Remarkable Tales

In this episode of Griffith University’s Remarkable Tales, we speak to film school graduate Alex Podger, who has now risen to become Director of the Woodford Folk Festival closing Fire Event – the largest outdoor performance of its type in Australia. The massive ceremony involves a team of more than 160 volunteer artists, puppeteers, performers, painters and pyrotechnicians, and combined with a soaring live symphonic score, takes more than an hour and a half to unfold. It’s just another day in the life for the Griffith University graduate, who has created large scale outdoor theatrical works across Australia and Europe.

In this episode of Remarkable Tales, we take you to the Woodford Folk Festival. The Griffith University student newsroom based on site has gathered tales from throughout Woodfordia, where more than 130,000 thousand people gather every year, making it larger than the nearest town of Nambour.

In this episode of Remarkable Tales Griffith University academics Hamish McLean and Duncan McConnell talk about their incredibly successful training trip to Mongolia, giving locals hands-on teaching in the latest paramedic techniques, while using the most basic equipment they had available.

In this episode of Griffith University’s Remarkable Tales, we speak to Griffith University’s inaugural Outstanding Alumnus recipient, Queensland Fire and Emergency Services(QFES)Commissioner Katarina Carroll. She tells us about her distinctive management style, and how she navigated significant cultural change in the QFES. She is passionate about her work advancing gender equity, and explains how it makes good economic as well as ethical sense to improve the representation of women in the workplace.

What started as a Griffith University film school final year project has evolved into a three-part series of award nominated documentaries, with a worldwide following. It took nearly two years from conception to completion. The 23 year olds behind the Tasmanian Ghost Town project gained the trust of sceptical townspeople, tired of reporters coming into their dying mining town and telling just one side of their story. Those apprehensive townspeople eventually trusted the filmmakers so much they revealed parts of their lives and stories that had been kept behind the mountains for decades. Hear their story as we go to the world premiere at Queenstown Tasmania with reporter Nance Haxton, where the films were specially selected to feature in the prestigious arts festival, The Unconformity.

In this episode of ‘Remarkable Tales’, Nance Haxton speaks to former Australian of the Year, Griffith University Emeritus Professor Alan Mackay-Sim, Professor Heidi Zeeman, and Conference organiser Nick Rushworth about how the conference plans to explore the exciting opportunities being opened up by new research in neuroplasticity – at the National Brain Injury Conference at the Princess Alexandra Hospital on November 13 and 14.

Leading Indigenous entrepreneur Dean Foley has overcome many challenges to become a driving force supporting and empowering Australia’s First Nation’s youth. His Barayamal Centre of Entrepreneurship attracts young people from across the country, helping their Indigenous startups and businesses grow.

An Aboriginal community in far north Queensland could hold the key to cleaner and more reliable power supply for isolated indigenous communities throughout Australia and the Pacific.The small township of Lockhart River on Cape York Peninsula is nestled in bushland, 800 kilometres north of Cairns, surrounded by pristine beaches and rainforest.

It’s idyllic, but incredibly remote. So much so it’s not even on the national power grid. Lockhart River relies on expensive and dirty diesel fuel to keep the lights on, and power the town’s businesses and homes. Until now. And it all comes down to solar power.

In this episode of Remarkable Tales, join the 37 Griffith University students who were embedded in the Griffith University Commonwealth Games pop-up newsroom for three weeks.

The new Griffith University podcast “Remarkable Tales” will regularly highlight the impact of Griffith University in the wider community. In this episode, listen to the amazing musical creations of Brisbane performer and DJ extraordinaire Busty Beatz who tells us about the show she’s part of called Hot Brown Honey.