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May O'Brien reflects on becoming an activist, 2008

This is an edited sound recording of an interview with Western Australian Aboriginal educator and author May O'Brien. She recalls beginning secondary school in Perth in 1949 when she was aged 17, and how she went on to become a teacher. She also relates how she campaigned to improve education for all Indigenous children ...

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Shane Gould talks on a sports champion's qualities, 2008

This is an edited sound recording of the former champion Australian swimmer Shane Gould talking about what is required to be a champion sportsperson. Gould suggests a high degree of all-round activity is needed at a young age to produce good physical development prior to specialisation in a particular sport. She says that ...

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Alexandra Shackleton discusses Ernest Shackleton, 2005

This is an edited sound recording of the Hon Alexandra Shackleton, grand-daughter of the Antarctic explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton. She recounts aspects of his leadership of a 1907-09 expedition to Antarctica, relating how, for the sake of the survival of his team, he abandoned his bid to be the first to reach the geographic ...

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Jurij Semkiw remembers Australia's first computer, 2006

This is an edited sound recording of 77-year-old Jurij Semkiw talking about Australia's first computer, known as CSIRAC (pronounced 'sigh-rack'), which ran its first simple program in 1949. Semkiw, who was a maintenance engineer on CSIRAC, describes the excitement of being involved in a completely new technology. He also ...

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Jim Flemming recalls filming an attack mission in South Korea, 2007

This is an edited sound recording of former Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) Air Vice-Marshal Jim Flemming describing an unusual operation to film an air attack mission in the Korean War for use in a 1950 episode of a 'Cinesound Review' newsreel. Flemming describes how a camera was specially fitted under the wing of a ...

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John Collins recalls illustrations by Oodgeroo Noonuccal (Kath Walker), 2007

This is an edited sound recording of John Collins, former managing director of the Brisbane-based book publisher Jacaranda Press, recalling the way the Indigenous poet Oodgeroo Noonuccal (then Kath Walker) produced illustrations for her 1980 book 'Father sky and mother earth'. He describes how a casual remark led to her ...

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Lynley Huguenin describes being a Bali bombing victim, 2008

This is an edited sound recording of Melbourne woman Lynley Huguenin, who received serious burns in one of the two terrorist bombings on the Indonesian island of Bali on 12 October 2002, describing the explosion that set her clothes on fire and the confusion that followed. She also tells of a long series of medical treatments, ...

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Trevor Smith discusses dealing with droughts, 2008

This is an edited sound recording of Trevor Smith, a wheat and sheep farmer in the Forbes area of central New South Wales. He explains what it is like being a farmer who has to deal with a prolonged period of drought. Smith tells of the financial strains on farming businesses and the psychological strains on individual ...

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Mauro Gibin recalls migrating from Italy, 2006

This is an edited sound recording of Mauro Gibin, who migrated to Australia from Italy in 1966 with his parents. He recalls that as a 14-year-old, the month-long voyage by ship across the Indian Ocean to Australia was an adventure. Gibin describes his family's fellow emigrants and some of their on-board conversations. He ...

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George Burston's granddaughter describes his 'world tour', 2006

This is a sound recording of Geraldine McFarlane, granddaughter of George William Burston, describing Burston's 1888-89 'world tour' by bicycle with a companion, Harry Stokes. McFarlane outlines the route they took from Melbourne to London, pedalling much of the way on 'penny-farthing' or high-wheeled bicycles, and describes ...

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Ian Ritchie describes the launch of the Blue Streak, 2006

This is an edited sound recording of Ian Ritchie recalling the first launch of a Europa Blue Streak rocket from the Woomera rocket range in South Australia on 5 June 1964. Ritchie, an engine technician at the range, tells of the noise at lift-off and how the first flight of the rocket was cut short. The recording was made ...

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May O'Brien talks about Aboriginal storytelling, 2008

This is an edited sound recording of an interview with Western Australian Aboriginal educator and author May O'Brien. O'Brien says that in her early life she was told Aboriginal stories orally and in drawings in the sand. She says that when she puts Aboriginal stories in writing, she thinks carefully about the words she ...

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May O'Brien recalls the traditional bush lifestyle of her childhood, 2008

This is an edited sound recording of an interview with Western Australian Aboriginal educator and author May O'Brien. She recalls the traditional bush lifestyle of her childhood in the eastern goldfields region of WA. She describes living in comfortable humpies made from bush materials and how she was taught traditional ...

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May O'Brien recalls school at the Mount Margaret Mission, 2008

This is an edited sound recording of an interview with Western Australian Aboriginal educator and author May O'Brien. She gives an account of the police practice of removing Aboriginal children from their families in line with government policies of the time. She recalls being fearful as a child of being removed and taken ...

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Jimmy Little outlines his views on racism, 2008

This is an edited sound recording, from July 2008, of Indigenous singer-songwriter Jimmy Little. Little tells how his parents lived on an Aboriginal mission, with their movements very restricted. He also recalls going to a movie theatre where people were separated by race, but says examples of racism such as these were ...

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Jimmy Little talks about being an entertainer, 2008

This is an edited sound recording of the Aboriginal singer-songwriter Jimmy Little offering advice about being a successful entertainer. Little says that entertainers must have faith in themselves and sing or entertain to suit the 'mood' of the audience. He suggests that this mood can be changed throughout a performance ...

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Marion Scrymgour talks about her mixed sense of identity, 2008

This is an edited sound recording of a Northern Territory politician, Marion Scrymgour, talking about her Tiwi and central Australian backgrounds. She says that all her life she has considered herself to be a Tiwi Islander, like her mother. However, she has also recently 'come to accept that I've got this other different ...

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Marion Scrymgour on being the first female Indigenous member of parliament, 2008

This is an edited sound recording of a Northern Territory politician, Marion Scrymgour (1960-), talking about becoming the first female Indigenous member of the NT Legislative Assembly. Scrymgour says that her 2001 election was a breakthrough for women, and particularly for Indigenous women. She says that before that election ...

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Bob Brown recalls the launch of the Blue Streak, 2006

This is an edited sound recording of Bob Brown recalling the excitement in Woomera in South Australia at the intended first launch of a Europa Blue Streak rocket from the nearby rocket range in June 1964. He tells how hundreds of families gathered to watch, only to be let down when the launch was cancelled with just seconds ...

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Steven Heathcote recalls portraying Ned Kelly, 2005

This is an edited sound recording of leading Australian ballet dancer Steven Heathcote. He is recalling dancing the role of the bushranger Ned Kelly in the Australian Ballet's 1990 production of 'My name is Edward Kelly'. He outlines the mixed public perceptions of the character and the emotional challenges of the role. ...