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ABC Conversations In-depth interviews heard on ABC Radio across Australia, online and via podcast. Inappropriate comments will be removed at the discretion of the ABC.

Although they do read and appreciate them, Richard and Sarah aren't able to respond personally to comments made here. If you want to give formal feedback (or suggest a guest!) you can use the Suggest a Guest form on our website: www.abc.net.au/conversations

About the program:
Apple Podcasts Australia: Biggest Podcast 2020, Most Downloaded Podcast 2015-2019, and most downloaded Australian podcast

in 2019. Conversations draws you deeper into the life story of someone you may have heard about, but never met. On any given day Conversations might take you from a remote cattle station, to inside the cockpit of a space shuttle, to a family home in the middle of a war zone, to a hospital on the side of an African volcano, to the mysteries of the human brain, or to the pitch of the MCG. Conversations is funny, provocative and often deeply moving.

Dr Chatterjee grew up watching his doctor father come home in the evening after a day at the hospital, eat dinner, shave...
17/07/2025

Dr Chatterjee grew up watching his doctor father come home in the evening after a day at the hospital, eat dinner, shave and head straight out to see more patients.

Twelve hours later, he would arrive back home, and this time he would eat breakfast, shave again, then go right back to the hospital for another day’s work.

It was a pattern he kept up for nearly 30 years, sleeping only three nights a week, until his body broke under the strain.

And it was a pattern Rangan nearly fell into himself as a young doctor.

But after his Dad died, he found himself taking stock of the way he was living and asking what the future would look like if he kept going the same way.

He came to see that for himself, and his patients, that health is inextricably linked to happiness, and that while you are frantically climbing the ladder to success, you might end up missing your actual life.

Rangan is now a medical specialist on the BBC, and he’s also a podcast host and a best-selling author.

https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/conversations/rangan-chatterjee-gp-health-doctor-feel-better-live-more/105524268

📷1. Rangan when he became a member of The Royal College of GPs in London with his wife, Vidhaata Chatterjee and his mum and dad;
2. Rangan with his father, Dr Tarun Chatterjee, in 1985.
3. A portrait of Rangan taken by Ali Rogers.

Today it's Richard's conversation with novelist Emma Pei Yin, who grew up in England and Hong Kong. But her life in Hong...
16/07/2025

Today it's Richard's conversation with novelist Emma Pei Yin, who grew up in England and Hong Kong.

But her life in Hong Kong wasn’t so much about the neon skyscrapers as it was about her family’s ancestral village, tucked away in the New Territories.

Emma spent her school holidays there with her grandparents, learning how to take care of the family cemetery and joining in Chinese Festivals.

Sometimes her grandfather would share his memories of the Second World War, when the Japanese military invaded and occupied Hong Kong.

As Emma became a teenager, her relationship with her parents deteriorated and she eventually decided to leave them and Hong Kong, coming to Australia to make a life for herself as a writer.

But whenever she wrote, Emma found herself drawn back to Hong Kong; to the hundreds of islands, the fishing villages on stilts, the mountains, woodlands and beaches – all the things that tourists who think of Hong Kong as a city of neon lights and free Wi-fi don’t know about.

CW: This episode of Conversations contains discussion about s*xual assault.

https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/conversations/emma-pei-yin-hong-kong-when-sleeping-women-wake/105519746

📷
1. Emma with her grandparents in Hong Kong (supplied by Emma);
2. Emma's grandparents when they were young (supplied by Emma);
3. Emma Pei Yin today (photo taken by Kannika Afonso).

Today it's Sarah's conversation with AFL star Zach Tuohy, who was just 17 years old when he was scouted by the Carlton F...
15/07/2025

Today it's Sarah's conversation with AFL star Zach Tuohy, who was just 17 years old when he was scouted by the Carlton Football Club as he was playing Gaelic football in his home country of Ireland.

He did two trials for the club before taking the plunge, leaving his family behind in Portlaoise and moving to Australia to become a professional footballer, first for Carlton and then for the Cats in Geelong.

By the time Zach retired from the AFL in 2024, he had accumulated an astonishing 288 games, a premiership title, a loving Aussie wife and two beautiful sons.

But Zach's great Irish-Australian adventure wasn't always a dream run.

He struggled as a young, first-time dad, and didn't know who to turn to. On the way home from training, Zach would feel compelled to pull over on the side of the road and cry, alone in his car before coming home to his young family, pretending everything was ok.

https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/conversations/zach-tuohy-geelong-cats-carlton-ireland-football/105511500

📷
1. A young sporting-mad Zach at home in Ireland;
2. In uniform as a junior player for the Portlaoise Gaelic Athletic Association, aka 'The Town';
3. Celebrating the Geelong Cats' 2022 Grand Final win, whilst wearing the flag from his hometown Gaelic sporting club (AFL Photos);
4. A Geelong fan farewelling Zach at the end of his final season in 2024 (AFL photos).

Tell us: Is there an ABC Conversations interview that gave you goosebumps, moved you to tears, or stayed with you long a...
11/07/2025

Tell us: Is there an ABC Conversations interview that gave you goosebumps, moved you to tears, or stayed with you long after it ended?

As Conversations marks 20 years, we’re creating something special to celebrate the guests who’ve left a lasting impression, and we want to hear from you.

👇 Share your story below and your words might be featured.

🎧 Conversations – Hear it now on ABC listen: http://ab.co/Conversations

Listen to Rudi Bremer's interview with Jack Manning Bancroft.Jack is the founder and CEO of AIME, the Australian Indigen...
09/07/2025

Listen to Rudi Bremer's interview with Jack Manning Bancroft.

Jack is the founder and CEO of AIME, the Australian Indigenous Mentoring Experience.

Jack's mother is Bundjalung artist, Bronwyn Bancroft.

Growing up in inner-Sydney, he was intimidated by her artistic drive and threw himself into sport, because that was the only way a young Jack thought a man could have influence in the world.

When he was ten the family moved to Bundjalung country to spend time with his mum's side of the family.

The local kids refused to accept that Jack was Aboriginal.

He escaped into fantasy books and wrote long letters home to his dad, Ned Manning, in Sydney.

Jack received a scholarship to St Paul's College at the University of Sydney and vowed to use his opportunity to increase the number of Indigenous kids at university.

The Australian Indigenous Mentoring Experience (AIME) was born and Jack has since used his position to forge connections between communities to foster understanding across the world.

https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/conversations/jack-manning-bancroft-aime-indigenous-mentoring/105493100

📸: Benjamin Knight

Today it's the story of Yvonne Orley, whose parents managed an Aboriginal mission in western NSW when she was growing up...
08/07/2025

Today it's the story of Yvonne Orley, whose parents managed an Aboriginal mission in western NSW when she was growing up.

Yvonne eventually moved to Brisbane, where she became a nurse. Much later, Yvonne learnt that she had much deeper ties to the place and the people where she spent her childhood than she realised.

Although her mother had tried to hide this part of the family story, it turned out that Yvonne herself was a Kamilaroi woman and this was her mother’s traditional country.

Yvonne’s life then took another unexpected turn, when her sister asked if she would allow a group of high needs mentally disabled adults move into her home, and Yvonne said, "Yes."

https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/conversations/a-family-secret-unearths-connection-to-country/105488066

📷Photos supplied by Yvonne Orley.

1. Yvonne as a baby with her mum Betty;
2. Yvonne and her siblings, mum and dad on the mission;
3. Yvonne's parents, Fred and Betty;
4. Yvonne with her own children.

Listen to Sarah's interview with journalist, Kate Halfpenny.During Melbourne’s lockdowns, Kate and her husband Chris dec...
03/07/2025

Listen to Sarah's interview with journalist, Kate Halfpenny.

During Melbourne’s lockdowns, Kate and her husband Chris decided to leave the city for a sea change, to a beautiful town called Ocean Grove on the Bellarine Peninsula, VIC.

For the first time in her life, Kate had an empty house, no job commitments and no city life to distract her.

She was able to indulge daily in her love of boogie boarding and surf-side walks with her dog, Maggie.

One day at the beach, Kate saw her elderly father struggling in the surf.

Chris was in the water next to him, but was acting strangely and couldn’t manage to haul him out of the dangerous water.

That evening, Chris confessed his alcoholism to Kate and the couple faced the inevitable decisions they would have to navigate, together and apart.

https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/conversations/kate-halfpenny-seachange-marriage-alcoholic-perimenopause/105468402

📸: All supplied.
1. Kate and Chris on their wedding day.
2. Kate with her boogie board.
3. Chris and Kate in Ocean Grove, VIC.
4. Chris and Kate at a music festival in 2023.

Listen to Sarah's interview with disability advocate, Hannah Diviney.When Hannah was growing up, the only people she saw...
02/07/2025

Listen to Sarah's interview with disability advocate, Hannah Diviney.

When Hannah was growing up, the only people she saw on TV who used a wheelchair like her were Paralympians or in Road Safety ads.

Hannah spent a lot of her childhood feeling lonely and left out, though she was sure she wanted to be a writer when she grew up.

She was still at pre-school when she realised that names on the front of books belonged to the people who had written them.

It was also around this time when Hannah became aware that her body didn’t work in the same way as her friends at childcare.

Hannah has since started the Krazy Kosci Klimb, which supports young people with Cerebral Palsy to climb Australia's highest peak.

Hannah always knew representation was important for young, disabled people like her to be reflected in pop culture and to belong.

So she wrote to Disney, requesting they create their first princess who uses a wheelchair.

That petition secured Hannah's first job in journalism with Mamamia — at the age of 15.

She has since made history, becoming the first person with a disability to film a s*x scene for Australian television.

in 2022, Hannah went unexpectedly viral for confronting musician Lizzo about an ableist slur in her song lyrics.

Several weeks later, Beyonce used the same slur, and Hannah realised she had to take on the biggest pop star in the world:

https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/conversations/hannah-diviney-disability-writing-acting-activist-lizzo-beyonce/105466816

📸: Marnya Rothe

When it comes to making a big life decision, it can sometimes feel like your whole future happiness rides on making the ...
02/07/2025

When it comes to making a big life decision, it can sometimes feel like your whole future happiness rides on making the "right" choice.

If this sounds familiar, you might have experienced "analysis paralysis".

The burden of choice is something Jemma Sbeg knows well.

She told Sarah Kanowski on ABC Conversations about how she found herself at a crossroads when her podcast, The Psychology of Your 20s, unexpectedly took off.

Jemma had to decide between her podcast and completing her master’s degree to become a clinical psychologist.

"I remember being like, ‘OK, you have to make a choice. You just can’t do both. The podcast is so much work. What are you going to do?'" she said.

As Jemma reassessed her career trajectory, it triggered a "quarter-life crisis".

"It's a big door to open to acknowledge 'I'm unhappy', and then, 'I have to do something about it,'" she said.

So, when we find ourselves at a crossroads, why do we get stuck in indecision?

In a nutshell, as we overthink each path, we fear the potential costs of making the "wrong" choice.

Thankfully, there are strategies to help overcome decision paralysis. Clinical psychologists Zena Burgess and Max Von Sabler suggest to:

⏰ Set yourself a deadline
👀 Reduce your situation to just two options
✍️ Write a list of pros and cons
❤️‍🔥 Explore the underlying emotions holding up your decision
🗣️ Talk with someone you trust for their perspective
🩺 See a psychologist to guide you through the decision

If you’re fearful of regret and still struggling to take that next step, Jemma offers this perspective:

"If you are doing **something**, there's no way that you are doing it wrong," she says.

"Movement will get you somewhere faster than staying still, even if it means you have to turn around and come back."

✍️ Story by Fiona Purcell

Hollywood actor, Tim Pocock, grew up under the thumb of his charismatic, devoutly Christian mother, who sent him to a sc...
01/07/2025

Hollywood actor, Tim Pocock, grew up under the thumb of his charismatic, devoutly Christian mother, who sent him to a school with links to the controversial, secretive and conservative Catholic organisation, Opus Dei.

There, he desperately tried to hide his s*xuality, and was ruthlessly bullied for his musical and stage talents.

Despite Tim's success in Australian opera, television, and in Hollywood blockbusters, he continued to harbour many secrets about himself and his family.

One day his mother, who loved Tim deeply in her own way, and who was dying from ovarian cancer, convinced her only son to come with her to therapy.

Instead of finally being able to talk about his struggles, Tim found himself being tricked into gay conversion therapy.

For the last few months of his mother's life, he went to be hypnotised by a 'Catholic psychologist' every week, until eventually she died, and Tim was set free to learn how live by and for himself.

https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/conversations/tim-pocock-gay-conversion-therapy-opus-dei/105461706

📷All photos supplied by Tim
1. Tim in his Redfield School uniform, aged 7;
2. Backstage at the Sydney Opera House in 1996. He was 10 years old when he was performing in Mozart's opera, The Magic Flute;
3. Tim was deeply involved in the successful campaign to ban conversion therapy in NSW;
4. Tim at the premier of Australian horror film 'Godless: The Eastfield Exorcism'.

Ben Macintyre is back on Conversations today with the dramatic story of the Iranian Embassy siege in London, 1980.A grou...
26/06/2025

Ben Macintyre is back on Conversations today with the dramatic story of the Iranian Embassy siege in London, 1980.

A group of gunmen held 26 people hostage for six days, including staff, visitors and a police officer with a pistol concealed in his jacket.

The 'Group of the Martyr', a collection of Iranian Arabs, wanted independence for their province of Iran, but their demands were impossible for the British Government to meet, and so the then-little known Special Air Service (SAS) were told to plan an invasion of the building to rescue the hostages.

Their storming of the embassy, after one of the hostages was killed, galvanised the world as people watched it all unfold on live television.

Underneath the drama is the real, powerful story of ordinary people responding as best they could to lethal jeopardy.

https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/conversations/ben-mcintyre-2025-the-seige-london-thatcher/105444724

📷
1. The siege ended with two hostages dead, and one gunman left alive (Getty);
2. A newspaper clipping from May, 1980 (Bradford Timeline);
3. SAS troops preparing to abseil from the roof of the Iranian Embassy, 5 May 1980 (Combined Military Services Museum, Maldon, Ess*x);
4. The Iranian Embassy after the siege (David Dixon/Geograph Britain and Ireland).

Today Linda Jaivin is back on Conversations, taking you inside Mao's Cultural Revolution.In 1966, the Chinese revolution...
25/06/2025

Today Linda Jaivin is back on Conversations, taking you inside Mao's Cultural Revolution.

In 1966, the Chinese revolutionary leader Mao Zedong went to war against his own government. What followed was ten years of murderous violence and utter insanity, until Mao's death in 1976.

Children were urged to denounce their parents, teachers were beaten to death in front of howling mobs, youths were 're-educated', the economy was ruined, and so much of the precious cultural heritage of a great, ancient society went up in smoke.

The 'Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution' left such deep scars on China, that subsequent leaders have tried to bury its memory.

But, still some young Chinese people — 'Neo-Moaists' — have a sense of nostalgia for the violent revolution they didn't even live through.

In order to understand what's going on in China today, you need to know what happened in those strange and terrifying years, and how it affected President Xi Zinping, who had a front row seat to the terror.

https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/conversations/linda-javin-2025-mao-zedong-china-cultural-revolution/105439880

📷
1. A propaganda poster depicting Mao Zedong (Wikimedia Commons);
2. Chinese Red Guards during the cultural revolution in 1966 (Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty Images);
3. Young people read 'Mao Zedong thoughts' before starting work in a field during the Cultural Revolution (Getty Images: Xinhua);
4. Current Chinese President Xi Jinping was sent to the countryside as a young man, to be 're-educated' by farmers during the Cultural Revolution (Weibo: China Youth Daily).

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Although they do read and appreciate them, presenters Richard Fidler and Sarah Kanowski aren’t able to respond personally to your comments. Inappropriate comments about our guests, presenters or other commenters, will be removed at the discretion of the ABC.

To give formal feedback (or suggest a guest!) we encourage you to get in touch via the Suggest a Guest form on our website: www.abc.net.au/conversations About Conversations

Conversations draws you deeper into the life story of someone you may have heard about, but never met. On any given day, Conversations might take you from a remote Chinese village, to inside the cockpit of a space shuttle, a family home in the middle of a war zone, a hospital on the side of an African volcano, inside the depths of the human brain, or to the pitch of the MCG. Conversations is funny, provocative, and often deeply moving.

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