Conversations

In 2023, Arnold Dix helped rescue 41 men trapped in a tunnel after it collapsed high in the Himalayas. As an engineer and tunnel expert, he was uniquely placed to assist, but Arnold also used another skill in the high risk operation: he listened to the mountain.The successful rescue made Arnold a hero to millions of people across India and it was in news all over the world, including back home in country Victoria, where the story surprised the community who knew him as a part-time truck driver and flower farmer.Arnold’s life has taken him from geology to law to tunnels, he’s been shot at in Albania, saved lives in Qatar and driven trucks to make ends meet.  He also worked in the tunnels of Ground Zero after 9/11.The episode of Conversations explores tunnels, the Himalayas, rescue, trapped workers, science, geology, law, 9/11, mountains, memoir, hero, engineering, career change.The Promise is published by Simon and Schuster

Angelica Ojinnaka-Psillakis grew up in Sydney, famous for its coastline and beachside existence. But for reasons beyond her control, she didn't learn to swim until she took the plunge as an adult.Angelica Ojinnaka-Psillakis has achieved a lot in her young life.She is a social researcher at Western Sydney University, she has represented Australia at the United Nations, she advices groups like UNESCO and a couple of years ago she was awarded the NSW Premier's Youth Medal.But for her family, Angelica's greatest achievement is learning to swim as an adult.Australia has a sense of itself as a nation of swimmers, and presents this image to the world in its tourism campaigns, films and ownership of the pool at the Olympics.But in reality, a quarter of Australian adults are very weak swimmers or cannot swim at all, including Angelica, who grew up in Western Sydney, the eldest of nine siblings in a big, blended family.Instead of going to swimming lessons after school, Angelica spent a lot of her time helping to take care of her little sisters and brothers, one of whom lives with severe disabilities.It wasn't until she was in her mid-20s that Angelica had the time to learn how to swim, so she could finally understand the calming and cooling effects of the water.Angelica's podcast documenting her quest to learn to swim as an adult is called Sink or Swim and was produced by Impact Studios.You can stay up to date with what Angelica is up to at her website.This episode of Conversations explores swimming, royal surf life saving, drowning, learning to swim, beaches, Sydney, Bondi, Western Sydney, Blacktown, Randwick, pools, public pools, climate change, summer, hot summers, carers, family dynamics, divorce, Nigeria, first generation Australians.

In 2013, Raynor Winn and her husband, Moth lost their beloved farm in Wales, it was where they'd lived for 20 years and raised their children.In the same week, Moth was diagnosed with a rare degenerative brain disease and doctors gave him just two years to live.Homeless and with their future together rapidly shrinking, Raynor and Moth decided to walk the South West Coast path.They camped wild in all weathers and often didn't have enough money for food.But amazingly, Moth's health began to improve.When they completed the walk, they found themselves in the midst of a whole new chapter.This episode of Conversations explores adventure, long walking trails, coastal trek, terminal illness, memory, Wales, marriage, writing, memoir, risk taking, Cornwall, partnership, homelessness, south west coast path, travel, wild camping.The Salt Path and The Wild Silence are published by Penguin.

Writer and tour guide Simon Tancred on the little-known ANZAC story of how a group of POWs made a daring escape on foot to neutral Switzerland.Simon Tancred fell in love with Italy as a young man, and set up a job for himself leading hikes and tours across the country, and into the Alps. So Simon was familiar with the old trails and passes that crisscross the mountains, and which have been used for hundreds of years by shepherds, traders and travellers. But one day, someone approached him with the unknown story of how a group of Australian prisoners of war from the Second World War escaped from Italy to freedom in neutral Switzerland.Four mates from Moree evaded the enemy by using these ancient, winding tracks.They didn't speak Italian, they battled wintry conditions, and never knew if the civilians they encountered along the way would help them or turn them over to the occupying German forces.Simon was so intrigued by this story, he bought some old maps and set out to follow their journey to freedom, by tracing their steps across the Alps.This episode of Conversations explores fascism, politics, war, civil war, prisoners of war, unknown stories of WWII, the Anzacs, Anzac Day 2025, Italy, Italian Alps, modern history, books, writing, walking tours in Italy, travel, Mountaineering, Partisans, Nazis, Nazi Germany, neutral Switzerland, World War Two history, religion, Madonna, Mary, Italian Catholicism, where to hike in Italy.Trails to Freedom is published by Hardie Grant.

Justin Heazlewood, a comedian, songwriter, and author from Burnie, Tasmania, shares his journey of returning to his hometown after years in pursuit of fame. He explores the complexities of growing up as a caregiver to his mother with schizophrenia while navigating the challenges of small-town identity and creativity. The conversation delves into the unique humor born from isolation, the emotional weight of family dynamics, and the revitalization of community ties, as he realizes the importance of connection and creativity far from city life.

The artist Loribelle Spirovski on her unusual childhood in the Philippines, meeting her father for the first time at 7 years old, and making her way as one of Australia's most exciting young painters.Loribelle Spirovski grew up in the Philippines, with her mum and her extended Filipino family.Her Serbian father, whom she had never met, was in Australia, driving taxis and waiting for the visa that would allow him to bring Loribelle and her mum to join him.Loribelle didn't meet her father until she was 7 years old, and when she saw him for the first time at Manila Airport, she was shocked by how hairy his arms were and the way he smelled just like she did.Eventually, the family was properly reunited in Sydney, Australia, where Loribelle had to navigate family and cultural ties, where she found love and where she made her way as one of Australia's most exciting young artists.This episode of Conversations explores painting, creativity, writing, books, love, marriage, Simon Tedeschi, William Barton, the Archibald Prize, art education, art teaching, chronic pain, chronic injury, identity, memoir, family dynamics, origin stories, refugees, Serbia, former Yugoslavia, music, piano, singing, language, mothers, fathers, long-distance relationships.White Hibiscus is published by Upswell.You can see some of Loribelle's art at her website and on her Instagram page.In July, 2025 Loribelle won the People's Choice Award for the 2025 Archibald Prize for a portrait she painted with her fingers of Kalkadunga musician William Barton.

As a child, before she escaped communist Hungary, Bo Remenyi had no ambitions. But when she got to Australia all of that changed. She's gone from cruising the casino floor as a high-stakes professional poker player, to saving the lives of children in remote Australia. (R)In 2018, Dr Bo Remenyi was made the Northern Territory’s Australian of the Year for her work as a paediatric cardiologist. But her path to receiving that honour,  and to her work in remote communities, has been filled with unexpected twists and risks.After escaping communist Hungary as a child, she got her first job flipping burgers in a Townsville Hungary Jacks. From there, she put herself through medical school by cleaning the very lecture theatres in which she was studying. Somewhere along the way, Bo decided to play 60 hours of professional poker a week, and she was very good at it.This episode of Conversations explores Aboriginal health, Indigenous health outcomes, closing the Gap, Soviet Union, Communism, fleeing the Iron Curtin, Putin, medicine, studying medicine, studying medicine in Australia, university life, gambling, multiculturalism, migrant stories, first generation Australians, the Northern Territory, remote Australia, FNQ.

Journalist Kerrie Davies with the story of how novelist Miles Franklin went undercover as a maid for a year, in Sydney and Melbourne's wealthy houses, well before gonzo journalists became household names.The real-life story of novelist Stella Maria Miles Franklin had an unexpected chapter after publishing My Brilliant Career.In 1903, Miles became a 'girl stunt reporter' by going undercover as a servant.For a year, she lived as a maid in Sydney and Melbourne's wealthy houses and wrote about the humiliations and drudgery in the daily lives of servant girls, or 'slaveys'.During her experiment she hand-rolled heavy, wet clothes through a washing mangle; served her employers pre-breakfast tea and toast in bed, which she thought was an obscene indulgence; she cleaned guest rooms and parlours; helped at high-society balls and kept fires burning in winter.The manuscript Miles wrote about this year pre-dated George Orwell's Down and Out in Paris and London by three decades, yet it never found a publisher.Journalist Kerrie Davies has investigated this little-known chapter of Miles' life, finally bringing this story to life in her own book.This episode of Conversations explores feminism, suffragettes, biography, books, servants, writing, Australian fiction, boy sober, class warfare, adventures, adventurous women, risk-taking, origin stories, gonzo journalism, Nellie Bly, Rose Scott, early 20th century Sydney, Chicago, women's rights, trad wives, motherhood, partnership, self-partnering.Miles Franklin Undercover is published by Allen and Unwin.

Song propelled Morris Stuart from his early life shepherding sheep in British Guyana to an unlikely love story in London. In his retirement, he found himself shaping a choir of Central Australian Aboriginal women, who had been breathing life into 138-year-old Lutheran hymns.Morris Stuart met his Australian wife, Barbara in London in the 1960s.The pair led a youth group attached to a nearby church, and initially tried to ignore their growing feelings for each other.Morris was a young, Guyanese activist who was descended from African slaves, and wasn’t ready to face the social reality of marrying across racial lines.Morris and Barb fell in love and married several years before the film Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner? was released, and featured at several screenings in London, where community members could ask them questions as a real life, interracial couple.The couple went on to have four children and moved to Australia, where Morris became a pastor with a community church in Melbourne.In their retirement, Morris and Barbara developed relationships with the Warlpiri community in Central Australia. They arrived in Alice Springs in 2005 and Morris started recruiting for a choir.More Indigenous communities started joining in and Morris formed the Central Australian Aboriginal Women’s choir.They performed hymns brought by German Lutheran missionaries to the region in the late 19th Century, which were translated into Pitjantjatjara and Western Arrernte.The choir’s biggest achievement is a tour to Germany in 2015 — to perform the hymns that had all but vanished from use in Germany, but have been preserved in the Central Australian desert for 138 years.Follow the Central Australian Aboriginal Women's Choir on Facebook.Watch the documentary about the Central Australian Aboriginal Women’s Choir tour to Germany, The Song Keepers. This episode of Conversations touches on heritage, epic life story, origin stories, church, personal stories, childhood and reflection.

Nature writer Andrew Darby on what he learned from his rambles through the wilds of Tasmania, communing with the world’s oldest surviving trees. In particular, his ‘buttock clenching’ ascent up a 60-metre-tall eucalyptus known as The Vibe Tower.Nature writer, Andrew Darby spent more than 20 years as a Fairfax correspondent based in Tasmania.His stories involved the natural beauty of the bush, including visits to wild places and to the people who protect them, but it was deadline-driven and he couldn’t spend the time he wanted to.In 2017 Andrew was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer.He underwent immunotherapy and was given a maximum 18-months to live. It has been eight years since he entered his “second life”.Andrew was determined to fully inhabit his beloved Tasmanian bush, so he went by himself to commune with ancient trees.These are some of the world’s oldest surviving trees, like King’s Lomatia; some of the biggest trees, like a 60-metre-tall eucalyptus known as The Vibe Tower; and Andrew’s favourite, the dignified Pencil Pine.The Ancients: Discovering the world’s oldest surviving trees in wild Tasmania is published by Allen & Unwin.This episode of Conversations touches on wild Tasmania, ancient trees, Pencil Pine, King's Lomatia, King Billy Pine, Giant Eucalyptus, Peter Dombrovskis photography, Walls of Jerusalem National Park, Pool of Siloam, epic hike, solo hike, stage four lung cancer, immunotherapy, second life and loving nature, hikes of Australia.