civil War - Airport Battle Scene

Buffy the Vampire Slayer - Best Buffy Moments

Hero of the Winds - Ominous Ambience

Valentin Sosnitskiy - Acoustic Guitar Country

This episode was edited by Sarah Matthews, and Paul Salmond’s reading was recorded by Eliza Berlage.

The Conversation is launching a new podcast, Essays On Air. It’s the audio version of our Friday essays, where we bring you the best and most beautiful writing from Australian researchers.

In each 10 to 15 minute episode, we’ll read aloud fascinating, meticulously researched essays penned by academics who are experts in their fields.

These authors bring real knowledge, depth and love to the topics they unpack – and they write beautifully.

Our first episode is from Paul Salmond, Honorary Associate in Classics and Ancient History at La Trobe University, reading his essay Journeys to the underworld – Greek myth, film and American anxiety.

We’ll also be hearing a moving and deeply personal essay from Michael Adams, Associate Professor of Human Geography at the University of Wollongong, on the cultural meanings of horses.

Join us as we read to you here at Essays On Air, a new podcast from The Conversation.

Find us and subscribe in Apple Podcasts, in Pocket Casts or wherever you get your podcasts.

Theme music: Snow by David Szesztay, Free Music Archive

Ambient Acoustic guitar by Stranger Eight, Freesound.org

McCarthyism in America (Youtube video)

Cosmician - Meadow, fly, horse, crickets

Paul Salmond’s audio track and Sunanda Creagh’s reading of Michael Adams’ essay on horses were both edited by Sarah Matthews.