Australian Story

This week's series return of Australian Story is about an unlikely love affair between a successful advertising executive and one of the world's more endangered and endearing creatures. Dof Dickinson spent 20 years building up her own advertising agency in Sydney. She was unexpectedly commissioned to make a documentary about the endangered Flatback Turtles of Port Hedland and their struggle to survive in one of the world's busiest shipping ports. With only meagre funds on offer, Dickinson soon found that her growing passion for the Flatbacks was outstripping the budget - but she was hooked. In the process of making the film she discovered one of the causes of the loss of turtle habitat and is now on a mission to find a solution.

Long before celebrity culture assumed its current dizzy dimensions, there was a young politician's wife whose every move seemed to create a headline. She's Lady Susan Renouf and she became best known for her marriages to a succession of rich and powerful men – and the dramatic divorces that followed. In this candid 'access all areas' look back she reminisces about a turbulent life story populated with some of the best known names of the era – from international business tycoon Robert Sangster to Mick Jagger and Jerry Hall. Lady Renouf first came to public attention in the sixties as the photogenic young wife of rising Liberal Party star, Andrew Peacock. Together they were compared to President John Kennedy and his wife Jackie. Now in her mid seventies, and happily single, Lady Renouf has been winning new admirers with her seemingly unsinkable warmth and humour in the face of a grim prognosis following the discovery of advanced ovarian cancer.

Long before Steve Irwin and decades before the Bush Tucker Man, a pair of brothers called the Leylands bestrode the continent as pioneers of outback film making. For 30 years, their television programs attracted huge audiences and their partnership remained strong. Mike Leyland died six years ago. This week the surviving Leyland, Mal, reveals the inside story of their rise and fall. And for the first time he talks about why they went their separate ways...

It's been a while since an Australian made family movie really resonated at the box office. But Paper Planes based on a true story has been a hit with the critics and with audiences. It's also reported to have created a craze for the lost art of folding sheets of paper. What's less well known is that it all started with an episode of Australian Story... This week's program looks at how that unfolded – and at what's happened to the young men who featured in our program six years ago...

This week's program explores another mind bending tale from the front line of the revolution in human reproduction – the making of yet another unlikely modern family. Last year Aminah Hart revealed her extraordinary 'back to front' story of meeting her baby's father for the first time after the birth and then falling in love with him. It generated a huge international reaction and brought a number of offers from movie producers eager to put the story on the big screen. Aminah Hart thought her case was the 'only one in the world'. But it turned out there was another couple, just down the road, in a similar situation. But when Kerrie Hancox and George Deka established THEIR modern family, they discovered the world was not entirely prepared for a day when 'clients' began behaving like people...

Dr Jamal Rifi is the sort of GP many of us think no longer exists. He runs a single practice, still does house calls, and cheerfully sees his patients out of hours. He's also an influential and outspoken voice in the Muslim community at a time of exceptional scrutiny and debate. But his views have brought him critics as well as admirers.

Good neighbours are worth having whether you live in an apartment or a suburban block or the bush. This week's program features an epic saga of former schoolyard mates, now neighbours falling out. It centres on events that are still unfolding in the scenic wheat belt of Western Australia. It began when one farmer decided to plant genetically modified crops near his neighbour's certified organic farm... What started with words of warning over a farm fence soon escalated to the Supreme Court and a series of international headlines. It's divided the small community of Kojonup and set former friends against each other, with unexpected consequences. With the legal case about to return to the court room, we hear from the two farmers, and their families, for the first time.

This week's program concludes the powerful story of childhood friends caught up in an epic neighbours' dispute in a small community in rural WA. Kojonup is a small town in the scenic wheat belt region. Michael Baxter and Stephen Marsh grew up as schoolyard friends. They were good neighbours as well. But that all changed dramatically when Michael decided to grow genetically modified canola and seeds ended up in Stephen's certified organic oat field. The stakes escalated as powerful interest groups got involved. Soon both men found themselves on opposing sides in the court room as international observers looked on...

This week's program leaps across decades and geography to tell the inspiring story of a young family and the death of a beloved sporting legend. Peter Jackson was the gifted 'larrikin' who forged a spectacular career in rugby league and as 'the Mattie Johns of his day' on TV. His wife Siobhan matched him for high spirits and 'life of the party' personality. But his sudden death, aged 33, from a heroin overdose uncovered a harrowing story of school sexual abuse in his teens. With three small children to raise Siobhan Jackson faced big challenges. For the last year she's been teaching Indigenous children as the well regarded Principal of one of the most remote schools in Australia...

This week’s program is about a rickety old fishing boat. But appearances can be deceiving. The inconspicuous MV Krait ferried 14 special operatives thousands of kilometres behind enemy lines into Singapore harbour during World War 2. The mission? To blow up enemy shipping right in the heart of Japan's wartime stronghold. The men involved in this extraordinary raid hailed from the top secret Z Special Unit. For 91-year-old Z Special veteran Douglas Herps, telling the story of MV Krait, and preserving it for future generations, has become his final mission. Into the Lion's Den also introduces Roma Page, whose husband Bob Page was on board MV Krait. She only came to understand Bob's bravery and ultimate fate many years later.

This week's program takes us into the world of a family called the Newlings. On the face of it, their lives seemed perfect. Phil Newling recalls looking at his three young sons and saying 'how long is this going to last – can we just lock this in now and not change anything?' But when the bright boys became teenagers lightning struck – and not just once, but twice. This program charts the story of Christopher 'Cricket' Newling and his younger brother Nic. It documents a remarkable journey back from the brink and a life now dedicated to helping to others.

This week's program has the happiest of endings - one nobody would have predicted a decade ago. When Australian Story first met young Detective Sergeant Simon Illingworth, he’d taken a brave stand against crooked colleagues and was paying a terrible price. He'd been bashed, isolated and threatened by police connected to Victoria’s notorious Gangland Wars. His personal life was non-existent and he was he says 'Victoria's most ineligible bachelor'. But for Simon Illingworth, speaking out was a 'game-changer'.

Until recently, Gerry Gimblett was the popular principal of a large South East Queensland high school. When she was considering retirement, she took a path no one expected. Instead of buying a campervan and heading for the coast, she and husband Chris and son Nick, went west. Mrs Gimblett bought the pub in the tiny outback town of Yaraka (population twenty). Already she's making progress in her mission to turnaround the declining fortunes of a place described by Lee Kernaghan as 'one of the most special' in Australia...

This week's program returns to the spectacular Hunter Valley property at the heart of a story that's become the most popular in the history of Australian Story. It's Tarwyn Park and it's where acclaimed rural innovator and racehorse breeder Peter Andrews turned the 'environmentally bankrupt' farmland into green and fertile pasture. The episodes on Peter Andrews consistently polled as the most popular ever with viewers. But Tarwyn Park has been sold to make way for a Korean owned open cut coal mine. It's a decision that's intensified a family feud between Peter Andrews and his son Stuart...

In this week's program Stuart Andrews and his family finally make their decision about the future of the rural property at the heart of a spectacular tug of war. It's Tarwyn Park in the Hunter Region of NSW. It's where Stuart Andrews' father Peter turned ruined and 'environmentally bankrupt' farmland into a 'miracle' of green, fertile pastures. But a Korean open cut coal mining venture has acquired the property, bringing more than one billion dollars in investment and jobs. Hard choices have to be made at Tarwyn Park and there are lasting implications for fractured family relationships. But also at stake, according to some, is nothing less than the future of the Australian landscape...

Most Australians still remember exactly where they were when they heard about the death of the Crocodile Hunter. Steve Irwin was mourned publicly by millions, and privately by his family and his friends. Nearly a decade has passed, but only now are some of the foundation members of his team speaking out and reconnecting. Irwin's former Personal Assistant Nicole Byrne says 'It was like a hot iron. I think a lot of us closed down.' In this week's episode members of the original team speak out, finally breaking their long maintained 'silent understanding'...

It's not often an Australian military leader finds instant worldwide fame. But that's what happened to Lieutenant General David Morrison when he made a dramatic YouTube video telling his own troops to shape up or get out. Lieutenant General Morrison has just retired as Chief of the Army. Friends and critics agree there's more to him than meets the eye. There are competing views about his four years in the top job but everyone agrees he has been a strong force for change. This week's program has the inside story of David Morrison and the women who he says opened his eyes and changed his thinking...

It's a story from the pages of Boy's Own magazine. A teenager with a troubled background breaks into his state's biggest and most successful NRL team and wins a premiership in his debut season. Without a father and his mother institutionalised, he follows his mentor and coach Wayne Bennett to one of the most famous clubs in the land and ends a thirty year premiership drought for them. He goes on to win virtually every honour the sport has to offer, breaking records along the way. Then one fateful evening a tragic accident opens the floodgates to years of unhappiness and depression, culminating in a well publicised breakdown and separation from his wife. Welcome to the world of Darius Boyd. In a remarkable redemption story, Darius is now back on the field and ready to talk candidly about his battles with depression and how he made peace with his demons.

How far would you go to help a family member facing sudden disgrace and jail in the very worst of circumstances? Former teacher Josephine Greensill believes she would still be in prison but for the efforts of her family to clear her name. When police came knocking at her door with allegations relating to an incident thirty years earlier she was shocked and surprised. After two and a half years in prison she was finally acquitted, with the judgement concluding there was a 'real likelihood' that her accusers had collaborated, and a 'real possibility' that the evidence against her had been concocted. For the first time, Josephine Greensill and those closest to her tell their inside story.

It is a love story that captivated millions. Mac and Gayle Shann remain Australian Story's most popular couple and after much demand from viewers the program is revisiting their story. In 2003 our cameras documented Gayle's recovery from an horrific farming accident which caused the loss of one arm and the use of her other. Her devoted husband, Mac, became her 'hands', helping guide her through the darkest of times. When the story first aired it attracted a strong response from viewers who were captivated by the young couples' bond and determination to stay living on a remote cattle station. This week we catch up with Gayle and Mac at a camp draft at Weetalaba Station, near Collinsville in Central Queensland.

In a world obsessed with physical beauty, Robert Hoge is a man embracing 'ugly'. Hoge was born 42 years ago with a massive tumour in the middle of his face. At first his own mother couldn't bear to look at him and the family was advised to 'put him in a home'. There were national newspaper headlines when a pioneering craniofacial surgeon used the cartilage from baby Robert's toe to construct a nose. Hoge grew up to become a journalist and then built a stellar career as a public servant culminating in the job of media advisor to then Queensland Premier Anna Bligh. But he has rejected further surgery that might make him look more conventional. Now a husband and a father himself, he's on a mission to confront us all with some difficult questions and start a new debate about concepts of beauty and ugliness and everything in between.

How did a teenager from an ordinary Queanbeyan family make it to the top of Formula One racing? What was it about Mark Webber that saw him succeed when many others failed? Mark Webber is one of a handful of Australians to break into the elite world of Formula One, but his success didn't come easy. His rise through the ranks of motor sport is a boy's own story of spectacular successes, frustrating failures and some hair-raising crashes along the way. In an exclusive interview with Australian Story he lifts the lid on the high octane world of F1 and candidly discusses the politics and rivalries that shaped his career. Webber and his partner and manager Ann Neal open up about their relationship. It was a professional and personal partnership central to his success but the couple kept it under wraps for many years When Webber met his racing nemesis, teammate Sebastian Vettel, one of the great rivalries of the sport began . Although sometimes bitter, competition between the two shaped his experience of F1 and was also behind some of his biggest wins. Webber talks about team politics and his subsequent reconciliation with Vettel. In the aftermath of his F1 career, Mark Webber and Ann Neal are finally free to reveal the secrets of life behind the pit wall.

When Gina Rinehart opens the Roy Hill iron ore mine in the Pilbara later this year she'll be fulfilling a long held dream. It will be a crowning moment but one that's clouded by the continuing fall-out from court battles over the family trust. The events now unfolding are the culmination of a turbulent family history. Australian Story has filmed with Gina Rinehart at Port Hedland. Over the next two weeks, the program has the story of the Hancock Dynasty...

This week's program concludes the story of six generations of the Hancock family. Gina Rinehart is about to fulfil a long held dream by opening and running her own mine in the Pilbara. It's an achievement that's come at a time of controversy, conflict and tumbling iron ore prices... This episode covers the years from 1979 to the present day.

This week's program is about a small town lawyer who helped solve the biggest criminal investigation in Queensland's history. Peter Boyce is a family man with a strong sense of community, an interest in pro bono work and a fascination with David and Goliath court cases. When he joined forces with Bruce and Denise Morcombe to investigate their son Daniel's disappearance, his cross-examinations during the coronial inquest played a crucial role in finally bringing the case to a close. This is his story.

It’s been fourteen years since millions of people around the world mourned the death of cricketing legend Sir Donald Bradman. It was a form of fame that dismayed him during his lifetime and continues to impact on his family to this day. Now, Sir Donald Bradman's granddaughter Greta Bradman is herself standing on the threshold of international stardom as a soprano and protégée of Richard Bonynge. In finally embracing the spotlight, she is coming to terms with her own ambivalence about public life, saying that it's time for the family 'to come out of the shadows a little more'. Join us for an exclusive two part program as Greta Bradman, her father John and members of her extended family discuss the cost of fame, a shared love of classical music and living life with a famous surname.

This week's program concludes the story of cricketing legend Sir Donald Bradman and his family. The intensity of Sir Donald Bradman's worldwide fame as a cricketer cast a shadow across the generations that followed him. Now, his talented granddaughter Greta Bradman is on the threshold of international recognition in her own right, as she builds a career as a soprano and protégé of conductor Richard Bonynge. In this episode, we follow her decision to chase the opportunity of a lifetime and hear of the family's continued concerns in relation to Sir Donald Bradman's legacy.

Melbourne man AJ Kearns describes himself as just an ordinary father living in the suburbs with his two children. But there are many who would disagree. Born into a conservative pentecostal family in Sydney, AJ spent the first 35 years of his life as a woman. As a teenager Vicki-Anne thought she was gay and attended controversial church-based conversion therapy in the hope of becoming heterosexual. After years of struggle AJ took the courageous decision to live as a man and create a family with his partner Zu. But he then took the surprising step of postponing his physical transition to become pregnant. Psychiatrist Dr Fintan Harte says it’s the first time in over 30 years of practice that he’s encountered a ‘trans-identified male’ who has conceived a child. ‘From Daddy’s Tummy’ tells the story of AJ and his much loved family and showcases a stunning photographic record of his physical transition by Melbourne artist Alison Bennett.

When Geraldine Cox first arrived in Cambodia in 1970 she was a fun-loving twenty-five year old with no idea of the role the country would play in her future. Working as a secretary in the Australian Embassy she dreamed of ‘swanning around in a cocktail dress and seducing James Bond types’. Instead the Vietnam War was spilling over the border, American B52s were dropping bombs and the country was in turmoil. Many years later Geraldine Cox returned to the place that had made such a big impression and founded three orphanages. Today she also oversees a network of non-residential centres, community-based education and other welfare enterprises. Now in her 70th year, she’s at a crossroads with responsibility for four hundred children but no heir apparent.

This week's program is about a resilient young man called Corey White. It's a name you won't forget after you've seen his story... Corey White won the best newcomer award at the Melbourne International Comedy festival. The prize was an air ticket to perform at the prestigious Edinburgh festival, a career highlight for a young man who endured a heart-breaking early life. The son of a hustling, drug-addicted mother and a violent father, Corey spent much of his childhood in foster care. As a young man Corey pulled himself out of drug addiction. His salvation - comedy mining his traumatic past to create a biting and hilarious stand-up act.

When designer Collette Dinnigan shut down her global fashion empire it shocked not only the fashion world but also her closest friends. The self-titled 'obsessive creative' found the competing demands of motherhood and work increasingly difficult to manage. 'Another collection, another show, another this, another that. It wasn't what was important and it wasn't what was motivating me anymore," she says. "When you’re single it's easy, but when you have children your priorities change. It's not a decision you take lightly," says Collette's husband Bradley Cocks. After stepping off the fashion treadmill, Dinnigan continued to design on a collaborative basis and accepted an offer from Sydney's Powerhouse Museum to showcase a 25 year retrospective of her work. In an intimate profile, Australian Story revisits Collette's childhood and career and follows her as she prepares for her retrospective exhibition.

Brett and Wendy Whiteley were icons of Australian art – he the internationally acclaimed “rockstar” artist, and she his glamorous wife and muse. But then tragedy struck. Brett died in 1992, followed by their actress daughter Arkie nine years later, leaving Wendy alone. Determined not to let grief overwhelm her, Wendy Whiteley threw her energies into turning a huge wasteland into a beautiful garden … and in the process, transformed her own life. Now, twenty years on, can this sanctuary be protected as a permanent public garden?

The road to the Prime Ministership was set early in Malcolm Turnbull’s life. "Trying to meet the expectations that were placed upon his shoulders as a child is a very motivating force in his life" – Lucy Turnbull "I guess Prime Minister probably would have been good enough for [my mother]" – Malcolm Turnbull But Turnbull's childhood would not be easy. His parents separated when he was nine and he was sent off to boarding school. Driven to succeed, Turnbull would move from journalist to lawyer to merchant banker to corporate high flyer and finally to politician. This week Australian Story revisits the Turnbull family. Malcolm, wife Lucy, daughter Daisy and some of his closest friends speak candidly about his early years, his absent mother and devoted father and the forces that have shaped his rise to power. Drawing on new material and interviews, the program provides a unique insight into a man praised for his intellect and energy but whose temperament and political judgement have been questioned.

Natalie Lovett was 46 and childless when she flew to the United States to create a baby. She’d exhausted all her other options to become pregnant and was following up on a San Diego fertility clinic that offered a money back guarantee. Two years later she's the proud mother of an eighteen month old daughter and now faces a very different dilemma: what to do with the extra embryos still stored in the US clinic. "Destroying the embryos just wasn't really an option. It was just something I could never bring myself to do. I'd rather give them a great home and a great life." she says. Natalie came up with an unconventional solution- to create an extended family for her only child - but there was a catch.

Acting legend Garry McDonald is a man on a mission. He wants to educate the public about an urgent and poorly understood mental health problem. McDonald has suffered from anxiety since his 20s but he never understood his condition until it triggered a major and very public breakdown in the 1990s. He sought help in the form of Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, a treatment which trains individuals to examine negative or unhelpful thoughts. And gained a new lease on life... In between roles, the veteran actor has campaigned passionately to increase awareness around anxiety and reduce its stigma.

What would you do if you lost something that’s been the essence of you for most of your life? Something that’s given you joy, a vocation, even fame – and then one day it starts slipping away... For singer Jenny Morris, that question recently became very real. The ARIA-award winning performer makes a dramatic personal revelation in this week's episode of Australian Story. She has been diagnosed with a life-changing medical condition. Jenny Morris first found success with New Zealand band The Crocodiles, before relocating to Australia in the early 1980s. After recording and touring with INXS as a backing singer, she established a successful solo career with hits such as 'Break in the Weather' and 'She has to be Loved' as well as performing with Prince and Paul McCartney. About 10 years ago, she noticed something going on with her voice. "I've never talked about it publicly, and I think putting the word out there is going to give a sense of relief. That’s why I’m doing Australian Story because I think if you want to know what’s what, look at this program. Then I don’t have to explain it," she says.

Lucy Haslam is a woman in a hurry. Since losing her son Daniel in February this year to cancer, the Tamworth resident has stepped up her campaign to legalise medicinal cannabis. Widely credited as the driving force behind a raft of state and federal initiatives aimed at legalising the drug, Lucy Haslam is concerned by delays in the political process and is striking out on her own. She has assembled a team which recently applied to the NSW Government for an exemption which will allow them to grow medicinal cannabis for research and development purposes in Tamworth. Her commitment is absolute. She and her husband Lou, a former drug squad officer, have put their business on the market to help achieve their goal. It is a deeply personal crusade. Lucy Haslam’s son Daniel was diagnosed at the age of 20 with stage 4 bowel cancer and only found relief from his nausea after ingesting medicinal cannabis. Forced to break the law in order to source the cannabis, Lucy and Daniel went public last year calling on politicians to follow the example of other countries around the world. A face to face meeting between NSW Premier Mike Baird and the Haslams was a turning point in their campaign. "It was very clear listening to the story I wanted to do something. They’ve turned something that politicians and governments were very coy about and didn’t want to discuss into a raging national debate." - NSW Premier Mike Baird.

Ten years ago Byron Bay inventor, Cedar Anderson, looked at a beehive and thought there must be an easier way to extract honey straight from the hive that was less stressful on the bees. Living on the smell of an oily rag and working in his shed, Cedar with the help of his father, Stuart, came up with the concept of the Flow Hive. It’s a plastic frame that sits inside a conventional beehive. With a pull of the lever honey simply drains into a jar. But it was what happened next that took the world by storm. Cedar decided to put the invention up on a crowdfunding site hoping to raise $70,000. The video of the Flow Hive went viral and by the end of the campaign, they had US$12.2 million worth of advance orders and a monumental task ahead of them. After a life tinkering quietly in a shed, Cedar and Stuart now face the challenge of running a multimillion dollar company. How will they cope?

Ronald "Ronno" Morgan is a young tour guide from Wyndham in Western Australia's spectacular Kimberley region. But he's lucky to be alive, having twice faced a life-threatening challenge – first as a five-year-old and again as an adult. Until recently, his life was very much a roller coaster but he was fortunate to have the strong support of a very close family. Now, following in the footsteps of a distinguished ancestor, he's found a new purpose in life.

When Jodi Keough traded her journalism career and modelling business for love and life on the land she never thought she’d need her investigative skills again. That was until the unimaginable happened to her young family. After discovering something sinister in the water on her homestead, Jodi is on a mission to prevent her nightmare becoming someone else’s reality.

As the Socceroos march towards qualification for the 2018 World Cup, it's hard to believe that not so long ago there were serious question marks on the team's future. But one man never wavered in his vision for international success. This week on Australian Story Socceroos' coach, Ange Postecoglou, tells how he has come a long way from his immigrant beginnings. From a young Greek migrant desperate to fit in, Ange became a winning player and coach despite failures and disappointments along the way. Earlier this year, he lead the Socceroos to their biggest victory yet – the Asian Cup. The champions of Asia are no longer seen as the underdogs. But the expectation now is to win. And to keep winning... This is Ange's story.

In our final story for 2015, Australian Story goes to the Victorian city of Bendigo, which has been the flash point for a series of protests against the building of a mosque. Colourful local business identity, Margot Spalding is leading a campaign to support Bendigo's small Muslim community and to "fight back against intolerance and hate". A former Telstra Business Woman of the year, 62-year-old Spalding, who co-founded Jimmy Possum furniture has known both personal tragedy and early business hardship. Today she is the matriarch of a multi-million dollar company that employs more than 100 people. Spalding is known as much for her flamboyant style as she is for her philanthropy. Despite being the target of hate mail and having her home under police surveillance, Spalding says she will continue to campaign for the rights of Muslim people to have their own place of worship. This is her story.