Conversations

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Channel • 8 Shows

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Updated 22/07/2025
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Updated 03/07/2025
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Updated 25/06/2025
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Updated 16/12/2011
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Updated 31/07/2025

25/08/2025

20th Anniversary Collection: The barber who helps boys become good men

Charles Lomu's gentle and religious life in Tonga with his grandparents showed him the meaning of love. He was on track to being a young, in-demand Rugby League player when grief shook his family, and Charles turned down a dark path. He ended up in periodic detention in jail. Today, the power of barbering is a tool the youth worker uses to steer young men away from the dangerous path he experienced, and to teach them to be men. Further information Originally broadcast July 2022. This episode was produced by Alice Moldovan. The executive producer was Carmel Rooney. Standout Story – Colin Hay Hear Sarah’s conversation with Colin Hay: https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/conversations/colin-hay-rpt/10573618 You can read all about the Conversations origin story on the ABC News website. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-08-03/richard-fidler-reflects-on-20-years-of-conversations/105495784 This episode of Conversations touches on pusiaki, barbering, jail, prison, youth detention, Tonga, grandparents, grandparenting, footy, youth work, familial care, periodic detention, barber and hairstyling. 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.

25/08/2025

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53 min
01/10/2024

Shakespeare's stories aren't boring — we are teaching them wrong way

Irish journalist and author, Fintan O'Toole on how the Victorians changed the meaning of Shakespeare's plays, and how we can bring them back to life. Fintan O'Toole is an Irish journalist and author who writes on politics and history for the New York Review of Books and the Irish Times. He wants to change the way we think about Shakespeare's plays, because the way many of us are introduced to Shakespeare is wrong and boring. Fintan says Shakespeare’s work is wrongly presented as a delivery system for simple moral instruction — a hangover from the Victorian era, which wanted to turn Shakespeare into a form of "mental muesli". According to Fintan, the genius of Shakespeare is that his characters keep escaping narrow moral categories, just as people do in real life. This episode of Conversations deals with Shakespeare's epic plays, life, death, betrayal, history, kings, royalty, motherhood, fatherhood, grief, life processes, making meaning of life and morality, Othello, Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet.

01/10/2024

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49 min
05/09/2024

Quitting alcohol – the story of how Seana got sober

After a childhood spent trying to escape her father's booze-fuelled outbursts, Seana developed her own problem relationship with drinking. But by her mid-50s, Seana decided she had had enough. Seana Smith grew up in a beautiful house in rural Scotland, and when things were good at home, they were wonderful. But Seana’s father loved to drink, and his habit took over her family’s life. Despite the fights, abuse and violence, Seana's mother couldn't bring herself to leave her husband, and so Seana found every excuse to get away -- from pony camp at 12 years old, to applying for boarding school without her parents' knowledge, and then to Oxford University. Eventually Seana fell in love and ended up on the opposite side of the world, in Australia, where she started a family of her own. But as she reached her mid 50s, Seana realised that the way she loved to drink meant she hadn’t really left home at all, and so she started her own journey of sobriety. Seana's story deals with themes of alcoholism, substance abuse, problem drinking, dementia, family violence, sobriety, motherhood and getting sober.

05/09/2024

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54 min
14/08/2025

20th Anniversary Collection: Brolga the 'kangaroo mum'

Aged 17, Chris 'Brolga' Barns was meant to be the 'bird guy' at a new zoo in Broome. A cough in his keeper's house alerted him to a kangaroo joey called Josie, who needed four-hourly feeds and help with the toilet. From then on he was hooked. Brolga knew early on he wanted to make a living working with animals. After meeting Josie he began to rescue other joeys left alive in their mothers' pouches after the large animals had been hit by cars. Word spread about his passion for orphaned joeys, and he started an education centre in an old double-decker bus. In 2013 the BBC made a documentary about Brolga, Kangaroo Dundee, which became a worldwide hit. Brolga and his wife Tahnee now run a hospital and rescue centre outside Alice Springs. Further information Originally broadcast October 2018. Read more about Brolga's Kangaroo Sanctuary. 2025 update: since Sarah’s original conversation with Brolga, the mighty Roger has passed away, at the age of 12. A new Australian movie, Kangaroo, based on Brolga’s life and the sanctuary, is due for release in September. Standout story – Belinda Terry Hear Belinda Terry, ‘Nocka' Peoples, Cheryl Thompson, Elizabeth 'Thumper' Clark in a special night of storytelling from Muttaburra. https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/conversations/muttaburra-stories-conversations-in-the-shearing-shed/7788918 You can read all about the Conversations origin story on the ABC News website. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-08-03/richard-fidler-reflects-on-20-years-of-conversations/105495784 This episode was produced by Nicola Harrison. The Executive Producer was Pam O'Brien. This episode of Conversations touches on kangaroos, wildlife care, Alice Springs, orphaned joeys, kangaroo joeys, epic life stories, origin stories, zoos, roadkill, outback Australia and the outback. 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.

14/08/2025

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53 min
31/05/2010

Maggie Hamilton is concerned about how young boys are growing up

Broadcast date: Friday 28 May 2010

31/05/2010

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53 min
25/11/2009

Ash Abdollahi's body building lifestyle, and Bernadette O'Shea's champagne expertise

Broadcast date: Wednesday 25 November 2009

25/11/2009

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52 min
24/04/2009

John Rendall and Anthony 'Ace' Bourke

Broadcast date Friday 24th April 2009

24/04/2009

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52 min
21/04/2009

James Murray's escape to Arnhem Land, and Cate Kennedy on short stories

Broadcast date Tuesday 21st April 2009

21/04/2009

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52 min
20/11/2009

Alex Miller tells why his writing success was a long time coming

Broadcast date: Friday 20 November 2009

20/11/2009

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52 min
19/06/2009

Brian Sherman went from businessman to animal rights advocate

Broadcast date: Friday 19 June 2009

19/06/2009

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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.

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