With special guest:

• Dr Peter Cochrane
  … in conversation with Bill Kable

Best We Forget is the title of Peter Cochrane’s book. This is not the way we are used to thinking about the beginnings of nationhood in Australia. There is a quote from the Australian Prime Minister in 1916, Billy Hughes “I bid you go and fight for White Australia in France.” What was the country thinking at the time?

In our school history classes a familiar topic is the causes of World War 1 but the war was never described as the war for White Australia.

Our guest today has a fascinating insight into some of the less recognised reasons for Australia sending its finest young men to the other side of the world to join the fight among the European powers. It can be argued that Australia lost a generation; no less than 60,000 men died in the conflict and many of the survivors carried physical and mental wounds for the rest of their lives. And this was from a population of about 5 million people.

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With special guest:

• Dr Danni Holmes
  … in conversation with Bill Kable

Our guest today takes us to a special world that no-one can see but it is very real and it affects our lives every day.

Dr Danni Holmes does not baffle us with scientific formulas and equations. Danni is a wonderful communicator of scientific developments in ways that we can all understand. In today’s program we hear about the wonders that are being revealed in her research and what it was that first drove a child in the UK to be working in Sydney on building a new generation of computers.

These are the Wonders of the Quantum World which is the name of Danni Holmes’ new book. Listening to Danni we cannot help but get enthusiastic ourselves about these quantum particles which are the smallest building blocks in the universe. They make up atoms.

Put simply, quantum particles defy our common sense. Haven’t we always known that something cannot be in two places at the one time and that particles cannot simply pass through a solid barrier? Be prepared for some extraordinary revelations today.

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With special guest:

• Tom Docking
  … in conversation with Glen Poole

Most Dads can remember vividly the time they were told that they were going to be a father for the first time. There may be a sense of starting on a journey, that life as it has been up until that point has changed forever or even that this is a type of eternity because part of you goes on long after your passing.

Our guest today, Tom Docking from Dad’s Group Inc, was overwhelmed by a different feeling. He felt he could not cope with this new responsibility and had to spend some time alone. When he realised that he needed some support there was an unpleasant discovery, no help was available.

So after coming to terms with his own crisis Tom took matters into his own hands and started a support group for new Dads. As well as being a successful Dad himself Tom has since then helped many other Dads adjust to their new status. Tom formed a not-for-profit organisation that works with local Councils and health providers to offer assistance and feedback. Dad’s Group Inc is looking to spread nationwide so that all Australian Dads can benefit.

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With special guest:

• John O’Halloran
  … in conversation with Bill Kable

John O’Halloran was an unlikely war hero. With the assistance of Ric Teague John tells his story for the first time in The Platoon Commander: The extraordinary story of the man who led Australia’s most decorated platoon of the Vietnam War.

Coming from Tamworth in country NSW John was called up in the first conscription ballot. But before doing his compulsory medical he was involved in a street accident which badly damaged his foot which should have ruled him out as medically unfit. However with a bit of help from a local medico he got over that first hurdle and soon distinguished himself in training.

John was made Platoon Commander and at the age of 21 he was sent to Vietnam. In that war-torn country he now had enemy soldiers shooting at him, trying their best to kill him. And the men under his command were dependent for their lives on his decisions under fire.

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With special guest:

• Pamela Roche
  … in conversation with Ken Thompson & Bill Kable

The attitude of politicians towards International Parental Child Abduction seems to be “It ain’t broke and I ain’t gonna fix it.” Our guest today is Pamela Roche who tells us how the system is broken and we need to get the word out to politicians, judges, lawyers and professional therapists.

When the father of her children breached English Family Court orders and refused to return them after a visit to the USA Pamela expected that she could rely on the legal system and the various institutions to restore order. She discovered that the USA is a signatory to the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Parental Child Abduction. This is a multilateral treaty developed by the Hague Conference on Private International Law that provides an expeditious method to return a child internationally abducted by a parent from one member country to another. Pamela naively believed that with the USA being a first world country and part of the Hague Convention this should have been straightforward once she established the facts and got local advice.

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With special guest: 

• Bram Connolly
  … in conversation with Bill Kable 

When Bram Connolly started writing his book The Commando Way: a Special Forces commander’s lessons for life, leadership and success he was thinking that he was an average type of man. The working title of the book was The Risk of Being Average. 

However Bram soon realised that he is not your average man in the street in 21^st Century Australia, just as anyone who hears his story will also very quickly realise. Bram is talking about jumping out of planes into enemy territory, being surrounded by people with weapons who wanted to kill him and at the same time inspiring a group of soldiers to put their life on the line to do their job. Clearly we are talking about a leader of men. 

That is where we come in. Bram has a way of connecting with his audience by telling his stories in an everyday way which somehow allows you to insert yourself in the scene he describes. 

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With special guest: 

• Dr Will Davies
  … in conversation with Bill Kable 

This book started when Will Davies’ insatiable curiosity got him wondering about a group of graves in the war cemeteries of northern France. These graves were all on their own, usually next to the boundary fence. When he went to have a look he found that they were erected for Chinese participants in the First World War. 

Since China was supposedly neutral in that conflict and did not have a seat at the table when the powers decided on war reparations what was this all about? Will gives us a fascinating account of the real story behind these forgotten men in his new book The Forgotten: The Chinese Labour Corps and the Chinese Anzacs in the Great War. 

As the title indicates we also discussed in this program the role of the Chinese population in Australia and the contribution they have made to our society before, during and after the Great War. Strangely this story has remained hidden even from many Chinese people today and this is one reason why the book is written in both English and Chinese. 

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With special guest: 

• Gerry Georgatos
  … in conversation with Bill Kable 

We are honoured today to have as our special guest a social warrior, Gerry Georgatos. Gerry is the founder of the National Suicide Prevention & Trauma Recovery Project (the Project) set up in 2019. His colleague Megan Krakouer appeared on The Drum to talk about the work Gerry and she are doing with young Aboriginal offenders in Western Australian prisons. Footage emerged of young children being hog-tied by prison guards and Megan spoke of the need for help. 

Gerry Georgatos has remained constant as a social justice and human rights campaigner. His social justice and human rights campaigns began at an early age, from 11 years of age. From that young age he would represent workers of migrant Greek backgrounds, victims of asbestosis – mesothelioma – who struggled with the English language. 

Gerry’s human rights and social justice work was inspired by his parents’ tireless contributions to the Greek community and in positively responding to the racial and cultural divides that were the profound experiences of his parents and his own.  

During the last decade, he has dedicated himself to suicide prevention. Gerry Georgatos has been responsible for pushing onto the national landscape the extensiveness of the suicide crises among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Gerry has been to many, many families suffering from suicide of a member when every single one is a tragedy. The youngest suicide victim was only 9 years old. 

Because of his research, public campaigns and face to face lobbying of Federal Ministers, Gerry was able to craft and launch national responses, including the Project. 

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With special guest: 

• John Brogden AM
  … in conversation with Bill Kable

Even talking about suicide would have been frowned upon a few years ago. Mental illness is still not attractive but we need to do it. 

How can we ignore a situation where 63,000 people attempt suicide every year in Australia? In 2022 there were 1200 road deaths in Australia. The rare shark deaths lead the news cycle for days and yet 3300 people die by suicide every year in Australia. On average 9 Australians die every day and three out of four of these people dying are male. The highest proportion of these males are between forty and fifty years old. The suicide rate went down a little during the Covid pandemic but the numbers have gone back up and are very stubborn. 

We talk today with John Brogden about possible solutions. One thing we should be agitating for is a massive public campaign about the causes of suicide. This approach has been extraordinarily successful in the area of cancer treatment particularly breast cancer in women.

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With special guest: 

• Madonna King
  … in conversation with Bill Kable 

The word “daughter” with its silent letters points to something going on beneath the surface. To find out exactly what is going on between daughters and their Dads calls for a type of explorer who is prepared to investigate widely and give a voice to their thoughts and feelings. 

Our guest today is Madonna King one of Australia’s most accomplished journalists. In her book Fathers and Daughters: Helping girls and their dads build unbreakable bonds Madonna with her typical thoroughness has interviewed no fewer than 1300 girls and 400 Dads along with a host of school principals, psychologists, researchers and even neuroscientists to give us some answers. 

Sometimes the natural instinct of Dads to “fix things” is not what is required. Being a good listener is what his daughter is looking for. Sometimes a practical approach rather than an emotional response is the way to go. Sometimes Dad does not need to do anything, his daughter can learn a lot by modelling and by watching how he relates to others. Dad may show his care by actions rather than words but if that is the case Dad needs to remember just how important he is in his daughter’s life. 

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With special guest: 

• Glenn A Baker
  … in conversation with Bill Kable 

Glenn A Baker was a father of six children and a grandfather of 12. For those of us whose memories extend a little he was the music guru, so he was a very special Dad to be on our program. 

Glenn told us about an adventure he had lined up for those with a special interest in a particular seminal event and rock music generally. Yet to our surprise it was more than 50 years since that massive and unplanned gathering of over 500,000 people in upstate New York listened to the cream of the world’s musicians playing in a concert, some concert. 

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• Jeff Apter
  … in conversation with Bill Kable

 It seems that everyone remembers the rock band Australian Crawl. Maybe not all the individual members of the band but certainly their front man James Reyne. They will remember the TV series featuring James called East of Eden. 

But it all comes back to the music, and Australian Crawl was part of an Australian assault on rock music. The music came out of a vibrant pub scene which produced world shaking bands such as Midnight Oil and Cold Chisel. When playing live, there was a driving powerful grittiness and it came through in their records. 

When Australian Crawl first appeared on Countdown in August 1979 performing ‘Beautiful People’, no one knew what to make of them. Certainly not the TV crew, who thought the song was called ‘Beautiful Beach Ball’ and they put up a set to match. 

The band was quirky, charismatic and unmistakably different. But they quickly proved they were no novelty act. Over the next seven years, this band of high school mates produced two of Australia’s bestselling albums, The Boys Light Up and Sirocco, and a string of major hits including ‘Downhearted’, ‘Errol’ and the timeless ‘Reckless’. In all, they sold 1.5 million albums and had 15 charting singles. They performed live all over the country. Their success would launch the screen and solo career of heart-throb lead singer James Reyne. 

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With special guests: 

• Brendan Morris & Stephan Wellink
  … in conversation with Bill Kable 

The Thornetts, a band of brothers as Shakespeare might have called them. 

Today we explore what makes a champion when we hear about a sporting giant from 1960’s Australia, namely Richard, or as he was more commonly known, Dick Thornett. 

Dick was the youngest in a family of champions. Dick’s oldest brother was John who became the Captain of the Australian Rugby team, the Wallabies. Under John, the Wallabies had a legendary tour of South Africa. The next brother Ken also played Rugby at a representative level but is best known for his Rugby League abilities. Starting his Rugby League career in England he became known as the Mayor of Leeds before he came back to Australia representing Parramatta and Australia in the Kangaroos. 

Dick is called “the Natural” because he was so good at any sport he turned his hand to. After representing Australia in water polo at the 1960 Olympics in Rome he went on to represent Australia in two very different sports namely Rugby and Rugby League. 

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With special guest:

• Dr Sara Webb
  … in conversation with Bill Kable 

The title of this program may look as though it will make us doom struck or at least a little gloomy but strangely it does not. This might have something to do with our guest who is so bright and cheery talking about these biggest of the biggest of issues. 

Dr Sara Webb has written The Little Book of Cosmic Catastrophes (That Could End the World) for a general audience who will be able to get a better understanding of where we have come from and where our Earth and humanity itself will go. 

Today we talk about what has happened in the distant past, in fact when time began. An amazing number of things had to go just right for the universe as we know it to exist. This goes back to the laws of physics as explored in the recent past by Albert Einstein. Who knew that if the forces between the atomic particles were different, the matter of which we are made simply would not have formed? 

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With special guest: 

• Paul Ham
  … in conversation with Bill Kable 

Our topics do not come much bigger or more interesting than The Soul: A History of the Human Mind written by our guest today Paul Ham. Certain ideas come to mind when we mention the word “Soul”. Are we talking about soul music or the definition in the catechism or maybe the soul of America which was said to be lost during the Vietnam war? 

Paul tells us that the soul can mean all of these things and more. Paul has tackled a topic which is huge in breadth and also extended over the millennia to the beginnings of civilisation. His discovery is that what humans first called the soul was originally thought to be a part of all of us. The soul survived the death of the body and then ventured to an underworld which might be Heaven or Hell. Some Christians believed at one stage that there was also a halfway house called Purgatory but that has disappeared in more recent beliefs. In fact the soul itself disappeared mysteriously during the period called the enlightenment until we arrive where we are today and scientists tell us that the mind is a creation of the brain. 

In this book Paul Ham restores the idea of a soul to the human story but not as something that can be located as a separate organ or entity. Instead Paul shows us how belief in, and beliefs arising from the soul or mind, have animated and driven the history of our kind. 

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