Matt Mewburn, one of Australia's last blacksmiths, takes you inside the "iron cathedral", where blacksmithing is still very much alive.

Matt didn't grow up dreaming of forging knives and sculptures over heat as hot as volcanic lava.

He thought he might take over the family farm or become a scientist.

But when Matt was 20 years old, his father unexpectedly died, and Matt went looking for a hobby to keep himself distracted through the grief.

A spontaneous trip to the local TAFE in Sydney introduced him to the magic of metallurgy and a burning passion was forged for the creativity and simple perfection of smithing.

Matt developed his skills in his apprenticeship and then overseas during his so-called Journeyman years, spending time in a seminary in the hills of Tuscany, and in Scotland and Norway. 

For the last decade, Matt has been the custodian of Australia's largest and most historic rail works in Sydney.

This episode of Conversations discusses apprenticeships, trade school, art, death of a parent, grief, origin stories, family dynamics, life story, loss, reflection, death, how to grieve, farming, regional Australia, Eveleigh, Carriage Works, Sydney, Australian history, vocational training, iron ore, steel.

Louise Philip had just scored her breakout role on Australian television, in Bellbird, when a horrific car crash threatened to derail the life she was forging for herself.

Louise Philip was 15 years old when she convinced her parents to let her drop out of high school to become an actress.

She had just scored her breakout role on Australian television, but within a few months a terrible car crash threatened to derail the life that she was forging for herself. 

Louise broke her back and permanently lost the use of her legs, and she was told that the silver screen was no longer a place for her.

But Louise fought to get back to work, and thrived on Australian television sets for years until she did something else that people told her was impossible -- she became a mother.

This episode of Conversations discusses disability, acting, paraplegia, wheelchair users, love, family dynamics, guilt, personal stories, origin stories, love, reflection,. motherhood, parenting with a disability, pregnancy with a disability, creativity, Bellbird, Cop Shop.

As a forensic counsellor and then a grief counsellor, Wendy Liu has spent many years right up close to death. Her work with people who are processing all kinds of losses has brought her a much keener appreciation for life. (R)

Wendy Liu was a young woman on a social work placement when she realised she had a special affinity for hard conversations about life and death.

She put her aptitude to work in palliative care, and then some years later she began working as a forensic counsellor.

For seven years Wendy worked supporting families following unexplained deaths, fatal accidents, child deaths, suicides and homicides reported to the Coroner. 

Today Wendy is a grief counsellor and a passionate advocate for us all to have more open and honest conversations about death and dying.

She also says being so close to loss and grief each day has given her a stronger appreciation of life.

This episode of Conversations explores terminal illness, murder, crime, survivors, how to grieve, healthy grieving, counselling, funerals, wakes, tough conversations, family dynamics, organising funerals, forensics, police.

Author Rosalie Ham grew up in a country town three blocks long and three blocks wide. She paid close attention to the characters there, like the woman at the shops whose face was frozen into Munch’s scream. This eye for detail led to her first novel, which became a hit movie starring Kate Winslet.

Author, Rosalie Ham grew up in country NSW, in a town three streets wide and three streets long.

During a mouse plague, the rodents were so prolific that their droppings would appear at the bottom of the cereal packet, and the town's children — unsupervised — would chop the mice up with a downpipe in the farmyard shed.

When Rosalie was a child, her mum received a devastating diagnosis, and started an affair as a way to find herself before it was too late.

Watching her mother's life and extreme changes proved a formative experience, which led Rosalie to write her first novel, The Dressmaker.

The book was eventually made into a film starring Kate Winslet.

Rosalie's husband Ian had been a staunch support through her writing career, until he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's and she became his carer.

This episode of Conversations covers a life story, family dynamics, mothers, parenting, reflection, loss, origin stories, grief, personal stories, The Dressmaker, Kate Winslet, Australian fiction, Liam Hemsway, carers, infidelity, cheating, divorce, coping strategies and Alzheimer's Disease.

Writer Emily Maguire on losing her own faith, but finding awe and inspiration in a controversial myth about a female pontiff who some people believe sat disguised on the papal throne for two years in the ninth century.

Writer Emily Maguire grew up in a very Christian home, where life revolved around the Church and prayer.

By the time she was in her late teens, Emily had well and truly rebelled against her religious upbringing, eventually dropping out of high school, getting a job at McDonalds and getting married.

But it wasn't until she suffered a rare stroke in her 20s, that Emily truly lost her faith.

She remained fascinated by the history and the stories of the Church, however, and has written several books inspired by that interest.

Most recently, Emily was gripped by a tale that has haunted the Catholic Church for more than 1,000 years—rumours of a woman who disguised herself as a man, entered a Benedictine Monastery and rose up the ranks until she was elected the most holy ruler of all, the Pope.

If she truly did exist, after two years on the papal throne, Pope Joan was found out in the most dramatic way possible.

This episode of Conversations discusses Catholicism, Jesus, religion, faith, writing, books, atheism, Christianity, finding God, losing faith, agnostics, spirituality, Christian history, power, politics, Roman Empire, Constantine, Charlemagne, marriage, childless by choice, Pope Joan, female pope, female Bishop, female leadership, teenage girls, teen sexuality, rebellion, crisis of faith.

Jelena Dokic overcame adversity, poverty and violence to rise to the top of the tennis world. Years later, her revelations about her father's abuse stunned the world. (CW: discussion of domestic violence and coercive control).

This episode of Conversations also talks about sport, training, family, origin stories, parenting, relationships, childhood trauma, sports commentary, online trolls, refugees, security, control, family violence, therapy, mental health, identity, disordered eating, books, documentary film, reflection, culture, meaning, Australian, counselling, conversational story, and memoir.

Lee Berger, National Geographic Explorer in Residence and real-life Indiana Jones with tales of his hominid discoveries, many of which have rewritten the story of palaeoanthropology. (R)

National Geographic Explorer in Residence, Lee Berger, entered the field of palaeoanthropology when there was an infinitesimally tiny chance he would discover anything, while digging around South Africa.

But this real-life Indiana Jones kept bucking the odds.

He kept unearthing previously unseen parts of hominids - the group known as the Great Apes; comprising modern humans, chimpanzees, gorillas and orangutans plus all their immediate ancestors.

First, he found a pair of hominid teeth in southern Africa. Then after a fossil hunting dry spell, his 9-year-old son Matthew found the jawbone of an entirely new hominid species.

A few years later came Lee's most extraordinary discovery yet: a nearly inaccessible cave filled with skeletons of another new hominid species which seemed to be violating all the rules.

The story of what happened in this cave revolutionises what we understand about the origins of our own human species.

This episode of Conversations discusses the origin of human life, archaeology, science, research, caving, adventure, Indiana Jones, human species, evolution, Charles Darwin, theories of evolution, Africa.

As Andrew Dwyer ventured further into the desert, he fell in love with the people and the landscape. He battled sandstorms, floods and isolation to serve fine foods under the stars.

When Andrew Dwyer was growing up in 1960s Melbourne, the city wasn't the foodie destination it is now, in fact it was often described as a "culinary wasteland".

But luckily for Andrew, his Czechoslovakian godfather and his Chinese stepmother introduced him to incredible flavours and cooking techniques from further afield.

At the same time, Andrew was bushwalking and skiing and falling in love with the outdoors.

Eventually, he combined his passion for wild places with his passion for good food.

Andrew started venturing further and further west, far into the Australian outback — and he took his fine foods with him.

This episode of Conversations explores travel, fine dining, food, cooking, camp cooking, travel, snow skiing, the Victorian Alps, good food, good weekender, travel recommendations, the Gibson Desert, Nothern Territory, South Australia, Adelaide, Australian Explorers, Giles, Pintupi 9, Indigenous tourism, tourism industry, foodies.

An impulse decision to buy a home in the rainforest results in a comedy of errors involving a python in the roof, an unexpected tax bill, two reality TV shows discussing bowel movements with Shane Warne. (R)

Akmal Saleh doesn't like the jungle or rainforests, or any of the animals in the jungle or rainforest. 

Akmal likes cafes and running water, which made the comedian's purchase of a cabin in the hills outside Byron Bay incredibly puzzling to those who know him. 

Looking for a place where their two dogs could run free, Akmal and his wife bought their remote cabin on an impulse.

After twelve days, they knew the tree-change, hippie lifestyle wasn't for them. 

What followed was a comedy of errors involving a python in the roof, carpet-eating rats, a half-finished home, an unexpected tax bill, two reality shows and discussing bowel movements with Shane Warne.

This episode of Conversations discusses sea changes, tree changes, impulse purchases, real estate, comedy, stand-up comedy, regional Australia, regional property market, buying property, I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here, Selling Houses Australia, the rainforest, the Byron Bay Hinterland, northern NSW.

Athlete Gerrard Gosens didn't realise he was blind until his first day at primary school. His adventurous spirit led him to become a three time Paralympian, climb Mt Everest, swim the English Channel, and perform the rhumba on Dancing With The Stars.

This conversation talks about family life, family history, childhood memories, origin stories, training, medical procedures, surgery, mountaineering, mountains, cycling, open water swimming, parenting, genetic conditions, glaucoma, disability, charity, Stevie Wonder, chocolate, training, exercising, Paralympic sport, triathlon, indoor climbing, sepsis, team building, reality TV, and fundraising.

How a Birmingham boy became best-selling thriller writer, Lee Child, and the creator of one of the literary world's most popular loners. (R)

James Grant grew up in Birmingham when it was a bustling industrial city.

While huge workforces would pour of the factories as men ended their shifts and headed home on bicycles, for children, there wasn't much to do.

Young James often found himself at the library, and he grew up a voracious reader.

He began working for Granada Television after leaving university, but after a 20-year career, Jim suddenly found himself out of a job, and with a wife and child to support.

With a pragmatic sense of mission, he sat down with a pencil and wrote his first novel in longhand, under the pseudonym Lee Child.

It was a thriller about a loner named Jack Reacher, and went on to become a best-seller around the world, adapted into films and a television series.

Now every nine seconds, somewhere in the world, someone buys a Jack Reacher book.

This episode of Conversations explores crime writing, stories, thrillers, Jack Reacher, In Too Deep, television adaptations, Lee Child's real name, origin stories, Birmingham, books, authors, best-selling books, book recommendations, Tom Cruise, Netflix, Amazon Prime, film adaption, Hollywood, Bill Clinton.