Rare Air with Meri Fatin

There are so many life experiences in the melting pot that makes Aisha Novakovich who she is today.

Parents from starkly different backgrounds, losing her Dad very young, being fostered out to numerous homes, and learning to be a Westerner before she learned to be a Muslim.

By her early teens Aisha already had a strong sense of social justice and was exploring her faith (and others) very deeply before deciding to take on Islam with absolute conviction.

Wearing the full face veil - the niqab - in her teens, she had a poster of Osama bin Laden on her bedroom wall. While her attitude has altered since then she continues to be a vocal spokesperson for young Muslims, sometimes working alongside Member for Cowan, counter terrorism expert, Professor Anne Azza Aly.

Experiencing domestic violence in her first marriage has led to Aisha's study of law, which she hopes to use to assist others in the same situation. 

In 2016, Aisha experienced public backlash after telling her story to Fairfax newspapers.  It has tempered her voice, but not her energy.

Three Gates Media thanks Aisha for sharing some of her story.

This episode of Rare Air was recorded at the studios of RTRFM 92.1 in Mount Lawley, WA

Mixed by Adrian Sardi of Sugarland Studios

Music "The Summit" by Blue Dot Sessions from freemusicarchive.org

"It hits you in a spot where it makes you feel that no-one values Indigenous people.  We’ve done nothing wrong.  I come from a proud generation of Yindjibarndi people."

This is the second part of our interview with Michael Woodley, CEO of the Yindjibarndi Aboriginal Corporation. 

Michael describes how, aged in his twenties, supporting a young family and working his way up the ranks at Hamersley Iron (a great story in itself), his grandfather, Woodley King, came to him and asked him to come home to Roebourne.  To lead the Yindjibarndi community. 

Michael's priorities were clear - he was required to serve his community - he didn't give it a second thought.

Like all leadership changes, it wasn’t all smooth sailing, but Michael was clear on his Grandfather’s goals for the community and set about the ground work to achieving them.

In Part 2, Michael returns to the conversation about the unresolved native title dealings with mining company Fortescue Metals Group ( FMG), reflects positively on how well his community represented themselves at a recent Federal Court hearing, and on how the legal process has impacted his sense of worth as an Indigenous man.

The traditional singing is Michael Woodley himself, recorded at the Woodbrook Law Camp near Roebourne, October 24 2015.  Cicadas recorded by the roadside.

Three Gates Media thanks Michael Woodley for this interview.

Nick Lawrence is a remarkable human being.

Dealing with gender dysphoria made life difficult enough, from refusal to wear girly clothes as a very young child to coming out as lesbian as a teenager, Nick was approaching 30 before he decided to take the plunge and take steps to transition.

On top of that, based on his loneliness and lack of community connection and access to advice during this period Nick set up Transmen of WA. Now he spends more time on being available to trans people and their families than he does on his full time job.
Three Gates Media thanks Nick immensely for his candour and generosity in this interview.

“Until we know no more Yindjibarndi are coming, we’ve got no right to give this country away.”
Michael Woodley, Bidarra law carrier, CEO Yindjibarndi Aboriginal Corporation

As a journalist and sometimes just as a human being, I have followed the story of the Yindjibarndi Aboriginal Corporation and Andrew Forrest’s Fortescue Metals Group in their native title negotiations, since 2011.

In late October 2015 I finally went to this place I’d been talking about for years with my Three Gates Media colleague Marnie Richardson.  We stood at the top of Mt Welcome in Roebourne, in 40 plus degree heat and looked in all directions. Across the Harding River, we saw the place where the Yindjibarndi first camped in the 1930’s when they were herded off their land (situated south of here)…the bleak cemetery carpeted with red dust, the Fifty Cent Hall, scene of numerous native title meetings, the disused Victoria Hotel outside which sixteen year old John Pat was bashed to death in 1983 sparking the Royal Commission into Black Deaths in Custody.

Roebourne is far from a tourist destination. The weekend we arrive it’s almost deserted due to sorry business.  It’s a town battered by many demons delivered by white fellas.  But the commitment to keeping culture and making change for the better has a vibrant beating heart.

The first time I interviewed Michael Woodley, I’d had to draw myself a picture to understand the complicated situation that had arisen. THIS interview is primarily a chance to meet Michael Woodley himself.  But to understand the man, you have to understand the struggle.

In the first half of our conversation Michael gives a simple explanation of how negotiations went sour, talks about his grandfathers, including Ned Cheedy who, aged 104,  stood up and spoke in angry defiance at a Native Title meeting in March 2011… and about the irrevocable changes brought to a culture tens of thousands of years old, when white fellas came to mine their land.

Three Gates Media thanks Michael Woodley for sharing his story.

Traditional song performed by Michael Woodley.  
Recorded by Meri Fatin at Woodbrook Law Camp.  October 2015
Theme music Les Jeunes Pousses by Françoiz Breût

Religious vocation isn’t commonly discussed anymore, so it’s hard to get a sense of how prevalent the calling is.  When we think of vocation, it’s often the image of a nun or priest in robes that springs to mind.  

Major Margaret MacDonald’s story is a modern story of vocation, of giving one’s life to God’s work by rolling up sleeves and getting amongst the marginalized in the community.  That’s the Salvation Army way.

She grew up in a Salvationist family in Wales, who came to Australia as Ten Pound Poms, finding their feet in the Salvationist community in Bunbury.  Margaret first felt the calling to the ministry as a teenager and was champing at the bit to get started, but was strongly encouraged to continue her education, which she did.  She finished a DipEd and began a teaching career, which she found so rewarding it threatened to derail her earlier plans.

But when she and her husband Alan took stock, in the early years of their marriage and careers, they realized they could no longer ignore the powerful call to the ministry, so they headed to training college for two years and then into the community to do God’s work.

What does that mean for a Salvationist?   Assisting people at a grassroots level in their community in so many ways, intervening in domestic violence situations, offering help and advice when money is tight,  even providing food and shelter in your own home.  As Margaret puts it, it’s “to be God in that community”.

Margaret and Alan have faced some enormous hurdles, some of the placements they were given by the Salvation Army were truly challenging, especially raising three boys at the same time.

Sincere thanks to Margaret MacDonald, to her family and to the Salvation Army Floreat Corps for their generous help in bringing this story to life.

“When I say I’ve been sober for 21 years, I mean entirely sober. I stopped smoking, I stopped drinking, I stopped drugs I stopped everything. I haven’t had a cup of tea.
I stopped every single stimulant and thing that could in any way alter my behaviour. I am that kind of person. I’m an all or nothing person. I was ALL. I was a polyglot user of anything I could get hold of, in any amount I could and then I stopped.”

In the second part of this conversation with poet, vegan, anarchist and pacifist John Kinsella he speaks of personal redemption and his daily efforts towards the ‘secular ascension’ noted in his work by American literary critic and Yale academic Harold Bloom.

Sincere thanks to John Kinsella for agreeing to this interview.

"We are poised before...what I prophesy will be a major art."
Harold Bloom, on John Kinsella’s Peripheral Light: Selected and New Poems
Published July 2005

“When I was 18 and roused up and passionate I probably wanted to pull the pillars of the world down. I certainly have learned over a lifetime that the most effective way of bringing change is to show that there are other ways of doing things better and more humanely.”

Trawling the internet doesn’t reveal as much as you’d expect about poet John Kinsella.
As a Neo Luddite - a term he coined – he’s probably quite happy about that.

Not finding much on the internet doesn’t mean there’s not much to be said – quite the contrary, but the bulk of the speaking is done prolifically through his writing (more than 30 volumes so far) and in the blog he shares with his wife of 22 years, Tracy Ryan, called Mutually Said: Poets Vegan Anarchist Pacifist.

A conversation with John Kinsella, will naturally turn to the ethics of a range of big picture issues: identity, indigenous rights, farming, capitalism, our food and transportation.
But also, in this conversation , which is divided into two parts, Kinsella speaks about his earlier life, grappling with drug and alcohol addiction, the turning point and the quest for secular virtue he pursues daily. 
Sincere thanks to John Kinsella for agreeing to this interview.

Recorded at the studios of RTRFM, Beaufort St, Mt Lawley, Western Australia
Mixed by Adrian Sardi - The Vault audio post production

Theme music Les Jeunes Pousses by Françoiz Breût
Production Music Ambient M by Antony Raijekov ( Free Music Archive)

“We all had nicknames and because I knew a little bit more than the rest of the guys they said you better be The General…and when I went to Jamaica in ‘84 I met Mortimo Planno who was a very important Rastafari and introduced myself as The General and  he said 'You should be the General for Justice' … so from ‘84 onwards its been General Justice."
 

He might be best known as the cool dreadlocked DJ and reggae event promoter around Perth but at his heart, General Justice is a loving and committed family man.  

Married to DJ Mumma Trees, he has six daughters, his mum, grandkids and extended family around him and he never fails to acknowledge them.  

His early life in Chapeltown Leeds was disrupted when his Dad was diagnosed with tuberculosis and sent to the Isle of Man for several years to recover.  General went to live with his grandparents and ended up speaking Spanish better than English for a time!  

An epic world trip with his friend Dick ultimately led him to Perth and although he returned to the UK for a couple of years, he’s based himself in Perth since the early 70’s.  

It was here in Perth that the great man himself, Bob Marley once exchanged a few words with The General that literally changed his life forever. And the rest is history.

Three Gates Media thanks General Justice for sharing his story.
Recorded at the RTRFM Studios, Beaufort Street, Mt Lawley Western Australia.
Mixed by Adrian Sardi - The Vault Audio Post Production

Theme Music: Les Jeunes Pousses by Françoiz Breût
Production music: 
Dangerous Times ( and Version) by Dudley Green, Mr General and Mr Chemist
I Am Who I Am ( Version) by Freedom Masses

As a young boy growing up in Vancouver, Canada, Tina Ross had one big wish.  To be a girl.

She had no way of explaining why she felt different.  But those differences made her withdrawn and anti-social because she could never “be herself”.
 
A letter wrongly addressed to “Tina Ross” was to give the young boy a name, when finally, decades later living in Perth, Western Australia she was able to make her wish come true.

I met Tina when she was asked to join in a panel discussion for media about reporting transgender.  The panel was convened in the wake of former Olympic athlete Bruce Jenner’s gender reassignment and coming out as Caitlyn Jenner.

Although Tina’s transition happened quite smoothly, thanks to an accepting family back in Canada and having a good job to pay the bills, she is very aware of the pitfalls of life as a transgender person.

Two years after gender reassignment surgery in Thailand, she brims with such enthusiasm for her new life as Tina, the friends, the fun, the sense of finally being able to be “herself” full-time.

AND she is getting comfortable with the idea that she has an advocacy role to play within the community.

Three Gates Media thanks Tina so much for sharing her story. Tina has requested the use of the female pronoun throughout this piece.

Theme music Les Jeunes Pousses by Françoiz Breût
Production music You Are Truth from “Convalesence” by Anima ( Free Music Archive)

Recorded at the studios of RTRFM, Beaufort St, Mt Lawley Western Australia 

"We said it would be really nice if the first tissue-engineered sculptures to be presented within a cultural context would be a something like a worry doll because it would express our anxieties and worries and the fact that it's not that simple."

Hidden away in the School of Anatomy, Physiology and Human Biology at the University of Western Australia, is SymbioticA. It's a place where art is created - using living materials and scientific techniques - to make us think about what is happening in the world of biotechnology.
Make no mistake, it IS as unique and unusual as it sounds. It's founders, Oron Catts and Dr Ionat Zurr are celebrated around the world for their pioneering works, including making the first piece of in-vitro meat and the victimless leather jacket which had to "die" spectacularly in the Museum of Modern Art on New York where it made it's debut.

“I’m sick and tired of the things you never get tired of…so that’s why I decorate my house the way I do”    

Every community has characters.  Evi Ferrier is one of Perth’s.  

Her home, in the swanky suburb of Mosman, is mosaicked from top to bottom  - a riot of eye-catching  colour in a sea of boring good taste.  Her free spirit and sense of fun pervades everything she does and she’s a strong supporter of the arts as well as being an artist herself.

Although she’d shown aptitude for art at school, it wasn’t until she was married with children that Evi attended the Claremont School of Art and fell in love with mosaicking.    In a sense, it was borne of Evi’s loathing of waste, that her childrens’ craft activities as well as broken crockery and mirrors were not destined for the rubbish bin, but for adorning her home.  For Evi, the mosaicking is her “gardening” and even now she’d been in that house for 30 years , there’s an ongoing project.  

Recently her bowerbird tendencies prompted a “sculpture park” on an empty block across the road from her home – an open “house” with rooms and furniture that grew up out of  junk left out for roadside collection. The whole community got involved in the fun and when it was time to end it – she held a party there.  

Friends say she’s the best kind of friend herself, generous and caring, and this sense of community extends to volunteer work.  Evi has volunteered in Africa three times inspired by Gemma Sisia, the Australian woman who has set up the School of St Jude in Tanzania and Evi has also helped with children with eating disorders at Princess Margaret Hospital for Children and with disabled children at Rocky Bay.    

Now in her early 70’s Evi energetically pursues numerous interests ranging from dragon boating to knitting to tap dancing and continues to delight all who come across her.  

Thanks a million to Evi for sharing some of her stories with us and allowing us to photograph her delightful home.

Recorded at Evi Ferrier's home in Mosman, Western Australia
Mixed by Adrian Sardi
Rare Air podcast © Meri Fatin

Theme music Les Jeunes Pousses by Françoiz Breût
Production music Another Day by Ketsa ( Free Music Archive)

"My father lived and breathed soldiering... and he didn't want me to be in the Army. But he signed the paper... and away I went on a career I've loved."

Mick Malone's 27-year career in the Australian Defence Force was mostly spent in the SAS, including a twelve month tour of duty in Vietnam.

His passion for military books was ignited by the reading required of those in the regiment. For over 25 years he's been running Imprimatur Books, specialising in old and rare military books, including the highly sought-after unit histories.

He's about to publish a biography of SAS hero Ray Simpson VC and has written other publications about the Special Air Services Regiment.

Mick served in the SAS from 1967 to 1992 from Trooper to Captain and was posted to the Royal Military College Duntroon and to RSM of 1st Commando Regiment among his appointments.

He was awarded OAM ( Medal of the Order of Australia) in 1989.

Recorded in the RTRFM Studios, Beaufort St, Mt Lawley, WA
Mixed by Adrian Sardi ( The Vault Audio Post Production)
Theme music Les Jeunes Pousses by Françoiz Breût
Production music Here at Last - Andrew Seistrup ( Free Music Archive)
Rare Air podcast © Meri Fatin
Photo by Meri Fatin

It was arguably THE GUT that brought Dr Michael Mosley his earliest public recognition.

His 1994 documentary on the work of West Australian researchers Professor Barry Marshall and Dr Robin Warren brought nominations for an Emmy, A BAFTA and also brought a LOT of mail.

The experience marked the realization that Hippocrates was on to something 2500 years ago when he said “All disease begins in the gut”

Dr Mosley has made countless documentaries since, often experimenting on himself. He’s ALSO authored several books including the 5:2 Diet, the eight week blood sugar diet and the Clever Guts diet….which have gleaned the best advice he’s gathered on how to prolong good health.

It was a privilege to host Dr Mosley at the Sugarland Studio in Perth Western Australia during his recent Australian Tour.

Music: The Summit by Blue Dot Sessions sourced via freemusicarchive.org

"I didn't learn that people didn't have the same visions as me until later in life"

Although Rebecca Millman was used to the powerful intuition of her family members, she didn't accept or hone her abilities as a psychic medium until she was well into her 20's.

There were plenty of experiences, including having objects thrown at her when she was alone at home which scared her so much she slept in the car outside.

But in this conversation,  Rebecca makes her gift seem surprisingly normal.  

Recorded at the RTRFM studios, Beaufort Street, Mt Lawley
Mixed by Adrian Sardi ( Sugarland Audio Post Production)

Picture by Marnie Richardson
Rare Air podcast © Meri Fatin

Theme music Les Jeunes Pousses by Françoiz Breût
Production music "Goth Gap Year" by Ant Gray

“I’d sit by myself in the middle of the lawn being very sad that it was me. But very thankful it hadn’t happened to someone I knew.”

Symon Still was a born athlete. He moved just because he could. Growing up in a family that was always doing some form of sport, it was natural he would fill many hours of the day trying to improve his fitness and skill.

His ambition was clear and he achieved it - becoming a physical education ( and maths) teacher - where daily immersion in his favourite past-time was coupled with the fun of coaching and interacting with kids.

Then a distracted driver changed Symon's life forever.
But as you'll hear, despite the chronic health issues. pain and emotional challenge of life as a paraplegic, Symon's resilient character remains a powerful life force.

NOTE:  Symon Still died at home in Western Australia on January 9, 2022.  His legacy will never be forgotten.

This podcast was mixed by Adrian Sardi (Sugarland audio post production)
Photo by Meri Fatin

Theme music Les Jeunes Pousses by Françoiz Breût
Ketsa - Another Day - Goodnight Sunlight freemusicarchive.org
Production music La Bon - Man from freemusicarchive.org

"People really don't understand how poorly chemicals are regulated in Australia and how poorly risk is managed."

Jane Bremmer was mother to a small baby when she and her partner Lee Bell moved into their first home in the Perth foothills. It wasn't long before they discovered they were living opposite a massive open toxic pit of petroleum waste, which they believed had been causing significant health issues in the community for many years.

That discovery was the catalyst for two decades of committed campaigning and community education, making Bremmer and Bell highly regarded consultants for international NGOs.

Jane talks about the highs and lows of her life as a campaigner from the introduction of Contaminated Sites laws in Western Australia to hate mail and death threats.

Jane says the life of an activist is high energy but it can be demoralising when you cant break through to the people who can do something about it.

Thanks to Jane Bremmer for being part of Rare Air.
This podcast was mixed by Adrian Sardi ( Sugarland audio post production)
Photo by Marnie Richardson.

"There is no hope - you don't see anything that indicates your life will change." Joe Tuazama reflects on his seven years in a refugee camp in Guinea, where every day the main goal was to find enough to eat.

First his family fled Liberia to Ivory Coast. But Ivory Coast was terrible in it's own way, so the family headed to refugee camps in Guinea, becoming separated in the process. Seven years in the hell and hopelessness of that environment did not dampen Joe's spirit, and when he finally made it to Australia he made the best of his opportunities. Having already taken up major responsibilities within his family, he expanded that to his community, initiating many activities focussed on the needs of young people and developing a positive relationship with police.

Joe Tuazama is President of the Organisation of African Communities of Western Australia.

Mixed by Adrian Sardi ( Sugarland audio post production)
Photo by Meri Fatin

Theme music Les Jeunes Pousses by Francoiz Breut
Bella Mondo Africa - Revolution
Blé Marius - Kouli feat Le Super Wassiato

RareAir podcast © Meri Fatin

I got a small piece of paper with a bullet telling me 'you have to leave, otherwise this will be it for you'.

Doctor Eman Ahmad had been practising medicine in her home city of Basra in Southern Iraq for twenty years, but over time civil unrest and international attacks meant bombing and assassinations became part of daily life.
She was given the opportunity by the AMA (Australian Medical Association) to apply to practice in Australia and ultimately take up permanent residency.
But it wasn't an easy journey. In this episode of Rare Air, Eman gives an insight into life as an Iraqi during the fall of Saddam's regime and the joys and challenges of a new life in Australia.

Mixed and Mastered by Adrian Sardi ( Sugarland audio post production)

Photo by Marnie Richardson @threegates

A career in the world of Indigenous art is a natural fit for Wardandi woman Clothilde Bullen, who has a number of acclaimed artists in her family.

For ten years she was the curator of Indigenous art at the Art Gallery of Western Australia ( AGWA) and her depth of understanding about the potential positive impact of art to communities is second to none.

That's compounded by being the daughter of two generations of Stolen Children.

After life-changing leadership development, in 2015 Clo left the safety of full-time work to undertake study for a Masters and PhD with plans to clear the path for many other indigenous people to become curators.

In early 2017 she moved her family to Sydney to take up the role of Curator, Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Collections & Exhibitions at the Museum of Contemporary Art. 

Militant activists don't often have fans in the media and general public with many having no time for their "lawlessness".

In episode two of the Rare Air podcast, militant activist Simon Peterffy, who heads up the Forest Rescue group in WA, highlights his profound fears for the health of the planet.

He has no time for petitions and cake stalls - he is compelled to get in there and physically stop the destruction.

Simon was one of the three activists who jumped on board the Japanese whaler Shonan Maru 2 in January 2012 and were detained for over a week before being handed back to Australian authorities.

And as you'll hear, its not the only time he's put his life on the line for the sake of the planet.

Thanks to Simon for being so generous with his story.

Mixed by Adrian Sardi ( The Vault audio post production)
Photo courtesy of Simon Peterffy
Theme music Les Jeunes Pousses by Francoiz Breut