Compass: Recent Episodes
ABC TV
During the pandemic, in the middle of Melbourne’s deepest lockdowns, broadcaster Indira Naidoo’s sister Manika took her own life. It was an unspeakable loss for Indira, and in the darkness that followed, she found solace in friends, her local community – and a very special old soul in the form of a tree. She’s turned her journey of grief into one of discovery and reward. Introduced by Indira’s good friend David Wenham. Including interviews with Indira, her husband Mark FitzGerald, David Wenham, and Jon Owen from the Wayside Chapel.
Pentecostalism is one of the fastest growing religions in the world. What’s the appeal and why are young people drawn to it? Compass visits the Life House Church in Murray Bridge, South Australia to find answers. And investigates the fallout from recent scandals in Pentecostal mega-churches here in Australia and overseas.
Born in a refugee camp in Bangladesh, Kabir was inspired by the movie ‘Rocky’ as a youth and risked his life to escape. After becoming the world’s first Rohingya bodybuilding champion, Kabir now dreams of becoming Mr Olympia. A refugee who risked everything to come to Australia, now an internet sensation in the bodybuilding world and hero to his own people.
During the pandemic, in the middle of Melbourne’s deepest lockdown, broadcaster Indira Naidoo’s sister Manika took her own life. It was an unspeakable loss for Indira, and in the darkness that followed, she found solace in friends, her local community – and a very special old soul in the form of a tree.
Filmmaker Peter Hegedus embarks on the challenging journey to make Sorella’s Story, an immersive 360° film set on the beaches of Latvia in December 1941, when thousands of Jewish Women and children perished at the hands of Nazi collaborators. Along the way Peter teams up with Jewish-Australian 90-year-old Ethel Davies whose family was also killed in the same massacre.
In September 1852, near Quorn in the Flinders Ranges, a young shepherd was killed by members of the local Aboriginal community. Police and European settlers pursued the Aboriginal group, and eventually murdered a number of them in reprisal. Almost 170 years later, descendants of James Brown’s family reach out to the Indigenous descendants to find out what happened and why.
Charismatic comedian and community activist Mandy Nolan ran a hugely popular campaign as Greens candidate in the Federal seat of Richmond during the worst climate change crisis her beloved Northern Rivers has ever faced.
Julie Peters is a legend in the trans community in Australia. She was the first person to transition at the ABC, at a time when there were no role models around her. From her early twenties, Julie started collecting anything trans or queer related to help her work out who she was. Over the years she’s collected one of the most comprehensive trans archives in the country. Including Interview with ABC MD David Anderson.
‘We Come to Take you Home’ is the story of Kamilaroi elder Bob Weatherall, who’s devoted the last four decades to the repatriation of sacred Indigenous ancestral remains. Bones, skulls, teeth and hair were stolen from graves and murdered bodies to be sold to museums and universities in the name of science. Up to 10,000 ancestral remains are still held by institutions within Australia.
Author and parenting guru Maggie Dent introduces her sacred place, an ocean pool on the south coast of NSW. Geraldine Doogue seeks powerful connection with prominent Australians through an investigation of their sacred space and what it means to them.
When Annette and Stuart Baker lost their 15 year-old-daughter to suicide their grief was met with silence, shame and stigma. Finding little to no support for survivors of suicide they became founders of a unique healing event, the Winter Solstice. Solstice traces their story in all its bravery, heartbreak and surprising honesty.
Handling the Heart explores patient experiences following major heart surgery - how to understand these experiences and how to live with them. A story of existential crises and transformative experiences, told by ex-patients including the filmmaker himself.
A raw, emotional and intimate journey as an Orthodox Jewish couple go through IVF fertility treatment, with all the added richness and complexity their faith brings to the process. Roughly one in six couples face infertility in their efforts to create a family, so this story resonates widely.
Geraldine Doogue meets Ngemba man Prof Jack Beetson. As one of the first Aboriginal Australians to complete a university degree in adult education, Jack Beetson has served as a vanguard for literacy and adult education initiatives throughout Australia.
Bekti Andari is the ‘rice winner’ for her young family in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Her job is to help villagers understand what is involved in an experimental dengue reduction programme. As she moves between the boardrooms, community gatherings and villages. Her everyday routine forms an entrancing glimpse into the life of a modern Indonesian woman.
A group of passionate volunteers support terminally ill patients by collaborating with them to write their life stories, with surprising benefits to both patient and volunteer.
Beneath the skies of a remote mining town, a composer and an architect created a musical chamber for marvelling at the universe.
Rising star Yasmin Poole- youth advocate and Martin Luther King Youth Influencer of the Year, presents a Compass election program Raising Her Voice. Following the rise of strong female independents and the desire for a return to ethics and community values in politics.
Artist, Wendy Sharpe, has finished a 40-metre mural in the Sydney Jewish Museum, drawing her grandmother for the first time and revealing how she used to sing the Yiddish song “Where is the little street?” The song is the title of the exhibition and is about looking for a place that no longer exists.
At 87, Sister Brigid Arthur is an activist nun, working with refugees and now acting as litigation guardian for eight teenagers seeking to block a Whitehaven Coal mine in NSW.
Explores the life of three people living with disabilities, their back stories, and the barriers they have faced in their employment journeys, as well as issues of intersectionality - cultural and LGBTIQ+ identity.
In Sydney’s south-west a new mosque has just opened after more than twenty years in the making. Its severe concrete design has been described as an architectural masterpiece. The architect is Greek Orthodox. He claims his religious background has helped shape its unusual appearance.
The federal government’s contentious Religious Discrimination Bill is now suspended indefinitely, but the problem of competing freedoms remains. In this episode, Compass reveals the personal stories of those still affected - the human cost of the political warfare.
A graphic novelist, death metal musician and Islamic Studies academic, Safdar’s artistic work is driven by social advocacy and his involvement with the Refugee Art Project. He uses art as a form of therapy to help himself and others share stories of displacement, trauma and rebirth.
Geraldine Doogue meets award winning journalist, author and documentary maker Marc Fennell. In 2019, Marc was named one of the 40 Under 40 Most Influential Asian-Australians. She discovers another, deeper side to this media man extraordinaire as he reveals his sacred space and what it means to him.
In the 112th year of his life, outback author Dexter Kruger is in a race against time towards his ultimate deadline. With unprecedented access to a remarkable supercentenarian this moving story confirms the need for us all to keep chasing our dreams.
In the 112th year of his life, outback author Dexter Kruger is in a race against time towards his ultimate deadline. With unprecedented access to a remarkable supercentenarian this moving story confirms the need for us all to keep chasing our dreams.
In the 112th year of his life, outback author Dexter Kruger is in a race against time towards his ultimate deadline. With unprecedented access to a remarkable supercentenarian this moving story confirms the need for us all to keep chasing our dreams.
A successful photographer is thrown into a confronting journey of self-discovery when he learns he may have a neurological disorder.
A successful photographer is thrown into a confronting journey of self-discovery when he learns he may have a neurological disorder.
Disability advocate Nicole Lee is a breath of fresh air introducing a range of dynamic women who reveal what it’s like for people with disabilities to deal with the able-bodied world’s misconceptions.
Disability advocate Nicole Lee is a breath of fresh air introducing a range of dynamic women who reveal what it’s like for people with disabilities to deal with the able-bodied world’s misconceptions.
Minimalist and author Sarah Wilson explores what our over-consumption is doing to our hearts and souls, investigating why is it so hard for people to resist new things even when we know we already have too much. Can we find an alternative to the more, more, more mentality?
Three young Muslim women from southwest Sydney navigate their connections to family, faith and community, framed around their shared pursuit of competitive boxing.
Geraldine Doogue seeks powerful connection with prominent Australians through an investigation of their sacred space and what it means to them. This time soccer legend and human rights activist Craig Foster takes Geraldine on an intriguing journey into his past to reconnect with his Sacred Space.
Geraldine Doogue seeks powerful connection with prominent Australians through an investigation of their sacred space and what it means to them. This time soccer legend and human rights activist Craig Foster takes Geraldine on an intriguing journey into his past to reconnect with his Sacred Space.
Janet Oobagooma, and her old friend Gudu travel from their remote Aboriginal community home in Mowanjum in the West Kimberley to visit the place they grew up - the abandoned Presbyterian mission of Kunmunya.
Janet Oobagooma, and her old friend Gudu travel from their remote Aboriginal community home in Mowanjum in the West Kimberley to visit the place they grew up - the abandoned Presbyterian mission of Kunmunya.
Environmental concerns can make strange bedfellows. The Lismore area is one of the most socially and religiously diverse parts of Australia. For many years its communities have dealt with bushfires, floods, fracking-threats and Covid. From traditional owners, to Buddhist practitioners, Catholics under Pope Francis - all the way to Knitting-Nanna activists, care for their environment is at the heart of what they do.
Geraldine Doogue seeks powerful connection with prominent Australians through an investigation of their sacred space and what it means to them. Here historian Grace Karskens introduces her special place.
Geraldine Doogue seeks powerful connection with prominent Australians through an investigation of their sacred space and what it means to them. Here historian Grace Karskens introduces her special place.
Kumi Taguchi explores the world of Byron Bay influencers, including Ella Noah Bancroft a Bundjalung woman, storyteller, mentor and activist, radical astrologer Angel Phoenix, and micro influencers and parenting gurus Jayde Couldwell and Sophie Pearce.