Conversations

Laurie Lawrence's obsession with winning Gold started when he was a small boy growing up above the Tobruk Pool in Townsville. When he became a coach, he had an epiphany about the nature of victory.
When Laurie was a child, he had a chronic lung condition that meant he had to sleep sitting in a chair.
Doctors advised his parents that an operation was necessary, and part of one of his lungs was removed.
After the operation, Laurie's father took over the management of Townsville's Tobruk Pool, and the family lived in an apartment overlooking the lanes. 
In 1956 the Australian Olympic team came to the pool to train there.
A short time later, Laurie's mother fled the marriage and took her children to live in Brisbane where she ran a boarding house 'full of inebriates'.
Laurie grew up to become a teacher, and won a place on the Australian Rugby Team. 
Then he moved back to Townsville to start a new career as a swimming coach.
In 1970, a 13-year-old girl Laurie was coaching named Helen Gray won a silver medal at the Queensland Championships.
When she presented him with it, Laurie spat on the medal and threw it over the pool fence. 
What he did that day eventually saw him ask himself big questions about the meaning of victory in the pool.
Learn more about Laurie Lawrence at his website.
Read about Laurie resources and programs to keep kids safe in the water: Kids Alive is supported by the Federal Government; World Wide Swim School is for teachers, parents, coaches and swim schools.
Laurie has also released a new online interactive baby swimming resource.
This episode of Conversations was produced by Nicola Harrison. Executive Producer was Carmel Rooney.
It explores sports, sporting life of Australia, being competitive, Australian Olympic team, drownings in Australia, why everyone learns to swim in Australia, equitable access to water, winning at all costs, learning to swim, when should my child learn to swim, Australian icons. Rugby Union, Wallabies, Australian sporting icons, water safety, water education, pool gates.
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.

Kim Huynh on his family's remarkable journey from Vietnam to Australia. And taking on the role of carer for his fiercely strong-willed father, Thiet.
Kim grew up in Canberra, arriving in Australia with his family as refugees from Vietnam.
Like many migrant children, Kim is a very driven person and has taken on a lot of responsibilities in life.
He is an academic, an ABC broadcaster, an author and a father.
And when his 80-year-old father had a serious stroke, Kim also took on the role of carer.
He had to find a way to help look after his dad, with whom he was living, continue working, bringing in an income, and help raise his own son.
As he continued to care for his father, Kim had to come to terms with the conflict between his dad's increasingly frail body and his still-fierce willpower; the same willpower that got his family to safety some 45 years earlier.
As a carer and a father, Kim has also had to navigate the complexities of giving his whole self to the people he loves, while still feeling like he wasn't doing enough for anyone.
My Old Man and Me is published by HarperCollins.
This episode of Conversations was produced by Meggie Morris. Executive Producer is Nicola Harrison.
It explores family history, family origin stories, carers, stroke, Vietnamese refugees, Vietnamese in Australia, Vietnamese boat people, refugee crisis, migration, political asylum, fall of Saigon, Vietnam War, re-education camps, Indochina refugee crisis, Hoa people, fatherhood, intergenerational trauma, the body keeps the score, epigenetics, books, writing, memoir, taking care of your parents, fathers and sons.
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 legendary actress Jane Fonda on her activism, her hair epiphanies and why older women are often fearless.
Jane has lived her entire life in the public eye, as the daughter of acting aristocracy.
Her father Henry Fonda was a Hollywood legend by the time she was born.
Jane grew up to study acting with Lee Strasberg, and Marilyn Monroe was a classmate.
But behind the public adoration, Jane was battling some big personal demons, including bulimia and the legacy of a shocking family tragedy.
In her 30s she began re-assessing her life and work, and became a leader of the anti-Vietnam War movement, earning her the nickname of Hanoi Jane from the American Press.
After the Vietnam War ended, she remained committed to political activism, so she released a series of work-out videos to help fund change in America.
After two more marriages, Jane had an epiphany about her 'third act' of life.
She decided to devote it to helping change the world, and now at 88 years old, she is still spending much of her time raising awareness about climate change and other social issues.
This episode of Conversations was produced by Nicola Harrison. Executive Producer was Carmel Rooney.
It explores Hollywood, Hollyweird, celebrity culture, activism, climate change, the climate crisis, women's rights, women's empowerment, second wave feminism, intersectional feminism, Dolly Parton, 9 to 5, Gracie and Frankie, tech bros, oligarchs and billionaires, life lessons, old school Hollywood, Hollywood royalty, motherhood, parenting, Donald Trump, blacklist.
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.

Iconic Australian musician, actor, youth advocate and charity ambassador Angry Anderson has died at the age of 79.
Angry spent 50 years in the music industry with his legendary rock band, Rose Tattoo, and the band was due to return to the stage this month for another Australian tour.
But Angry was much more than a raging rock n' roll animal.
He was an incurable romantic, despite his violent childhood in Melbourne. 
He was a loyal, devoted father of four, and Angry was always a friend to the little guy.
You can read more about Angry Anderson's remarkable life at the ABC News website.
Originally broadcast in January 2007.
Angry's youngest son, Liam Anderson, died in 2018.
This episode of Conversations explores Australian music, celebrity deaths, cardiac arrest, Obituaries, fatherhood, childhood abuse, pub rock, Countdown, musical controversies, Sharpies, modern fatherhood, substance abuse, television, Australian television, Kylie Minogue, Neighbours, Ray Martin, politics, Australian icons, Australian legends, Australian kitsch, RIP Angry Anderson.
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.

Alison Hoddinot was one of the first Australian women to study at Oxford University, but one of her lecturers, J.R.R Tolkein, refused to take on a woman PhD student. 
Alison was born in Tasmania in 1931.
As a young woman she won a scholarship to study at Oxford University.
But when she arrived, none of the male professors including J.R.R Tolkien, would take on a woman PhD student.
Back in Tasmania Alison became great friends with the poet Gwen Harwood.
The two shared recipes, letters, and the challenges of combining work and motherhood.
During their friendship Gwen shocked the nation when she used acrostic sonnets to pull a wild hoax on The Bulletin magazine in 1961.
First broadcast in 2018
Further information
In 2022 Alison Hoddinot passed away after a short illness
Women, Oxford and Novels of Crime and Gwen Harwood: Idle Talk - Letters 1960-1964 are published by Brandl and Schlesinger
Read more about Gwen and Alison's friendship and their letters