Conversations

ABC Australia

Conversations draws you deeper into the life story of someone you may have heard about, but never met. Journey into their world, joining them on epic adventures to unfamiliar places, back in time to wild moments of history, and into their deepest memories, to be moved by personal stories of resilience and redemption.

Hosted by Richard Fidler and Sarah Kanowski, Conversations is the ABC's most popular long-form interview program. Every day we explore the vast tapestry of human experience, weaving together narratives from history, science, art, and personal storytelling.

Conversations Live is coming to the stage! Join Sarah Kanowski and Richard Fidler for an unmissable night of unforgettable stories, behind-the-scenes secrets, and surprise guests. Australia’s most-loved podcast — live, up close, and in the moment. Find out more at the Conversations website.

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2,001 episodes
Updated Today

Episodes2001

Newest first

Nov 13, 2025
Making peace and finding laughter in my family's dark past
Reuben Kaye has always known he was going to be a performer and grew up a house that encouraged his love of the limelight. But in the background was the weight of his family history full of complicated characters and stories of cruelty. Reuben's parent both came from Jewish European families who were forced to flee their homes because of World War 2. And there were other more secretive stories, involving a return to Communist East Germany and a heartbreaking decision made by Alfreda as a yo
Nov 12, 2025 · 52 min
Loving and losing three good men—the story of a ballerina called 'Blossom'
Petal Ashmole Winstanley was just a teenager when she left Perth on her own to sail to London. There, in the swinging 1960s, she began her wild adventure of dance, love and heartbreak. Petal got her first big dancing break in a Christmas pantomime, and then she had a spin as a Go-Go dancer in a Parisian nightclub, before eventually working her way into some of the most prestigious ballet companies in the world. Along the way, Petal fell in love with three great men, and she lost them all under
Nov 11, 2025 · 53 min
The conspiracy that brought down the Whitlam Government in the 1975 dismissal
Editor-at-Large of The Australian, Paul Kelly looks back at the most profound crisis in Australia’s democracy, including the off-the-record information he was given five days before it took place. In 1975 Paul was a young press gallery journalist, working in the cramped old Parliament House, where all it took was a flight of stairs and a few steps to find himself in the Prime Minister’s office. Paul was on close terms with both Gough Whitlam and Malcolm Fraser when Australia faced the bigge
Nov 10, 2025
Silverchair’s Ben Gillies on his life as a teenage rock god, and what happened next
When Ben Gillies was 15 he began touring around the world in his band called Silverchair. After the band broke up, Ben had to work through anxiety and addiction to make an entirely new life for himself. Silverchair toured America, supporting the Ramones and the Red Hot Chilli Peppers. They played on the roof of the Radio City Music Hall during the MTV awards. And when they weren't working, they were back at high school, at Newcastle High. Silverchair made 5 albums together, all of which debut
Nov 7, 2025 · 53 min
Encore: Meet Ash Barty's mindset coach — Ben Crowe
How does Ben Crowe get elite athletes to the top of their game? What he asks footballers, surfers and tennis players to do seems counter intuitive, and a lot of the work happens off the field. (R) Ben Crowe is a mindset coach who has worked with elite athletes like surfer Steph Gilmore, tennis superstar Ash Barty, and the Richmond Football Club. But Ben's method of coaching seems counter-intuitive. Rather than telling these athletes they're the best, he encourages them to own their flaws, mak
Nov 6, 2025 · 53 min
Uncovering the heart of my Nana’s saltwater stories
Bunurong/Boonwurrung actor and author, Tasma Walton was enjoying her big break on TV show Blue Heelers in the 1990s in Melbourne when a transformative visit from her grandmother launched her in a new direction. Boonwurrung/Bunurong woman, Tasma grew up in windy Geraldton, in Western Australia in the 1970s, hearing stories from her grandmother about baby whales and women who lived in kelp forests. These stories always featured a bay and very cold water — neither of which were in Geraldton.
Nov 5, 2025
William Dalrymple's own curious history, from the Scottish coast to Mughal Delhi
Historian William Dalrymple had a rarefied childhood on the windswept coast of Scotland. As an adult he fell in love with India, and later discovered his family's own deep ties to the country. Born into the Scottish aristocracy, William followed his three older brothers and left for boarding school at just 8 years old. While still an university William set off to follow Marco Polo's journey across the width of Asia and he wrote a best-selling book about that adventure. But after then moving t
Nov 4, 2025
The drama and the grit behind Michelle Payne's ride into Melbourne Cup history
Ten years ago, Michelle Payne became the first woman to win The Melbourne Cup but in the years since she's had to face many challenges, including a life threatening injury and family heartbreak. Fortunately if there is one thing Michelle knows a lot about, it's how to get back up. Michelle Payne grew up on a farm, the youngest of ten kids, in a family were everyone was mad about horses and horse racing. Her dad always said girls could be great jockeys if they were given the opportunity and s
Oct 31, 2025 · 53 min
Encore: The story of a wild, radical feminist socialist lesbian mum, and her son
Writer, Ianto Ware on growing up in the suburbs of Adelaide in a single-parent, single-child family, when such an experience was rare. (R) Ianto Ware was raised in the suburbs of Adelaide in a house surrounded by a tangled garden of oak trees and vegetables, and furniture foraged from hard rubbish. Aside from the family pets, it was just Ianto and Dimity at home. His family was different to most in his street, as his mother Dimity described herself as a 'radical feminist socialist lesbian'
Oct 30, 2025 · 53 min
How Paris helped this aerospace engineer survive anorexia
Kate Reid inherited her love of Formula 1 from her dad. She put her heart and soul into qualifying for a job with the renowned racing team, Williams, but her dream job turned out very differently to what she expected. Then, a public library turned out to be a bridge to Kate's recovery. Growing up in Melbourne, Kate was an asthmatic child who developed an extremely close bond with her dad. He would care for Kate during her frequent asthma attacks by operating a whirring nebuliser, staying ne
Oct 29, 2025
The strange tale of the artist who stole 3000 butterflies
Walter Marsh with the surreal tale of Colin Wyatt, the ski champion, mountaineer, wartime camouflage expert, artist, and naturalist who committed one of the world's biggest-ever museum heists in the 1940s. In January 1947, by chance, it was found that over 3,000 rare and precious specimens of butterflies had vanished from museums in Sydney, Melbourne, and Adelaide. Alarmingly, the missing insects included many priceless ‘holotypes’ — the first specimen of a given species to be identified,
Oct 28, 2025 · 53 min
Why this humanitarian doctor swapped Byron Bay for a war zone and what happened next
Katie Treble grew up crying at about how all the king's horses and men couldn't put Humpty Dumpty together again. It was that compassion that made her the perfect candidate for doctoring during war as an adult. When Dr Katie Treble decided to swap the good vibes and beautiful beaches of Byron Bay for work with Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) she knew she would be in for a shock. Nothing could have prepared her for the desperate need she encountered in the Central African Republic (CAR) in the
Oct 24, 2025
Encore: Aaron Fa’Aoso on his mistakes, heartaches, and lucky breaks
Aaron was living on the tip of Cape York when he borrowed his uncle’s dinghy to make it to his first acting audition on nearby Thursday Island. He won the role that day in a TV show called Remote Area Nurse, and many other TV series followed, including the crime dramas The Straits and East West 101. He also presented the Torres Strait Island Cooking show, Strait to the Plate, and he was one of the stars of the comedy show Black Comedy. Today Aaron is not just an actor, he's a director and pro
Oct 23, 2025 · 52 min
‘Maximalist power queen’ Em Rusciano on the diagnoses that revealed her
The singer, podcaster, writer and comedian on living big with neurodivergence, and owning her manic, creative energy. Growing up in Melbourne in the 1980s, Em was a serious young athlete, focused on hurdles, when a high kick up-ended her ambitions. She was a creative, energetic child who seemed to always be busier than everyone else. As a young, stay-at-home mum, Em appeared on Australian Idol, having never performed on stage before, and this opportunity launched her career in radio. E
Oct 22, 2025 · 53 min
Telling the future and the past through the palm
From fairground palmistry to the science of fingerprinting, historian Alison Bashford explores the secrets, history and psychology of the hand. Alison was in a London library when she discovered a ginormous palm print of a gorilla, taken two days after it died at London Zoo in the 1930s. She had no idea whatsoever about why someone had made this mysterious print, or why it had been kept in pristine condition for all these years. Alison plunged into researching the history of the hand, from fa
Oct 21, 2025 · 51 min
Helen Goh – Cakes, Ottolenghi and the Fire Horse child
Helen Goh's life story began with a complicated childhood — and blossomed into one about culture, cake and the meaning of life. Helen was born in Malaysia in the year of the Fire Horse. This zodiac birth year was a big threat to the Gohs, and her parents had to make a heartbreaking decision that would affect the family for a generation. The Gohs eventually immigrated to Australia, and Helen went on to sell pharmaceuticals to doctors, before she pursued her honours in psychology. A st
Oct 17, 2025
Encore: Wendy Harmer on overcoming her fractured childhood
Wendy Harmer has enjoyed huge success over four decades as a comedian, tv host and as a radio presenter. A long way from her origins in country Victoria, where she was born with a facial disfigurement, into a struggling family. When her mother left, Wendy often had to look after her young siblings. After her talent for writing was spotted by a lecturer at Deakin University, Wendy became a cadet journalist at the Geelong Advertiser. And then Wendy's life was transformed one night in Melbourne
Oct 16, 2025 · 46 min
Why these prisoners of war wished they never escaped 'from the bloody train'
Historian and bookseller Edmund Goldrick on the hair-raising, forgotten tale of the escaped Australian prisoners of war who stumbled into another, hidden genocide, and tried to stop it. Early in the World War Two, Australian soldiers who had been captured by the Germans escaped by leaping from a moving train. They found themselves in unfamiliar territory, in the lands of Yugoslavia. The Australians on the run found themselves in the company of dangerous men, who planned to use the cover of wa
Oct 15, 2025 · 52 min
QAnon, 15-minute cities and sovereign citizens: Plunging into the world of conspiracy theories
Journalist Ariel Bogle takes us inside the rallies, homes, courtrooms, secret chat rooms and $2000 Byron Bay luxury retreats where Australia’s conspiracy theories spread. Ariel has been investigating conspiracy theories and those who follow them for her new book. When things feel wrong and unfair, sometimes people look for answers in some of the more febrile corners of the internet. Add political fragmentation and the megaphone of the internet to the mix, and many conspiracy theories are fast
Oct 14, 2025 · 48 min
The Hollywood insider and the murder that changed his famous family
Griffin Dunne's acting career was just taking off when his sister was brutally attacked by an ex-boyfriend, and the outcome of the infamous murder trial that followed was devastating for his family. As a child his parents threw legendary parties, including one where Sean Connery saved him from drowning in the family pool in Beverly Hills and when he was a teenager, he hung out with famous actors and directors at his aunty's place, the legendary writer Joan Didion. Then as a struggling actor in