Earshot - Abc Radio National

A gay family story with a twist. Gay couples John and Charlie, and Ruth and Betty hit some very modern day family dilemmas.

Twenty years ago two gay couples met by chance in Sydney. Betty and Ruth wanted to have children, so did Charlie and John. But the boys didn't just want to be sperm donors, they wanted a family. Four parents two gaybies tracks the foursome over the next two decades, as their unconventional family plan hatches

After a chance encounter with a ghost from her past, Elizabeth Mora is forced to confront a decade old question: did coming to Australia break or save her family? As she reconciles her parents’ complicated love story, Elizabeth’s capacity for forgiveness is put to the test.

Approximately half of Australia's prisoners are also parents. So how do they maintain a relationship with their kids while they're inside?

When Mina Abdolmaleki arrived in Australia as a spiritual exile from Iran, she thought the challenges would end there. But despite now having the freedom to think and act freely, her faith is still the greatest comfort as she waits for her future to be decided.

When Australia stopped the boats, what happened to the refugees? Mozhgan and Jafar are young asylum seekers now stranded in Indonesia, trying to build an awkward life in limbo.

15 year old Hugh knows he’s gay but he’s terrified of anyone at his Catholic boy’s school finding out.  Then he meets Peter who was in the first Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras 40 years ago.  Will Hugh find the courage to come out?

Shearers and roustabouts are our modern-day swag-people. They straddle two worlds; travelling from shed to shed, doing one of the toughest physical jobs around.

Kudakwashe Pwiti always wanted to make dancehall music, but his sheltered childhood wouldn’t prepare him for the dark side of the music scene.

Why did all the Jews suddenly leave a town in Morocco where they had lived in harmony with their Muslim neighbours for centuries?

An out-of-this-world quest to find the origins of life in the middle of the desert.

A remarkable tale of two women from opposite sides of the political divide in Chile who washed up in the desert in Central Australia. They've formed a strong bond and now work together with the artists of Yuendemu to bring the stunning art of the Warlpiri people to the world.

In 1948, an unknown man was found dead on Somerton Beach in Adelaide. Nobody knew who he was or how he died. 70 years on the case reveals a startling new lead.

When a young American took up a position with the US Antarctic Program in the late '90s he imagined incredible adventures within a pristine landscape, but he found something completely different.

Jodee Mundy is the only person in her family who can hear. Ever since she was little, she has moved between two worlds.

What kind of sacrifices are you willing to make to pursue your life’s work? When anthropologist Laura Rival left Europe to live and work with a remote group in Amazonia, she took her young daughter with her.  But things didn't go to plan, and Laura faced a difficult decision  

Today we're breaking taboos. It's all about the Class. Comedian Nelly Thomas gathers a group of her blue-collar classmates for a frank chat.

For Barry Jorgensen, an electrician and lifelong tinkerer, learning to live with Parkinson’s Disease is a bit like constantly rewiring a faulty circuit board. For his family, it's a fragile negotiation of a chronic illness, family dynamics, and memories of lives past.

It's the world's most populous Muslim nation. So what brings thousands of Catholic pilgrims each Easter to the remote town of Larantuka in Flores, Indonesia?

Dianne McGrath is a Mars One astronaut candidate. She is on the short list for a one-way ticket to live and die on the red planet.