Conversations

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Channel • 8 Shows

Relationships

Relationships

Updated 16/12/2011
Relationships

Relationships

Updated 10 Jun
Relationships

Relationships

Updated 12 Jun
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Updated 05/12/2014
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Updated 25/06/2025
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Updated 4 days ago
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Updated 15/12/2017

29/07/2025

The walking nun — Sister Clare Nolan on entering the convent and saving lives

Sister Clare Nolan was the head of nursing at St Vincent's Hospital when the HIV/AIDS epidemic reached Australia. She met with politicians, brothel workers and gay activists in the same room to work out how to save the men under her care in Ward 17 South. Clare was 21 years old when she entered the convent, against her mother's wishes, joining the Sisters of Charity novitiate to prepare for life as a nun. Clare had already completed her training as a nurse, and so she didn't want to join a contemplative order, closed off to the rest of the world. Clare wanted to take care of the sick and marginalised as a nurse, and as a nun, and so she became a 'walking sister'. Sister Clare quickly rose up the ranks, becoming the director of nursing at St Vincent's Hospital in Sydney, right as the HIV/AIDS epidemic reached Australia. Clare found herself in meetings with politicians, immunologists, brothel workers, gay activists and Catholics, working together to figure out how to save the hundreds of patients who came under her care in Ward 17 South - the first and only dedicated HIV/AIDS ward in the country. Further information You can learn more about the Sister's of Charity of Australia and St Vincent's Health Australia online. Find out more about the Conversations Live National Tour on the ABC website.

29/07/2025

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51 min
01/09/2015

Richard Glover survived a strange upbringing

Richard Glover likes to play a dinner party game called 'Who's Got the Weirdest Parents?'

01/09/2015

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50 min
13/02/2017

How Helen Razer blazed away a broken heart: 100 dates in a year

Helen's radical plan to manage post-breakup heartbreak

13/02/2017

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48 min
18/10/2012

RAAF fighter pilot Paul Simmons has flying in his blood

Broadcast date: Thursday 18 October 2012

18/10/2012

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51 min
31/07/2025

Shipwrecked and alone: surviving the Blythe Star

At 18 years old, Mick Doleman miraculously survived when his ship capsized in the freezing Southern Ocean off Tasmania. But as he floated in a life raft with his nine crewmates, his ordeal at sea had only just begun.

31/07/2025

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53 min
06/10/2016

Richard King on the freedom of speech and the freedom to offend

Richard King and the freedom to offend - or not. (R)

06/10/2016

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48 min
03/07/2009

Alison survived a vicious attack and now shares her inspiring story

Broadcast date: Friday 3rd July 2009

03/07/2009

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52 min
22/04/2021

Veronica Gorrie stands up

Ronnie looks back on the ten years she worked as a police officer; the childhood which shaped her, and pays tribute to the guiding strength of her proud Aboriginal father (CW: family violence)

22/04/2021

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51 min
29/10/2020

From the meatworks to mending men's souls

Peter Stojanovic was working in a Melbourne meatworks when a spiritual epiphany led him to a new life, working with violent men to help change their thinking Peter Stojanovic's family fled their tiny town in the former Yugoslavia because of religious persecution. Under the community regime, life was a struggle and after Peter's father became a Christian it became dangerous. Borders were closed to the outside world, but the family hatched a daring plan to escape. After they came to Australia, Peter soon joined the rest of his family working in the meatworks at Altona in Melbourne. But life was pulling him in other directions. After he got the 'spiritual bug' himself, he became a pastor in the Seventh Day Adventist Church, then a marriage counsellor. Now he helps men convicted of Domestic Violence offences by the court to work on changing their behaviour and their thinking. To binge even more great episodes of the ‘Conversations podcast’ with Richard Fidler and Sarah Kanowski go the ABC listen app (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. There you’ll find hundreds of the best thought-provoking interviews with authors, writers, artists, politicians, singers, psychologists, musicians, and celebrities.

29/10/2020

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53 min
05/11/2012

Entertainer Michael Palin explores Brazil

Broadcast date: Monday 5 November 2012

05/11/2012

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50 min

To binge even more great episodes of the Conversations podcast with Richard Fidler and Sarah Kanowski go the ABC listen app (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. There you’ll find hundreds of the best thought-provoking interviews with authors, writers, artists, politicians, psychologists, musicians, and celebrities.