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Voice of Real Australia

Voice of Real Australia

By ACM

Discover new people, places and perspectives with Voice of Real Australia. Each episode showcases stories from rural and regional Australia. A podcast from ACM -- Australia's largest independent media network.
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Devils on the mainland, and Australia's biggest whale stranding

Voice of Real AustraliaJan 20, 2021

00:00
31:14
What's the buzz about delivery drones?

What's the buzz about delivery drones?

This isn't just a story about flying take-out.
Jun 29, 202232:12
The Roadkill State
Jun 15, 202229:53
What happened to Bendigo’s Chinese miners?
Jun 01, 202229:47
Farmers and fishers feud over riverside camping in Victoria

Farmers and fishers feud over riverside camping in Victoria

A simple policy change to allow camping on public land - Crown river frontages - has become a divisive issue among farmers a...
May 18, 202234:29
Disaster Country Part 2: Living in an unlivable world

Disaster Country Part 2: Living in an unlivable world

When a disaster strikes it's amazing to see the number of people who are ready to lend a helping hand. Neighbours saving neighbours,...
May 09, 202239:28
Disaster Country Part 1: It's getting harder to live here

Disaster Country Part 1: It's getting harder to live here

Floods, fires, drought, and blistering heat have always been a part of Australian life. But, with rising global temperatures, are they...
May 09, 202234:31
Coming on Tuesday May 10: Disaster Country

Coming on Tuesday May 10: Disaster Country

The recent floods in the northern rivers were the worst on record, by around two whole metres in some...
May 04, 202201:35
Goat yoga sets the baa for mental health care

Goat yoga sets the baa for mental health care

What have goats got to do with yoga? And what does any of it have to do with mental health? It can be tough to get mental health...
Apr 20, 202233:22
Finding a place for autistic kids in regional Australia

Finding a place for autistic kids in regional Australia

In Tamworth, Melissa Reinikka is struggling to get her son into the right class at school. Eight-year-old Jacob has autism, anxiety and...
Apr 06, 202231:36
Carbon farming for big and small change

Carbon farming for big and small change

Carbon farming is being touted as a way to slow down and reverse climate change. The idea is that you can suck carbon from the...
Mar 23, 202231:28
Should we turn waste into watts?

Should we turn waste into watts?

Plastic waste is a huge and growing problem in Australia. What can't be reused or recycled ends up in landfill. An alternative is to...
Mar 09, 202235:18
Will the Hunter Valley be ready when the change comes?

Will the Hunter Valley be ready when the change comes?

Coal employs around 14,000 people in the Hunter Valley. Whole communities have risen up out of the dark soil, established on lucrative...
Feb 23, 202230:51
Sins of the Fathers: Clergy abuse weighs on western Victoria

Sins of the Fathers: Clergy abuse weighs on western Victoria

School should be a safe space, not a peadophile's playground. The community was in shock after the 2013 Royal Commission revealed...
Feb 09, 202232:25
Waves of nostalgia at legendary South Coast break

Waves of nostalgia at legendary South Coast break

The surfer's getaway Don Hearn's Cabins is a throwback to when a break was a break on the South Coast. The cabins at Cunjurong Point...
Jan 26, 202220:44
Diabetes: The silent assassin

Diabetes: The silent assassin

Type 2 diabetes is everywhere in this country and around the world - there could be 700 million cases worldwide in the next 25 years....
Jan 12, 202224:53
Should we eat our national animal?

Should we eat our national animal?

Kangaroos are an Aussie emblem, but they're also a source of native red meat. Roo harvesting divides Australians but there's evidence...
Dec 15, 202134:05
When culture is a crime: Fishing on the South Coast

When culture is a crime: Fishing on the South Coast

Aboriginal people are being prosecuted on the South Coast of NSW for fishing, something their ancestors had done there for thousands of...
Dec 01, 202137:13
Why wombats are rotting to death

Why wombats are rotting to death

Mange riddled wombats die an agonising death without treatment, but governments don't consider the parasite a conservation issue. This...
Nov 17, 202130:44
Closing the map: Restoring Aboriginal place names

Closing the map: Restoring Aboriginal place names

Some Aboriginal place names are so iconic, like Noosa or Wollongong, that we don't even think about them. But over two centuries of...
Nov 03, 202124:33
Regenerating a valley and a community

Regenerating a valley and a community

Bylong's population dwindled after a coal mine bought up family farms, the school, the general store and the Catholic church. Over a...
Oct 20, 202130:59
Forgotten River 4: There's money in mud

Forgotten River 4: There's money in mud

It's been nearly a decade since the river at Kallara Station broke its banks and Justin McClure had to get around his property by boat....
Oct 06, 202136:20
Forgotten River 3: Where will the river people go?

Forgotten River 3: Where will the river people go?

The fate of the Barkindji is tied to the fate of the river - the Barka. When it is flowing, the mostly Aboriginal town of Wilcannia i...
Sep 29, 202133:16
Forgotten River 2: Piggy in the middle

Forgotten River 2: Piggy in the middle

Caught between thirsty cash croppers upstream and down, the people who live along the Darling/Barka are fighting a battle on two...
Sep 22, 202136:47
Forgotten River 1: Dead fish and an empty lake

Forgotten River 1: Dead fish and an empty lake

The sudden death of over a million fish around the Menindee Lakes focused international attention on the plight of the Darling River....
Sep 15, 202139:34
Introducing Forgotten River a Voice of Real Australia mini-series

Introducing Forgotten River a Voice of Real Australia mini-series

From September 16 Voice of Real Australia brings you a very special mini-series, Forgotten River: An outback tragedy. This three part...
Sep 08, 202101:28
Rescued boy meets hero's family 60 years after Mudgee flood

Rescued boy meets hero's family 60 years after Mudgee flood

All towns have their legends, Mudgee is no exception. In 1959, a six-year-old boy was rescued during a flood on the town's main street...
Aug 18, 202116:56
Hidden treasures of White Cliffs

Hidden treasures of White Cliffs

In this remote town lives a woman in her 70s who delivered mail across 3500km of outback. It's also home to three mates in their 20s...
Aug 04, 202132:10
Eight kids and a nun walk into court, and it's no joke for rural Aussies

Eight kids and a nun walk into court, and it's no joke for rural Aussies

A new mine in Boggabri was at the centre of a landmark court ruling that found the Environment Minister has a duty of care to protect...
Jul 21, 202128:24
How can you run a tourism business when your staff have nowhere to live?

How can you run a tourism business when your staff have nowhere to live?

In Jindabyne, ongoing staff shortages mean businesses struggle to keep up with demand. We speak to Jindabyne business owners to...
Jul 07, 202123:53
How a Devonport dad took control of a 30-year drug addiction

How a Devonport dad took control of a 30-year drug addiction

Recovering drug addict Steven* is looking forward to a holiday with his kids. But this couldn't have been possible if he was put behind...
Jun 23, 202123:47
Warrnambool site may rewrite human history, and the mouse plague explained

Warrnambool site may rewrite human history, and the mouse plague explained

Regional NSW is under attack. So what's with the mouse plague and is there an end in sight? And how long exactly have humans occupied...
Jun 09, 202134:06
Latrobe Valley demise a warning as Australia moves away from coal

Latrobe Valley demise a warning as Australia moves away from coal

For over 100 years coal has ruled Latrobe Valley. But now as power stations close down the community is being left behind. The people...
May 12, 202131:34
Take part in our listener survey!

Take part in our listener survey!

We want to hear from you!

Follow this link to complete our listener survey:...
May 11, 202100:35
Port Arthur massacre first responders speak after 25 years

Port Arthur massacre first responders speak after 25 years

The mass murder of 35 people at Port Arthur is a difficult subject to broach in Tasmania, the shooting is surrounded by an unofficial...
Apr 27, 202129:24
Community power play: Towns making their own electricity

Community power play: Towns making their own electricity

The way Australia produces electricity is changing. The traditional one-way, centralised market is being disrupted. Small communities...
Apr 14, 202128:48
Indigenous agriculture:  Can native crops heal our country?

Indigenous agriculture: Can native crops heal our country?

Before wheat was wheat, it was an introduced grass. Every year it battles our fickle climate. But we do have native grasses that First...
Mar 31, 202129:58
Beaudesert's heritage saleyard stands up to council bulldozing

Beaudesert's heritage saleyard stands up to council bulldozing

A beloved pig and calf saleyard in Beaudesert, south east Queensland, was recently given heritage status. But in an unusual case,...
Mar 17, 202128:35
PEP 11 gas rigs loom on the horizon, and Launceston stuck in the mud

PEP 11 gas rigs loom on the horizon, and Launceston stuck in the mud

Offshore gas rigs have been touted as a solution for the pandemic recession and energy transition. But the PEP 11 exploration licence...
Mar 03, 202135:48
Voice of Real Australia Presents: Talk of the Times

Voice of Real Australia Presents: Talk of the Times

Dr Liz Allen is now a top academic at the ANU in Canberra, but she might have ended up in the gutter with a needle in her...
Mar 02, 202112:31
What's killing our Snow Gums?

What's killing our Snow Gums?

The iconic snow gum is dying out. Scientists believe a beetle is killing off the trees in the Snowy Mountains and throughout the...
Feb 17, 202129:35
Uncovering Canowindra's forgotten fish fossils

Uncovering Canowindra's forgotten fish fossils

In 1993 near Canowindra, in the Central West of New South Wales, paleontologist Dr Alex Ritchie was given just 10 days for an...
Feb 03, 202125:51
Devils on the mainland, and Australia's biggest whale stranding

Devils on the mainland, and Australia's biggest whale stranding

There are now 26 Tasmanian Devils calling Barrington Tops home. They're the first wild mainland devils since they were wiped out 3000...
Jan 20, 202131:14
Pale, male and stale: Where are all our Indigenous cricketers?

Pale, male and stale: Where are all our Indigenous cricketers?

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders have a long and complicated relationship with cricket. A team of Indigenous players was the...
Jan 06, 202130:51
Voice of Real Australia Presents: Hear Them Raw

Voice of Real Australia Presents: Hear Them Raw

Most people know Mike Wilson as the bloke at the bull sale with a pen in his hand and notepad in his back pocket. On the outside you'd...
Dec 23, 202025:11
Bawley Point brigade's new recruits take fight to bushfire fears

Bawley Point brigade's new recruits take fight to bushfire fears

Bawley Point was one of the first South Coast villages to be threatened by the ferocious Currowan fire that ravaged the region....
Dec 09, 202022:36
Wytaliba and Torrington fires: When wilderness escapes become death traps

Wytaliba and Torrington fires: When wilderness escapes become death traps

On November 8 2019 there were a record 17 fires burning at emergency level in New South Wales. The New England region of New South...
Nov 25, 202030:51
Dubbo's drug problem, and Black Summer still haunts Cobargo

Dubbo's drug problem, and Black Summer still haunts Cobargo

In Dubbo, drugs are everywhere. The crisis here has brought with it an epidemic of mental health struggles, homelessness, family...
Nov 11, 202037:12
The Drip Gorge and the women fighting for it

The Drip Gorge and the women fighting for it

About half an hour north of Mudgee, on the Ulan Road, is a stunning natural sandstone formation which runs along the Goulburn...
Oct 28, 202027:54
On board the Aurora Australis, the only Australian-made Antarctic icebreaker

On board the Aurora Australis, the only Australian-made Antarctic icebreaker

The retired Aurora Australis was built at Carrington Slipways upriver from Newcastle and is the only Australian-made...
Oct 14, 202022:42
Dungog's biking boom, and the telehealth revolution in the bush

Dungog's biking boom, and the telehealth revolution in the bush

Have you used telehealth before? Around 30 million Australians have since March. The uptick was made possible because of changes to...
Sep 30, 202028:33