Australian Encounters

Jul 30, 2013

Presented with humour & verve, Australian Encounters celebrates historic encounters between a renowned Australian & an international mover & shaker. This episode recounts when Bob Hawke met Frank Sinatra in 1974.

Aug 6, 2013

It was 1919 and the world's statesmen were gathered at Versailles to redraw the map of the world. Australia had sacrificed much blood to win the peace, and Billy Hughes was there to see it got its fair share of the spoils.

Aug 13, 2013

In December 1914, an athletic young Hawaiian strode across the beach at Freshwater, a stretch of sand between Manly and Curl Curl. He was about to perform a feat never before seen in Australia: surfing!

Aug 20, 2013

The imperious Australian soprano and the effusive Italian tenor had transformed La Boheme from a slow burn sleeper into a blockbuster hit that's still putting bums on seats a century later. Their double act was sensational.

Aug 27, 2013

Herr Hitler was busy in the Rhineland, so Joseph Aloysius Lyons decided to pay a visit to Signor Mussolini instead. It was 1935 and collecting dictators was de rigueur for Australian politicians on visits to Europe.

Sep 10, 2013

Just before Christmas, 1958, Rupert Murdoch, then aged 27, met a sensitive young Tamil on the dodge from the immigration authorities. A poor scholar with black skin, Kamahl's days in White Australia were numbered.

Oct 8, 2013

In the backroom bar of the Katsikas brothers' grocery store, amid tins of olive oil and sacks of flour, a young unknown Canadian poet met an Australian expatriate named George Johnston.

Oct 15, 2013

Kylie Minogue met Michael Hutchence at a bash after the Countdown Awards in 1987. By the time their two-year affair ended, it had transformed a singing budgie into a femme fatale, and set Kylie's course towards pop divadom.

Oct 22, 2013

Twenty-year-old boxer Lionel Rose was in Los Angeles to defend his world bantamweight title. When he received the message that Elvis wanted to meet him, he jumped under the shower and drove straight to the MGM lot.

Oct 29, 2013

In 1880, an unschooled Catholic bushman and a Protestant judge traded points, back and forth, neither ultimately persuading the other. "Edward Kelly," concluded Redmond Barry, "I hereby sentence you to death by hanging."