Uncommon Sense

For ANZAC Day, historical detective, author, and distinguished military historian Lynette R. Silver AM MBE delves into the evidence she has uncovered to piece together the untold, uncensored story of Australian nurse Lieutenant Colonel Vivian Bullwinkel. Sister Bullwinkel was the sole survivor of a massacre of 21 Australian nursing sisters at the hands of Japanese soldiers on Radji Beach on Bangka Island, east of Sumatra in the Indonesian archipelago on 16 February 1942. Lynette's latest book where she details the alleged war atrocities against 22 Australian nurses in World War Two is called, Sister Bullwinkel: The Untold Uncensored Story. It is also a fullsome biography of Bullwinkel's remarkable life and achievements.

Hear Sister Vivian Bullwinkel recount the official story of what happened in the Bangka Island massacre in her interview for the National Library of Australia's oral history archives. Lynette Silver writes that Sister Bullwinkel put on a brave face to the world, recounting this "official" but sanitised version of events ever since she was released from a Japanese POW camp in Sumatra at the end of World War II.

Vivian revealed the horrific truth of what happened on Radji Beach on Bangka Island to army investigators and was prepared to tell the Tokyo War Crimes Trial but, according to Lynette's research, "they censored her testimony and chose to obliterate it from the record. Despite her best efforts, Vivian was gagged from the outset by her own government and by the Australian army, who ordered her to keep quiet – an order that, as a serving member of the military, she was bound to keep. Vivian was desperate to speak out. She knew that the truth would set her free from the years of torment. Thwarted by higher authorities, by a succession of men who thought that they knew better, she was prevented from doing so." Through extensive research, Lynette Ramsay Silver has uncovered what she believes really happened on Bangka Island. Here's an example of eyewitness testimony published in 1946 (Trove).

This is the extended interview, To hear the shorter interview that went to air, listen back here.

RedBridge director, political pollster, and analyst Kos Samaras talks with Amy about their latest research and polling data. Kos reveals the issues that matter to Australians right now and how and why the voting landscape has changed drastically, with parties like Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party back on the rise, and the two-party system in absolute disarray. In fact, according to Redbridge;s latest polling, if a federal election were held today, One Nation would be the official Opposition party, taking over the LNP Coalition. Check out Kos' writing on Substack here.

The latest RedBridge | Accent Research MRP, modelling all 150 seats (22/05/2026)

If an election were held now:
• Labor - 31% primary, 76 seats. A majority government.
• One Nation - 28% primary, 53 seats. The Official Opposition.
• Coalition - 21% primary, 12 seats.
• Independents - 8 seats.
• Greens, KAP, Centre Alliance - one seat.

After an extended (reluctant, but necessary) hiatus Amy Mullins returns to the Triple R airwaves with long-time friend of the show and fungi expert Dr Alison Pouliot! She speaks about her two latest visually stunning books, Funga Obscura: Photo Journeys Among Fungi (NewSouth Publishing) – a book about fungi and the photography of fungi, and Mushroom Day: A Story of 24 Hours and 24 Fungal Lives (University of Chicago Press). Enchantingly illustrated by Stuart Patience, Alison’s book takes us on a global tour of some highly peculiar and fascinating fungi across a 24-hour period. Amy’s current favourite; the Hairy Nuts Disco (Lanzia echinophila) lives in the spine of a chestnut and is based in Europe – take a look for yourself! Or go on a tour with Alison in person and attend one of her workshops, fungi forays, talks, and other events this autumn between April and June. Alison is a headline speaker at the fourth annual Moorabool Mushroom Festival in Bacchus Marsh, organised by MYCOmmunity, which takes place this weekend on April 18–19 2026.

PS. A little note from me to say, thank you for your patience and kindness while I've been on leave and for all the generous messages of support and encouragement on the textline welcoming me back on air. Community radio, and specifically this show for me is about having independent, earnest, and stimulating conversations, with a foundational shared passion for beauty, critical-thinking, and justice. It's a listening, learning, and creative corner of the radio-verse for people who care. Much love back to all who listen xx

Don Watson, acclaimed author and former speechwriter to Paul Keating, speaks in-depth about his Quarterly Essay, High Noon: Trump, Harris and America on the Brink, on the 2024 US Presidential Election and whether the United States of America is disintegrating. He travelled around the country as part of his research for the essay earlier this year.

Amy will also be joined by a special panel with Daniel Boetker-Smith (CCP Director), Catlin Langford (outgoing CCP Curator), Jessie Norman, and Christopher Sutherland, to talk about a brilliant photography prokect and book co-published by Perimeter Editions and the Centre for Contemporary Photography. Auto-Photo: A Life in Portraits tells the story of Alan Adler, a Melbourne man who is likely the the most photographed person in Australia, and is also perhaps the oldest and longest-serving photobooth technician in the world. Alan maintained a suite of photobooths across Melbourne/Naarm for over 50 years – most notably, at Flinders Street Station – and would undertake weekly testing and servicing on each photobooth across his network. Adler would take a seat in the booth and produce a test strip of photographs – these photos from the 1970s to the 2010s – form the basis of the book and a forthcoming exhibition in 2025. In 2018, with the booth at Flinders Street Station facing imminent closure, Christopher Sutherland and Jessie Norman – whose operation later became known as Metro-Auto-Photo – began working with Adler to generate interest in his work and to successfully save his photobooth.

It's Mid-Autumn Festival (also known as Moon Festival) on Tuesday 17th September. Joey Leung, founder of Joy Jaune, an artisan patisserie and dessert shop at the Preston Market, and author and Sinologist Linda Jaivin talk about the significance of Mid-Autumn Festival in China and to many other Asian cultures, including Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, and the Philippines. They talk about the story of the Moon Goddess Chang'e, the traditions around mooncakes, family reunion, and more! Joey sells her beautiful mooncakes every Moon Festival – check out her Instagram!

Amy Mullins chats with Don Watson, acclaimed author and former speechwriter to Paul Keating, about his Quarterly Essay, 'High Noon: Trump, Harris and America on the Brink.' In this historically rich and incisive account, Watson explores Donald Trump, Kamala Harris, and a nation approaching its democratic high noon. As part of his research, Don travelled across the U.S. earlier this year, exploring the question: Is the United States disintegrating? Key themes of his essay include voter suppression, the rise of fascist politics, Australian parallels, and deeply rooted systemic racism, with his queries capturing a critical juncture in history. Furthermore, he says: “The core of the problem lies in their founding documents — the Constitution and Declaration of Independence, as they never began resolving the race debate.”

British philosopher and best-selling author A. C. Grayling joins Amy in the Triple R studios for a very special in-depth conversation. Anthony tells us how we can consciously build our own philosophy of life, and why it is so important that we have one of our own. Grayling doesn't want to be prescriptive, but rather says we should take what's best for us from a range of philosophical schools and ideas. Amy and Anthony discuss free will and Sartre and Beauvoir's concept of existentialism, the key ancient philosophical schools and philosophers, including the Stoics, Cynics, and Epicureans. They also explore universal topics of love, friendship, and what happiness really is today compared with how it was conceived of in the past. He explores these ideas in his recent book, Philosophy And Life: Exploring the Great Questions of How to Live.

A very special interview was brought out of the archives as acclaimed British writer Robert Macfarlane joins Amy for an in-depth conversation about the connections between landscape, language, people, and place. This expansive conversation begins with an exploration of the aspects of nature, landscape, and place that motivate Robert’s writing.

Robert says, “We can think of thought itself as site-specific and as motion sensitive,” and that bodily movement in a particular landscape can prompt transformative thoughts and feelings that are not always accessible outside that place. “There are thoughts I’ve had while climbing mountains that I could not have had at sea-level. There are thoughts that I’ve had while walking 20 to 30 miles a day that were borne of the tiredness in my body and the landscapes through which I was moving at that time,” Robert recounts.

He explains what motivated his inquiry into the underland – that part of the landscape that exists underfoot, and which has long-standing significance for human culture and practices. While writing Underland: A Deep Time Journey, Robert realised this was “a very, very old human story... [and] began from that apparent paradox, why have we gone into the darkness to see things for as long as we’ve been human?”

Amy and Robert also draw on ideas from his past works including, Mountains of the Mind, The Old Ways, and Landmarks. Robert is a Fellow of Emmanuel College, Cambridge University.

Author and former financier Satyajit Das joins Amy for a long-form conversation about the rise of ecotourism, the joys and wonders of seeing animals "in the wild," along with ecotourism's problematic effects, as explored in his latest book, Wild Quests: Journeys into Ecotourism and the Future for Animals (Monash University Publishing).

Is Das witnessing the end of the natural world as we know it?

Das was named in 2014 by Bloomberg as among the 50 most influential people in financial markets. He has held senior positions in banks and industry and now works as a consultant to investors and corporations globally. His previous books include, Traders, Guns & Money (2006), Extreme Money (2011), A Banquet of Consequences (2015, updated 2021), and Fortune's Fool: Australia's Choices (2022). He is also the author (with Jade Novakovic) of In Search of the Pangolin: The Accidental Eco-Tourist (2006).

Author and philosopher Dr Kate Manne returns to speak in-depth with Amy about her excellent new book, Unshrinking: How To Fight Fatphobia. As Kate describes it; "part memoir, part polemic, and part (all?) philosophy, this book aims to show why fatphobia is a vital social justice issue, and provide an analysis of what fatphobia is and how it works." She proposes "a radical reevaluation of who our bodies exist in the world for: ourselves and no one else." Kate spoke about her previous best-selling books with Amy in 2020 – Down Girl: The Logic of Misogyny and Entitled: How Male Privilege Hurts Women. Kate Manne is a Professor of Philosophy at Cornell University. Interview from 2020 is here: https://www.rrr.org.au/explore/podcasts/uncommon-sense/episodes/4851-kate-manne-on-sexism-misogyny-and-her-book-entitled-how-male-privilege-hurts-women Broadcast on 9 July 2024.

Amy Mullins returns to the airwaves. Regular guest Dr Emma Shortis talks all things US politics, including the 2024 Presidential election debate and race. Will Joe Biden drop out of the race to make way for a different Democratic candidate? What is the status of Donald Trump's legal battles? How has the US Supreme Court transformed US government, society, and politics (once again) through its recent decisions on presidential immunity and the Chevron Doctrine? Emma is Senior Researcher, International and Security Affairs Program at The Australia Institute.

Author and Cornell University Professor of philosophy Dr Kate Manne returns to speak in-depth with Amy about her excellent new book, Unshrinking: How To Fight Fatphobia. As Kate describes it; "part memoir, part polemic, and part (all?) philosophy, this book aims to show why fatphobia is a vital social justice issue, and provide an analysis of what fatphobia is and how it works." She proposes "a radical reevaluation of who our bodies exist in the world for: ourselves and no one else." Kate spoke about her previous best-selling books with Amy in 2020 – Down Girl: The Logic of Misogyny and Entitled: How Male Privilege Hurts Women. Interview from 2020 is here: https://www.rrr.org.au/explore/podcasts/uncommon-sense/episodes/4851-kate-manne-on-sexism-misogyny-and-her-book-entitled-how-male-privilege-hurts-women

Professor Andrew Walter dissects the UK election results, which saw the UK Labour Party romp it in, ousting the Tory government and decimating their levels of representation in the British parliament. What does the new Labour government look like and how has the political landscape shifted? Andrew is Professor of International Relations in the School of Social and Political Sciences at the University of Melbourne.