National Features & Documentary Series

By Kate Elliott

Nothing says ‘Australia’ like the kangaroo. From the 1960’s TV sensation Skippy the Bush Kangaroo, the green & gold Made in Australia logo and the Qantas flying kangaroo to indigenous dreamtime mythology.

The kangaroo is an icon that crosses generations and cultures.

You possibly even have a few kangaroo embossed dollar coins jangling around in your pocket to pay for your morning coffee.

The kangaroo is everywhere.

And yet, when was the last time you actually saw a real-life bounder; a mob of Australian kangaroos.

What's up Skip? is a radio feature that asks what is it like to be an Australian kangaroo – both loved and labelled a pest in your own homeland.

The program examines our relationship with the kangaroo and questions how our attitudes towards this native animal have shaped government policy, industry practices and media representation.

Have we all, too readily, sung along with the commercial industry's catchy tune of kangaroo meat being 'humane, necessary and sustainable’?

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By Melanie Doheny

I am 46, single female with no kids. I find loud noises and shopping centres extremely stressful. Then you add small children having tantrums and I find the experience completely intolerable.

Why can’t parents just bloody-well deal out some discipline and consider those around them? I just don’t understand why they just can’t control their children and stop giving in to the tantrums and drama. Seriously, just shut up!

Asperger’s, I mean really what is that? A type of green stalky vegetable?

Well that’s what I thought until I began helping at a charity called Bellamour west of the regional town of Toowoomba in South East Queensland.

Bellamour provides equine and farm based therapy for people with autism. During 2013, I was employed by Bellamour to help secure funding for a sensory garden and infrastructure to facilitate the equine therapy programs. This was when I realised that I had absolutely no idea what AUTSIM was. Not only that, I completely underestimated the stress that accompanied parenting a child with autism.

Autism isn’t an intellectual disability and not a mental health issue. It is an extremely complex disorder that affects many aspects of how a person with autism's brain works. I don’t think autism is a disability. The disability lies in how we treat those with autism.

The journey of the last 3 months in making this documentary has been one of great personal growth. I also now understand better why I find loud noises and shopping centres extremely stressful. But that is story for another time!

Meet:
Treena Brown, CEO Bellamour and Friend
Karen Illife – Volunteer at Bellamour and Mother of two children with Autism
Dylan – VO talent
James Illife – Son of Karen, and future General Manager of Bellamour
Audrey – my trusty 4WD Landcruiser

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By Jess Fairfax

"To those I have loved, I know there were many times that we suffered, suffocated, felt the stabs of unnecessary pain and pinned self-loaded expectations onto each other. We fell apart, and this piece was made in an attempt to understand why.

To the listeners, you will hear fragments of conversations seeped in emotion, stories, ponderings and thought bubbles. You will be privy to moments of pure intimacy and hear honesty and self-reflection in its most vulnerable form. I hope that you find a moment that resonates, that makes its way into your home and heart, that you find a way to live a little lighter in love.

To my friends, you are the most wonderful, deep thinking, full of feeling human beings, whose words and wisdom will carry into the ears and roll like waves into the lives of many.

Let me introduce you to them:

Damian Spears: Sparky by day, verse writer by night. Hip Hop is his passion and his lyrics ooze with deeply thought out observations of the everyday world around him.
Louisa Scarmozzino: Primary school teacher, cheerleader and lover.
Ebony Moncrief: Born in the Deep South of Alabama, Ebony is a teacher in training, published poet, workshop facilitator and spoken word slam champion who delves into the realm of vulnerability and self-strength through her works.
Wallace Calvalho: Brazilian born beatmaker and producer, sound engineer in training and beats/electonica event curator.
Katherine Gailer: Colombian born visual artist and musician.
Oscar Jimenez: Colombian born musician and producer, front-man of ARIA nominated band Watussi..
Zakia Baig: Hazara writer, educator and activist. Zakia set up the Australia Hazara Women’s Friendship Network to aid with settlement issues for Hazara women living in Dandenong.
Quinn: Quinn is an emerging writer working in queer theory, fictocriticism, and post-structuralist and feminist theories of the body, subjectivity, and self. She writes short fiction, poetry, and fictocriticism, and is currently writing her PhD titled ‘this body, written’ at La Trobe University, Melbourne.
Yoseph H. Bekele: Ethiopian bass player, multi-instrumentalist, composer and producer.
Vicki Fairfax: writer, meditater, nature lover, mother…. Of Jess.
Finally, I would love to keep the conversation going and the pens flowing. The poems you hear throughout the piece were written in response to a soundscape I created and fed to my friends as a sonic stimulus. I’d love for you to head to my Soundcloud page, stream this soundscape, write your own piece, record it and post it in the group."

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By Sue Reece, Radio Adelaide

secrets

you know

you mustn’t

share them



so heavy

you don’t know

how to

carry them



hide them

hide them

deep inside



Welcome to the world of Multiple Personalities, or ‘multiples’ for short. You may have heard of this as Dissociative Identity Disorder. The world of I, the Many; We, the One is often a world of secrecy, rejection, and the burden of far too many thrillers where the serial killer turns out to be the hidden personality of someone who didn’t know they were multiple.

Even from mental health professionals, misdiagnosis, confusion, and assumptions that people are ‘making things up for attention’ are painfully common.

This is a world close to me, as one of the voices in this documentary belongs to my daughter, and the other participants are members of the DI, an international network she founded.

When I asked the network what they would like people to know about multiples, I was given many answers, all of them wanting to go beyond the fears, myths, and stigma. Here is a rare opportunity to hear from 5 different people about their personal experiences with multiplicity.

Please be advised that the content you're about to hear contains descriptions of mental illness, the effects of abuse, and references to suicide, which some listeners may find distressing.

I’d like to thank the five who contributed their stories, using their single public name for each person with multiple selves. Some share more through websites, while others requested anonymity. Ruth, Samira Claire, Jade, Tyrone, Sarah K Reece.

Thank you to those who lent their voices as voice-actors, Winston Kay, Jennifer Fane & Kirk Jones. Thank you to Keith Gratton for technical advice and assistance. Original music composed by Dave Reece.

To learn more about multiplicity visit The Dissociative Initiative.

If any content has caused distress to you, please call Lifeline, on 131114 or visit lifeline.org.au.

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By Stella Glorie

Listen to 'It's the Satanic Verses, Love'

One of the first audio books Ruth Mercer read after joining the RVIB (Royal Victorian Institute for the Blind) library some thirty years ago was Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses. The postman delivered all 32 tapes to her front door and announced “It’s the Satanic Verses, love”.

Ruth maintains to this day that if she had tried to read it in print rather than audio form she would not have finished the book. For me, the postman's words demonstrate how Ruth and the other book group members chose to approach their blindness: with a mix of realism and humour.

The group meet monthly in the Vision Australia office building where I work - 'just another blind bunch of old women'. It was that they were blind and older and loved books that attracted me to them. I enjoyed their company instantly. They are unafraid to laugh loudly or to use their minds, voices and opinions. I have been moved by their involved and zealous discussions about books which, more broadly, are conversations about the world in general.

While all of them enjoy reading it is Jan who is the most passionate about books; she keenly felt the loss of her ability to read. She missed browsing through bookshops. For most book lovers, walking into a bookshop is akin to a spiritual experience, giving a sense of purpose and place. For Ruth, while she did take pleasure in books, she says it's newspapers she missed the most.

“I always imagined that when I retired I would sit in bed every morning with my cup of tea and read The Age. Sadly, I can’t.”

It’s the Satanic Verses, love.

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By Lisa Burns

Deep in the South Australian outback lies a place only accessible via dirt track and almost 200km from the nearest town. Out-of-towners know the small, mostly Aboriginal community of Oodnadatta as little more than a fuel fill and a quick feed. Few venture beyond the bowsers of the iconic Pink Roadhouse.

But over at the church ground rises the Cathedral of a Thousand Stars. It’s an open-air church run by Julia Warren, a local Aboriginal woman. Julia founded the Oodnadatta Faith Community in 2007, on the same earth that missionaries from the United Aborigines Mission built the Oodnadatta Children’s Home in 1924. A slab of concrete is all that remains of the Home, but for generations past and present, its impact has been much more lasting.

Cathedral of a Thousand Stars follows the stories of two Aboriginal women separated by time but united by place. Their stories are shaped by family, culture, survival and hope, and together they highlight the diversity of spirituality and faith in Australia.

A heartfelt thank you to the Aunties for sharing their stories. Julia Warren (Preacher, Oodnadatta Faith Community Leader), Mona Olsson, (Yankunytjatjara Woman, Stolen Generations Survivor), Reverend Denise Champion (Adnyamathanha Woman, Minister at UAICC Port Augusta), Linda Sutton (Poet, Writer, Former Minister & Gulf FM 89.3 Broadcaster), Karina Lester (Yankunytjatjara Woman, Aboriginal Language Worker, Niece of Auntie Mona Olsson) and Merrilyn Maine (Organist at Western Link Uniting Church).

Oodnadatta Image by Lisa Burns.png Open-air church Oodnadatta Faith Image Lisa Burns.png

Thanks also to the Oodnadatta community, Ian Dempster from Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress, Reverend Jenny Swanbury, Radio Adelaide, the CMTO trainers and mentors, and my friends and family for their ongoing support throughout the making of this feature.

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By Anna Carlson

Listen to 'Kabul to Kafka: Inside Australia's Community Detention'

Hello, child,

Welcome to Australia. Here are some things you'll need during your time with us.

First, here's your boat ID number. This is so that everyone knows that you don't deserve a name. Also, yours is too hard for us to say. Next, here's your gag clause. You must keep it on at all times. If we find out that you've taken it off, we'll send you back to detention. And finally, here's your future. We've wrapped it up nice and tightly so that we can be sure that you don't open it until we tell you to. If we find out that you've tried to open it, we'll take it off you for good.

Now, while you're in Australia, you must obey all directions from an authorised person. Who's an authorised person? I'm sorry, we are not authorised to give you that information at this time.

Please wait patiently while your claim is assessed.

Look, a pencil! Would you like a pencil? You could use it to draw a picture to put up in your cage. That'll make you feel better.

What's that? You'd like to know how long you'll have to stay here?

Sorry, Boat ID 714661X, we are not authorised to provide an exit date. It might give you too much hope...

Drawings by children on Christmas Island, via Australian Human Rights Commission Illustration by James Foley, via jamesfoley.com.au

Bureaucracy, boredom and the invisible cage

In July 2015, 857 children were in immigration detention in Australia. Of those 857 children, 642 live in the community, under a program called "Community Detention." They are the "lucky" ones.

Kabul to Kafka: Inside Australia's Community Detention program takes an inside look at what life is like for children and young adults who arrive in Australia alone. Through a collection of interviews with youth workers, caseworkers, project officers, counsellors and advocates, I look to the mundane, the everyday, to try to understand what it feels like to be a "UAM" - unaccompanied minor - in Australia.

Right at the core of the project, however, lies a gap. When I started thinking about Kabul to Kafka, I had spoken to a number of young people who had lived in community detention and who were keen to share their stories. Once I explained the possible consequences of speaking to the media, however, almost all of my participants withdrew their consent. As a former youth worker and current community educator in Brisbane's refugee and asylum seeker communities, I was pretty unwilling to push these vulnerable and marginalised young people into a position of heightened anxiety. And so instead of direct interviews, I asked everyone I knew, to ask everyone they knew, to find stories and anecdotes from refugees and asylum seekers in community detention. These submissions make up the backbone of this documentary. They are the reason I made this work. And they are powerful. They allow us to feel, just for a moment, some of the intensity that comes of growing up in a new country, in a new city, surrounded by strangers, under the watchful gaze of the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection - the legal guardian and chief protector of young asylum seekers.

If you feel like you’d like to speak to someone after listening to this documentary, call Lifeline on 13 11 14. They offer counselling and assistance, for free, to anyone who calls. They are a wonderful service. If this has motivated you to do something about Australia’s treatment of refugees and asylum seekers, join your local branch of the Refugee Action Collective, or contact any one of the numerous social and political organisations dedicated to softening the blow of Australia’s policies. And if you’d like any more information about this particular project, please contact Anna Carlson via Brisbane community radio station 4ZZZ.

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By Britta Jorgensen

Listen to 'Cracked Open'

I came to this story after reading a surprising claim by Tassie's anti-battery hen campaigner Pam Clarke in an ABC news article late last year: that layer hens are no better off today than they were back in the 1980s.
In a day and age where people are more worried about what's in their food and where it comes from than ever, where 'free range' and ‘ethically sourced' are popular buzzwords in menus and Instagram hashtags, and where more and more people are buying free range eggs from the supermarket shelf, it seemed impossible that things hadn't changed.

The news in Tassie around that time was that yet another attempt to ban cage eggs, this time for use in the prison service, had failed.

I wondered what was really behind all this to-ing and fro-ing. Despite an obvious push by the community to ban cage eggs, something was driving the industry to continue producing them.

It didn't seem to make sense that here in Tassie, the ‘free range’ state, where the market scene is thriving and local farmers are proud of the way they grow their food, consumer demand for eggs produced by hens hidden away from public view in battery sheds was still going strong.

This story takes a look behind the footage, giving some colour to an issue that’s so often painted as black and white and a voice to local figures on all sides, including the free range farmers trying to find some middle ground and perhaps a way forward.

It cracks open what's going on in the industry right now, the way the laws aren't really protecting hens or consumers and why it matters.

All the music in this piece is by local Hobart band and Salamanca Market regulars, The Foley Artists.

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By Hannah Reich

Late last year I went along to an open mic night to support a friend of mine, Tash, who had just begun performing stand up comedy. She performed at a seedy backpacker bar in Melbourne’s CBD and though I laughed heartily at her set, I was shocked at what I heard coming out of the mouth of the MC and many other performers that night. At times I wanted to walk out, to leave behind the string of racist, sexist, transphobic and ableist remarks that these guys had tried to pass off as “comedy.” It made me wonder why Tash and the other female comedian performing that night (on a set list of around 12) would stand up in a room like that and put up with that nonsense.

So this documentary asks the question: If there are countless funny ladies proving that the old adage that women aren’t funny is totally wrong, why are there still a lot fewer women (or female-identifying persons) at the grassroots level of the comedy world, in the open mic scene? I followed Tash to open mic nights around Melbourne and spoke with other women in the scene including comedian Lauren Bok, comedy writer Alex Neill, and Judith Lucy, the undeniable first lady of Australian comedy. My question was a hard one and the answer isn’t clear but it’s still a question worth asking. We need to keep asking these difficult questions in a world where women are still outnumbered in so many fields, where women are paid 17% less than men, and where women’s rights and voices are still being silenced. Ultimately, whatever the answer, more women need to get up, speak up and (do) stand up.

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By Paul Conn

Listen to 'Fairlight: How Australia Changed the Sound of Music'

Behind this strange claim is a story that started in a Sydney basement and ended up in recording studios around the world. Along the way, the sound of music (yes, the way music actually sounds) was changed.

The best part is that it all started in Australia, just because two nerdy guys thought they would push the boundaries of technology 40 years ago without ever realising where it would lead.

So what was this Fairlight? Its proper name was the Fairlight Computer Musical Instrument, or Fairlight CMI for short. As the pictures show, it was a plain looking computer with a keyboard, big floppy disks and monitor, but no hard drive or external storage. It was custom built long before today's mass manufactured personal computers, laptops, tablets and more. But this dull exterior hid what it could really do.

It went from that Sydney basement through an amazing set of circumstances to the recording studios of Stevie Wonder, Peter Gabriel, Kate Bush, Duran Duran, Tears For Fears, the Pet Shop Boys, Frankie Goes To Hollywood and literally hundreds of other musicians. In the end, you could not listen to radio in the late 1980s and not hear the Fairlight's sounds on nearly every song.

And then, in the 1990s it just disappeared.

Image of Fairlight CMI Synthesiser Image of Fairlight CMI Synthesiser

'Fairlight: how Australia changed the sound of music' tells the story of its strange rise, its immense success and its sudden demise, as well as letting you hear plenty of the sound effects and music it was used to create.

If you enjoy the Fairlight story and would like to see it in action, here are some great examples:

Herbie Hancock showing children on a Sesame Street program what the Fairlight could do (entertaining and clever)

Pet Shop Boys performing Opportunities (Let's Make Lots Of Money) live in the BBC's Old Grey Whistle Test in 1986, with two Fairlights in the keyboards array and up on the monitors

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