‘She felt herself choking and tore at her frilled lace collar. “Miranda!”’

Fainting spells, frilly collars, mystery, hysteria and a truly awesome backdrop – Joan Lindsay’s Picnic at Hanging Rock might be 50 years old this year, but it remains a point of Australian cultural obsession. The book – written by Lindsay in just four weeks back in 1967 – has inspired a film, a radio play, stage adaptations, fashion spreads, music videos and a new miniseries coming out this year.

Why do we keep coming back to Lindsay’s eerie tale of a Valentine’s Day school picnic gone wrong? Perhaps it’s the ambiguity around fact and fiction; perhaps it’s the striking combinations of imagery or maybe it’s the maddening obscurity of the ending.

At this celebration of Joan Lindsay’s iconic novel (and its enduring myth), Helen Withycombe hosts a conversation between Lindsay's biographer Janelle McCulloch, theatremaker Tom Wright (who adapted the play for Malthouse Theatre in 2016) and Helen Morse, who played the French teacher in Peter Weir's film version of the story.

They discuss the true story (and the mysticism) that inspired Lindsay, the book's refractions of nature and time, the troubling history of Hanging Rock itself and why Lindsay’s tale continues to haunt and provoke Australian storytellers today.

Left to right: Helen Withycombe, Janelle McCulloch, Tom Wright and Helen Morse — Photo: Jon Tjhia

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In conversation with Tony Birch, Bruce Pascoe discusses the writing, research and reception of his groundbreaking, celebrated book Dark Emu – which won Book of the Year at the 2016 NSW Premier’s Literary Awards. What does challenging the past of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people mean for the present?

Tony Birch and Bruce Pascoe — Photo: Gemma Rayner

Myths about the lives of pre-colonial Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have proven deeply entrenched. But in Dark Emu, Bruce Pascoe struck a grievous blow to one of the most widely accepted assumptions of Australian pre-settlement history. He argued, and presented robust evidence drawn from the journals of European explorers, that Indigenous people were not hunter-gatherers at the time of colonisation.

‘The evidence insists that Aboriginal people right across the continent were using domesticated plants, sowing, harvesting, irrigating and storing – behaviours inconsistent with the hunter-gatherer tag,’ he has said. The book also challenges existing narratives around housing construction, cooking and clothing prior to European settlement.

Presented in partnership with Yirramboi.

In this episode, we pay tribute to Mark Colvin, who died this morning. Colvin was one of the most trusted and revered figures in Australian journalism today.

We thought we'd share his recent Fifth Estate discussion with Sally Warhaft, recorded on 29 November 2016, in which he reflected on the release of his memoir, Light and Shadow, discussing the unlikely convergence of family and foreign affairs in his personal and professional lives, as well as four decades at the forefront of news reporting.

Colvin won the respect of generations of Australians through his work at the original Double J, his stint as the ABC’s correspondent in London and for his reporting on Australian politics and international conflicts. Today he’s known as the voice of ABC Radio’s current-affairs flagship PM and the darling of Australian Twitter.

Mark Colvin

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  The Fifth Estate: Mark Colvin  /  Biography & memoir

With Mark Colvin and Sally Warhaft

Mark Colvin is one of the most trusted and revered figures in Australian journalism today. In this Fifth Estate discussion with Sally Warhaft, he reflects on the release of his memoir, Light and Shadow, discussing the unlikely convergence of family and foreign affairs in his personal and professional lives, as well as four decades at the forefront of news reporting.

Colvin has won the respect of generations of Australians through his work at the original Double J, his stint as the ABC’s correspondent in London and for his reporting on Australian politics and international conflicts. Today he’s known as the voice of ABC Radio’s current-affairs flagship PM and the darling of Australian Twitter. What nobody knew until very recently, is that he’s also the son of a spy.

Mark Colvin