Radical Australia

It was a lovely treat to have this week's guest, Brendan Bonsack, in the studio regaling us with tales from his childhood in Macedon, including vivid memories of being caught up in Ash Wednesday. Brendan is a very talented person, being a poet, musician, film producer and co-host of 3CR's Spoken Word. This was a delightful, fun conversation we hope you enjoy. Thanks for being our guest this week, Brendan, and to treating us to a couple of your wonderful poems.Spoken Word, Thursdays 9:00am - 9:30ambrendanbonsack.com

Our guest this week is political beast, local government expert and temple builder, Sen, a familiar, friendly face on the 3CR reception desk and programmer since 1985. Sen shares with us the history of his land, Sri Lanka, before colonisation and after and the best times of his life working as an engineer in Zambia and Botswana. Sen has always been interested in politics and was always going to end up at 3CR after making Melbourne his home. Look out for his upcoming new show featuring the music of the Tamil language. Thank-you for being our lovely guest this week, Sen. We are lucky to have you at 3CR.

This week's guest couldn't come in as their boss didn't like the idea, so we revisited our 2016 conversation with supremo sound engineer, Lara Soulio. Lara's a great gal and shares with us the story of how she became one of those rare breed female sound engineers and how she came to work on 3CR's Burning Vinyl, putting live bands to air every Friday arvo. It was fun revisiting this conversation. We are sure you will enjoy it.

This week's guest is Stephanie Sabrinskas, a Lithuanian-Dutch rebel from Moe who is currently co-producing a documentary and accompanying podcast on life after coal in the Latrobe Valley. How good is that! Stephanie has always been a creative person and an animal lover and in this conversation she recalls memories of her time growing up with her family in Moe before moving to the big smoke and working in retail, sharing sharehouse dumps and palying in bands. Steph was born in 1988 and still has so much to do with her life. Thanks for being our guest this week, Steph. Listen to her podcast here:coalfacepodcast.com

This week's guest is none other than Aran Mylvaganam, currently running in the 2022 federal election to represent the Victorian Socialists in the senate. Aran shares with us the remarkable story of his life so far, from Tamil refugee to lifetime human rights activist. Aran's a lovely guy and we wish him all the best in the election. Make sure to listen to his story. He tells it better than us. Thanks so much for being our guest this week, Aran.victoriansocialists.org.au

On this week's show we welcome Vicky Vacondios, a community services teacher trainer who is passionate about making a better system based on her lived experience of accessing family violence and housing services as a single mum. Vicky has been a hard worker all her life after growing up in Broady with her Greek family. She became politicised after working as a peer for Council to Homeless Persons, educating service workers about homelessness from her lived experience. Vicky has written a manual based on her experience as both a consumer of and trainer in community services for workers. She is passionate about making sure lived experience is an important part of good service delivery. Thanks so much for being our guest this week, Vicky. You're a legend.

'Get out there and do it. Don't have a fear of failure. And listen to 3CR'. This week's Radical Australia guest, host of 3CR's Doin' Time, Marisa Sposaro, has been listening to the little radio station since she was a teenage rebel, curious about the world and eager to experience everything it had to offer. Maria was born blind and in this conversation she tells us about some of the curious little experiences she has had living in society as a blind person. Illuminating stuff. Marisa has been an activist for decades now and she has been at 3CR for about as long, these days presenting Doin' Time, a show covering prisoner rights, asylum seeker rights, migrants - women - and family violence and other topics that interest her. Marisa was a fun guest and gave us a good laugh. It was a pleasure hearing some of her life stories and we thank her very much for being our guest this week.Doin' Time, Mondays, 4pm - 5pm3cr.org.au/dointime

Born in Devonport in the year of Woodstock, we are delighted that Rose Turtle Ertler graced our shores this week. In case you didn't know, Rose is a humble but extraordinary artist, playing ukelele the past 22 years, some of that with the Black Orchid String Band, but having lived a full life immersed in artistic escapades, here in Australia and in Europe. These days Rose grows food back on the Apple Isle when she's not teaching the uke or performing on the mainland. Great gal. Thank you very much for being our guest this week, Rose. You're a legend.roseturtleertler.com@blackorchidstringband 

On this week's show we are delighted to welcome Herb Patten, a gum leaf player extraordinaire who has been dedicated to the art since childhood when he started mimicking the sounds of the birds and wildlife around him. Herb grew up in East Gippsland near Orbost before going on to tuna fishing and spotting from the crow's nest. He's always had good eyes and this runs in the family. In this conversation, Herb takes us on a journey into his life of family and love, reminiscing on his late wife and the achievements they made such as establishing the Aboriginal Community Elders Services in Brunswick. Herb is a spritely 78-year-old and is looking forward to the future. It was a great privilege to have him as our guest this week. Thank-you, Herb.

Special repeat broadcast from July 2019fatherbobs.com

On this week's show we welcome Margaret Bannan, a radical Catholic woman who has pretty much dedicated her life to advocating for the marvellous natural world we all share in. Margaret was born in Bendigo in 1948 and came home from the hospital in horse and carriage. When not looking after her eight siblings, Margaret always enjoyed sport and she went on to become a religious education teacher when she graduated high school. Margaret has raised five children, written a doctorate and many environment books for students and is involved with numerous environmental groups. She's a strong, hardworking lady. We thank Margaret very much for being our guest this week. Check out Margaret's iso book, Climate Change: the consequences of the changing climate may still take us by surprise.

3CR Thursday Breakfast and Women on the Line producer, Priya Kunjan, was our guest this week. Priya is one of those really smart people who excels in academia, currently researching their PhD on January 26th and media representation, but they already have a whole life of learning in anatomy and neuroscience behind them. Priya is enjoying their time at 3CR, having learnt the ropes pretty much throughout the pandemic and when they are not producing radio they like to cycle and feed people. That's nice. Keep up the most excellent work, Priya, and thank you for gracing our shores this week.Thursday Breakfast, 7am - 8:30amWomen on the Line, Mondays 8:30am - 9am

On this week's show we are extremely honoured to welcome the indefatigable Laurie Levy, a man who was there during the beginnings of whale rescue in Australia in the late 1970s and who has dedicated half his life to banning duck and waterbird shooting in Australia. Before his activism, Laurie was a cameraman at GTV9 when television began and worked alongside greats such as Don Lane and Bert Newton. He watched technology change before his eyes. Laurie is a bona fide legend and should be honoured, having achieved many great changes and mobilised many people to bring about justice to some of our fellow creatures on our lands and in our seas. We thank him greatly for being our guest this week.duck.org.au1993 Lake Buloke duck recoveryFreckled duck2018 Lake Cullen

The Popcorn Princess. That's what we can also call this week's guest, Bree Taylor, the founder of Melbourne Duck Save. Bree was born in '77 Melbourne and she's really good at 'The Claw', winning many stuffed toys and such courtesy of the teachings of her grandfather. Bree has been a union organiser and has worked on campaigns for the Greens. Before that she was on a healing journey for a while after quitting alcohol. These days she likes to keep fit, eat well and rescue ducks. She's a good gal. Thank you for being our guest this week, Bree.November 7, 2019 Melbourne Duck Save's first public rally@melbourneducksave

This week's guest is Tjiwarl mother, grandmother and activist, Vicky Abdullah. Vicky joins us on the blower from the side of the road on country as she looks over a mining dump. Vicky has always been caring for country and learnt this from her mother. Her father was a cammalier from Queensland and Vicky grew up going from station to station. In her early adulthood, Vicky set out on her own, travelling to and through many different communities in the Kimberley and Pilbara, hearing and learning many different languages. She loved it. Vicky is a staunch anti-uranium and anti-mining activist and is well known across the continent. She can't wait to get back to Melbourne. She really loves it here. Thank-you very much for speaking with us this week, Vicky. We hope to see you in Melbourne down the track.Vicky stands with her Aunties Shirley and Lizzie Wonyabong

This week we get a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the private life and upbringing of Pas Forgione, one of the hardworking activists fighting for the rights of low income people everywhere, but in Adelaide, as part of the fantastic anti-poverty network. When Pas isn't doing awesome work elevating the voices of people on Centrelink, he loves getting away to New Zealand and hiking its southern island mountains. We love your work, Pas. Keep it up! Thanks for being our guest this week.antipovertynetworksa.org'Liveable Incomes for All' rally, March 2021, Parliament House, Adelaide

Our special guest this week, Alison Broinowski, has initials after her name. Is that a first for the little radio show?.. Alison, who turned 80 years young recently, has lived a rather marvellous life travelling the world with her husband as part of the Department of Foreign Affairs, at a time when women were few and far between, and has lived and learned in countries as diverse as Myanmar, Iran, Philipines and Korea. Alison knows her stuff when it comes to Australia's relationship with Asia and has led a full life as a diplomat, writer, lecturer and journalist, to list a few of her capabilities. Alison grew up in Adelaide and is now the president of Australians for War Powers Reform. We thank Alison for being the first cab off the rank this year. Thank-you for your time, Alison.warpowersreform.org.au

A Summer Special, 'Limerick Fightback', with Canberra Corresponent, Kerry Crossley. Listen as Kerry covers everything from politics to space by way of a limerick. She's a marvel!

This week's guest, and returning guest at that, is Adele O'Connor. Adele has written a PhD on the complex, nerver-ending history that is Indonesian populism and oligarchy. In this conversation she speaks about the history of Indonesia, including the involvement of the Dutch East India Company when the islands where known as the Spice Islands. Adele's reserach involved her travelling to Indonesia and getting interview access with interesting interviewees. We hope you enjoy the listen. Great work, Adele.

Barrie Sutherland started taking pictures of the surf at Bells, year after year, in the 70s, with his family living just up the road in Torquay since the 40s. If anybody has seen Torquay change over time, it's Barrie, and he has strong views about it. On this week's show, Barrie speaks fondly of his parents and recalls the time his father came home from war as he watched him walk up to the house through the kitchen window. Barrie was a keen footballer back in the day and went on to train as a civil engineer. He is proud of his Scottish ancestry and urges anyone to follow their passion in life. We thank Barrie for being our guest this week and for the images.watermarksphotogallery.com.au