Really Interesting Women

Really Interesting Women - the Podcast 

Episode 123

AMBER LAWRENCE

Amber started her professional career as a Chartered Accountant but she left that to pursue a dream. 

After a very successful debut in the 2005 Tamworth Country Music Festival  - coming second in the major singing competition to Jessica Mauboy - Amber took that success and started her country music journey in earnest. She put in a lot of hard work and was constantly touring. It paid off as she became one of Australia’s leading female country singers. But that’s not just my opinion. She’s won 6 Golden Guitars, including Female Artist of the Year at the 2023 Golden Guitar Awards. 

On the way to that success she has toured the world, entertained Australian troops overseas and even went to New York to play a song she wrote to commemorate the 75th Anniversary of the Battle of the Coral Sea - in front of the President of the United States and the Australian PM (and 800 others).

In July 2022, she released her tenth studio album, Living for the Highlights, which reached number 1 on the ARIA charts and the Australian Country Music charts. 

Head to Amber's website for info on her touring dates and a link to her albums.
www.amberlawrence.com.au

Head to the link in my bio to have a listen to our conversation. 

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Ep. 122

Professor Julie Rrap

Julie has been a central figure in Australian contemporary art for 4 decades. Our conversation covers a lot and I guess that was inevitable given her enormous contribution to art both in Australia and internationally. 

She has worked with photography, painting, sculpture, performance and video in an ongoing project concerned with representations of the body with a particular emphasis on the female body within western art history.

Julie has been described as one of Australia's leading feminist artists. Since her first exhibition in 1982, she has been consistently committed to the exploration of the role—or absence of roles—of women in the history of art.

Throughout her career she has exhibited extensively throughout Europe and Australia.

She completed her PhD in 2010 and is currently  Co-Director and Co-Chair of Sydney College of the Arts.





Image:  Simon Schluter

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Podcast Episode 121

Distinguished Professor Jenny Graves AC FAA

Jenny Graves is a leading evolutionary geneticist who was a very early adopter of gene mapping. She uses genome comparisons to explore the origin, function and fate of human sex genes and chromosomes. In other words, exploring what is it that makes us male, and female and she’s also explored the evolution of the so called ‘gay gene’ and the genetics of transgenderism. 

She’s a Distinguished Professor at La Trobe University, is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science and the US National Academy of Science, 2006 L’Oreal-UNESCO Laureate for Women in Science, and she won the 2017 Australian Prime Minister’s Prize for Science (the first woman to win solo). In 2022 she was elevated to our highest honour, Companion of the Order of Australia. 

She knows what she's talking about. 

Join me for a really interesting discussion.  Head to the link in my bio to her podcast episode.

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Episode 120     

Del Kathryn Barton


Del Kathryn Barton is one of Australia’s most recognisable and collectable artists. 

She’s now widely recognised as one of Australia's leading figurative painters and a 2-time Archibald Prize winner. Only the second woman to do that in the 103 year history of that portrait prize. 

Her first year out of art college she had the extraordinary honour of being hung in the prestigious Sulman Art Prize at the Art Gallery of NSW.

All of this is a very long way from her isolated and unconventional rural upbringing where her father was attempting to build a house from scratch (as an untrained builder) while the family lived in tents and other temporary shelters. 

She openly talks about her mental health issues which went largely undiagnosed. It was her mother that suggested she take up drawing as a child to overcome these crippling attacks. And that’s where it started. 

It’s a fascinating, open, fun, funny conversation. And she gave me the secret to her success. It’s no secret.... it’s been discussed by most of the women on this podcast series. Hard work. Really hard work. And passion for the work. 

Head to the link in my bio to listen to Del’s episode. Or go to your usual podcast platform and search Really Interesting Women. It’ll be there. 

Image: Eugene Hyland

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Really Interesting Women - Podcast 

Revisited on 'Throwback Thursday'

Anna Funder Ep. 105.   

Anna Funder is one of Australia’s most acclaimed and awarded writers and an international success. One of her books is currently being made into a film with a Hollywood household name as its protagonist. 

...and she dreamed of being a writer since she was a child.

Anna spent her early childhood in Paris where her father was working. First day at primary school was a little tricky. Didn’t understand what anyone was saying. She subsequently learnt to read and write in 2 languages. And from that moment, words were her obsession. 

She started her working life as a lawyer and gave up what she called “probably the best lawyer job in Australia”, working in the Attorney General’s department on treaty negotiations and international law. But she didn’t feel like it was her ‘real life’.

She made a life changing decision to move to Berlin and become a writer. The full story can be heard on the podcast including, while promoting her book ‘Stasiland’, going on a public stage in Germany where the first 2 rows were occupied by ex-Stasi, all taking notes!

That 2003 book Stasiland won, amongst many other things, the Samuel Johnson Prize which is for the best non-fiction writing in the English language (!!). Actor Tom Hanks described it as 'fascinating, entertaining, hilarious, horrifying and very important.'
 
 Her 2012 novel, All That I Am, won a myriad of awards including the very prestigious Miles Franklin Award. 

 In her recently released book, Wifedom, Anna uncovers George Orwell’s ‘forgotten’ wife Eileen O’Shaughnessy, and rewrites her into history. Geraldine Brooks described the book as, 'Simply, a masterpiece'.

Her books are important because of the truths they reveal. They are beautifully researched and exquisitely told. 

Have a listen to this fascinating conversation. Head to the link in my bio or copy and paste this link into your browser:

https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/really-interesting-women/id1526764849?i=1000619409426

Visit instagram @reallyinterestingwomen for further interviews and posts of interesting women in history.

Visit instagram @reallyinterestingwomen for further interviews and posts of interesting women in history.

Follow the link to leave a review....and tell your friends
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Really Interesting Women - the podcast

Episode 119

Associate Professor Michelle Telfer
MBBS (Hons.) FRACP GAICD

Michelle Telfer, through her work as an expert in adolescent medicine and through her development and expansion of the Royal Children's Hospital Gender Service for 10 years, is one of the best placed professionals in the country to talk about transgender and gender diverse children and adolescents in Australia and their need for  improved access to medical and mental health care.

It's a long way from when her talent as a gymnast was spotted when she was 5 years old. But when you hear her speak, you can feel the determination and resilience that would have been needed to succeed as a gymnast that is still part of her ongoing journey to succeed now in an area that attracts, at times, extremely harsh  and often misplaced criticism.

Michelle Telfers was an elite gymnast who competed in the 1990 Commonwealth Games and 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona. She came back to finish her final year of high school and was successful enough to go on to study medicine and then went on to specialise as a paediatrician, receiving Membership of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians in 2010. She was the Director of the Department of Adolescent Medicine at Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne. She was also the Director of the Royal Children’s Hospital Gender Service and has been instrumental in the development and expansion of the clinical and research programs amidst rising demand for trans-specific health care in children and adolescents. She has recently been appointed Chief of Medicine for the Royal Children’s Hospital. 

It's an important discussion as the commentary we often see or read, is rarely coming from those who practice at the coal face, so to speak. 

To listen to this episode, head to the link in my bio or search 'Really Interesting Women' in your favourite podcast platform. It will be the latest episode. 

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Episode 118

Tana Douglas

Tana Douglas is acknowledged throughout the global music industry as a pioneer.

She was the first female 'roadie' (road crew for rock bands). The first woman in a testosterone fuelled world. You talk about challenges. There's one.

It was a rocky start. She ran away from an abusive childhood and found herself in the early 70’s in Nimbin (the hippie capital of Australia) where a chance meeting with... a tightrope walker of all things, changed her life.

For example, soon after that, she walked into a downtrodden home in Melbourne to meet with a band who needed a roadie. She was 16 and stood in the living room looking at a bedraggled group of young men who weren't that much older than her. They hadn't even put out an album yet. But there was something about them. Tana reckons there was an energy that they seemed to just exude. It was AC/DC. She lived with them for over a year while they put their first album together.

That then started a chain of events that led to her touring the world and working with bands such as Status Quo, The Who, Ozzy Ozborne, Iggy Pop, Elton John, INXS, Lenny Kravitz, Pearl Jam, Red Hot Chili Peppers...the list is endless.

...and so are the fabulous stories.  Imagine throwing down shots with Bon Scott backstage at Wembley before he went out in front of 80,000 people. She did that!

Have a listen to this podcast - head to the link in my bio.



The book is
Loud: A life in rock’n’roll by the world’s first female roadie 

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Episode 117

Louise Herron AM

Louise Herron became the first woman appointed to lead the World Heritage-listed Sydney Opera House. During that time, she was charged with transforming the Opera House and overseeing a decade of renewal in all aspects including the largest and most transformative series of building works since the Opera House opened in 1973.

 
The renewal process included the enormous task of trying to improve the acoustics as part of the concert hall renovation. That herculean task had its first litmus test recently when the world-renowned conductor Simone Young led the Sydney Symphony Orchestra in the first concert after the renewal, stating afterwards... ‘I’ve never known anything like we’re experiencing today’. 

 
Each CEO of the Opera House seems to be a custodian, a visionary, and an historian. Louise recounts the sliding door moment that may have meant the Opera House, as we know it, may never have been built but for the late arriving Finnish/American architect Eero Saarinen who was part of the design competition judging panel and wasn’t happy with the shortlist presented to him...so he started foraging through the rejected entries (some say they may have already been literally binned) and found Utzon’s sketches (not even plans) – and just said, ‘that’s it’. 

 
It's a fascinating discussion covering not just the Opera House, but how Louise progressed her career, the drivers, and motivators behind her decisions. The transferable skills she has used in the varied jobs she has had. 

Also...we discussed where to from here for the Arts generally. How can we progress and promote the Arts and remove barriers from accessing, participating, and enjoying such a vital aspect of life.  

Head to the link in my bio for Louise Herron's podcast episode.

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Really Interesting Women - the Podcast

Episode 116   
Heather Mitchell AM

Heather Mitchell is one of this country’s most acclaimed actors.

In a career lasting over 4 decades (and counting), she has been involved in film, theatre and television projects that we would all be familiar with no matter what era you call your own...the TV miniseries Bodyline, the fantasy teen drama Spellbinder, movies such as Proof, The Great Gatsby, Muriel’s Wedding, Palm Beach and countless theatre productions culminating most recently in the critically acclaimed, RBG: Of Many, One, where Heather, in an extraordinary performance, plays the former US Supreme Court Judge Ruth Bader Ginsberg - one of nearly 30 characters she plays in the show.
 
But if you think that working in a fickle industry for 40 plus years means she’s probably had an easy run...nothing could be further from the truth. The strength, determination and resilience required from Heather in the face of, at times, overwhelming odds, would be beyond most of us. It speaks volumes of her that she has faced these challenges and will still light up a room with her smile and genuine (!) demeanour. 

Clairvoyants and burnt toast play a big part in her life too - have a listen to her podcast episode to understand why. 

She’s greatly respected and admired within the industry and, more importantly, much loved .



Her memoir, Everything and Nothing (Allen & Unwin) is a really good read. A great Christmas gift if you ask me.

https://www.allenandunwin.com/browse/book/Heather-Mitchell-Everything-and-Nothing-9781761067303/

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Really Interesting Women - The Podcast

Episode 115      Suzie Miller


Suzie Miller is this country’s most successful playwright. 

Her recent play ‘Prima Facie’ has had sold out performances in Australia, London’s West End and New York’s Broadway and is now being produced in over 30 countries. Killing Eve’s Jodie Comer would have had the luxury of being able to choose any theatrical production to make her West End debut. She chose Prima Facie.

The response has been phenomenal. It has earned Suzie the prestigious Olivier Award in London for Best New Play.

Was it luck? Well, Suzie Miller’s ‘overnight success’ as some may put it, has been over 20 years and 40 plays in the making – and that’s not counting her legal career which has been a huge influence on her writing. 

She initially studied science and, realising that was not going to be the career for her, went on to study law.  A short stint in corporate law precipitated a move to the Aboriginal Legal Service, and eventually the Shopfront Youth Legal Centre in Kings Cross. And during this time, she was writing. 

Her first play in 2003 was based on her Kings Cross legal experience. It transferred from a fringe Sydney theatre to the Sydney Opera House. She was enjoying great local success but still had to juggle both playwrighting and the law for some time and then she came to a crossroads in 2009. 

Join me for our conversation as we discuss her career to date as well as her more recent plays, her debut novel (an adaptation of Prima Facie), several television projects and the enormous amount she puts back into the industry and its people (including me!). 

In an industry that can be fickle and unforgiving, Suzie Miller’s success should be celebrated. 



HEAD to the link in my bio to listen to this episode. 

Visit instagram @reallyinterestingwomen for further interviews and posts of interesting women in history.

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