This episode is about stories of hope for the future of lighthouses and a call to action - if you want to keep the lighthouse story and buildings alive, we need to act in creative ways to preserve, protect and promote lighthouses around Australia.

Co-hosted with Max Halden.

In this episode we hear stories about the fallout from the Inquiry and the impact on the keepers and light stations.

Co-hosted with Max Halden

You're probably wondering why you can't find a job advertisement on seek.com.au for lighthouse keepers. The beginning of the end is a story about money, technology evolution, commercial shipping and warring government departments. The unmanning of lighthouses was a topic worthy of a parliamentary inquiry, starting with The Report on Navigational Aids (Summers Report) in 1974 and culminating in the Parliamentary inquiry titled "Lighthouses: Do we keep the keepers?" in 1983 (Inquiry).

Co-hosted with Max Halden.

We just cannot get enough of Scottish Lighthouses! Ted Peers chats to us about his time on the Scottish Lights including at rugged beauty Muckle Flugga Lighthouse (you might want to practise pronouncing this one a few times!). 

Bonus edit: Ron Fehlberg tells us about his time visiting Donald Trump's lighthouse on his Scottish golf course.

Co-hosted with Georgia Egan-Griffiths.

It's about time we took a holiday… We are going global this week to explore some international lighthouses. We finally get to meet our land-locked Czech lighthouse extraordinaire, Denise Schultz, former President of Lighthouses of Australia, Inc, who gives us an introduction to international lighthouses.

Bonus edit: Dan Spinella, creator of the lens in The Lighthouse movie, shares his knowledge about US Lighthouses.

Co-hosted with Georgia Egan-Griffiths

Helen Hyatt-Johnston and Brad Buckley were artists in residence at Bruny Island Light and share with us why a lighthouse is a perfect muse.

Co-hosted with Caroline Ma.

We chat to Professor Peter Hill about the 6-month adventure that led him to write Stargazing: memoirs of a young lighthouse keeper documenting his time light-keeping at Scottish Lighthouses including at Pladda Island. 

Peter is an artist, writer, and independent curator and an Honorary Enterprise Professor at the VCA, University of Melbourne.

Co-hosted with Caroline Ma.

Mike Pitcher shares with us two of his favourite poems that he wrote while an AB seaman in this episode. We also read out a poem by Margie called "The Ghost of Bustard Head".

Bonus edit: Picasso with Caroline Ma

Co-hosted with Caroline Ma.

This episode is all about the Cape Don, the only surviving Cape Class ship left. CJ Manjarres-Wahlberg, Co-Director of the Sea Heritage Foundation and one of the "maritime enthusiasts" who are doing their best to raise funds to rehabilitate the Cape Don through the "Dock the Don" project.

Co-hosted with Gus MacDonald.

Today we meet one of the crew, Steve Best, a seaman who served on all 3 Cape Class ships over 10 years.   Psst…we also hear there is a shortage of seaman in Australia, so if you're interested in training to be one after listening to this episode, reach out to us via Instagram and we can put you in touch.

Co-hosted with Gus MacDonald.

Lyn Carters, former manager of the Cape Class ships Fleet Management gives us an introduction in episode 8A into the Cape Class ships, and what it was like working as a woman in the maritime industry at that time.

Co-hosted with Gus MacDonald.

We meet two unsung heroes in the lighthouse world - Mark Sheriff OAM and Lance Wilson, the maintenance men who spent their lives preserving lighthouses in this episode.

Co-hosted with Lucy Deller.

This is about as close as we will get to lighthouse royalty in this series….in this episode we introduce you to Mary Iles, great-great-great-many other greats-granddaughter of the Chance Brothers, English pioneers in glassworks famous for not only the manufacture of lighthouse lenses but also Crystal Palace and the clockface of Big Ben.

Co-hosted with Lucy Deller.

So what's all the hype about the lens? It's just a giant lightbulb right? Unfortunately not! It is both a piece of art and an engineering masterpiece. Ian Clifford and Janice Haynes give us a lesson in lighthouse lens technology evolution.

Co-hosted with Lucy Deller.

Rueben Berg, a proud Gunditjmara man from Melbourne, Victoria, a member of the First People's Assembly of Victoria who are progressing treaty and  a member of Heritage Council of Victoria, takes us deeper into the stories of the First Nations people to conclude this part.

Co-hosted with Anna Nguyen.

Let's face it, lighthouses enabled colonisation by safely guiding ships to Australia, hastening the destruction of the First Nations way of life. This episode is a compilation of stories of the First Nations people and their experiences generally and in and around lighthouses. Note the stories are not first-hand accounts and are told by non-First Nations people that were gathered along this podcast journey.

Co-hosted with Anna Nguyen.

This is what I call a special edition...we welcome back Janice Haynes as a performing artist, breathing life into the stories of Rosanne Hyland, Mary-Anne Ford, Catherine Evans and Joan Brack.

Co-hosted with Anna Nguyen.

Women and First Nations - it's their time to shine in this narrative. We kick off a four-episode part featuring stories about Women and First Nations people. In today's episode, we discuss a collection of stories about Women and Lighthouses including Aida Tapp with Janice Haynes and the Maids of Middle Island with Neil Mergard.

Bonus edit: Jess Cooke with more on the Maids of Middle Island

Co-hosted with Anna Nguyen.

This is the final episode in the Extreme Lighthouses part. Today, we cover the infamous Shipwreck Coast in Victoria, including what gold rush sailors did with ships on arrival. We also get to know the White Queen, Otto and Shelly with Lance Wilson and Janice Haynes.

Bonus edit: Ian Clifford on lighthouse supplies.

Co-hosted with Max Halden.

In today's episode we cover Tasmanian Lighthouses with Ron Fehlberg, including Maatsuyker Island Light, the last manned and most southern lighthouse in Australia.

Bonus edit: Jess Clifford and the carrier pigeons of Maatsuyker Island.

Co-hosted with Max Halden.