Breaker Morant

With special guest:

• Peter FitzSimons
  … in conversation with Bill Kable

“Shoot straight you bastards! Don’t make a mess of it.” These are the last words of Breaker Morant as he sat on a chair looking at the firing squad about to kill him.

These words are well known in Australia as one of the few relics from the first time troops from the Australian continent went into the battlefield in the Boer War. But after reading Peter FitzSimons’ book titled Breaker Morant the inescapable conclusion is that there are a lot of unknowns in the story of the Breaker. Many of the things we thought we knew are actually fictions usually started by the Breaker himself.

When we talk to the very well-known Peter Fitzsimons today we discover first of all who the Breaker really was, starting with his real name. He was English, not Australian. He left a trail of debtors and forsaken lovers around Australia but had nothing to return to in England. He was charming, a great story teller and entertainer. He was a man’s man in many ways, a hard drinker, great horse rider yet also a respected poet with many of his poems published. He was a friend of Banjo Patterson.

Podcast (mp3)

Click to read more ...

Heart of the Grass Tree

With special guest:

• Molly Murn
  … in conversation with Bill Kable

Today we travel back to the time before 1836 and to Australia’s second biggest island, Kangaroo Island, off the coast of South Australia.

This is a big story over different generations of islanders. The modern day story deals with the effect on a family of a grandmother’s death. When Nell died her family returned to Kangaroo Island to mourn and farewell her. Nell’s granddaughter Pearl pulled together the scraps Nell left behind, her stories, poems and paintings and unearthed the early history of the European sealers and their first contact with the Ngarrindjeri people.

Interwoven with the modern day story is the life on the island before 1836 with some brutal characters set against the next generation. The main character asks himself what it is to be a man after being confronted with some terrible exploits of the early sealers.

Podcast (mp3)

Click to read more ...

Heroes Next Door

With special guest:

• Samuel Johnson
  … in conversation with Bill Kable

Samuel Johnson is well known to Australian television audiences. He has won the Gold Logie for his performance in the miniseries Molly.

But to others in the Australian community he is the hero who has raised $20 million for cancer research. In that connection Samuel rode his unicycle around Australia in a fund raising effort and in the process of cycling 15,000 kilometres broke a world record. Clearly this man knows a hero when he sees one.

And yet when Samuel’s sister Hilde Hinton told him about the everyday heroes she met in her own fundraising activities it all came as a surprise. Many of these unsung heroes in our Australian community hide their light under a bushel. These Australian heroes were initially horrified to think that their stories would be included in a book titled Heroes Next Door. However Samuel can be very persuasive and we are fortunate to be able finally to hear these uplifting stories at a time when we need them most.

Podcast (mp3)

Click to read more ...

Max

With special guest:

• Alex Miller
  … in conversation with Bill Kable
  

Those who fought against the Nazis in World War II were necessarily shadowy figures. It was a matter of survival.

For Max Blatt who lived the latter half of his life in Australia those shadows stayed with him until the day he died. Even 20 years after his death those shadows and mysteries still shrouded his life story. But our guest today the award winning writer Alex Miller was not content to leave the story in the black hole of Nazi atrocities. For Alex and all of us these stories need to be explored and revealed if the community as a whole is to get over being so damaged by events in the not so distant past. Despite the sadness and tragedy in Max’s family this story becomes one of survival, friendship, mentoring and most of all love.

Podcast (mp3)

Click to read more ...

The Godmothers

With special guest:

• Monica McInerney
  … in conversation with Bill Kable
  

When we speak with Monica McInerney she still sounds like she has lived all her life in South Australia. In fact she has become a local in Ireland over the last twenty plus years and knows very well the country around Dublin which is a big part of her new book The Godmothers.

The book could be used to promote the Irish countryside with its beautiful scenery and warm welcoming pubs. We also visit England and Scotland which is a welcome adventure when travel has become so restricted for all of us. But the main appeal of this story is that we learn about families, relationships and the often unforeseen consequences of our actions. In particular we are let in on some family secrets and different ways they are treated. Some secrets are bound to go to the grave while others can hardly be called secret since everyone in the family knows them.

Monica delves into the personalities of her characters and finds that everyone has a story, everyone has flaws and some are not very nice people. Along the way we get to question our own ethics. And there are surprises in store right to the last page.

Podcast (mp3)

Click to read more ...

Diving Into Glass

With special guest:

• Caro Llewellyn
  … in conversation with Bill Kable
  

When Caro Llewellyn started writing her new book she had intended it to be mainly about her extraordinary father, Richard. However her life then took a sudden and unexpected turn, one which turned her world upside down. That change meant adding to the story with her own experience and her feelings became the title of her new book Diving Into Glass.

Caro was on top of the world with a son she adored, a glittering career organising book festivals around the world where she got to meet and become friendly with leading writers and an active lifestyle that often included daily runs of 10km or more. What is more Caro felt confident in agreeing with her father that fate would favour her because surely her dad had taken on himself all the bad luck that a family should expect.

Podcast (mp3)

Click to read more ...

The Platoon Commander

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.

Podcast (mp3)

Click to read more ...

ALIVE

With special guest:

• Dr Gabriel Weston
  … in conversation with Bill Kable
  

In her absorbing new book called ALIVE Doctor Gabriel Weston looks in admiration at the incredible work 11 organs of our body do to keep us alive. Gabriel tells us that if the space permitted she would have liked to examine at least another 14 organs but we do get to investigate the most interesting.

Somehow Gabriel manages to talk about body parts without making even the most squeamish feel uncomfortable. This is clear when the book begins with a post mortem description that is very detailed. Gabriel is also able to deal with the genitals in a very matter of fact way that generates more light than heat.

What comes out most strongly in ALIVE is the sense of wonder that Gabriel feels when describing what the organs of the body do. Gabriel first felt this as a child when she was likely to go towards an accident or medical emergency. The feeling grew when she was invited to attend a surgical procedure but seemed thwarted when her maths and science abilities were not up to the standard required for entry into medical studies.

So Gabriel studied the subject she was good at namely English literature. Luckily for all of us she found a way into medicine and found her true calling.

Podcast (mp3)

Click to read more ...

How Fear Works

With special guest:

• Prof Frank Furedi
  … in conversation with Bill Kable

Frank Furedi says that fear is the principal motivating force in the 21^st Century.

We see fear being used by all sides in politics; we see it in the family dynamic; we see it in the young with their fear of missing out (or FOMO). And yet at the same time we do not call it out because to some degree we have been sensitised to its operation.

Once an expert like our guest today points out the use of fear we can see it everywhere and if it is not going to take over our lives completely we need to take some time-honoured steps to counter its influence.

As Frank Furedi tells us, fear can be distinguished from anxiety which is also a major problem in the Western world with so much of the population in the grip of anxiety and depression.

Podcast (mp3)

Click to read more ...

Woodstock 50 Years On

With special guest:

• Glenn A Baker
  … in conversation with Bill Kable

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

Glenn is here to tell us about an adventure he had lined up for those with a special interest in a particular seminal event and rock music generally. Yes to our surprise it is 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.

The Woodstock concert went for three and half days. It was recorded for records, tapes and later CD’s. It was also a major feature film that was issued soon after the event and many years later re-issued in a Director’s cut. In 2019 Woodstock was honoured again when Glenn A Baker lead a tour group to Max Yasgur’s dairy Farm in Bethel New York near the town of Woodstock and many other locales famous in rock’n’roll history.

Podcast (mp3)

Click to read more ...

Raising Boys in the Twenty-first Century

With special guest:

• Steve Biddulph AM
  … in conversation with Bill Kable
  

It was hard enough to raise boys in the 20^th Century. What are the new challenges facing parents who want to raise their sons to be the open-hearted, kind and strong men they can be?

Our guest today has revised and updated his classic parenting book released in 1997, a book that is found in over three million homes around the world. There is a lot of new information and surprising research for Steve to draw on in his new book Raising Boys in the Twenty-first Century. There is a new understanding of hormonal changes as boys turn into men, changes that mean the age from 6 to 14 is when fathers count the most.

We know the world is in a lot of trouble and in many ways we have failed our boys. The suggestion from Steve to counter that failing is the most important part of his book and very simple. Dads or Dad figures simply need to spend some time, to just be around their boys particularly when they are between the ages of 6 and 14. Modelling is vitally important even if the role model doesn’t know he is doing it.

Podcast (mp3)

Click to read more ...

From Little Things Big Things Grow

With special guest:

• John Stapleton
  … in conversation with Bill Kable
  

John Stapleton is a legend at Dads on the Air. In the year 2000 while working as a journalist he became involved with a number of fathers who struggled to see their own children because of the machinations of the Family Court. Worse still, because of the legislation no-one in the broader community knew what was going on. So John resolved to shed some light on the problem through a community radio program run on a shoestring from 2GLF in Liverpool New South Wales after giving the program its name. Here we are 18 years later still going strong.

Podcast (mp3)

Click to read more ...

Ballet Brothers

With special guest:

• Jake Burden
  … in conversation with Bill Kable

Jake Burden tells us that everyone can dance. For those with a particular ability and the drive to do all the hard training that goes with being a dancer on the stage Jake tells us there are all sorts of rewards.

On the flip side of these benefits there remains an element in our society that thinks dancing is somehow unmanly, that only young girls should express themselves in this way and because male dancers are seen as different they can be subjected to bullying. This is where Jake Burden steps in to provide a safe haven as the creator of Ballet Brothers, based in Newcastle New South Wales.

Jake is the creator and director of Ballet Brothers an independent organisation aimed at supporting and encouraging boys who love to dance. Jake has experienced bullying himself but because of his love of dancing he did not let that stop him achieving his goals. Now he wants to let boys know that if they are passionate about dance they are not alone. As well as training boys to become better dancers Jake provides a support network and a platform for male dancers of all ages from around the world to share experience and wisdom with each other.

Podcast (mp3)

Click to read more ...

Woo’s Wonderful World of Maths

With special guest:

• Eddie Woo
  … in conversation with Bill Kable
  

We hardly need to do an introduction for our guest today. Eddie Woo has become very well-known through regular television appearances and YouTube lessons as one of the leading teachers in the world. The Government has recognised this by recently appointing him as a “super teacher” so that he can visit schools around NSW and inspire the teachers to inspire their students.

Ever thought that you were just no good at Maths and anyway what good is Maths in everyday life. Our guest today begs to differ on both counts.

Eddie says Maths is for everyone and he has lots of ways of convincing you that not only is Maths fascinating but it underlies everything in the universe. Yes Eddie Woo comes to Dads on the Air and adds to the audience on his YouTube channel Wootube where he has been viewed a staggering 25 million times.

Podcast (mp3)

Click to read more ...

Roadies

With special guest:

• Stuart Coupe
  … in conversation with Bill Kable

We have always heard about the sex and drugs of the rock’n’roll lifestyle but few of us get any access to this hidden part of the music industry. Until now

Stuart Coupe has lived in the music world for over forty years and by getting the roadies, these unsung heroes, to open up we can find out both the good and the bad sides of this life on the road.

Stuart tells us one of his motivations in doing the research and writing his latest book Roadies: The Secret History of Australian Rock’n’Roll was to preserve the stories from the early days because the roadies have had some casualties and he does not want the stories to disappear with the last of the original roadies. Not only does the lifestyle take a toll on the roadies’ physical health but the toll on family life is intense. The roadies will often be away from home for 10 to 11 months of the year because the show has to go on.

Podcast (mp3)

Click to read more ...

The Children’s House

With special guest:

• Alice Nelson
  … in conversation with Bill Kable

Alice Nelson has produced a topical work with enough discussion points to keep us busy for a long time in her new book The Children’s House.

The title of the book comes from a kibbutz in Israel. The kibbutz movement arose in Israel after the horrors of Nazi Germany, partly as a way of allowing parents to work for the new state of Israel while ensuring that their children would be properly cared for. But does the idea of communal parenting go too far? This is just one of the ethical questions raised in The Children’s House.

From Israel we travel to Rwanda and finally to the world’s melting pot in New York. It is there that we discover the different forces prevalent in modern families with all their mysteries and complexities. In speaking to Alice about her characters we get even more depth into the non-traditional relationships revealed in her book. There are some real surprises in store for the reader.

Podcast (mp3)

Click to read more ...

Murder at Myall Creek

With special guest:

• Mark Tedeschi KC AM
  … in conversation with Bill Kable

Our guest today is the well-known former Crown Prosecutor for New South Wales and author of Murder at Myall Creek, Mark Tedeschi.

Mark has written a deeply moving account of the massacre of 28 Aboriginal men, women and children in 1838 which led to a trial that defined the nation of Australia. If the law of the land in Australia was to have any credibility, if the principle is that we are all equal before the law, then this is a watershed case.

At the time of the massacre it was only 50 years since Captain Arthur Phillip and his first fleet arrived in Australia yet the inhabitants of the country for the previous 60,000 years were under threat of genocide from the new arrivals.

There were many in the community who were sympathetic to all Aboriginal killers and this was expressed in the editorials of the major newspapers such as The Sydney Herald (before it added “Morning” to its masthead). Against this background there were some heroes that stood up against the general view of the free settlers, the squatters, the military, the emancipists, the newspapers and even the convict population which still amounted to 36% of the population. Principal among these was John H Plunkett who as Attorney-General at the time had the duty to prosecute the eleven convicts and former convicts who were put on trial for murder.

Podcast (mp3)

Click to read more ...

How to Buy a Home

With special guest:

• Emily Power
  … in conversation with Bill Kable

Today we catch up with one of the many young people struggling with the biggest purchase of their lives. For the young men trying to support a family and progress their careers at the same time, buying a first home means pressure.

Our guest today is not only an expert commentator on real estate but she is also trying to purchase her first home in Melbourne.

Emily Power is a regular on TV and radio but we did not know her secret project of getting herself on the first rung for home ownership. Emily avoids the smashed avocadoes but has some tips that have worked for her in joining the crazy housing market we see in Melbourne and Sydney.

If you do not know what is a “debt trap” and how to escape it then listen in. Emily tells us in How to Buy a Home: From Debt to a Deposit what some of the terms used by banks and lawyers really mean.

Podcast (mp3)

Click to read more ...

Australia Reimagined

With special guest:

• Hugh Mackay AO
  … in conversation with Bill Kable

Australia has had a well-documented and unprecedented run of economic growth but this has not translated into a happy, harmonious society. Our guest today is Hugh Mackay who describes the current level of anxiety in Australia as an epidemic.

The level of income inequality in Australia is growing, public education is under-resourced and our children are falling behind when compared to other first world countries.

And at a time when we need them most we are losing faith in our major institutions namely the Church, our elected parliamentarians who are supposed to be acting in the country’s interest, the major banks and even the families who give us security. Right now all of these are under threat. Over half of marriages end in divorce in the first ten years leaving children in the lurch. The two Royal Commissions that have investigated banking and before that institutional abuse of children have revealed some of the worst abuses of power.

Podcast (mp3)

Click to read more ...

Profiles in Hope

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 wormen.

Podcast (mp3)

Click to read more ...