Nance Haxton

It’s a strange thing indeed to connect with a country on the other side of the world to where you grew up, so much so that you feel the same sadness when leaving it as you do when you leave home. But this is the experience of Luka Bloom, the great Irish songman who for more than 40 years has put his passion for social justice to music, and given voice to those who aren’t often heard or recognised. His songs have touched a chord in Australia, so much so that he has now toured the country more than a dozen times. In this episode of Streets of Your Town, Luka Bloom tells us about the euphoric joy he feels seeing a Fremantle sunset, and feeling the appreciation of his Australian fans, wherever he goes.

On a tiny stretch of sand, near the southern most tip of the largest living thing on earth The Great Barrier Reef, is Mon Repos. Less than two kilometres long, this beach is a critical landing point for endangered loggerhead turtles from throughout the Pacific. And Cathy Gatley is the ranger in charge (of this conservation park), ensuring that this patch of turtle paradise remains their haven. In this episode of Streets of Your Town, Cathy tells us how she balances the needs of the endangered loggerhead turtles and the lucky few people who get to the beach to see this wild event.

Imagine for a moment, the fear you would feel if you had to leave the only home you’d known, and all of your family, at just 15 years old because your life hangs in the balance.This was the harsh reality that faced Pakistani refugee Imtiaz Ali. It has taken seven years, including a journey across the seas in treacherous waters, and many months spent in detention centres unsure of his future, for Imtiaz Ali to finally become an Australian citizen. In this episode of Streets of Your Town, Imtiaz tells us how his life experiences have shown him that nothing is impossible.

Go behind the scenes of the glitz and glamour of the Gold Coast and find yourself immersed in the ocean alongside Rob Layton in this episode. Regardless of the weather, you can find Rob at Burleigh Beach on the southern end of the Gold Coast, surfing and taking photos as the sun rises for another day. And he’s also wanting to spread the word on how that phone in your pocket is capable of much more than just taking good selfies.

Today, we take you behind the scenes of the evocative and triumphant performance of Chasing Smoke by Casus Circus. Casus Circus is Australia’s only Indigenous contemporary circus ensemble, and is about to go on tour around Australia and take Chasing Smoke to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. I was lucky enough to speak to the visionary director of Casus Circus and Chasing Smoke, Natano Fa’anana.

Today, we head to Brisbane’s westside, to meet artist and social entrepreneur, Kagi Kowa. She tells us about her journey from Sudan to Forest Lake, and how that journey of self-discovery continues to this day, years after she first came to Australia’s shores.

Today, we head to the unheralded jewel of South Australia to the Clare Valley. It’s here at a Country Womens Association function, that an ancient bus and an energy powerhouse collide, when we meet Amanda Blair, wandering around her charity vintage clothing bus, Dulcie’s Shop of Real Opportunity, which has raised more than a hundred thousand dollars for South Australia’s homeless.

In this episode, we have a wander with one of Tassie’s favourite adopted daughters, former wicketkeeper of the Australian Women’s Cricket Team, Julia Price. We find out what took the Queenslander so far south she shivered through her first days in her new home, and how she was invited to join the greats of the game as a life member of the Marylebone Cricket Club at Lords.

In this episode we go to one of Brisbane’s funkiest inner city laneways, Fish Lane, to eat Vietnamese with talented Aussie actor Kurt Phelan. We hear how since playing Johnny in the Australian production of Dirty Dancing, he is now living the transcontinental life between Brisbane and New York.

In this special edition of SOYT, we go to the Hub Neighbourhood Centre in Inala, to meet Benjamin Parsons. The Hub has helped him pick up the pieces at pivotal points in his life. He has a message of tolerance, asking us to look more sensitively on people in the community who at times have struggled, as he has.

In this special edition of SOYT, we go to the Sherwood Neighbourhood Centre, to meet Leigh Winsor. It was only a few short years ago on January 11th 2011, that he found himself at the Sherwood Community Centre with little more than the shirt on his back. He was one of thousands of people caught in the floods that swept through Brisbane and Ipswich. This is his story of survival.