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Australian Story Season 24 Episodes
Season 24 Episode Guide
35 Episodes 2019 - 2021
Episode 1
Back on Track
30 mins
Legendary actor Jack Thompson was 48 hours away from death when his kidneys failed, forcing him into a lifetime of dialysis treatment. A purple truck from the desert kept him alive to film his most important role yet.
Episode 2
Call the Doctor
30 mins
A disillusioned young outback doctor experiences a series of traumatic events that lead to the most positive and unexpected of outcomes.
Episode 3
A Bitter Pill
31 mins
Survivors of the morning sickness drug Thalidomide take their fight for justice to Canberra's Parliament House in a last-ditch battle for recognition, compensation and an apology.
Episode 4
It Takes a Village
30 mins
Follow the triumphant story of Bhutanese conjoined twins Nima and Dawa after the ground-breaking Australian operation to separate them. With exclusive vision and interviews as they return to their remote Himalayan home.
Episode 5
Telling Tales
30 mins
Writer and comedian Rosie Waterland has made a successful career out of seeing the funny side of her traumatic childhood. Whether it's growing up with alcoholic parents, hiding from welfare workers as a "houso" kid or finding her father's 'dead' body', the darker things got in Rosie's life, the funnier she became. But as Rosie's star was rising, the trauma of her childhood caught up with her. It's been her three sisters, torn apart as children when the family disintegrated, who've been the ones helping her back to wholeness.
Episode 6
The Invisible Man
31 mins
The extraordinary story of Behrouz Boochani, the man who won Australia's richest literary award but remains unable to set foot in this country.
Episode 7
The Seekers: A World of their Own
30 mins
The Seekers blazed a trail for Australian music during the 1960's. In a television first, all four members come together to reminisce about their ride to the top and reveal the pain behind their famous break-up.
Episode 8
The Kids are Alright
30 mins
In an intimate portrait movie directors Jocelyn Moorhouse and PJ Hogan speak candidly about the challenges, heartbreak and unexpected joys of raising two severely autistic children and the sacrifices they have willingly made.
Episode 9
Mina Guli: Running on Empty
30 mins
How far would you push yourself for a cause you believe in? Mina Guli attempted 100 marathons in 100 days, showing the extent someone will push their body to raise awareness to the global water crisis and create change.
Episode 10
Cry Me a River
30 mins
When 21-year-old Menindee farmer Kate McBride found thousands of dying fish in the Darling River she was determined to tell what was happening and become a fierce advocate, testing the water and documenting locals concerns.
Episode 11
Out of the Box
30 mins
Vocal gymnast Kate Miller-Heidke opens up to Australian Story about the private pain behind the very personal song 'Zero Gravity', which scored her a place in the Grand Final at this year's Eurovision.
Episode 12
Just Call Me Bob
35 mins
Australian Story celebrates the extraordinary life and career of Bob Hawke, Australia's most popular prime minister, who died aged 89. Hawke won four elections, becoming Labor's longest-serving prime minister and overseeing profound economic and social reform. Eventually Hawke's fruitful relationship with treasurer Paul Keating soured and he lost the leadership of the party, bringing to an end a stellar career Hawke approached his final years content with his life and proud of his achievements, saying "I don't think about death, I'm not frightened of death". This intimate portrait features extensive archive, including rare photos from the family's private collection, and revealing interviews with Hawke, his biographer and second wife Blanche D'Alpuget and his three children.
Episode 13
The Wronged Man: Andrew Mallard
30 mins
When Pamela Lawrence was brutally murdered in her Perth shop in 1994 police focused their investigation around one suspect, Andrew Mallard. He quickly became the victim of a miscarriage of justice, spending twelve years in jail for a crime he didn't commit. Mallard's family fought successfully to release him, enlisting then WA Shadow Attorney-General John Quigley and journalist Colleen Egan who uncovered a trail of deception and police misconduct. In this updated episode of Andrew Mallard's story, Australian Story talks to the friends who stood by him until his untimely death last month.
Episode 13
The Wronged Man: Andrew Mallard
30 mins
When Pamela Lawrence was brutally murdered in her Perth shop in 1994 police focused their investigation around one suspect, Andrew Mallard. He quickly became the victim of a miscarriage of justice, spending twelve years in jail for a crime he didn't commit. Mallard's family fought successfully to release him, enlisting then WA Shadow Attorney-General John Quigley and journalist Colleen Egan who uncovered a trail of deception and police misconduct. In this updated episode of Andrew Mallard's story, Australian Story talks to the friends who stood by him until his untimely death last month.
Episode 14
Lady Justice
29 mins
This week's story tracks the fall and rise of Debbie Kilroy - from high security women's prisoner to high-profile crusading lawyer. Debbie was sentenced to six years for drug trafficking. She began university studies in jail and made history when she became the first woman with a serious conviction to be admitted as 'a fit and proper person' to the bar of Queensland. Earlier this year, Debbie mounted a spur-of-the-moment crowd-funding campaign to pay off the court debts of Indigenous women incarcerated in Western Australia for defaulting on fines. The campaign raised over $400,000 and has led to the release of 11 women from prison.
Episode 15
After the World Ended
33 mins
How do you carry on when your world is completely shattered in the blink of an eye? For Rin and Maz, losing their three children and Grandad Nick in the MH17 plane disaster was cataclysmic. But five years on, they want Australia to know they are doing okay.
Episode 16
An Innocent Abroad - Part 1
30 mins
Encouraged by her friends to look for love online, Queensland teacher and mother-of-two Yoshe Taylor swiftly found herself immersed in the stuff of nightmares. Communications with a man calling himself "Precious Max" led to a visit to see him in Cambodia. When Yoshe cooled on a relationship, her suitor switched tacks and suggested she work with him in an arts and crafts business instead. The business was revealed to be an international drug smuggling racket that had also ensnared other unsuspecting Australians. Sentenced to 23 years in a Cambodian prison for unwittingly carrying heroin, Yoshe was helpless and largely forgotten until a group of lawyers teamed up to fight her case. Six years later, she shares her story for the first time, in a warning to others about the perils of online romance.
Episode 17
An Innocent Abroad - Part 2
36 mins
Left alone in a Cambodian prison, Australian mother-of-two Yoshe Taylor had all but given up fighting for her release. "I actually thought the death penalty was a much better idea than being in jail for 23 years," she says. The local court rejected Yoshe's claims that she was set up by a drug syndicate via a dating website and she was concerned for her children's ongoing welfare. "I did not want to spend 23 years away from my children - it's just causing them pain, hoping that I'm coming home," she says. It wasn't until a group of lawyers joined forces that the tide started to turn in Yoshe's favour. The lawyers discovered that three other Australian victims had been scammed by the same drug syndicate and then released - but that somehow this evidence hadn't been shared in time to rescue Yoshe from serving six years in jail. Now back in Australia, Yoshe is sharing her story for the first time, in a warning to others about the perils of online romance.
Episode 18
Last Train to Boree Creek
28 mins
Remembering the late Tim Fischer, who died on August 21, 2019, age 73. A widely respected and quirky political figure, Mr Fischer's remarkable career began as a 20-year-old conscript fighting in the jungles in Vietnam and ended in the Vatican as Australia's top diplomat. But the Boy from Boree Creek (a tiny town near Wagga Wagga) made his greatest contribution in politics as the deputy prime minister, and will be remembered for the key role he played in reforming Australia's gun laws. Recently as his health faded, Tim's family invited Australian Story to join them on what turned out to be one of his last trips to his home town of Boree Creek.
Episode 19
The Final Bow
30 mins
The Choir of Hard Knocks became a household name when it burst onto television screens in 2007, making rock stars out of 50 of the most unlikely people. Front and centre, clapping and crying, was its choir master Jonathon Welch. Made up of the homeless, drug addicts and alcoholics, the choir sold out concerts at the Sydney Opera House, amassed an Aria award and a gold album. But long after the cameras stopped rolling, Jonathon kept the choir going on his own. Now as Jonathon bids farewell to his beloved choir, he reveals the deeply personal reasons behind his departure.
Episode 20
The Good Fight
30 mins
When Newcastle radio host Jill Emberson was told she had terminal ovarian cancer, she opted to go public and go loud. She discovered her disease was the most neglected and deadliest of all womens' cancers and vowed to improve awareness and research funding. Her mission took her from scientific labs, to street protests and to Parliament House in Canberra, where her message finally cut through. This is the story of Jill's fight for her life and for a better deal for generations of women to come.
Episode 21
A Fortunate Life: Part 1
30 mins
As he prepares to celebrate his 80th birthday, an uncharacteristically reflective Paul Hogan looks back over his remarkable life and career. In the first of two episodes, the actor and comedian talks about his working-class background, sudden fame in his early 30s, his relationship with John "Strop" Cornell and the genesis of Crocodile Dundee, one of the most successful independent films ever made. Paul's son Todd, speaking publicly for the first time, talks movingly of the disruptions the family faced as their father became a star virtually overnight. Featuring previously unseen childhood photos and candid insights from family, friends and colleagues, this is Paul Hogan as you've never seen him before.
Episode 22
A Fortunate Life: Part 2
31 mins
Following the success of the movie Crocodile Dundee, Paul Hogan had the world at his feet. But when he left his wife of 30 years for Dundee co-star Linda Kozlowski the media turned on him. Paul talks candidly about the hostile media attention, the difficulty in living up to the success of Crocodile Dundee, his nine-year battle with the Australian Tax Office, his friend John Cornell's battle with Parkinson's disease and his career renaissance since meeting director Dean Murphy. Featuring candid insights from family, friends and colleagues, this is Paul Hogan as you've never seen him before.
Episode 23
Perfect Strangers
30 mins
Emma and Richard Austin endured ten years of gruelling fertility treatments in their unsuccessful quest for a baby. Two months after making the difficult decision to stop IVF, the offer of a lifetime arrived when a mutual friend introduced them to a Brisbane couple. Jessica and JP DiZane's family was complete and they had leftover embryos that they didn't want to destroy. After a series of heartfelt and challenging discussions between the couples, an altruistic donation led to Emma and Richard becoming the parents of baby Henry. One year later, the couples come together to discuss how a surprise gift helped to solve everyone's problems.
Episode 24
Getting Away with Murder
30 mins
We go behind the scenes at the inquest into one of Australia's most chilling cold cases, the 1975 murder of Perth brothel madam Shirley Finn. From the outset, rumours of police and political involvement swirled around the case, many believing that Shirley Finn was silenced when she threatened to reveal the secrets of powerful figures in Western Australia. When we last visited the story, Shirley Finn's daughter Bridget Shewring and author Juliet Wills had succeeded in obtaining a coronial inquest after a decade-long battle. Tonight we follow the two women through the twists and turns of the inquiry as they grapple with new allegations of police and political corruption and we hear from crucial witnesses, fronting the cameras for the first time.
Episode 25
Dancing with the Dead
30 mins
When the body of a well-dressed man was found on Adelaide's Somerton Beach in 1948, police assumed that somebody would soon come forward to identify him. But nobody did. More than 70 years later, the mysterious case of the "Somerton Man", as he became known, regularly makes the lists of Australia's most baffling unsolved cases. Was he murdered? Was he a Russian spy? Was it suicide? Or was he the victim of a love triangle? In an effort to finally unearth the truth, Adelaide University Professor Derek Abbott is pushing for the Somerton Man's remains to be exhumed. Professor Abbott has a more personal motivation to solve the case: He is married to a woman he believes is the Somerton Man's granddaughter.
Episode 26
Crime and Punishment
31 mins
For the past decade, Australian Story producer Belinda Hawkins has been following the case of Jock Palfreeman, a young Australian man convicted in Bulgaria for a stabbing murder he says he didn't commit. He claims he was acting in self-defence when he was protecting a Gypsy who was being attacked; the court found him guilty of murder with hooliganism. When Jock was released on parole recently having served 12 years in jail, he and his father, Simon Palfreeman, could have been forgiven for thinking their nightmare was over. But a new crisis unfolded when Jock was caught up in a bitter stoush when politicians argued against his parole. He remains in limbo.
Episode 27
Boots and All
31 mins
Former Socceroos captain and respected football analyst Craig Foster has been an outspoken, sometimes controversial public broadcaster, driven by an unrivalled passion for the game. But privately, he has led another life, working with those less fortunate than himself. And in November last year, when a fellow football international, Bahraini refugee Hakeem Al-Araibi, was arrested in Thailand and threatened with extradition back to the country where he had been imprisoned and tortured, Craig Foster led a global campaign to free him. Now he and Hakeem reveal the full story of that campaign, and how close it came to disaster.
Episode 28
Eye of the Storm
29 mins
In the NSW mid-coast town of Kempsey, principal Mark Morrison brushes close to the rules to give troubled teens their last chance at a high school education. At Macleay Vocational College, the former private school teacher and rugby league coach does whatever it takes to get students past the high-security fence and into a classroom. These kids mostly come from generational disadvantage, where poverty, drug addiction, domestic violence and/or cultural trauma is the norm. Life has taught them unacceptable behaviour but Mark Morrison hasn't given up on them. In fact, as the end of the school calendar draws close, he's looking at a record-breaking number of student graduations.
Episode 29
Art of the Possible: Vincent Fantauzzo
29 mins
Award-winning Melbourne artist Vincent Fantauzzo doesn't hold with the idea of the starving artist. Instead, he's made a spectacular life for himself despite leaving school at 13 barely able to read or write. His teenage years were spent working menial jobs and dabbling in petty crime until his boxing coach encouraged him to follow his passion for art. When he was outed for plagiarism at art school, his trouble with words was finally diagnosed as dyslexia. After successfully completing his fine arts degree he forged a successful career as one of Australia's best known portrait artists. Heath Ledger, Julia Gillard, Baz Luhrmann and wife Asher Keddie are some of his high-profile subjects. Today Vincent no longer sees his dyslexia as a disability. Instead he calls it the gift that allows him to see the world and his subjects from a different perspective.
Episode 30
Last Drinks
28 mins
When Shanna Whan realised she was an alcoholic, she didn't just decide to give up drinking. She drew on her experience to start a one-woman campaign to start a conversation about the pervasive culture of alcohol in rural Australia. And she took the brave step of going public with her own 20-year battle with the bottle, as a way of encouraging others who want to change to step forward and seek help. Now her online community "Sober in the Country" is spreading the message throughout the bush: "It's OK to say no to a beer."
Episode 31
Forever Young
30 mins
Ursula Barwick was 17 years old when she vanished without a trace. Her family dropped her to the train station on the NSW Central Coast in Spring 1987. She was headed to Sydney to start a new job and was to call when she got there. But that phone call never came. Desperate and worried, Peter Barwick reported his daughter missing but police at the time failed to prioritise the case. Friends and family were not interviewed and potential leads were missed. For the next three decades, those closest to Ursula lived with an enduring heartache, not knowing if she was dead or alive. When Ursula's fate was finally discovered by two new detectives in 2016, it raised uncomfortable questions for NSW Police as to why her disappearance had gone unsolved for so long.
Episode 32
What Doesn't Kill You
30 mins
Late last year Ghanim Al Shnen was working on a building site when a metal bar he was holding struck overhead wires. He suffered catastrophic injuries that resulted in the amputation of both his arms. Now, in a world-first procedure, he is being fitted with two robotic arms that he will control with his mind. Overseeing this complex process is renowned orthopaedic surgeon Dr Munjed al Muderis. The two men have much in common. Both fled Iraq in fear of their lives, arriving in Australia by boat. Boat spent time in detention centres where they used the time to educate themselves. To adapt to a life with no arms is profoundly difficult but Ghanim has impressed everyone with his resilience, positivity and good humour. Australian Story filmed with Ghanim over six months, following this medical miracle as it unfolded.
Episode 33
Out of the Blue
30 mins
When Justine Barwick went for a swim off her yacht in Queensland's iconic Whitsundays region last year, she had no idea her life would change in minutes. She was bitten by a shark just as she dived under water in Cid Harbour. A dramatic twilight helicopter rescue ferried the unconscious woman to Mackay hospital where surgeons managed against all odds to save her life and her leg. Her attack became the first of three in a matter of weeks in the Whitsundays. Five attacks since September last year have ignited a heated conversation about shark control in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park area. In the midst of the debate, Justine Barwick remains resolute about maintaining a positive attitude about her recovery and the Whitsundays.
Episode 34
Out of the Woods
29 mins
From a homeless alcoholic living in the wild to academic success, this is the next chapter in the inspiring comeback story of forest-dweller Gregory Smith. When he left school at 14, dogged by the crushing assessment from teachers that he was "functioning at the lower level of the dull range", Gregory had already endured a violent upbringing and months in an orphanage. At 35, struggling with a lifetime of trauma, he opted to escape into the wild with no desire to return to the society that had failed him so dismally. In an incredible turnaround, he emerged from the rainforest and gained an undergraduate degree and then a PhD at Southern Cross University. This powerful story explores how Gregory is now using his voice to help others sleeping rough.
Episode 35
Behind the Mask: Mike Willesee
30 mins
Remember the life of legendary broadcaster Mike Willesee who died of throat cancer in March 2019. Mike's career spanned five decades, shaping current affairs in Australia and was known as the best interviewer in the business.