Conversations

Hannah Clarke and her three children were killed in an horrific attack that shocked Australia but for Dave Kramer their deaths were personal, he was friends with Hannah and had witnessed her relationship up close.
Dave's own childhood exposure to domestic violence had blinded him to some of the signs that Hannah and her kids were in danger.
After Hannah's death, Dave began the difficult work of confronting his past and educating himself on how to recognise abuse and have the confidence to speak out and help.
He now helps educate teenagers and young men about respectful and safe relationships and healthy masculinity.If you need to speak to someone 1800respect or 1800 737 732 for the national domestic violence hotlineBeyond Blue on 1300 22 46 36Lifeline on 13 11 14MensLine Australia on 1300 789 978
Further information
smallsteps4hannah
This episode was produced by Jen Leake, the executive producer was Eliza Kirsch.
It explores domestic violence, coercive control, violence against women, violence prevention, safe and respectful relationships, grief, mental health, trauma, drug use, behavioural science, psychology, 
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, singers, psychologists, musicians, and celebrities.

Author Helen Pitt has written a history of the iconic fun park and it's a tale bound up with con men, crooked cops, and developers who have long wanted to snatch up the prime piece of waterfront real estate.Millions of people have happy memories of walking through the teeth of the gigantic face on the edge of Sydney Harbour but it wasn't the first Luna Park in Australia, that honour goes to the Melbourne version which opened a decades earlier.
But the tale of Sydney's Luna Park is arguably the most dramatic and it's one of only two amusement parks in the world protected by government legislation.  Helen Pitt's book is called Luna Park: the extraordinary story of the showmen, shysters and schemers who built Sydney's famous funk park is published by Allen And Unwin.
This episode of Conversations explores Luna Park, amusement parks, Sydney, Sydney Harbour, history, show rides, engineering, the Great Depression, the Ghost Train fire, tragedy, historical preservation, waterfront real estate, protest, Martin Sharp, the Big Dipper, protein spills.

When Sonia Henry signed up to work as a GP in a remote mining town in the Pilbara, the experience changed almost everything she believed about Australia.
An unfortunate romantic entanglement just before her final exams left her questioning everything, just as she was about to qualify as a doctor.
To escape her life in Sydney, she signed up to work in some of Australia's most far-flung medical clinics.
While working as a GP in places like the Pilbara, outback NSW, the Northern Territory and Broome Sonia had many experiences with her patients which completely altered how she saw Australia.
Content Warning – suicide and adult themes. Listener discretion advised.
Further information
Put Your Feet in the Dirt, Girl is published by Allen and Unwin
Lifeline on 13 11 14
MensLine Australia on 1300 789 978
Suicide Call Back Service on 1300 659 467
Beyond Blue on 1300 22 46 36
Headspace on 1800 650 890
Doctors' Health Advisory Service is a 24 hr support line for doctors, medical students, dentists, veterinarians and students of these professions.

Jane Messer grew up with a loving father who never really understood why as a child his mother left him and his older sister at a boarding school, so she decided to find out the full story and prove that he was in fact, loved.
Her father Michael was born in Berlin in the years between the two world and to escape Nazi Germany he was sent to live in England as a child.
There were a few fleeting visits but then Michael didn’t see his mother again for another 13 years and he always said she never loved him.
As Jane grew older and became a mother herself, she knew there had to be more to Bella’s story and so she went on the trail from pre-war Berlin to Tel Aviv to Melbourne, to try to understand the choices made in extraordinary circumstances. 
Further informationJane Messer's family memoir is called Raven Mother 
This episode of Conversation explores family history, the Holocaust, Nazi Germany, suicide, boarding school, Palestine, the Nakba, Berlin, World War 2, immigration, the British Mandated Palestine, memoir.

Novelist Emma Pei Yin ran away from Hong Kong as a teenager to start fresh in Australia. But she found herself repeatedly drawn back home whenever she put pen to paper.
Emma 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 into a teenager, her relationship with her parents deteriorated. 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.
This episode of Conversations was first broadcast last year.
Content warning: This episode of Conversations contains discussion about sexual assault.
Further information
When Sleeping Women Wake is published by Hachette.
Help and support is always available. You can call Lifeline 24 hours a day on 13 11 14.
This episode of Conversations was produced by Meggie Morris and first broadcast in 2025, the executive producer is Nicola Harrison.
It explores family dynamics, multiculturalism, China, Hong Kong, modern history, writing, books, literature, historical fiction, Japanese occupation, World War 2, assault, victim-blaming, abortion, filmmaking, black sheep, family honour, London, forgiveness.