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For years Claude Robinson was doing crime to fund his heroin addiction. He was eventually locked up with murderers in Goulburn Prison, where he shared a dentist with Ivan Milat. But in 2006 he made a big change, to turn his life around. (CW: descriptions of drug use, addiction, and crime)
Claude Robinson is the manager of Rainbow Lodge, a home in inner Sydney for men just out of prison. Claude knows the place well because nearly 20 years ago he was sent there himself.
Claude was a heroin addict who had taken to crime to pay for his habit and wound up in a minimum security jail. But after he assaulted a prison guard, he ended up in one of Australia's toughest jails - Goulburn Correctional Centre. While Claude was inside, his father died, and he found out that he had inherited $60,000.
It was a chance to start a new life when he got out of prison. But instead, he and a girlfriend checked into a hotel in Kings Cross and bought some backs of heroin. Within weeks, all of Claude's inheritance was gone.
In 2006, Claude was back in prison when he decided to finally change his story. He got off drugs, went to TAFE, and started working his way back to Rainbow Lodge, where he helps men who have walked a similar path to his own.
Help and support is always available:
The National Alcohol & Other Drug Hotline is a free and confidential 24/7 phone service that provides counselling, advice, and information for those struggling with addiction. Call 1800 250 015.
This episode of Conversations discusses drug use, substance abuse, addiction, crime, mental health, toxic masculinity, manhood, fatherhood, parenting, turning your life around, getting clean, rehabilitation, rehab, intervention, AA, NA, sponsors, inheritance, heroin, methadone, ice, meth, illicit substances, incarceration, recidivism.
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During the height of his fame as one half of Savage Garden, Darren Hayes struggled to reconcile what he'd lived through as a child growing up in Logan (CW: descriptions of domestic violence).
Darren Hayes rose to fame in the 1990s as part of the musical duo Savage Garden.
The band ended up selling 35 million albums and won numerous awards with hits like 'Truly Madly Deeply'.
On the surface, Darren had achieved wealth, adoration and stardom —everything he dreamt of as a kid growing up in Logan, on the outskirts of Brisbane.
But the scars of his violent childhood nearly ended everything.
Content Warning: this episode of Conversations contains descriptions of domestic violence.
Help and support is always available:
Call 1800 737 732 (1800 Respect) to speak to a counsellor if you are experiencing domestic violence. They are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
This conversation talks about family, Savage Garden, Daniel Jones, celebrity, singing, singers, fame, ancestry, music, modern history, Michael Jackson, grief, origin stories, family dynamics, music industry, reflection, life story, memoir, 90s music, fatherhood, mothers, motherhood, epic personal stories, life before, during and after musical fame, parenting, divorce, books.
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Professor Alice Roberts examines the bones of those who died between five and ten centuries ago, solving the mysteries of how they lived and died.
Professor Alice Roberts wants us to listen to skeletons.
She's an anatomist and archaeologist who says that posthumous examination of our bones can reveal so much more than what someone might have looked like.
Whether it's about our health, our diet, what we did for a living, how we died, and whether that was a violent end — epic stories are written into our bones.
Recently Alice has been examining the bones of those who died between five and ten centuries ago to find out more about them. She's uncovered some amazing life and death stories.
There’s the sad and gothic tale of a medieval Anchoress, who was walled up inside a church in York for 28 years; the lives of the drowned sailors who died in the sinking of a ship called the Mary Rose, once owned by Henry the Eighth; and new revelations about a terrible massacre ordered by a King in the year 1004 AD.
This episode of Conversations explores death, anatomy, science, burial, history, origin stories, historic mysteries, ancestry, biology, ghost stories, Catholic Church, STIs, syphilis, medical history, early medicine, arthritis, strong bones, genocide.
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Paul McVerry is an experienced cattleman and a stud breeder, who had a wild vision to fly a gift of cattle to India with the help of winemaker Dan Murphy. (R)
New Zealand-born cattleman Paul McVerry has been surrounded by animals his whole life, and not just in cattle pens or in sheep yards.
Paul has accompanied thoroughbred horses on weeks-long ship journeys across the Pacific ocean. He's been stuck with prized bulls in the back of a truck going the wrong way down Broadway in New York City.
After being with animals on land-bound vehicles and sea-faring vessels, eventually Paul thought, "Cows can fly."
In the 1970s, thousands of cattle were being slaughtered in Victoria and southern New South Wales because of ongoing drought. At the same time, the dairy industry in India was struggling due to generations of inbreeding.
Paul saw an opportunity to solve both problems, and loaded the world's first ever airborne cattle onto a stretch D68 at Tullamarine Airport, bound for Chennai.
This episode of Conversations explores farming, agriculture, epic journeys, foreign aid, animal welfare, animal transport, charity work, Mother Teresa, India, Tullamarine airport, Melbourne, Darwin, Chennai, Hong Kong, travel, plane travel, aeroplanes, airplanes, weird cargo, genetics, cross-breeding animals, diverse gene pool, insemination.
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Screenwriter, Mithila Gupta thought her life would mimic her beloved Bollywood films — full of swooning and drama. But something was stuck, and she was an adult before she could embrace her vibrant Indian heritage.
Screenwriter, Mithila Gupta grew up obsessing over Bollywood heart-throbs, thinking she would meet her own prince in a movie perfect meet-cute, involving serenades and moonlight.
Her parents had left their home in Jaipur, India, to move their daughter to Australia, with hopes of more opportunities.
Mithila's parents succeeded in building a life in Australia, though the family had periods of isolation and longing for home.
Mithila became a screenwriter, and worked on Neighbours to introduce the first Indian family to Ramsay Street.
As covid loomed, her father became ill, and Mithila found herself losing hope in dating apps, while she searched for a partner.
During Melbourne's lockdown, her father’s face-reading — a skill he learned when he was young in north India — helped Mithila find her way to the love she had yearned for.
This episode of Conversations touches on origin stories, life stories, loss, reflection, migrant life, personal stories, grief, immigration, Bollywood, Shahrukh Khan, Jaipur, Four Years Later, SBS, screenwriting, show runner, Mithila Gupta, Indian heritage, and Neighbours.
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Matt Mewburn, one of Australia's last blacksmiths, takes you inside the "iron cathedral", where blacksmithing is still very much alive.
Matt didn't grow up dreaming of forging knives and sculptures over heat as hot as volcanic lava.
He thought he might take over the family farm or become a scientist.
But when Matt was 20 years old, his father unexpectedly died, and Matt went looking for a hobby to keep himself distracted through the grief.
A spontaneous trip to the local TAFE in Sydney introduced him to the magic of metallurgy and a burning passion was forged for the creativity and simple perfection of smithing.
Matt developed his skills in his apprenticeship and then overseas during his so-called Journeyman years, spending time in a seminary in the hills of Tuscany, and in Scotland and Norway.
For the last decade, Matt has been the custodian of Australia's largest and most historic rail works in Sydney.
This episode of Conversations discusses apprenticeships, trade school, art, death of a parent, grief, origin stories, family dynamics, life story, loss, reflection, death, how to grieve, farming, regional Australia, Eveleigh, Carriage Works, Sydney, Australian history, vocational training, iron ore, steel.
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Louise Philip had just scored her breakout role on Australian television, in Bellbird, when a horrific car crash threatened to derail the life she was forging for herself.
Louise Philip was 15 years old when she convinced her parents to let her drop out of high school to become an actress.
She had just scored her breakout role on Australian television, but within a few months a terrible car crash threatened to derail the life that she was forging for herself.
Louise broke her back and permanently lost the use of her legs, and she was told that the silver screen was no longer a place for her.
But Louise fought to get back to work, and thrived on Australian television sets for years until she did something else that people told her was impossible -- she became a mother.
This episode of Conversations discusses disability, acting, paraplegia, wheelchair users, love, family dynamics, guilt, personal stories, origin stories, love, reflection,. motherhood, parenting with a disability, pregnancy with a disability, creativity, Bellbird, Cop Shop.
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As a forensic counsellor and then a grief counsellor, Wendy Liu has spent many years right up close to death. Her work with people who are processing all kinds of losses has brought her a much keener appreciation for life. (R)
Wendy Liu was a young woman on a social work placement when she realised she had a special affinity for hard conversations about life and death.
She put her aptitude to work in palliative care, and then some years later she began working as a forensic counsellor.
For seven years Wendy worked supporting families following unexplained deaths, fatal accidents, child deaths, suicides and homicides reported to the Coroner.
Today Wendy is a grief counsellor and a passionate advocate for us all to have more open and honest conversations about death and dying.
She also says being so close to loss and grief each day has given her a stronger appreciation of life.
This episode of Conversations explores terminal illness, murder, crime, survivors, how to grieve, healthy grieving, counselling, funerals, wakes, tough conversations, family dynamics, organising funerals, forensics, police.
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Author Rosalie Ham grew up in a country town three blocks long and three blocks wide. She paid close attention to the characters there, like the woman at the shops whose face was frozen into Munch’s scream. This eye for detail led to her first novel, which became a hit movie starring Kate Winslet.
Author, Rosalie Ham grew up in country NSW, in a town three streets wide and three streets long.
During a mouse plague, the rodents were so prolific that their droppings would appear at the bottom of the cereal packet, and the town's children — unsupervised — would chop the mice up with a downpipe in the farmyard shed.
When Rosalie was a child, her mum received a devastating diagnosis, and started an affair as a way to find herself before it was too late.
Watching her mother's life and extreme changes proved a formative experience, which led Rosalie to write her first novel, The Dressmaker.
The book was eventually made into a film starring Kate Winslet.
Rosalie's husband Ian had been a staunch support through her writing career, until he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's and she became his carer.
This episode of Conversations covers a life story, family dynamics, mothers, parenting, reflection, loss, origin stories, grief, personal stories, The Dressmaker, Kate Winslet, Australian fiction, Liam Hemsway, carers, infidelity, cheating, divorce, coping strategies and Alzheimer's Disease.
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Writer Emily Maguire on losing her own faith, but finding awe and inspiration in a controversial myth about a female pontiff who some people believe sat disguised on the papal throne for two years in the ninth century.
Writer Emily Maguire grew up in a very Christian home, where life revolved around the Church and prayer.
By the time she was in her late teens, Emily had well and truly rebelled against her religious upbringing, eventually dropping out of high school, getting a job at McDonalds and getting married.
But it wasn't until she suffered a rare stroke in her 20s, that Emily truly lost her faith.
She remained fascinated by the history and the stories of the Church, however, and has written several books inspired by that interest.
Most recently, Emily was gripped by a tale that has haunted the Catholic Church for more than 1,000 years—rumours of a woman who disguised herself as a man, entered a Benedictine Monastery and rose up the ranks until she was elected the most holy ruler of all, the Pope.
If she truly did exist, after two years on the papal throne, Pope Joan was found out in the most dramatic way possible.
This episode of Conversations discusses Catholicism, Jesus, religion, faith, writing, books, atheism, Christianity, finding God, losing faith, agnostics, spirituality, Christian history, power, politics, Roman Empire, Constantine, Charlemagne, marriage, childless by choice, Pope Joan, female pope, female Bishop, female leadership, teenage girls, teen sexuality, rebellion, crisis of faith.
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Jelena Dokic overcame adversity, poverty and violence to rise to the top of the tennis world. Years later, her revelations about her father's abuse stunned the world. (CW: discussion of domestic violence and coercive control).
This episode of Conversations also talks about sport, training, family, origin stories, parenting, relationships, childhood trauma, sports commentary, online trolls, refugees, security, control, family violence, therapy, mental health, identity, disordered eating, books, documentary film, reflection, culture, meaning, Australian, counselling, conversational story, and memoir.
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Lee Berger, National Geographic Explorer in Residence and real-life Indiana Jones with tales of his hominid discoveries, many of which have rewritten the story of palaeoanthropology. (R)
National Geographic Explorer in Residence, Lee Berger, entered the field of palaeoanthropology when there was an infinitesimally tiny chance he would discover anything, while digging around South Africa.
But this real-life Indiana Jones kept bucking the odds.
He kept unearthing previously unseen parts of hominids - the group known as the Great Apes; comprising modern humans, chimpanzees, gorillas and orangutans plus all their immediate ancestors.
First, he found a pair of hominid teeth in southern Africa. Then after a fossil hunting dry spell, his 9-year-old son Matthew found the jawbone of an entirely new hominid species.
A few years later came Lee's most extraordinary discovery yet: a nearly inaccessible cave filled with skeletons of another new hominid species which seemed to be violating all the rules.
The story of what happened in this cave revolutionises what we understand about the origins of our own human species.
This episode of Conversations discusses the origin of human life, archaeology, science, research, caving, adventure, Indiana Jones, human species, evolution, Charles Darwin, theories of evolution, Africa.
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As Andrew Dwyer ventured further into the desert, he fell in love with the people and the landscape. He battled sandstorms, floods and isolation to serve fine foods under the stars.
When Andrew Dwyer was growing up in 1960s Melbourne, the city wasn't the foodie destination it is now, in fact it was often described as a "culinary wasteland".
But luckily for Andrew, his Czechoslovakian godfather and his Chinese stepmother introduced him to incredible flavours and cooking techniques from further afield.
At the same time, Andrew was bushwalking and skiing and falling in love with the outdoors.
Eventually, he combined his passion for wild places with his passion for good food.
Andrew started venturing further and further west, far into the Australian outback — and he took his fine foods with him.
This episode of Conversations explores travel, fine dining, food, cooking, camp cooking, travel, snow skiing, the Victorian Alps, good food, good weekender, travel recommendations, the Gibson Desert, Nothern Territory, South Australia, Adelaide, Australian Explorers, Giles, Pintupi 9, Indigenous tourism, tourism industry, foodies.
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An impulse decision to buy a home in the rainforest results in a comedy of errors involving a python in the roof, an unexpected tax bill, two reality TV shows discussing bowel movements with Shane Warne. (R)
Akmal Saleh doesn't like the jungle or rainforests, or any of the animals in the jungle or rainforest.
Akmal likes cafes and running water, which made the comedian's purchase of a cabin in the hills outside Byron Bay incredibly puzzling to those who know him.
Looking for a place where their two dogs could run free, Akmal and his wife bought their remote cabin on an impulse.
After twelve days, they knew the tree-change, hippie lifestyle wasn't for them.
What followed was a comedy of errors involving a python in the roof, carpet-eating rats, a half-finished home, an unexpected tax bill, two reality shows and discussing bowel movements with Shane Warne.
This episode of Conversations discusses sea changes, tree changes, impulse purchases, real estate, comedy, stand-up comedy, regional Australia, regional property market, buying property, I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here, Selling Houses Australia, the rainforest, the Byron Bay Hinterland, northern NSW.
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Athlete Gerrard Gosens didn't realise he was blind until his first day at primary school. His adventurous spirit led him to become a three time Paralympian, climb Mt Everest, swim the English Channel, and perform the rhumba on Dancing With The Stars.
This conversation talks about family life, family history, childhood memories, origin stories, training, medical procedures, surgery, mountaineering, mountains, cycling, open water swimming, parenting, genetic conditions, glaucoma, disability, charity, Stevie Wonder, chocolate, training, exercising, Paralympic sport, triathlon, indoor climbing, sepsis, team building, reality TV, and fundraising.
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How a Birmingham boy became best-selling thriller writer, Lee Child, and the creator of one of the literary world's most popular loners. (R)
James Grant grew up in Birmingham when it was a bustling industrial city.
While huge workforces would pour of the factories as men ended their shifts and headed home on bicycles, for children, there wasn't much to do.
Young James often found himself at the library, and he grew up a voracious reader.
He began working for Granada Television after leaving university, but after a 20-year career, Jim suddenly found himself out of a job, and with a wife and child to support.
With a pragmatic sense of mission, he sat down with a pencil and wrote his first novel in longhand, under the pseudonym Lee Child.
It was a thriller about a loner named Jack Reacher, and went on to become a best-seller around the world, adapted into films and a television series.
Now every nine seconds, somewhere in the world, someone buys a Jack Reacher book.
This episode of Conversations explores crime writing, stories, thrillers, Jack Reacher, In Too Deep, television adaptations, Lee Child's real name, origin stories, Birmingham, books, authors, best-selling books, book recommendations, Tom Cruise, Netflix, Amazon Prime, film adaption, Hollywood, Bill Clinton.
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Dr Tracy Westerman grew up in the Pilbara, where suicide and mental health issues have deeply scarred Indigenous communities. So this Nyamal woman decided to do something about it.
Nyamal woman Tracy Westerman grew up in some of the most remote parts of Western Australia, moving from a station to a town called Useless Loop, eventually landing in the mining town of Tom Price.
Tracy, the daughter of an Aboriginal mother and a white father, became the first person educated entirely in Tom Price, from kindergarten to year 12, to go on to University.
When she arrived in Perth, she had never been on a bus or on an escalator, but she was fired up to study psychology.
Tracy wanted to use the skills she learned in the city to deliver practical mental health care to Aboriginal people, and to help entire communities reeling from the impact of suicide and other mental health issues.
Along the way to obtaining her doctorate, Tracy has become a businesswoman, the WA Australian of the year, and she was awarded an Order of Australia Medal.
Her next mission is to build an army of Indigenous psychologists to continue the work she's already started.
This episode of Conversations discusses mental health care, mental health struggles, First Nations mental health, remote communities, interracial relationships, psychology, university, PhD study, tertiary education, the Pilbara, Nyamal, traditional owners, Indigenous psychologist.
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Michael Visontay with the true tale of how fragments of a rare Gutenberg Bible were sold off, leaf by leaf, in New York in the 1920s, and how the sale of these books, chapters and verses changed the course of his own family.
Some years ago journalist Michael Visontay was researching his family history when he stumbled upon the story of a man named Gabriel Wells, who had been a New York book dealer at the height of the Roaring 20s.
As a way to make fast money, Wells came up with a scandalous plan.
He bought a precious, ancient copy of the world's greatest book, the Gutenberg Bible, and began extracting leaves from it to sell off the individual pages.
Wealthy buyers were willing to pay big money for the 'noble fragments', and Wells died a rich man.
More than a century later, Michael discovered an extraordinary link between the story of Gabriel Wells and his own family history. He then set out to track down the pages of the broken bible himself.
This episode of Conversations discusses rare books, the Holocaust, World War Two, refugees, the Iron Curtain, post-war migration, Hungary, Judaism, divorce, blended families, small business, love stories, family stories, origin stories, Anglicisation of names, Sydney, Kings Cross.
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Legendary cook, author, food producer and educator Maggie Beer had a circuitous path to the food world, which began when she left school at 14. (R)
Legendary cook, author, food producer and educator Maggie Beer grew up in Lakemba in South-West Sydney, and got her first job when she was 14 years old.
Maggie had to leave school early to go out to work to help support her family after her father's business went bankrupt.
Although she had a varied working life over the next two decades, it wasn't until her mid-30s that Maggie found her purpose.
She and her husband, Colin, began a pheasant farm in South Australia's Barossa Valley, then added a farm gate shop and a restaurant.
After a few years of struggle, a review of their business changed everything.
Later, Maggie began her next chapter as a TV star on The Cook and the Chef and Masterchef.
Recently Maggie has been campaigning to improve the quality of food in aged care. This year she was recognised with an international TV host award for her work on ABC TV's Maggie Beer's Big Mission.
This episode of Conversations explores food, food inequality, farm to table, the Barossa, Western Sydney, aged care, nutrition, health and wellbeing, food for the soul, recipes, dinner recipes, home cooking, gastronomy, hospitality, chefs., family recipes.
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In 2024 Nate Byrne went from presenting the weather to making the news when he acknowledged live on air that he was experiencing a panic attack. Keeping cool under pressure is a skill Nate developed in his first career as a Naval Officer, and perhaps also from his days as a go-go dancer in a Perth nightclub.
Nate Byrne is the Weather Presenter on ABC News Breakfast.
In August this year Nate went from presenting the weather to making the news when he acknowledged, as he was broadcasting live, that he was experiencing a panic attack.
It's something that had been happening on many mornings for the past few years whenever Nate stood at one of his favourite places in the world: in front of the weather wall in the ABC TV studio.
Nate has decided this is just his body being 'a doofus' and has found a way to redirect his brain once the panic starts.
Keeping cool under pressure is a skill Nate developed in his first career as a Naval Officer… and perhaps also from his days as a go-go dancer in a Perth nightclub.
This episode of Conversations explores family, marriage equality, science, meteorology, TV Broadcasting, the weather, origin stories, weather forecasts, military history, World War Two, the navy, submarines, sea mines, naval mines, Arab Spring, and dancing.
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