Earshot - Remember Me ABC listen

All those statistics you hear about the gap between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people? In Balgo it’s a gaping chasm. Especially for Aboriginal people with a disability.

The remote Aboriginal community of Balgo is famous for footy, art and fighting. But it’s a community in crisis, where “the gap” reveals its deepest scars. Dulcie and George are fighting to save it.

For as long as she can remember, Zoe’s dad Greg was addicted to alcohol. By the time she was 26, his drinking had taken its final toll. And this led to a reckoning. 

“What are my memories of dad? Am I actually remembering something real, or just creating a memory from an old photo? Was that really me? Or one of my sisters who wore that dress and sat on his knee?”

Ghost in the Machine documents Zoe’s search for answers: who was the man she called Dad before he lost his battle with the bottle? And what does she carry of him, good and bad? 




If this story raised any concerns for you, you can call Lifeline on 13 11 14 and the 24/7 National Alcohol and Other Drug Hotline 1800 250 015.

Sunil's mother loved telling him stories of his colourful uncle, India's best-known sceptic, who devoted his life to disproving fraudulent gurus' "miracles" by eating fire, bending forks and floating mid-air. But at the heart of the Sceptic's magic was a disappearing act.

Julie found herself collecting the ashes of her dead friend Laurie, even though they hadn’t spoken for ten years and she had no idea he was dying. In this intriguing trip into the realm of death and memory Julie finds out what happened to Laurie and works out a unique way to honour him and his ashes.

A comment at a funeral pushes Toby Hemmings to discover what his grandfather, Bill Hoddinott, recorded on reel-to-reel tapes back in the 1960s. What he finds are fragments of Aboriginal languages from long ago – can you revive a language from such little material?