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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.

Conversations

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 war to commit genocide.

One of the Australians fell in with a Serbian Royalist group, and when he discovered their leader’s plans, he acted as a double agent in their ranks, determined to find a way to warn the Allies that their man in Serbia was determined to conduct mass murder.

Anzac Guerillas is published by Hachette.

Edmund will be giving a talk on Remembrance Day at the Goulburn Library, and again on Saturday, 6 December at Sydney's Anzac Memorial in Hyde Park.

This episode of Conversations was produced by Meggie Morris. Executive Producer is Nicola Harrison.

It explores war, POWs, Germany, former Yugoslavia, Serbia, Croatia, Turkey, Catholic, Orthodox, Roma people, Jewish, Islamic, Chetniks, Partisans, genocide, civil war, death, escape, spies, double agents, allied forces, war crimes, international war tribunal, guerilla warfare, murder, assassination, holocaust, Italy, Greece, fascism, tyranny, Bosnia, Nazi, Hitler.

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.

Why these prisoners of war wished they never escaped 'from the bloody train'

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 gaining traction Australia.

Some of these beliefs are imported from America; others are home-grown. 

In researching her book, Ariel met people who believe there are microchips in vaccines, and that the law isn’t real, but QAnon is.

She also met those drawn into the cult-like world of sovereign citizens and tried to understand what lured them there in the first place.

This episode of Conversations was produced by Alice Moldovan and the Executive Producer is Nicola Harrison.

Further information:

Conspiracy Nation, co-authored with Cam Wilson is published by Hardie Grant.

Listen to David Heilpern's interview with Sarah Kanowski https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/conversations/david-heilpern-magistrate-drug-driving-laws-ptsd-justice-system/14103618

It explores conspiracy theories, 5G, vaccines, vaccine refusal, traffic fines, QAnon, 15 minute cities, sovereign citizens, pseudo law, legal system, relationships, conferences, podcasters, influential conspiracy theorists, Bill Heffernan, sheeple, Port Arthur, Wieambilla murders, Port Arthur, what pushes people into conspiracy theories, David Heilpern, do conspiracy theorists change their minds, families, fractured families, going no contact, Dezi Freeman, the hunt for Dezi Freeman, sovcit movement, propaganda, powerful cabals, strange conspiracy theories, australian economy, .

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.

QAnon, 15-minute cities and sovereign citizens: Plunging into the world of conspiracy theories

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 his 20s, he shared a Manhattan apartment with his best friend, the actress Carrie Fisher.And Griffin went on to achieve his own success, including a starring role in the cult horror film An American Werewolf in London.

But after the murder of his younger sister Dominique, Griffin lost interest in his acting career.And his father Dominick Dunne who wrote about his daughter's trial for Vanity Fair, went on to cover other high profile murder cases for the magazine, including the Menendez Brothers and OJ Simpson.

Griffin's memoir is called The Friday Afternoon Club

This episode of Conversations explores Hollywood history, family, memoir, fame, domestic abuse, murder, legal system, relationships, acting, producing, New York City, alcohol abuse, writing, divorce, homosexuality, writers, directors, horror films.

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.

The Hollywood insider and the murder that changed his famous family

Ben Lee on life as a teen rock prodigy, Hollywood fame, living in an Ashram in India, and exploring his subconscious through ayahuasca, a hallucinogenic from the Amazon (R).

Ben Lee grew up in Bondi in the 1980s when it was a place of bikie gangs, Yiddish-speaking grandmas and tribes of kids living next to one of the world's most beautiful beaches. 

He was educated at a local Jewish school where he confounded his Rabbi by asking some surprising questions about Moses.

Ben was always a seeker, and even as a boy, he also possessed a whole lot of chutzpah.

At the age of 14 he saw Nirvana play at the Big Day Out. 

The next day he started his own band and just two years later Ben was flying to America to support Sonic Youth.

After many wild years, Ben emerged with a crucial realisation about his life story. 

He is now living back in Australia with his wife Ione and their teenage daughter.

This episode of Conversations was produced by Nicola Harrison and the Executive Producer was Carmel Rooney.

It explores music, songwriting, drugs, drug taking, ayahuasca, what does ayahuasca feel like, ecstasy, do drugs change your brain, your brain on drugs, your subconscious mind, Claire Danes, how to be famous, what it feels like to be famous, mental health, identity crisis, seasons of life, rock star wife, rock star husband, Evan Dando, Evan Dando drug addiction, Lemonheads, ego, big ego, tall poppy syndrome, catch my disease, gamble everything for love, fame, rock music, singing, Bondi, Noise Addict, Sonic Youth, alternative spirituality, Judaism, Australian music, celebrity, Ione Skye.

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.

Encore: Ben Lee, the chutzpah mystic, Bondi rock prodigy, Noise Addict

Historian Tom Trumble tells the story of the cunning World War II Australian sabotage mission known as Operation Jaywick, and how two survivors outsmarted the Imperial Japanese Army police, the Kempeh Tai.

Deep in the years of World War II, Australian commandos in the Pacific theatre executed a cunning plan to sneak up on Japanese warships in the occupied Singapore Harbour.

They managed to get away with an incredible operation, but in doing so, triggered intense paranoia and embarrassment for Japan.

The Japanese were furious, and were convinced Chinese-Singaporeans were behind this humiliating setback.

They enacted a terrifying regime of massacres, arrests and torture.

Japanese authorities suspected Elizabeth Choy and Robert Heatlie Scott were involved with the sabotage, and the two paid dearly for that assumption during their time in prison.

Further information

Survival in Singapore: The triumph and tragedy of Australia's greatest commando operation is published by Penguin Random House.

This episode was produced by Alice Moldovan, Conversations' Executive Producer is Nicola Harrison. 

It explores Changi, Changi Prison, smuggling money, the double tenth incident, sook ching massacre, fall of Singapore, WWII, military history, WWII history, fishing vessel, sabotage, commando operation, Australian commandos, Ivan Lyon, SOE, Special Operations Executive, revenge, Sumida Haruzo and spies.

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.

How a heroine of Singapore survived jail and torture in WWII

Fran Harding was a stay-at-home mother of eight children when her pharmacist husband came home one night with the news that the family were moving to Charleville in Western Queensland to run a pub.

Gordan had spontaneously leased a pub, and Fran was to be its new publican.

So, with their kids in tow (including a little baby), they set off.

Fran set up her sewing machine behind the bar and did her best to work out how to pull beers, understand what the locals were saying and keep tabs on her brood.

Then Fran’s husband fell in love with the pub across the street – the once grand hotel, The Corones.

The Harding family moved in, learning about its history as ‘The Taj Mahal of the Warrego’ and doing their best to return the pub to its former glory.

Fran has published two books about her life and about the Corones Hotel, called The Accidental Australians and The Accidental Publican.

This episode of Conversations was produced by Meggie Morris. Executive Producer is Nicola Harrison.

It explores Australian history, stories, outback, the bush, Queensland, Quilpie, Migration, Great Australians, 1990 flood, recovering after natural disasters, social history, outback characters, hospitality, running a business, big families, motherhood, historic hotels, writing, books, memoir, Greek-Australians, small town Australia, working mothers, how to run a pub, renovating historic buildings, Harry Corones, Kythira, Poppa, Greece, Mediterranean Islands, Greek Orthodox, Greek diaspora, Australian pioneers.

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.

The unlikely outback publican of the 'Taj Mahal of the Warrego’

Dr Todd Bond is marine ecologist who goes where very few humans have ever been: the underworld, or the deep ocean. There, he studies the strange, scary and often cute creatures who call the deepest parts of our oceans home.

This part of the ocean starts at 6000 metres deep, and is known as the 'Hadal Zone'.

Todd travels there in a small titanium submersible, not much bigger than his own 6'4'' frame.

Waiting there for Todd, in the inky darkness, is mysterious and magic, and is still largely unexplored by humans.

And when he can't get there himself, Todd sends cameras down to poke around these trenches and caverns.

Dr Todd Bond is the Deputy Director of the Minderoo-UWA Deep-Sea Research Centre at The University of Western Australia. You can read more about what the centre does online.

This episode of Conversations was produced by Meggie Morris. Executive Producer is Nicola Harrison.

It explores fish, marine biology, marine science, Twiggy Forrest, deep sea, space, exploration, human curiosity, why fish matter, bio-medicine, submarines, OceanGate, Titan submersible implosion, James Cameron, Anglar Fish, snail fish, UWA, university, PhD, doctorate, how to study fish, why we study fish, Mariana Trench, Christmas Island, Java Trench, puffer fish, Antarctica, marine park, conservation, off-shore mining, manganese mining, deep sea mining, ethical science.

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.

Journeying to the Hadal Zone in a two-man submarine

Jane Goodall, the renowned conservationist and pioneer of groundbreaking chimpanzee field research, has died of natural causes at the age of 91.

Jane lived an utterly remarkable life, and her discoveries revolutionised science.

She was only 26 years old when she first visited Tanzania to begin her research on chimpanzees in the wild

Before Jane went to Africa we knew very little about chimpanzees, despite the fact that they're our closest cousins.

It's only because of Jane’s research and observations that we now know they sometimes eat meat, they make tools, they laugh, they are curious about the world around them, they love, they mourn, and sometimes, they are capable of spectacular violence.

You can read more about The Jane Goodall Institute online.

Read more about Jane's remarkable life at the ABC News website.

This episode of Conversations explores zoology, biology, evolution, Africa, exploration, conservation, chimpanzees, apes, monkeys, Kenya, Tanzania, David Attenborough, Dame Jane, mother earth, protecting our environment, habitats, UN Messenger of Peace, raising awareness, threats to wildlife, sustainable relationship between people, animals and the natural world, celebrity death.

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.

Remembering Dr Jane Goodall's science and her humanity

Lawyer Paula Gerber on the human rights of the most endangered group of people in any community - its children. They are open to the most predatory forms of exploitation simply because they don't have the worldliness of adults, and must rely on trust and goodwill. 

When Paula Gerber was growing up in suburban Brisbane, she didn’t spend her weekends at the pool or playing cricket with her dad.

Quality time with her father meant visiting his clients with him in the local jail or mental institution.

Her dad was a criminal lawyer, and Paula tagged along to many of his meetings watching him empathise with people, coming up with defences that worked, sometimes because his client were innocent, and sometimes because he knew the law like the back of his hand, and could do some creative arguing around technicalities.

Paula wanted nothing else but to follow in the footsteps of her father.

She began her career in construction law, but after a motorbike accident, she needed a change, and turned her thoughts to how to help more people with her law degree.

Paula began to specialise in human rights, specifically the rights of children.

Sex, Gender & Identity: Trans Rights in Australia is published by Monash University Publishing.

This episode of Conversations was produced by Meggie Morris. Executive Producer is Nicola Harrison.

It explores childhood trauma, abuse, child protection services, juvenile justice, the age of criminal responsibility, the queer community, growing up gay, lesbians, construction law, Multiplex, property development, women in male dominated fields, writing, books, the law, the legal system, courts, barrister, criminal law, the UN Convention on the Rights of Children, human rights abuses, discrimination, parenting.

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.

Why you should empower your children to know their human rights

Musician Paul Field on grieving the death of his baby girl, Bernadette, and how she inspired his family band, The Wiggles, to bring joy into the lives of millions of children. CW: This episode of Conversations discusses the death of a child.

Paul Field was on tour in Queensland with his band, the Cockroaches, when he received a call that would alter his life forever.

His 7-month-old baby daughter, Bernadette, had unexpectedly died of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).

Paul and his wife, Pauline, had never imagined they would one day plan a funeral for their baby, but that's what they had to do.

Surrounded by their close-knit families and with support from mental health professionals, Paul and Pauline grieved differently but together, realising that fully reckoning with the their tragic loss was the only way they could move forward for their eldest son, Luke, and for the three more children to come. 

Today, Paul loves finding any opportunity to talk about Bernadette, his gentle, joyful baby girl.

In fact, Bernadette, changed the course of Paul's next family project: The Wiggles -- a band that has connected with millions of children for the last 30 years.

Help and support is always available. You can call or text Lifeline 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Read more about research into SIDS, and find out more about counselling services available to parents who have lost a child at the Red Nose website.

This episode of Conversations was produced by Meggie Morris. Executive Producer is Nicola Harrison.

It explores unexplained death of a child, how to cope with losing a child, loss, Red Nose Day, Sids for Kids, grief, marriage, love, relationships, music, family bands, big families, Irish Catholic families, Sydney in the 1980s, pub rock, skivvies, Anthony Field, Emma Watkins, Dorothy the Dinosaur, Greg Page, Jeff Fatt, Wake up Jeff, Lachlan Gillespie, Simon Pryce, Tsehay Hawkins, Evie Ferris, John Pearce, Caterina Mete, Lucia Field, big red car, police corruption, NSW police, royal commission, Sydney gangs, drugs, substance abuse.

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.

How a heroine of Singapore survived jail and torture in WWII

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