FSN - Freo Life

Ian de Souza, now in his 87th year, is a much loved Fremantle artist, but he wasn’t always a visual artist.After puzzling his way through a few years of Minor Seminary in New South Wales as a 16 year old in the mid 1950s, straight from a Catholic high school in Malaya, as it was then, Ian, then Mervyn, decided he needed to explore his artistic talents; and he did so first in Perth. Before he knew it he had carved out a successful career as a singer. Later, he redirected his talent and emerged as a self taught watercolour artist of some note around Fremantle some 4 decades and more ago; and later again, as an art teacher.Ian says observation lies at the heart of his painting practice. He explains that for more than four decades, he has developed a disciplined approach grounded in drawing and the direct experience of landscape. This is all exemplified in his latest exhibition, Port to Pilbara, that has just opened at Found & Sorted Gallery, 138 South Terrace, Fremantle – right near the Wray Street commercial precinct.Ian says the exhibition brings together two environments that have shaped his artistic vision: the maritime architecture of Fremantle and the ancient geological formations of the Pilbara, both executed en plein air.The port city has long anchored the Ian’s life and practice. A series of monochrome drawings and paintings in the exhibition explores the geometry and rhythm of the built environment. The Fremantle Bridge appears as a recurring motif – an image Ian has revisited throughout his career, amongst many other recognisable Freo scenes. In contrast, the works developed in Karijini National Park respond to the powerful geological character of the Pilbara. Iron-rich earth, deep gorges and expansive skies create a terrain of striking chromatic intensity and shifting light.Our Editor, Michael Barker, was pleased to catch up with Ian de Souza this week to make the podcast you’ll find below, in which we discuss Ian’s varied and amazing career, from Malaya to Freo and much in between. And what drives him. You won’t want to miss a word!You can find the original article on Fremantle Shipping News here. Support the show

Regular listeners of Episodes 1-10 will know that the escape moment has nearly arrived. In this episode, Episode 11, we arrive at the pointy end of the great escape story. In Episode 10 we heard that the alarm seemed to have been raised on the escape. The mounted soldiers were on the beach at Rockingham shadowing the escaping whaleboat fully laden with a boatload of 16 men, including the 6 escaping Military Fenians. What will happen next? After all this time, will the story have a Hollywood ending, or a tragic Colonial one? Fingers crossed. We wish them all the luck of the Irish!You can read the original article for this episode on FSN here, where you will find a helpful photograph (courtesy of Fremantle and fellow Catalpa historian, Mike Lefroy) of a typical late 19th century whaleboat now to be found in the Maritime Museum, Fremantle.And in case you missed the earlier episodes, here they are –Episode 1:  here’s Episode 1Episode 2:  here’s Episode 2Episode 3: here’s Episode 3Episode 4: here’s Episode 4Episode 5: here’s Episode 5Episode 6: here’s Episode 6Episode 7: here’s Episode 7Episode 8: here’s Episode 8Episode 9: here’s Episode 9Episode 10: here's Episode 10Support the show

Welcome back to our politics podcast, View From The Round House With Martin Drum.Today, our Editor, Michael Barker asks the Prof about one thing and one thing only, well, three things one supposes: IRAN, IRAN, IRAN.Martin Drum is the Executive Dean for the Faculty of Arts, Sciences, Law and Business and Professor of Politics and International Relations at the University of Notre Dame Australia, a frequenter of Fremantle, and a well known political pundit.You can read the original article on FSN here. And in case you missed our earlier podcasts, you’ll find them all here!~ If you’d like to COMMENT on this or any of our stories, don’t hesitate to email our Editor.Support the show

Lara Bianca Pilcher is an international performing artist, author, speaker, and ICF PCC-certified creativity coach with over 25 years of experience across musical theatre, choreography, education, and leadership.She has worked internationally in Australia, London, and the United States, and holds a Master’s in Musical Theatre Creative Practice (ArtsEd London), a Bachelor in Creative Arts (Dance), and a Graduate Diploma in Education (Dance and Drama).Her debut book, Audacious Artistry: Reclaim Your Creative Identity and Thrive in a Saturated World – just released in the Northern Hemisphere and soon to be released in Australia – introduces the Creative Brief for the Audacious Artist — a powerful identity-based framework for staying grounded, courageous, and self-directed through the realities of creative life: obscurity, doubt, rejection, comparison, and the fear of being overlooked.With deep experience as both artist and coach, Lara speaks and teaches globally, equipping artists to build emotionally, artistically, and practically sustainable careers.She is also the creator of The Healthy Wealthy Wise Artist Podcast and lives in Atlanta, Georgia, with her husband and two children.The Editor of Fremantle Shipping News, Michael Barker, was very pleased to catch up with Lara Bianca Pilcher before her planned Australian speaking tour (including in Perth, her home state) to make the podcast (that you’ll find at the very foot of this post) where we discuss how to be an Audacious Artist! It’s a great listen. Lara is a brilliant communicator!You can read the original story on FSN here.Support the show

Welcome to our regular politics podcast, View From The Round House With Martin Drum.This episode is titled LEY LOSES, TAYLOR TRIUMPHS, ALL EYES TURN TO FARRER!In this episode, our Editor, Michael Barker, asks the Prof about only one thing, the battle for the Australian Liberals leadership and how and why former Opposition Leader Sussan Ley lost and new Opposition Leader Angus Taylor triumphed, and what comes next. Turns out the by-election in Farrer comes next following Sussan Ley’s resignation from Parliament. Fascinating days ahead. The Prof explains all!Martin Drum is the Executive Dean for the Faculty of Arts, Sciences, Law and Business and Professor of Politics and International Relations at the University of Notre Dame Australia, a frequenter of Fremantle, and a well known political pundit.You can view the original article on FSN here.Support the show

In this Episde, Episode 10, at long last we begin to get to the business end of the rescue and escape. Captain Anthony in Bunbury and Breslin/Mr Collins in Fremantle are in regular touch by telegram over the Easter weekend. The 6 Fenians are on alert in The Establishment preparing themselves for the word to abscond. Breslin and Desmond/Johnson are arranging horses and traps to convey two escape parties from Fremantle to near Rockingham to meet up with Captain Anthony and his crew and make their way out of Western Australia. King and Brennan are helping out. It’s gripping stuff.You can read the original article for Episode 10 on FSN here.And in case you missed the earlier episodes, here they are –Episode 1:  here’s Episode 1Episode 2:  here’s Episode 2Episode 3: here’s Episode 3Episode 4: here’s Episode 4Episode 5: here’s Episode 5Episode 6: here’s Episode 6Episode 7: here’s Episode 7Episode 8: here’s Episode 8Episode 9: here’s Episode 9Support the show

The Head On Photo Festival began in Sydney in 2004, and, for the first time, in 2026, it’s on show, in Perth Western Australia, right now!You don’t need to be a declared lover of photography to attend the Festival, but if you are, you will love it. And if you aren’t, you soon will be!The Festival is Australia’s premier photography event, showcasing the work of international and local photographers of all genres and career stages.Moshe Rosenzveig is the founder, artistic director and curator of Head On. His own career spans over 40 years as a photojournalist, commercial photographer, educator and an award-winning television producer/director at SBS Television. His work has been screened, published and exhibited in Australia and overseas.Our Editor, Michael Barker, was very pleased to catch up with Moshe Rosenzveig this week to make this podcast in which Moshe discusses how Head On came to be, the state of photography in the 2020s and, of course, the Head On Photo Festival Perth 2026, what you will find on show, and how best to enjoy it all.Here’s the original post on Fremantle Shipping News.And here’s the podcast. Enjoy!Support the show

Here’s Episode 9 of this very popular podcast celebrating to escape of political Fenians from Colonial Western Australia on 17 April 1876 - coming up 150 years. In this episode, the Catalpa arrives in Bunbury. It’s 27 March 1876. Breslin/Collins and Captain Anthony meet there. So much pretence. And lo and behold, Brennan, whom captain Anthony had refused to take on board in New Bedford, suddenly appears on the Georgette. Is that like throwing a spanner in the works? So many operatives now wanting to share the glory! Will too many cooks spoil the broth? Breslin and Anthony journey on the Georgette to Fremantle where they find HMS Conflict, a gun boat, in port. So much happening. Won’t the authorities smell a rat? So many cliches. Such a story! Suddenly, it’s 15 April 1876.You can read the original article for Episode 9 here.Don’t miss Episodes 1-8 in this wonderful podcast series:Episode 1: on FSN and Apple Podcasts.Episode 2: on FSN and Apple Podcasts.Episode 3: on FSN and Apple Podcasts.Episode 4: on FSN and Apple Podcasts.Episode 5: on FSN and Apple Podcasts.Episode 6: on FSN and Apple Podcasts.Episode 7: on FSN and Apple Podcasts.Episode 8: on FSN and Apple Podcasts.Support the show

Welcome to Episode 8 of the Catalpa Escape Podcast Series.In Episode 1, our narrator, Margo O’Byrne, sets the scene for the famous 1876 Catalpa Escape of the ‘Military’ Fenians from just south of Fremantle, Western Australia.Episode 2 deals with the raising the money through the auspices of Clan na Gael – the Irish Association in America – and how John Devoy became the key plotter of the escape. In Episode 3, we find ourselves in New Bedford in key meetings of key men. Devoy, Goff, Reynolds, Hathaway, Richardson – and George Smith Anthony. And Anthony’s wife Emma. A suitable ship needs to be found and purchased for the Fremantle mission. A Captain to sail her and control the mission needs to be found. Enter Anthony. The Catalpa is spotted. Reynolds takes out mortgage on his house to purchase the Catalpa.In Episode 4, Margo O’Byrne explains how the Clan-Na-Gael rescue committee needed to find a way to realise the funds to pay for the rescue attempt. Richardson and Hathaway move the Catalpa to New Bedford and prepare it for the voyage. Captain Anthony selects a crew. And it’s time, to think about who will be on the ground in Fremantle to coordinate the final moments of the escape of the Fenians. And you get to meet Duggan, Brennan, Breslin and Desmond.In Episode 5, Margot relates just how the Catalpa voyage progressed on its way to the Azores, then Tenerife, and onward. Who knew just where they were actually heading? Did Captain Anthony have to take Brennan aboard along the way? And just what luck did Captain Anthony have when he crossed a British ship on the Indian Ocean south of Port Elizabeth?In Episode 6, Margot asks what the Fenians in Fremantle were up to while the Catalpa crew were on the high seas catching whales and then encountering the Ocean Beauty and meeting with Captain Cousins in the Indian Ocean and receiving maps of the coastline of Western Australia, and the two US operatives, Breslin and Desmond, were aboard the speedy mail steamer, Cyphranes bound for Sydney. Were the Freo Fenians aware of any of these events? How many of them were still incarcerated? Were they kept locked up inside the Establishment? In this episode, Episode 8, Breslin/Mr Collins and Desmond/Johnson are still in and around Fremantle and Perth. The Catalpa is awaited. In anticipation of her arrival, Breslin helps Foley depart the jurisdiction. He also visits the ‘interior’. And discovers the place from which he decides the Military Fenians should escape the shores of Western Australia forever. His love life is also becoming more complicated. And on top of that who should enter the scene but McCarthy/Dixon and Walsh/Hopkins. Who are they and what are they doing in Fremantle? To complicate matters further, the money is running low. And where is the Catalpa? So many questions demanding so many answers!You can read the original article for Episode 8 here.Support the show

Patriotic Millionaires is a group of wealthy Americans advocating for higher taxes on the rich, stronger democracy, and fairer economic systems. Its mantra is TAX THE RICH, PAY THE PEOPLE, SPREAD THE POWER. And Scott Ellis is one of the Patriotic Millionaires. Scott is the founder and CEO of MasteryTrack, and a former McKinsey consultant and Hewlett-Packard executive who has turned to philanthropy and activism. Amongst other contributions on the topic of excessive wealth, he is the author of a recent Time magazine op-Ed titled: ‘I’m a Millionaire. No One Needs More than $30 million’.When our Ed Michael Barker heard about these Patriots he made contact with Scott’s people and then made an arrangement with Scott to make this podcast – he in Silicon Valley, California and our Ed in downtown Freo – to discuss what Patriotic Millionaires is all about, Scott’s own background and his journey to becoming an advocate in the US – and now beyond – for measures to curb excessive wealth, like a 50% tax on household wealth over US$30 million.The podcast ranges freely over Scott’s contributions to the topic of excessive wealth, including his papers titled Let’s talk Pathway to Shared Prosperity and The $30 Million Success Project, as well as the Great Economy Project initiated by Patriotic Millionaires. It’s a podcast designed to make one think.We also ask Scott about the novel he wrote a decade or so ago, and his fascination with Diplomacy!Read the original article on Fremantle Shipping News here.Support the show

Welcome to Episode 7 of the Catalpa Escape Podcast Series.In Episode 1, our narrator, Margo O’Byrne, sets the scene for the famous 1876 Catalpa Escape of the ‘Military’ Fenians from just south of Fremantle, Western Australia.Episode 2 deals with the raising the money through the auspices of Clan na Gael – the Irish Association in America – and how John Devoy became the key plotter of the escape. In Episode 3, we find ourselves in New Bedford in key meetings of key men. Devoy, Goff, Reynolds, Hathaway, Richardson – and George Smith Anthony. And Anthony’s wife Emma. A suitable ship needs to be found and purchased for the Fremantle mission. A Captain to sail her and control the mission needs to be found. Enter Anthony. The Catalpa is spotted. Reynolds takes out mortgage on his house to purchase the Catalpa.In Episode 4, Margo O’Byrne explains how the Clan-Na-Gael rescue committee needed to find a way to realise the funds to pay for the rescue attempt. Richardson and Hathaway move the Catalpa to New Bedford and prepare it for the voyage. Captain Anthony selects a crew. And it’s time, to think about who will be on the ground in Fremantle to coordinate the final moments of the escape of the Fenians. And you get to meet Duggan, Brennan, Breslin and Desmond.In Episode 5, Margot relates just how the Catalpa voyage progressed on its way to the Azores, then Tenerife, and onward. Who knew just where they were actually heading? Did Captain Anthony have to take Brennan aboard along the way? And just what luck did Captain Anthony have when he crossed a British ship on the Indian Ocean south of Port Elizabeth?In Episode 6, Margot asks what the Fenians in Fremantle were up to while the Catalpa crew were on the high seas catching whales and then encountering the Ocean Beauty and meeting with Captain Cousins in the Indian Ocean and receiving maps of the coastline of Western Australia, and the two US operatives, Breslin and Desmond, were aboard the speedy mail steamer, Cyphranes bound for Sydney. Were the Freo Fenians aware of any of these events? How many of them were still incarcerated? Were they kept locked up inside the Establishment? In this episode, Episode 7, Margot O’Byrne takes us to Fremantle with the arrival there of Breslin/Mr Collins and Desmond/Mr Johnson in mid-November 1875. At this point they are expecting the Catalpa under Captain Anthony’s command to arrive late January/early February. What does each do? Who do they meet? Does Mr Collins make the acquaintance of Acting Comptroller General of The Establishment, Fauntleroy? Does he make contact with the Military Fenians? If so, how? And surely there’s a ‘love interest’ in all of this? Could it be Mary Tondut? And what has happened to their new friend King who they left behind in Sydney? Such a story. Don’t miss a word of it!You can read the original article for Episode 7 on Fremantle Shipping News here.Support the show

Welcome to Episode 6 of the Catalpa Escape Podcast Series.In Episode 1, our narrator, Margo O’Byrne, sets the scene for the famous 1876 Catalpa Escape of the ‘Military’ Fenians from just south of Fremantle, Western Australia.Episode 2 deals with the raising the money through the auspices of Clan na Gael – the Irish Association in America – and how John Devoy became the key plotter of the escape. In Episode 3, we find ourselves in New Bedford in key meetings of key men. Devoy, Goff, Reynolds, Hathaway, Richardson – and George Smith Anthony. And Anthony’s wife Emma. A suitable ship needs to be found and purchased for the Fremantle mission. A Captain to sail her and control the mission needs to be found. Enter Anthony. The Catalpa is spotted. Reynolds takes out mortgage on his house to purchase the Catalpa.In Episode 4, Margo O’Byrne explains how the Clan-Na-Gael rescue committee needed to find a way to realise the funds to pay for the rescue attempt. Richardson and Hathaway move the Catalpa to New Bedford and prepare it for the voyage. Captain Anthony selects a crew. And it’s time, to think about who will be on the ground in Fremantle to coordinate the final moments of the escape of the Fenians. And you get to meet Duggan, Brennan, Breslin and Desmond.In Episode 5, Margot relates just how the Catalpa voyage progressed on its way to the Azores, then Tenerife, and onward. Who knew just where they were actually heading? Did Captain Anthony have to take Brennan aboard along the way? And just what luck did Captain Anthony have when he crossed a British ship on the Indian Ocean south of Port Elizabeth?In this episode, Episode 6, Margot asks what the Fenians in Fremantle were up to while the Catalpa crew were on the high seas catching whales and then encountering the Ocean Beauty and meeting with Captain Cousins in the Indian Ocean and receiving maps of the coastline of Western Australia, and the two US operatives, Breslin and Desmond, were aboard the speedy mail steamer, Cyphranes bound for Sydney. Were the Freo Fenians aware of any of these events? How many of them were still incarcerated? Were they kept locked up inside the Establishment? The action is really building and Margo O’Byrne narrates it all in Episode 6 of the Catalpa Escape Podcast Series.You can read the original article for Episode 6 on Fremantle Shipping News here.You will find Episodes 1-5 earlier on the Freo Life podcast.Support the show

Welcome to Episode 5 of the Catalpa Escape Podcast Series.In Episode 1, our narrator, Margo O’Byrne, sets the scene for the famous 1876 Catalpa Escape of the ‘Military’ Fenians from just south of Fremantle, Western Australia.Episode 2 deals with the raising the money through the auspices of Clan na Gael – the Irish Association in America – and how John Devoy became the key plotter of the escape. In Episode 3, we find ourselves in New Bedford in key meetings of key men. Devoy, Goff, Reynolds, Hathaway, Richardson – and George Smith Anthony. And Anthony’s wife Emma. A suitable ship needs to be found and purchased for the Fremantle mission. A Captain to sail her and control the mission needs to be found. Enter Anthony. The Catalpa is spotted. Reynolds takes out mortgage on his house to purchase the Catalpa.In Episode 4, Margo O’Byrne explains how the Clan-Na-Gael rescue committee needed to find a way to realise the funds to pay for the rescue attempt. Richardson and Hathaway move the Catalpa to New Bedford and prepare it for the voyage. Captain Anthony selects a crew. And it’s time, to think about who will be on the ground in Fremantle to coordinate the final moments of the escape of the Fenians. And you get to meet Duggan, Brennan, Breslin and Desmond.In this episode, Episode 5, Margot relates just how the Catalpa voyage progressed on its way to the Azores, then Tenerife, and onward. Who knew just where they were actually heading? Did Captain Anthony have to take Brennan aboard along the way? And just what luck did Captain Anthony have when he crossed a British ship on the Indian Ocean south of Port Elizabeth?The action is really building and Margo O’Byrne narrates it all in Episode 5 of the Catalpa Escape Podcast Series.You can find the original article for Episode 5 on Fremantle Shipping News here.Don’t miss Episodes 1-4 in this wonderful podcast series.Episode 1: on FSN and Apple Podcasts.Episode 2: on FSN and Apple Podcasts.Episode 3: on FSN and Apple Podcasts.Episode 4: on FSN and Apple Podcasts.Support the show

The 6th WFDYS Children Camp — organised by the World Federation of the Deaf Youth Section – is set to take place in Parry Sound, Ontario, Canada from August 23 to 29, 2025.And 10 year old, White Gum Valley girl and Fremantle Primary School student Isla Scarvaci is about to fly there, accompanied by her mother, Josie Hodgetts, to take part – as just one of four children selected Australia-wide.Isla is a year 5 student at Fremantle Primary School and is very involved in school life being a deputy councillor.In Isla’s home, Auslan is the first language as her parents and two siblings are also deaf. As are her maternal grandparents. Signing has been a way of life for Isla since she was born.When the Camp opportunity arose, Isla wrote to Soroptimist International Fremantle (SIF) seeking financial support for her trip which resulted in a donation of $1500 from the club towards the Camp costs, as Annie Carswell, Life Member of SIF explains in the podcast below.The letter was inspired by Isla’s mother. Josie received a bursary from a Tasmanian Soroptimist club when she was in Year 12 to travel to America, a trip she has always remembered with great fondness.Josie went on to attend Gallaudet University in Washington DC – the only liberal arts university in the world for deaf students. She hopes Isla will think about furthering her education at this specialist university too.Our Editor, Michael Barker, was extremely pleased to meet Isla Scarvaci, her mother Josie Hodgetts, her brother Kit and Annie Carswell, Life Member of SIF, to make the podcast below where we talk with Annie about SIF’s support for Isla’s Camp, and with Isla and Josie about the Camp, the challenges of being deaf, and much more besides. The podcast would not have been possible without the assistance of interpreter Christy.You can read the full story on Fremantle Shipping News here.Support the show

Well known media guy, and now a newly minted Freo author, Geoff Hutchison has just seen his first book, How Not To Become A Grumpy Old Bugger published by Affirm Press, a Simon & Schuster company.As the publisher says of the focus of Geoff’s book –They are the unhappy husbands, the disengaged grandfathers and the angry ‘letters to the editor’ writers. They sneer at generational change, know exactly where that bloody apostrophe should go and gather in sad groups bemoaning the modern world. They are Grumpy Old Buggers.Geoff Hutchison became determined not to turn into one himself upon retirement from a career in journalism. So he wondered: what is it about ageing that tends to have this effect on Australian men, and what can be done to arrest that development?Consulting a wide range of experts and mining his own experience and that of the other men in his life, Geoff has discovered how we can all live a happier, healthier and less grumpy life.The Editor of Fremantle Shipping News, Michael Barker, couldn’t wait to make this podcast with Geoff Hutchison to find out more. Don’t miss the podcast. You won’t be disappointed.You can read the original story on Fremantle Shipping News here.Support the show

Welcome to Episode 4 of the Catalpa Escape Podcast Series.In Episode 1, our narrator, Margo O’Byrne, sets the scene for the famous 1876 Catalpa Escape of the ‘Military’ Fenians from just south of Fremantle, Western Australia. Episode 2 deals with the raising the money through the auspices of Clan na Gael – the Irish Association in America – and how John Devoy became the key plotter of the escape. In Episode 3, we find ourselves in New Bedford in key meetings of key men. Devoy, Goff, Reynolds, Hathaway, Richardson – and George Smith Anthony. And Anthony’s wife Emma. A suitable ship needs to be found and purchased for the Fremantle mission. A Captain to sail her and control the mission needs to be found. Enter Anthony. The Catalpa is spotted. Reynolds takes out mortgage on his house to purchase the Catalpa.In this episode, Episode 4, Margo O’Byrne explains how the Clan-Na-Gael rescue committee needed to find a way to realise the funds to pay for the rescue attempt. Richardson and Hathaway move the Catalpa to New Bedford and prepare it for the voyage. Captain Anthony selects a crew. And it’s time, to think about who will be on the ground in Fremantle to coordinate the final moments of the escape of the Fenians. And you get to meet Duggan, Brennan, Breslin and Desmond… Enjoy!You can find the original article for Episode 4 on Fremantle Shipping News here.Don’t miss Episodes 1-3 in this wonderful podcast series.Episode 1: In case you missed the very first episode of the Catalpa Escape Podcast Series here’s Episode 1 on FSN and Apple Podcasts.Episode 2: On FSN and Apple Podcasts.Episode 3: on FSN and Apple Podcasts.Support the show

In Episode 1 of the Catalpa Escape Podcast Series, our narrator, Margo O’Byrne, set the scene for the famous 1876 Catalpa Escape of the ‘Military’ Fenians from just south of Fremantle, Western Australia.Episode 2 deals with the raising the money through the auspices of Clan na Gale – the Irish Association in America – and how John Devoy became the key plotter of the escape.In this, Episode 3, we find ourselves in New Bedford in key meetings of key men. Devoy, Goff, Reynolds, Hathaway, Richardson – and George Smith Anthony. And Anthony’s wife Emma. A suitable ship needs to be found and purchased for the Fremantle mission. A Captain to sail her and control the mission needs to be found. Enter Anthony. The Catalpa is spotted. Reynolds takes out mortgage on his house to purchase the Catalpa. Things are getting serious. They are happening.You’ll hear it all in Episode 3 of the podcast below, and read the full article on Fremantle Shipping News here.If you missed the past episodes you can find them all here: Episode 1 on FSNEpisode 1 on Apple PodcastsEpisode 2 on FSN Episode 2 on Apple PodcastsSupport the show

The Catalpa Escape was the escape, on 17 April 1876, of six Irish ‘military’ Fenians from the ‘Convict Establishment’, now Fremantle Prison, in the then British colony of Western Australia. A number of Fenians were initially transported on the convict ship Hougoumont to Fremantle, arriving on 9 January 1868. In 1869 and 1871, pardons had been issued to many of the imprisoned Fenians. But not to the ‘military’ Fenians who remained in Western Australia’s penal system.In 1874, one of these ‘military’ Fenians, James Wilson, secretly sent a letter to New York City journalist John Devoy, who worked to organise a rescue. Using donations collected by Devoy from Irish-Americans, a merchant ship, Catalpa, was purchased and crewed and sailed into international waters off Rockingham, Western Australia. On 17 April 1876 at 8:30 am, Wilson and five other Fenians working outside the prison walls – Thomas Darragh, Martin Hogan, Michael Harrington, Thomas Hassett, and Robert Cranston – boarded a whaleboat and soon after were were taken aboard the Catalpa, and made their escape to New York.In the Catalpa Escape Podcast Series, leading up to 17 April 2026 and the 150th anniversary of the Catalpa Escape, Fremantle writer and Catalpa historian Margo O’Byrne tells Fremantle Shipping News Editor Michael Barker just how the Fenians came to be in Fremantle, how the plot to free them was hatched in the USA, and how it was dramatically carried out.Enjoy the story!You can read the full article on Fremantle Shipping News here: The Catalpa Escape Podcast Series – Episode 1.Once you're done, here is Episode 2 on FSN: The Catalpa Escape Podcast Series – Episode 2.You can also listen to Episode 2 on Apple Podcasts.Support the show

The Catalpa Escape was the escape, on 17 April 1876, of six Irish ‘military’ Fenians from the ‘Convict Establishment’, now Fremantle Prison, in the then British colony of Western Australia. A number of Fenians were initially transported on the convict ship Hougoumont to Fremantle, arriving on 9 January 1868. In 1869 and 1871, pardons had been issued to many of the imprisoned Fenians. But not to the ‘military’ Fenians who remained in Western Australia’s penal system.In 1874, one of these ‘military’ Fenians, James Wilson, secretly sent a letter to New York City journalist John Devoy, who worked to organise a rescue. Using donations collected by Devoy from Irish-Americans, a merchant ship, Catalpa, was purchased and crewed and sailed into international waters off Rockingham, Western Australia. On 17 April 1876 at 8:30 am, Wilson and five other Fenians working outside the prison walls – Thomas Darragh, Martin Hogan, Michael Harrington, Thomas Hassett, and Robert Cranston – boarded a whaleboat and soon after were were taken aboard the Catalpa, and made their escape to New York.In the Catalpa Escape Podcast Series, leading up to 17 April 2026 and the 150th anniversary of the Catalpa Escape, Fremantle writer and Catalpa historian Margo O’Byrne tells Fremantle Shipping News Editor Michael Barker just how the Fenians came to be in Fremantle, how the plot to free them was hatched in the USA, and how it was dramatically carried out.Enjoy the story!You can read the full story on Fremantle Shipping News here: The Catalpa Escape Podcast Series – Episode 2If you missed it, here is Episode 1 on FSN: The Catalpa Escape Podcast Series – Episode 1.You can also listen to Episode 1 on Apple Podcasts.Support the show

Chuckie Raven is the 2025 Fogarty Literary Award winner. The Award was announced Tuesday night at the Western Australian Government House Ballroom. Chuckie Raven receives a $20,000 cash prize from the Fogarty Foundation, a publishing contract with Fremantle Press and a $1500 writing fellowship from Centre for Stories for their winning manuscript Glimmers in the Sea Glass.Raven describes the novel as being about family and how we define and redefine it. They said, ‘It's about the strength of young queer people and the importance of our queer elders and our community. It's also about silence, and the ways it creeps into our lives, our circles, and how we can speak it out of existence.’ Our Editor, Michael Barker, caught up with Chuckie Raven to make the podcast below where we discuss their win and the novel, and the impact of winning the Fogarty.You can read the full story on Fremantle Shipping News here.Support the show

With the Australian Federal elections pretty much over – bar some shouting  – and the Ministers in the new Albanese Government appointed, and so much happening elsewhere around the globe just now, the Prof and I decided to turn out attention to another election – that of Il Papa – the Pope. We chat Francis and Leo, the influence of the Papacy, and how the Vatican works as a State in international law terms.Martin Drum is the Executive Dean for the Faculty of Arts, Sciences, Law and Business and Professor of Politics and International Relations at the University of Notre Dame Australia, a frequenter of Fremantle, and a well known political pundit.Enjoy!You can view the original story on Fremantle Shipping News here.Support the show

Welcome to our politics podcast, View From The Round House With Martin Drum. Well the Australian National elections are over. The Albanese Labor Government has been re-elected with an increased majority. The minor parties and a number of independents seem not to have done so well, and Labor’s Josh Wilson in Fremantle had to fight hard to retain his seat. The Prof discusses all this and more in The Wrap today.Martin Drum is the Executive Dean for the Faculty of Arts, Sciences, Law and Business and Professor of Politics and International Relations at the University of Notre Dame Australia, and a well known political pundit.You can find the original story on Fremantle Shipping News here.And in case you missed our earlier podcasts, you’ll find them all here!Support the show

Emeritus Professor Charles Watson has done it all, well, if not exactly all, then nearly all in the fields of neuroscience, public health and health sciences.Charles is Emeritus Distinguished Professor of Health Sciences, Curtin University, January 2017 to the present; Professorial Research fellow, Neuroscience Research Australia, 2007 to the present; Adjunct Professor of Neuroscience, University of Queensland, 2013 to the present; and Senior Honorary Research Fellow, University of Western Australia, 2017 to the present.In the 1980s and later, Charles performed a number of significant senior public health roles in the WA Health Department. Most recently, he was Senior Medical Officer and Human Biosecurity Officer at the Health Department during the Covid period, ​April to July 2020. Earlier, in 2004, in recognition of his many contributions in these fields, Charles was awarded an AM – a Member of the Order of Australia.While he started out his careers in News South Wales, there can be little doubt Charles Watson is now a fully fledged eminent West Australian, and a notable Fremantle Person to boot.Along the way, his books – The Rat Brain in Stereotaxic Coordinates with George Paxinos (now in its 7th edition), and earlier with Garry Egger, Staying Well and Getting Better – have become pioneering tomes in the neuroscience and public health fields respectively.But Charles’ contributions don’t end there. He continues to serve on the Neurological Council of WA, as Chairman of the Board, and as a Board Member and National spokesperson for Gun Control Australia, as well as Senior Examiner for the Australian Brain Bee Challenge and on the Academic and Competition Advisory Committee of the International Brain Bee. Charles also is and has been a wonderful mentor to many younger professionals, especially women, in his fields. And, we are informed, he also wields a mean baritone saxophone and is a fast finisher of the daily cryptic crossword over his morning coffee. The Editor of Fremantle Shipping News, Michael Barker, was honoured to meet with Charles Watson to make this podcast, that you’ll find below, discussing Charles’ careers in neuroscience, public health and the health sciences, and so much more beside – as well as Fremantle!Read the original story on Fremantle Shipping News here.Support the show

In early 1993, after spending just over 2 years inside Biosphere 2 in Arizona, USA, Mark Nelson emerged from the artificial sphere into the natural atmosphere of Biosphere 1 – Planet Earth – with his 7 fellow Biospherians.Mark Nelson was in Fremantle recently and kindly agreed to meet with our Editor, Michael Barker to make this podcast where we talk about Biosphere 2 and answer the lingering questions: Just what was this all about? A crazy hippy commune inspired by space travel? A ‘lab rats’ experiment in human endurance? A bit of fun? What then? And what does it mean 30+ years on?Enjoy the reliving of the experience!You can read the full story on Fremantle Shipping News here.Support the show

Ilaria Mazzoleni is the General Editor of Transect of Coexistence: Inquiry into Nature, Art, and Habitat, a recently published book that collects the outcomes of a decade-long collaboration between scholars and creatives, who, through an artist and researcher-in-residence program, have explored current environmental challenges aiming for inclusive objectives at both the global and local levels. Indeed the book has an international group of collaborators, including the Freo connected choreographer, Lucinda Coleman.Six chapters highlight different ecological elements: Woods, Water, Rocks, Grasses, Animals, and Soil. Each brings together a polyphony of voices capable of reflecting on the dichotomy of nature and culture, rural and urban, and finally giving shape to suggestions for a new cooperative future. This is, in fact, the premise of the NAHR – Nature, Art & Habitat Residency eco-laboratory, which offers hospitality to researchers and artists in Val Taleggio, Italy, and in Santa Ynez Valley, California. NAHR investigates and strives for a co-existence on planet Earth in which nature and culture are intertwined in radical ways.What a great concept. What an endeavour! We had to find out more about NAHR, what the motivating force behind the collaboration has been, and just who this book is for. Luckily for us, Ilaria Mazzoleni, who is based in Italy and California, kindly agreed to meet with our Editor, Michael Barker, by Zoom from Los Angeles to record this podcast dealing with those questions, and so much more besides.You can read the full story on Fremantle Shipping News here.Support the show

Fraser Maywood is the Chair of Sustainable Energy Now, a non profit formed in 2006, that advocates for how Western Australia can make a swift and orderly transition to clean renewable electricity safely, reliably, and affordably with commercially proven technologies.Fraser has over 40 years of international experience in the Oil & Gas, mining and power sectors. Roles have included engineering, project management, business management and management consulting.He is a passionate and vocal advocate for the clean energy transition and has been a member of SEN since 2021.Fraser is also a member of the Town of East Fremantle Climate Action Reference Group and the Electrify 6158 group.Our Editor, Michael Barker, was pleased to catch up with Fraser Maygood recently to make this podcast where we discuss sustainable energy now!Support the show

Josh Wilson is the Member for Fremantle in the Federal Parliament. Since July this year, he has also been the Assistant Minister (to lead Minister, Chris Bowen) for Climate Change and Energy.In August this year, at the Australian Labor Party’s National Conference in Brisbane, Josh Wilson voiced his opposition to Australia’s signing up to the AUKUS deal with the US and the UK, involving the acquisition by Australia of nuclear powered submarines that will be rotated through HMAS Stirling at Garden Island, just across the Cockburn Sound from Fremantle.As David Crowe reported at the time in the Sydney Morning Herald, the ALP conference debate ‘highlighted the dissent within Labor branches over the shift to nuclear-powered submarines and the stronger alliance with the US, but it ended with a majority vote that endorsed the AUKUS pact with a standing ovation for the prime minister.’Josh Wilson is also a trenchant critic of the Federal Coalition Parties’ 12 June 2024 policy designed to add nuclear energy to the country’s civil energy mix, describing it as a ‘fantasy’ that ‘won’t add 1 watt of electricity inside of 10-15 years’.The editor of Fremantle Shipping News, Michael Barker, was pleased to catch up with Josh Wilson on 4 December 2024, to make the podcast below discussing nuclear power, both in powering Australian submarines and as a source of civil energy in Australia.You can read the full story on Fremantle Shipping News here.Support the show

Yirga Gelaw Woldeyes has won the 2024 City of Fremantle Hungerford Award for የተስፋ ፈተና / Trials of Hope. Written in English with accompanying Amharic poetry and prose, Yirga has written about his journey from boy shepherd in Ethiopia to human rights academic at Curtin University, Western Australia  Yirga’s background is as a writer, researcher and poet from Lalibela, Ethiopia, who now lives with his wife, writer Rebecca Higgie, in Bentley, WA, and teaches, researches and writes at Curtin University. Yirga’s prize winning manuscript’s English narrative was written over two years but the Amharic poems were written across many years, using Ethiopia’s indigenous script, Ge’ez Fidel.Judged anonymously, the City of Fremantle Hungerford Award is a biennial prize for an unpublished manuscript by a Western Australian author. The winner receives a cash prize of $15,000, a publishing contract with Fremantle Press, and a residency fellowship with the Centre for Stories.Of Yirga’s manuscript, Fremantle Press CEO Alex Allan said ‘Yirga’s story is extraordinary. It is a love song to his homeland that will inspire other Western Australians with a story to share.’And indeed it is, and will, as our editor, Michael Barker, found out when he interviewed Yirga Gelaw Woldeyes this week and made this podcast about Yirga, Ethiopia, and የተስፋ ፈተና / Trials of Hope.Enjoy!You can read the full story on Fremantle Shipping News here.Support the show

Sophie McNeill is probably best known as a television reporter for the ABC’s investigative program Four Corners and as a Middle East Correspondent for ABC News delivering prime time reports from Afghanistan, Israel, Iraq, Pakistan, Syria, Yemen, Egypt, Turkey and Gaza.Sophie has twice been awarded Australian Young TV Journalist of the Year and in 2010 won a Walkley Award for her investigation into the killing of five children in Afghanistan by Australian Special Forces soldiers. She was also nominated for a Walkley in 2015 for her coverage of the Syrian refugee crisis. In 2016 she won two more Walkleys for her coverage of Yemen and besieged towns in Syria. Sophie has also worked for ABC’s Foreign Correspondent, SBS’s Dateline and is a former host of the news and current affairs program Hack on Triple J.In March 2020, ABC Books published Sophie’s first book, We Can’t Say We Didn’t Know: Dispatches from an age of impunity. It was shortlisted for the 2020 Walkley Book Award and for the Premier’s Prize for an Emerging Writer at the 2020 Western Australian Premier’s Book Awards.She resigned from the ABC in 2020 to work as a researcher for Human Rights Watch. In 2023, Sophie joined Greenpeace as a senior campaigner.Most recently, in 2024, Sophie McNeill nominated to be a candidate on The Greens upper house ticket in the March 2025 Western Australian state election.Our Editor, Michael Barker, was very pleased when Sophie McNeill kindly accepted Fremantle Shipping News’ invitation to meet and make this podcast discussing her early start in journalism, what drove her in her days reporting from conflict zones, and what has now taken her into the world of politics. You won’t want to miss it. It’s compelling listening.You can find the original story on Fremantle Shipping News here.Support the show

When a young Holden Sheppard realised blokes weren’t meant to talk about feelings, he began to write stories instead. Twenty years later, the boy from Geraldton, Western Australia is a multi-award winning author – with a treasured black ute!Holden’s debut novel Invisible Boys achieved both commercial and critical success, winning many accolades including the WA Premier’s Prize for an Emerging Writer. Invisible Boys is being adapted as a TV series with Stan Australia, currently in post-production. Holden’s second book The Brink won the Ena Noel Award and the Young Adult category prize at the Indie Book Awards, and was shortlisted for several others.Holden’s third book Two Kings – his first novel for adults – will be published in June 2025 by Pantera Press. He is currently editing his fourth novel, a sequel to Invisible Boys.Holden, who writes in a raw, honest way about gay and bisexual men, says both Invisible Boys and The Brink have been targeted multiple times due to their content. In light of US attempts and a recent Australian move to curtail the availability of some categories of books in public libraries, Holden recently decided to speak up on the topic of freedom to read and censorship at The Freedom to Read: Public Libraries, Democracy and Censorship seminar in Perth, Western Australia.Our Editor, Michael Barker, caught up with Holden Sheppard last week to make this podcast exploring the freedom we assume we have to access what we want to read in public libraries free from censorship. Here’s the podcast.You can read the full story on Fremantle Shipping News here.Support the show

Linda Wayman has a background in journalism, marketing, public affairs, communications, business development, and commercial and business leadership, with an eclectic mix of government and commercial knowledge. For nearly 15 years Linda was Southern Cross Austereo’s WA General Manager of two Perth radio stations, Mix94.5 and Hit92.9. Currently, Linda is the principal of Wayman Advisory, chair of Carers WA, director of Carers Australia, and board member of Tourism Australia. She’s a busy, sought after person.She also has Freo coursing through her veins and is Chair of the City of Fremantle’s Destination Marketing Working Group just to prove it.On top of all that, Linda is a keen sailor!Our Editor, Michael Barker, was thrilled that Linda Wayman was able to find time this week to meet with him to make this podcast reflecting on her career progression from cadet journalist at The West Australian newspaper in Perth, to running two high rating Perth radio stations, to marketing tourism locally in Fremantle and in Australia today. Enjoy. It’s a great story!You can read the full story on Fremantle Shipping News here.Support the show

As Senior Environmental Advisor for Fremantle Ports, Rebecca James is focused on issues such as marine environmental protection, decarbonisation and embedding circular economy principles. She is passionate about bringing relevant stakeholders together and sharing knowledge to collaborate on innovative solutions.When it comes to waste, Rebecca has a track record of challenging the status quo. In the northern goldfields of Western Australia she pioneered the backloading of supply trucks with valuable scrap metal from remote mine sites, where the proceeds were donated to the Princess Margaret Hospital for Children. In the south-west of the State, she partnered with the ACTIV foundation to establish industry placements for retrieving timber packaging for reuse in ACTIV workshops. In Fremantle, she has already led a pilot program to maximise recycling from cruise ships whilst maintaining strict biosecurity standards.Rebecca is now about to take up the 2023 Churchill Fellowship she was awarded to research best practice waste management and recycling practices from cruise ships in Singapore, Europe and North America. This research will examine alternate ways to minimise solid waste from cruise vessels, to apply to the Australian context.Fremantle Shipping News’ Editor, Michael Barker, and Shipping Correspondent, Jean Hudson, were very pleased to meet Rebecca James to make this podcast where we discuss her Churchill Award, the cruise ship waste management challenges at hand, and just what a new system would look like after she has disrupted the status quo. Fascinating stuff. Lots to be learned.You can read the full story on Fremantle Shipping News here.Support the show

Born and raised in the United Kingdom, Richard King gained an MA in Literary History and Cultural Discourse from the University of Sussex, England, before moving to London to work in bookselling and develop his own writing career. Since moving to Australia in 2001, he has been published in a range of newspapers and magazines, including The Australian, The Age, the Sydney Morning Herald, The Independent, The Monthly, Griffith Review, the Sydney Review of Books, Meanjin, Overland, New Matilda, Australian Book Review and 3 Quarks Daily (for whom he wrote a regular column between 2016 and 2018). Richard has also been published in The Best Australian Poems and the Best Australian Science Writing. Close to the Arena cooperative in Melbourne, he writes regularly for Arena Online and Arena’s quarterly magazine, focusing in particular on the relationship between culture and technology. His first book On Offence: The Politics of Indignation (Scribe, 2013) was widely and positively reviewed by critics, with The Weekend Australian’s Geordie Williamson calling it ‘an extended essay of uncommon eloquence and brio.’  The late Clive James was also an admirer of King’s writing. King’s latest book is Here Be Monsters: Is Technology Reducing Our Humanity? published last year, 2023, by Monash University Publishing.Our Editor, Michael Barker, was extremely pleased to catch up with Richard King in Freo to discuss Here Be Monsters, technology, AI and humans and to make this podcast.You can read the full story on Fremantle Shipping News here.Support the show

25 years ago, BENANG from the heart took the Australian publishing world by storm and made Kim Scott, a household name and a pathfinding Australian indigenous author. His novel swept the awards season, winning the Western Australian Premier’s Book Award Fiction Prize in 1999, the esteemed Miles Franklin Award in 2000, and the Kate Challis RAKA Award in 2001, as well being shortlisted for the Queensland Premier’s Literary Award in 2000, and the Tasmania Pacific Literary Award in 2001, and longlisted for the Dublin IMPAC Literary Award in 2000.BENANG tells the story of Harley, a man of Nyoongar ancestry, who finds himself at a difficult point in the history of his country, family and self. As the apparently successful outcome of his white grandfather’s enthusiastic attempts to isolate and breed the ‘first white man born’, he wants to be a failure. But would such failure mean his Nyoongar ancestors could label him a success? And how can the attempted genocide represented by his family history be told?The praise for the novel has been lavish: ‘Benang is brilliant. It is a mature, complex, sweeping historical novel which will remind people of Rushdie, Carey and Grenville at their best. This is an absolute page turner and in the end we are left with a sense of joy and gratitude that such stories are still possible – that the silence has been broken.’ Sydney Morning Herald.BENANG from the heart has just been reprinted by Fremantle Press in recognition of the seminal role it has played in Indigenous literature in Australia. The 25th Anniversary Edition contains a generous Foreword by Philip Morrissey and a wonderful Preface by Kim Scott.Kim Scott kindly agreed to meet with our Editor, Michael Barker, to discuss the literary phenomenon that is BENANG from the heart, what has happened in Australia over the past 25 years, the failure of the Yes vote on The Voice, and so much more besides.You can read the full story on Fremantle Shipping News here.Support the show

Sarah Booth has a broad resume with a central focus: community. She currently acts as General Manager of Fremantle-based urban-renewal organisation, Spacemarket, and as Community Development Lead with property groups, Hesperia and Fini. To put it simply, in the language of the 70s, Sarah is a Mover and a Shaker. She gets things going. She asks questions. She doesn’t rest. And she loves Fremantle inside out.With over 15 years’ experience working nationally in the property and engagement space, Sarah has a special passion for turning vacant buildings and precincts into healthy, vibrant places of creativity and connection. Recent projects she’s been involved with around Freo include Victoria Hall, Elders Woolstores and the South Terrace Piazza.In past lives Sarah has been acting editor of Assemble Papers, a music writer for Oyster magazine, a café-owner in Collingwood, a florist, and worked in the art department at the ABC. Sarah believes in collaboration, providing access – and ghosts. Sarah is currently a board member of the Fremantle Chamber of Commerce, Chair of the East End Arts Precinct; and in 2024 was awarded joint Fremantle Community Citizen of the Year.Our editor, Michael Barker, was very pleased to catch up with Sarah Booth to discover just what drives her passion for Freo.Read the full story on FSN here.Support the show

Gemma, another Fremantle connected creative, is a talented, and busy, musician, bandleader and composer. And to prove it, she, with the Gemma Farrell Quintet, has a new album – her 9th and the Quintet’s 3rd – titled Electronic, coming out on 3 May 2024. While Gemma typically performs on all four saxes, she has also mastered a more unusual instrument called the EWI, short for Electronic Wind Instrument, which features heavily on Electronica.As well as this being her 9th album, Gemma also runs WA Youth Jazz Orchestra’s ‘Progressions’ Pathways Program, which was nominated for an APRA AMCOS Art Music Award for Excellence in Music Education; was one of three finalists for the 2022 and 2023 Australian Women in Music Awards in the Humanitarian category; and was one of 16 Australian musicians nominated for the Freedman Fellowship Award in the Jazz Category in 2022. On top of all that she teaches sax at WAPA!You can see why our Editor, Michael Barker, was chuffed when Gemma Farrell agreed to sit down with him to record this podcast where we discuss her dedication to Jazz!You can read the full story on Fremantle Shipping News here.Support the show

Gerry MacGill is so well known around Freo that he hardly needs a last name. ‘Gerry’ is usually a sufficient reference. People will know immediately who you are referring to. But if you are still unsure whether the fellow in the group is Gerry, you’ll know it’s him once you hear the Geordie burr. Born in Wallsend, right next to Newcastle, England, up there in the North where ships used to be built, just over 89 years ago, Gerry found his way to Fremantle via Canada, and after a short return to the UK to study in London, never really left. One of the first Fremantle Society candidates to be elected to the Fremantle Council in the 79s, Gerry was one of the new breed dedicated to the saving of Freo as we knew it then and still know it today. He served on Council from 1975 until 1988. Gerry has been equally dedicated over the years to conserving the integrity of North Fremantle, where he has lived since the 70s and remains a stalwart of the North Freo Community Association. If you ask Gerry what he is up to these days, post his retirement some years back, he is likely to tell you he is busy being a ‘general public nuisance’ and North Fremantle Precinct Convenor. Gerry kindly agreed to sit and discuss his life’s journey and Freo past, present and future with our editor, Michael Barker. Put in your earbuds, lean back and enjoy Gerry’s story.You can read the original article on Fremantle Shipping News here.Support the show

High school curricula around the country today engage in a degree of Truth Telling, and teach non indigenous kids what their parents and grandparents often only heard hinted at – that First Nations peoples around Australia’s frontiers were often mercilessly killed at the hands of European settlers as the country was ‘opened up’ following British colonisation. The 1834 so called ‘Battle of Pinjarra’, more accurately the ‘Pinjarra Massacre’, on the Murray River around 80 kilometres/50miles south of Fremantle, is a case in point. The stories were the same from all frontier parts as Australia was opened up to European settlement. In the 1890s the stories from the Kimberley region of WA echoed that of Pinjarra. The Kimberley stories are told in Dr Chris Owen’s much praised book, ‘Every Mother’s Son Is Guilty’: Policing the Kimberley Frontier of Western Australia 1882-1905’, published by UWA Press. Dr Chris Owen kindly agreed to sit and discuss the topic of frontier killings with our editor, Michael Barker, who in an earlier life was the barrister who appeared for the Miriuwung people of the East Kimberley on their ground breaking, successful application for native title in the Federal Court of Australia in the late 1990s.You can read the full story Fremantle Shipping News here.Support the show

Jo Smith is Artistic Director of CircusWA – the Fremantle-based youth circus arts centre.Throughout the 90’s she worked between Sichuan-China, Darwin and Perth studying and teaching sociology and linguistics while developing an arts practice in Live Art (performance installation). Her art practice was informed by her academic research and used site, material and the body to reflect these ideas. In 2006 she moved to the Great Southern and took up her first arts management role as Coordinator and Director of local festivals. In Denmark she headed the Brave New Works community arts festival and in Albany their readers and writers festival Write In the Great Southern. In 2014 she returned to Perth to head AusdanceWA’s award winning program Future Landings as Creative-Producer with regionally based dance artists. Since 2017 she has guided the survival and rejuvenation of CircusWA in Fremantle. Jo Smith kindly agree to meet with our Editor, Michael Barker, to discuss circus, funding for circus, and the ambitions of CircusWA. It is a timely interview as CircusWA is looking for a new Freo-based home.You can read the full story on Fremantle Shipping News here. Support the show

David Noakes has been involved in the Australian Film Industry at just about every level. And we’re pleased to say his film journey started here in Fremantle! These days, David is a Production Executive with FACB – First Australian Completion Bond Company. He has previously worked as a producer, film and TV business analyst, and film Investment Manager. In his younger days around Freo, David also made films, including the award winning How The West Was Lost, which has now been digitally restored and remastered ready to screen in contemporary cinemas around the country at a time when Australians are to vote in a referendum that proposes a Voice to Parliament for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.The film, about the remarkable courage of hundreds of Pilbara Aboriginal workers who went on strike in 1946. The film was first released at the 1987 Festival of Perth at the Windsor Cinema to sell out audiences and went on to be nominated for five AFI Awards.Our editor, Michael Barker, was very pleased to meet David Noakes to make this podcast discussing the making of How The West Was Lost, David’s career in film, and where Australian film is today. You can read the full story on Fremantle Shipping News here.Support the show

Skip Lissiman was the port trimmer on Australian II on 26 September 1983, the day she momentously met her destiny and outmanoeuvred the US defender, Liberty, in the seventh and deciding race off Newport, Rhode Island to win the America’s Cup.  Skip kindly met our editor, Michael Barker, to discuss THAT day, reliving the last leg, what went into winning the America’s Cup, what victory meant to Australia at the time and what it means today looking back after 40 years. It’s a great interview. You don’t need to be a sailor to love it, but if you are a sailor you’ll love it even more!Read the full story on Fremantle Shipping News here.Support the show

Chemutai Glasheen is a teacher and an academic at Curtin University in Perth, and has a PhD in creative writing. She was brought up in Kenya and now lives in Australia. A book of her short stories, under the enticing title I Am the Mau & Other Stories, has just been published by Fremantle Press. We couldn’t put the book down. We think ‘young adults’ - the apparent target audience - is too narrow a reading category for this book, unless ‘young adults’ includes not only young adults but also their parents and grandparents and extended family, as well as all of their friends and acquaintances. As you’ll soon realise when you start reading the stories, Glasheen’s work is influenced by her interest and experience in human rights and education, especially in East Africa. Chemutai Glasheen kindly agreed to meet with our Editor, Michael Barker, to make this podcast in which she discusses her career to date, writing fiction for young adults, what you will find in I Am the Mau, and much more besides!Support the show

In 1991, curious about the ways of humanity’s oldest continuous culture, Greg Campbell exited corporate life to live in the remote Kimberley region of Australia with a traditional Aboriginal elder and powerful maban (shaman), Lulu, and his people. Concerned about the state of the world and threats to the continuity of all life, Lulu asked Greg to work with him and the Goolarabooloo people on one book, a journey of 31 years.The result is Greg’s just published 700 page tome, TOTAL RESET, which you can buy online here or at Freo’s New Edition bookshop.Our editor, Michael Barker, was privileged to catch up with Greg Campbell and to make this podcast where Greg recounts some of the high points of his life from meeting Jupiter at the family home in Scarborough, in Perth’s north, when he was 3 years of age, to meeting Lulu in Western Australia’s northern Kimberley region some 40 years later, and then setting about writing Total Reset. It’s an entrancing story with a powerful message, not to be missed. Support the show

In this not-to-be-missed podcast interview, Michelle Blakeley explains to our Editor, Michael Barker, the origins of her My Homes 18 social dwellings project for older women in Congdon Street, North Fremantle that was officially opened last week. She tells what inspired her to undertake it, what has been involved in getting the project to GO, the project’s design features, how it will operate, and what the future holds for My Home in WA.Read the original story on Fremantle Shipping News here, or read our latest story on the official opening here.Support the show

It’s only a couple months since Chrissie Maus took up the cudgels as the Chief Executive Officer of the Fremantle Chamber of Commerce in this, the Chamber’s 150th year. The Perth-born Ms Maus comes well credentialed as the former head of the largest retail and entertainment precinct in Australia – Melbourne’s Chapel Street. President of the Chamber, Mr Bartlett Lee observed of Chrissie on the announcement of her appointment that she will bring to the job an energy that is contagious. There’s no doubt about that. Fremantle Shipping News’ editor Michael Barker caught up with Chrissie to talk about her latest challenge - bringing Fremantle to the world!Read the full story on Fremantle Shipping News here.Support the show

Nicole Lockwood has a passion for sustainability and resilience building and the creation of thriving cities and communities equipped to embrace the challenges and opportunities of climate change and digital disruption. Which is just as well because she chairs Infrastructure WA, the Malka Foundation and Airbridge, is the Deputy Chair of the Green Building Council of Australia and a member of the boards of NBN and the Child and Adolescent Health Service. She also provides strategic advice to government and the private sector, overseeing major infrastructure and integrated planning initiatives, including the Future Fremantle Planning Committee and previously the Westport Taskforce which developed a 50 year freight and trade plan for the South West of Western Australia.  In this podcast FSN’s editor, Michael Barker discusses with Nicole Lockwood her career to date and particularly Westport and the transformational The Future of Fremantle project.Read the full story on Fremantle Shipping News here.Support the show

Dr Ed Fethers is well known as the Voice of Sailing in Western Australia. He could also be titled Dr Sailing. But that might be confusing because Ed is also a Dr Doctor, who has been practicing as a GP around Fremantle for many years. Ed also has his own radio show, Let’s Go Sailing on 91.3 FM where he gives a weekly wrap on local, national & international sailing with interviews, roving reports and information on a range of interesting and useful sailing topics. Ed’s sailing adventures, especially as a member of the media, have taken him around the world. We were lucky recently to lure Dr Ed Fethers into our Fremantle Shipping News studio to talk all things Ed, Fremantle, and sailing and to make this podcast with our editor, Michael Barker.Read the full story on Fremantle Shipping News here.Support the show

Jeremy Dawkins has spent a good deal for his professional life thinking about Australian cities, especially Fremantle. Perhaps it’s not to be marvelled at.His Great Great Grandfather, John Septimus Roe, produced the very first town plan for Fremantle, at the request of Governor James Stirling, following the founding of the British Swan River Colony in 1829.His Great Grandfather, CY O’Connor, designed and constructed Fremantle’s famed Inner Harbour in the 1890’s.Between 1982-1988, Jeremy wrote the planning scheme and led the revival of the Fremantle City centre during the period of the America’s Cup and the Bicentenary. Then in December 2003, Jeremy was appointed chair of the Western Australian Planning Commission(WAPC) Board. At the time of that appointment, Jeremy was Associate Professor in Urban Management at the University of Canberra’s Centre for Developing Cities. In 1998 he was appointed Sydney Harbour Manager, created by the New South Wales Government, as a three-year innovation in governance – and developed the structures and directions used for planning and managing Sydney Harbour. These days, while maintaining a real interest in things Fremantle, he is based in Sydney and is the Convenor of the Committee for North Sydney.Jeremy Dawkins kindly agreed to sit down with our Editor, Michael Barker, to discuss Fremantle, planning, and the direction of planning practice in Western Australia, including the prevalence and operation of JDAPs, or Joint Development Assessment Panels, before which he has tendered his expert testimony recently in the Old Ford Factory site case. It’s a must-listen-to podcast. Everything from JS Roe, CY O’Connor, Convicts, Gold, the America’s Cup and the evil of too much discretion in planning approval processes.Support the show

Lucky Oceans is so well known around Fremantle to anyone with even a passing interest in music that he hardly needs an introduction. He has played with many big names here in Australia and elsewhere. His work with the Zydecats around Freo is legendary. He’s also well known around the country for hosting the long running Radio National spot, Daily Planet where he helped improve the musical appreciation of a couple generations of Aussies. And he’s famous in his country of origin the USA, not least for nearly being more popular than the Beatles! Asleep at the Wheel nearly surpassed them and they have the Grammys to prove it! In recent times, Lucky has also become well known as the Musical Director of the Songs for Freedom annual concert at Dyoondalup Point Walter reserve on the banks of the Derbarl Yerrigan/Swan River. In this interview, from a couple years back, Lucky talks about his career, his music, how he got to Freo, and what makes Fremantle the music town it is.  Enjoy the chat!You can read the full story on Fremantle Shipping News here.Support the show

Philippa O’Brien is an Australian artist and writer. She was educated at the University of Western Australia and Hornsey College of Art in London and has had a wide-ranging career in the arts and her work is in many collections and public spaces. She has been a member of the Visual Arts Board of the Australia Council. Philippa’s latest book is quite like no other. No Stone Without a Name (published by the Ellenbrook Cultural Foundation, 2022) is an art book that documents the history of Australia’s earliest contact with the outside world up to the era of British colonisation. Philippa O’Brien kindly agreed to meet our Editor, Michael Barker to discuss her magnificent labour of love to explain its genesis, the art to be found within the beautiful pages of No Stone Without A Name, and the impact of Colonialism on First Nations Peoples disclosed by the art.Read the full story on Fremantle Shipping News here.Support the show