The unusual life of Elizabeth Macarthur

FromConversations

Start listening View podcast show

The unusual life of Elizabeth Macarthur

FromConversations

ratings:

Length:

51 minutes

Released:

Apr 6, 2022

Format:

Podcast episode

Description

Novelist Kate Grenville on the story of love, grief and mental illness she unearthed when she revisited the letters of colonial gentlewoman Elizabeth Macarthur

Released:

Apr 6, 2022

Format:

Podcast episode

Titles in the series (100)

Spend an hour in someone else's life. Conversations draws you deeper into the life story of someone you may have heard about, but never met.

Skip carousel

A work of the heart: High school English teacher, Brendan James Murray with funny, heartbreaking, inspirational and strange tales from his working life by Conversations
52 min listen
The five personalities of China: Jason Yat-sen Li on how his family story, marked by war, migration and knighthoods, and his own working life helped him embrace the complexities and contradictions of modern China by Conversations
54 min listen
Michelle versus the Atlantic Ocean by Conversations
55 min listen
Jessica Cottis — inside the colour of sound: Jessica is an orchestral conductor and also a synesthete who 'sees' colour in her mind's eye. As an organ virtuoso she performed in some of Europe's great cathedrals. When forced to retire, Jessica re-trained as a conductor, making her debut at the BBC Proms. Australian born, she returns often, to work with the Canberra Symphony Orchestra by Conversations
53 min listen
Let them ring — Paul Livingston on making a great big noise: Paul is a musician, author and performer best known for his comedic alter-ego, Flacco. In recent years he's joined an eclectic band of people who ring the bells at his local church tower in inner Sydney. He's also been working as a volunteer, listening to and writing down the stories of people at the end of their lives by Conversations
51 min listen
The gay preacher: Anthony Venn-Brown was a gay teenager when he gave his life to God. He tried to destroy his sexuality by exorcism and 'gay conversion' therapy before he became a rock star Pentecostal preacher. Then everything came crashing down by Conversations
53 min listen
Quandamooka Country to Canberra — Dr Valerie Cooms: Aunty Kath, Oodgeroo Noonuccal, was Valerie's godmother, and just one of many staunch political figures on both sides of her family. Val worked her way to becoming a powerful advocate for Aboriginal people and her family CW: ATSI listeners please use discretion when listening as the program references people who have died. by Conversations
56 min listen
River, desert, island — Julie Janson's stories: After years teaching in the remote Northern Territory, Julie began to trace her ancestry among the Darug people around the Hawkesbury River. Her most recent novel was written in response to Kate Grenville's The Secret River by Conversations
51 min listen
Growing up in old Broome: Anne Poelina, the daughter of a Timorese pearl diver and an Indigenous mother, has always been drawn back to her home town of Broome (R) by Conversations
48 min listen
Rebel doctor Caroline de Costa — smuggling condoms and scaring priests: Being a single mother and student doctor in 1960s Ireland was merely the 'first act' in Caroline's gutsy adult life. She became a pioneering obstetrician, delivering sometimes contraband contraception, and babies, for fifty years by Conversations
53 min listen
Wakefield's Kristen Dunphy — turning pain into gold: The screenwriter and showrunner on writing television drama, her struggles with mental health, and how her time in psychiatric hospitals inspired the acclaimed ABC TV drama series Wakefield (CW: drug references and suicidal ideation. Please use discretion when listening) by Conversations
47 min listen
The girl who ran away to sea — the making of Kathryn: Working as a deckhand on a fishing trawler became the refuge Kathryn Heyman needed from the wreckage of her early life. Hitchhiking to Darwin, then working in the Timor Sea, far from her old life, helped her remake herself (CW: Sexual assault) by Conversations
52 min listen
The man with five lives: Roger Pulvers lived an adventurous life in the Soviet Union, Japan and Poland, before he chose a whole new identity in 1976 (R) by Conversations
52 min listen
The turtle effect — their mysterious allure and surprising history: Louise Pryke returns with a cultural history of turtles. With stories ranging from ancient times to modern day, and from turtle tears to Al Capone, Lou attempts to understand why they are such a widely-loved creature by Conversations
48 min listen
The Tsars, the lady-in-waiting and Potoroo Palace: Alexandra Seddon with the story of her aristocratic Russian family and their legacy, which helped her found a wildlife refuge for potoroos, koalas, snakes and kangaroos (CW: childhood abuse, historic suicide) by Conversations
49 min listen
Kyle Mewburn — transwoman superhero: Kyle was a 55-year old children's author and husband when she began living her truth as a trans woman by Conversations
52 min listen
If these (dry-stone) walls could talk — Bruce Munday: Bruce, a grazier and former teacher, fell in love with building dry stone walls and then began to delve into their fascinating history by Conversations
27 min listen
Dr Anne Aly's passion for justice: When Anne was ten, she walked onto the school playground and a girl spat in her face after calling her ‘a dirty, Arab Muslim’. To her shock, her teacher did nothing. The incident changed how she saw the world, and helped set her on the path to becoming the first Australian Muslim woman elected to parliament (R) by Conversations
53 min listen
Mapping two and a half million guitars: Even the cheapest guitars are made in part from trees which are becoming increasingly rare. Chris Gibson's curiosity about these timbers led him on a worldwide journey to understand the guitar's past and future by Conversations
53 min listen
Mick Gooda on working for a better day for all of us: A Gangulu elder, Mick was Co-Commissioner of the high profile Royal Commission into the Protection and Detention of Children in the Northern Territory. Mick's fierce advocacy for young people is due in part to a sliding doors moment in his teens (CW: Discussion of suicide. And for ATSI listeners please be advised this conversation contains the names of people who have died. Take care when listening.) by Conversations
50 min listen
Christiaan Van Vuuren's fully sick life: While confined to hospital with a rare form of tuberculosis, Christiaan found love and an entirely new path (R) by Conversations
51 min listen
The silver medal which changed Laurie Lawrence: As a child, the superstar swim coach lived with a chronic lung condition, and had part of a lung removed. In 1956, a huge event held right in his family's backyard changed the course of his life (R) by Conversations
52 min listen
What might a kindness revolution look like?: Hugh Mackay believes humans are ‘hardwired’ to behave kindly. He returns to the program to talk about how his early-pandemic prophecies on community, loneliness, and resilience have played out by Conversations
50 min listen
Linda Jaivin on the sprawling, messy history of China: From kung-fu to tofu, tea to trade routes, sages to silk, China has influenced cuisine, commerce, military strategy, aesthetics and philosophy across the world for thousands of years. Linda Jaivin has written a new account of China which pulls together its sprawling history by Conversations
51 min listen
A wild mother and her loving son: Ianto Ware with the story of growing up in the suburbs of Adelaide with his radical feminist lesbian mother Dimity by Conversations
53 min listen
Where the Music Began — a story collection: Vic Simms, Jen Cloher, Vika and Linda Bull, Rob Hirst, Elena Kats-Chernin, William Barton with stories from their formative years by Conversations
52 min listen
The struggle and strife behind Steven Bradbury's win at Salt Lake City: At the age of 20, speed skater Steven Bradbury nearly died on the ice. Then he won history's most unexpected gold medal (R) by Conversations
53 min listen
My second family is in Vanuatu: Physiotherapist Sky Fosbrooke’s stint as a volunteer health worker led to a deep attachment to the people of a small South Santo village (R) by Conversations
52 min listen
Bob Rogers — The Beatles, the radio, and me: A broadcasting veteran, Bob spent 70 years on air, hosting TV shows as well as topping the radio ratings in Sydney. In 1964 he was sent to London to join The Beatles on their only Australian tour by Conversations
41 min listen
Patrick Johnson's golden run: How a boy who grew up on a fishing trawler became the first man in Australia to run 100 metres in under 10 seconds (R) by Conversations
51 min listen

More Episodes from Conversations

Skip carousel

Mawunyo's life in love, journalism and hip hop: Mawunyo Gbogbo grew up in a church-going Ghanaian-Australian family in the mining town of Muswellbrook, NSW. As a young woman she grabbed the chance to further her media career in New York City at the Bible of Hip Hop, The Source by Conversations
47 min listen
Wendy McCarthy's bold life: How a sheltered girl who grew up on a soldier settlement farm in country New South Wales grew up to become a feminist trailblazer by Conversations
52 min listen
Upside down in Bass Strait: Ocean racing navigator Will Oxley first learned his trade through celestial navigation, using a sextant and the stars. He then began ocean racing around the world, and in 1998, he found himself upside down in a storm-wrecked Bass Strait (R) by Conversations
53 min listen
Briana, Max and Freddy: love, trains and mouth music: Briana Blackett was a journalist working in Qatar when she realised her baby son Max wasn't responding to his name. When Max was diagnosed with autism, and in time her second son Freddy was too, she left Doha to begin an entirely different life by Conversations
49 min listen
The caving time lord: Dr Kira Westaway is a geochronologist who places modern and ancient humans in context by dating things found in caves. For Kira, how we understand ourselves now, is tied up in the past by Conversations
50 min listen
The hunt for Hitler's horses: Art detective Arthur Brand met neo-Nazis, billionaire collectors and underground art dealers on his hunt for the two enormous bronze horse sculptures once owned by Hitler. It was all part of his quest to find the criminal masterminds attempting to sell the artwork on the black market (R) by Conversations
52 min listen
Music, mothering and Martha Wainwright: The folk singer on the songs in her blood, Montreal, and the intergenerational conflict between professional creativity and family by Conversations
50 min listen
Oumuamua's secrets: Avi Loeb was Harvard's top astronomer when he became intrigued by reports of a pancake-shaped object the size of a football field hurtling through our solar system (R) by Conversations
52 min listen
Anita Jacoby uncovers painful secrets hidden by her loving father: Anita Jacoby has spent decades uncovering the truth about other people, but when she turned the lens on her own father, she was shocked by Conversations
50 min listen
Building a school for the world’s poorest children — Gemma Sisia's story: A donation of land and $10 was all Australian-born Gemma needed to establish The School of St Jude in Tanzania (R) by Conversations
55 min listen
The audacious athletes who cheated their way to the top: From dodgy marathon runners to table tennis stars who 'dope' their paddles, there are few sports which can claim immunity from cheating by Conversations
52 min listen
Teddy Tahu Rhodes and the letter that changed his life: He's one of the world's most acclaimed opera stars, but Teddy Tahu Rhodes did everything he could, for a very long time, to avoid his destiny on stage by Conversations
51 min listen
The hunt for the world’s largest owl: Wildlife biologist Jonathan Slaght on his adventurous quest to save the rare, shaggy fish owls of Russia's Far East (R) by Conversations
51 min listen
Maggie Dent — helping teenage boys grow into good men: Maggie grew up around boys, then raised four sons of her own. Now she helps parents understand the changes teenage boys are going through as they cross the bridge from boyhood to manhood (R) by Conversations
52 min listen
Jackie Huggins: my father Jack: Jackie Huggins with the story of her father Jack, who was a surf lifesaver, a rugby league player, a soldier taken prisoner in the Fall of Singapore, and the first Indigenous Australian to work in the post office by Conversations
51 min listen
Lost at sea: losing faith as a Navy Chaplain: How the Royal Australian Navy's top chaplain lost his faith by Conversations
51 min listen
Two spoons and a dugout canoe — the story of Jock McLaren: Tom Gilling with the story of how a Scottish-born soldier named Jock McLaren became one of Australia's greatest World War II guerrilla fighters (R) by Conversations
51 min listen
Don Winslow — private eye, safari guide and inside the narco wars: The US crime novelist on his unlikely career progression, and how he uses his books as a way of showing the human stories behind the headlines of the opioid epidemic in America by Conversations
52 min listen
Di Morrissey and the tragedy on Lovett Bay: Di Morrissey grew up in a tiny village on the water, only accessible by rowboat, with film star Chips Rafferty and poet Dorothea Mackellar as her neighbours. When she was a young woman, a tragedy on the bay altered her life (R) by Conversations
52 min listen

Related podcast episodes

Skip carousel

Indira Naidoo: losing a sister and finding healing: After her younger sister died suddenly, broadcaster Indira Naidoo's world was shattered. Then she turned to her urban landscape for solace (CW: mentions suicide) by Conversations
53 min listen
Meet Ash Barty's mindset coach — Ben Crowe: Ben works with athletes including the Richmond Football Club and surfer Steph Gilmore in a counter-intuitive way. He helps them own their flaws, and find an intrinsic purpose so they can take both wins and losses in their stride. Ash Barty credits Ben with helping her become World Number 1 (R) by Conversations
53 min listen
The hero of The Zebra: Hannah Kent with the true story of the Prussians who fled Europe for a new life in South Australia in 1838, then met a malevolent doctor on board their ship by Conversations
53 min listen
Episode 130: Writing into (and out of) Trope, Cliche, and Abstraction - Anna Bruno by The Writing University Podcast
44 min listen
Trinny Woodall’s guide to everyday glamour: Lorraine and Trish kick off Series 3 with the help of makeover queen and beauty entrepreneur Trinny Woodall. Discover her everyday beauty and style secrets for midlife and find out how she built a cosmetics empire from scratch in her fifties. ... by Postcards From Midlife
49 min listen
CM 137: David DeSteno on Emotions that Lead to Success: What if achieving our goals is not about willpower but about gratitude, compassion and pride? It’s natural to experience negative emotions, like discouragement, frustration, and even fear when we’re working on something hard. by Curious Minds at Work
55 min listen
829: Gemma Hartley: Author of Fed Up: Emotional Labor, Women, and the Way Forward by So Money with Farnoosh Torabi
37 min listen
Everything you need to know about the menopause (in less than 1 hour): Join Lorraine and Trish in this one off special episode for World Menopause Day as they share everything they've discovered about the menopause during Series 1 and 2 of Postcards From Midlife. From the 34 symptoms women can experience, to what... by Postcards From Midlife
50 min listen
S18, Ep9 Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock: one of Britain's foremost space scientists on belonging and the meaning of life: CW: miscarriage Maggie Aderin Pocock MBE is a space scientist, educator and broadcaster - and quite possibly the first How To Fail guest who has her own Barbie doll. Fascinated with space from an early age, she even built her own telescope as a... by How To Fail With Elizabeth Day
55 min listen
Lance Olsen : My Red Heaven: “Lance Olsen locates his porous, alluring, heartbreaking, and haunted narrative in Berlin on a day in 1927. Poised at a moment of such hope and doom, it is a ravishing meditation on history, on time, and on what it is to be alive.” —Carole Maso by Between The Covers : Conversations with Writers in Fiction, Nonfiction & Poetry
129 min listen
Teachers Are Not Classroom Therapists with Elizabeth Peterson: As teachers, we wear so many hats every single day. We are organizers, facilitators, cheerleaders, coaches, nurses, janitors, and so much more. Often, you may even feel like you’re expected to fit the role of “classroom... by Beginning Teacher Talk: A Podcast for New Elementary Teachers
29 min listen
Using Genre to Create Highly Engaged Readers: Welcome back to the Not So Wimpy Teacher podcast! Do you love teaching reading? Whether your answer is yes or no, I know you will find so much value in this episode! I invited a good friend of mine, Sara Marye, to join us on the podcast... by Not So Wimpy Teacher Podcast
27 min listen
Intuitive Writing And Book Marketing With Becca Syme: Do you sometimes just ‘know' when a story is right? Does something ‘click' during the writing process and suddenly things make sense? Do you lean into your curiosity and emotion when it comes to writing and marketing? If yes, by The Creative Penn Podcast For Writers
70 min listen
184 Avoid The Fish Out Of Water Syndrome; Calvin Wayman: Calvin Wayman is an author, speaker, and social media entrepreneur. Most of all, he's aware of what it means to be mindful. He was determined to pursue his dream of working for himself, so he laid out his plans, he put his mind to it and in the Spring of... by Mindfulness Mode
35 min listen
#330 Nick Hornby: Getting Published, Dealing With Rejection: Nick Hornby is the author of many novels, including High Fidelity, About a Boy, Juliet, Naked and others, and now he has a new book Just Like You which I thoroughly enjoyed and is out in paperback.  He is also the author of Fever Pitch, a book... by Ctrl Alt Delete
29 min listen
The Magic of Five-Minute Field Trips 003: How to calm and focus your students - and invite imagination into your classroom! by Beginning Teacher Talk: A Podcast for New Elementary Teachers
16 min listen
PT Management of Persistent Post-Concussion Symptoms: PT, PTA – this podcast may help you meet your continuing education requirements. Access Relias Academy to review course certificate information.  Are you aware that a person can have persistent symptoms for months or even years after a concussion? C... by Stretch: Relias Rehab Therapy Education
61 min listen
Dr Easkey Britton - marine social scientist, writer and ocean leader from Ireland, with a deep love and passion for surfing and the sea. Her work explores the relationship between people and nature.: 446 by Tough Girl Podcast
51 min listen
Scottish American Folklore: Gold, Ghosts and Enchanted Chanters by Stories of Scotland
37 min listen
#96 – Keen on Yoga Podcast with Daniel Simpson: Daniel presents ancient texts for modern times. He is the of The Truth of Yoga, a comprehensive guide to the history of practice. His approach combines scholarly knowledge with humour and insight, making yoga philosophy accessible and... by Keen on Yoga Podcast
66 min listen
Clare Chambers - You're Booked: This week we’re delighted to welcome the author of one of our favourite novels of recent times Clare Chambers! Clare’s novel Small Pleasures was a Women’s Prize nominee and a book of the Year in The Times, Daily Telegraph, Evening Sta... by You're Booked
58 min listen
Reduce Overwhelm in Less than 10 Min 002: What I finally learned to do so I could become a better teacher by Beginning Teacher Talk: A Podcast for New Elementary Teachers
12 min listen
What is it like being a refugee? with Pajtim Statovci and Dina Nayeri – books podcast: For Refugee Week, two writers discuss their experiences as asylum seekers and the challenges facing refugees around the world by The Guardian Books podcast
32 min listen
Do I Stay Christian? - With Brian McLaren: This week, friend of the podcast Brian McLaren returns to ask an important question with me... do I stay Christian? Enjoy. Resources: BrianMclaren.net Center for Action and Contemplation Do I Stay Christian (Book) by Rethinking Faith
52 min listen
How to Find Your Spiritual Soul Mate & True Love! Angelic Guidance | Michael Sandler & Jessica Lee: Michael Sandler and Jessica Lee how to navigate relationships, spiritual compatibility & incompatibility, heal old wounds and energy that keeps you stuck in bad relationships that just don’t work out, when you're headed down the spiritual road. by Inspire Nation Show with Michael Sandler
63 min listen
Empowered Empaths: Welcome to Fantasy Island: Join counselors Melanie Vann and Melissa Richards with host Kristin Sunanta Walker as they talk about Fantasy Island. Is this really where you want to live? How do highly empathic people find themselves dwelling there and how narcissists weave a web... by Mental Health News Radio
56 min listen
Jennifer Wallace (Toxic Achievement): Jennifer Wallace is an accomplished journalist who frequently contributes to The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post. A graduate of Harvard, Wallace began her professional career at CBS “60 Minutes,” and is currently a Journalism Fellow at... by Templeton Ideas Podcast
35 min listen
Christianity as Neighbor (Part 2) by Learning How to See with Brian McLaren
58 min listen
Christianity as Neighbor (Part 1) by Learning How to See with Brian McLaren
64 min listen
S18, Ep8 Dawn French on fertility, friendship and being an anti-perfectionist: CW: suicide; infertility I know, I know, we don't normally release episodes on a Friday but when you're offered DAWN FRENCH, you release an episode on whatever blimmin' day of the week you can (and preferably all seven of them). I am so delighted to... by How To Fail With Elizabeth Day
64 min listen

Discover this podcast and so much more

The unusual life of Elizabeth Macarthur

The unusual life of Elizabeth Macarthur

Description

Titles in the series (100)

More Episodes from Conversations

Related podcast episodes