From The Embers

What does a “properly defended” house look like? Is it a bunker in a hill? A mop and bucket at every corner? Do you just need a hose and access to a tap? 

Across Australia during the bushfire season, a repeated message is that people should only stay if they’re prepared to fight the fires,, but as a bushfire approaches, even those who are most prepared, often have to make a difficult decision.

The Gippsland Emergency Relief Fund directly helps people in the Victorian region: more information: www.gerf.org.au

Guests: 
Peter and Jenny Cadby
Amy Fisher
Kevin Perry 
Charmaine Sellings

Credits:
Producer Anne Wall
Executive producer and sound design Sarah Mashman
Production management team Vicky Rouse and Abe Killian
Engineering Tegan Nichols
Script consultation Zoe Ferguson
Theme Oliver Beard

This podcast has been brought to you by the Community Broadcasting Association of Australia, and is supported by The Judith Neilson Institute for Journalism and Ideas and The Paul Ramsay Foundation.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

First the road closed. Then on the morning of New Years Day, night came and the skies turned red. Images from the coastal town of Mallacoota went viral as thousands of people sheltered on the wharf, the beach and in the caravan park that overlooks the lake.

And during that time, the community radio station, helmed by Francesca Winterson played on- until they couldn’t.

Guests:
Francesca Winterson
Don Ashby
Brodie Gaudion
Kristin Rule
Kate Jackson

Credits:
Producer: Anne Wall
Executive producer and sound design Sarah Mashman
Production management team Vicky Rouse and Abe Killian
Engineering Tegan Nichols
Script consultation Zoe Ferguson
Theme Oliver Beard

This podcast has been brought to you by the Community Broadcasting Association of Australia, and is supported by The Judith Neilson Institute for Journalism and Ideas and The Paul Ramsay Foundation.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Kangaroo Island is the oldest bee sanctuary in the world and home to one of the last disease-free koala populations in Australia. 

At the end of 2019, two lightning strikes lit up the bushland at Flinders Chase National Park, resulting in uncontrollable firestorms that tore across the island at speeds the community had never seen before, scorching the earth and destroying animal habitats. 

A warning to listeners, this episode contains stories of animals in distress.

Guests:
Kate Welz
Sabrina Davis
Peter Davis
Jayne Bates
Dana Mitchell

Credits:
Producer: Lisa Burns
Executive producer and sound design Sarah Mashman
Production management team Vicky Rouse and Abe Killian
Engineering Tegan Nichols
Script consultation Zoe Ferguson
Theme Oliver Beard

This podcast has been brought to you by the Community Broadcasting Association of Australia, and is supported by The Judith Neilson Institute for Journalism and Ideas and The Paul Ramsay Foundation.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When a fast-moving fire started in Cudlee Creek in the Adelaide Hills, residents throughout the region had to stop, drop what they were doing and return to their homes to defend, evacuate, or take shelter.

If they chose to flee to safety, they faced another tough decision - what to take with them and what to leave behind.

Guests:
Matt and Bec Edwards
Caz 
Meg Stephens

Credits:
Producer: Lisa Burns
Executive producer and sound design Sarah Mashman
Production management team Vicky Rouse and Abe Killian
Engineering Tegan Nichols
Script consultation Zoe Ferguson
Theme Oliver Beard

This podcast has been brought to you by the Community Broadcasting Association of Australia, and is supported by The Judith Neilson Institute for Journalism and Ideas and The Paul Ramsay Foundation.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

People move to Cooma for the landscape, to walk through forests, to farm, to be embraced in a small community that welcomes outsiders

But in the summer of 2019, danger was lurking in the hills around Cooma and as the year  ticked over, Cooma was visited by an unexpected disaster.

Guests:
Yvi (evie) Henderson
Sujeed (Su-Jar) Bosco (Boss-Co)
Louise Jenkins
Jodi Brooks

Credits:
Producer Lisa Burns
Executive producer and sound design Sarah Mashman
Production management team Vicky Sprouse and Abe Killian
Engineering Tegan Nichols
Script consultant Zoe Ferguson
Theme Oliver Beard

This podcast has been brought to you by the Community Broadcasting Association of Australia, and is supported by The Judith Neilson Institute for Journalism and Ideas and The Paul Ramsay Foundation.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Early in the bushfire season, the town of Mongarlowe was encircled by flames and cut off from outside support.

The town was facing encroaching fires so vast and severe that in other circumstances support teams of extra fire trucks and crews, emergency services and much more would have been sent to aid the town - but in this season of fires - there was no extra support to give.

So the town itself spawned a grass roots firefighting group to assist the local Rural Fire Services Brigade - the Mongarlowe Mosquito Army.

Guests:
James ‘Bolj’ Bakerboljevac
Hollie Bakerboljevac
Paul Bott
Rowena Hall

Credits:
Producer Alice Ansara
Executive producer and sound design Sarah Mashman
Production management team Vicky Sprouse and Abe Killian
Engineering Tegan Nichols
Script consultant Zoe Ferguson
Theme Oliver Beard

This podcast has been brought to you by the Community Broadcasting Association of Australia, and is supported by The Judith Neilson Institute for Journalism and Ideas and The Paul Ramsay Foundation.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Early data placed the number of wildlife lost in the recent bushfires at over a billion. The impact of Australia’s recent fire season on wildlife has been devastating.

Before the fires hit their zenith, wildlife carers and rescuers- some defending their homes and properties at the same time, were stepping up, and strangers from around the world donated time and money, to help Australia’s wildlife. 

So what happens to the animals too injured to survive in the wild and how are we helping bring life back to the burnt forests. 

A warning to listeners, this episode discusses the loss of wildlife and contains stories of animals in distress and euthenasia.

Guests:
Nick Hopkins
Julie Taylor Mills
Rachel McInnes
Francis Carelton
Andrew White

Credits:
Producer Alice Ansara
Executive producer and sound design Sarah Mashman
Production management team Vicky Sprouse and Abe Killian
Engineering Tegan Nichols
Script consultation Zoe Ferguson
Theme Oliver Beard
Additional music:
Rest you Sleeping Giant (link: https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Rest_You_Sleeping_Giant)

This podcast has been brought to you by the Community Broadcasting Association of Australia, and is supported by The Judith Neilson Institute for Journalism and Ideas and The Paul Ramsay Foundation.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A transistor radio and couple of batteries kept people connected during the bushfires as they listened to the constant emergency alerts.  But in between the official messages are the human ones. 

Five presenters working across two regions share their experience of the recent summer of fire and what happened when one region’s transmitter went down.

Guests:
Kathy Shields -  Eurobodalla Access Radio (2EARfm)
Gordon Waters - Braidwood Community Radio
Rod McClure- Braidwood Community Radio
Simon Lauder - ABC South East
Jen Hunt - ABC South East

Credits:
Producer Alice Ansara
Executive producer and sound design Sarah Mashman
Production management team Vicky Sprouse and Abe Killian
Engineering Tegan Nichols
Script consultation Zoe Ferguson
Theme Oliver Beard
Additional music
Blue Dot Sessions
Rest you Sleeping Giant (link: https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Rest_You_Sleeping_Giant)

This podcast has been brought to you by the Community Broadcasting Association of Australia, and is supported by The Judith Neilson Institute for Journalism and Ideas and The Paul Ramsay Foundation.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

CBAA's documentary series From the Embers, takes listeners to the very heart of nine communities affected by the recent bushfire crisis. From the Embers is an important reminder to us all of the essential role that storytelling plays in ensuring we allow those affected to be honoured and heal without feeling overlooked.

Working alongside KIX FM, Radio Adelaide, 3HCR, 3MGB, 3REG, Braidwood FM, 2EAR, Edge FM and 2MNO, we sent three producers into the field to get the stories directly from communities, in their voices.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Melbourne became a ghost town during the COVID-19 pandemic. Pubs and venues closed their doors, leaving many of the city’s artists and creatives without a stage to perform on or an audience to perform for.

Yet over successive lockdowns, it was the creative industries that kept communities strong, as we all adapted to unprecedented circumstances. 

In The Stage Goes Dark, four creatives share their struggles and victories during the pandemic and cry out for an overlooked community, calling for a lifeline.

 

Guests:

Eilish Gilligan

Brenton Harris

Neil Morris (DRMNGNOW)

Virginia Gay

 

Credits:

Producer: Erin Dick

Executive Producer and sound design: Sarah Mashman

Engineer: Tegan Nichols

Theme composer: Oliver Beard

Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions

Management team: Abe Killian and Sime Knezevic

Made in co-operation with: SYN, Melbourne

 

This episode was made on the lands of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation and the muwinina people from Country around nipaluna. These lands were never ceded. 

From the Embers Season 2: Phoenix is supported by The Judith Neilson Institute for Journalism and Ideas, The Paul Ramsay Foundation, Monash University’s Fire to Flourish program and The Minderoo Foundation Fire and Flood Resilience Initiative and broadcast across Australia via the Community Radio Network

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.