Light It Up | The Podcast: Recent Episodes
Amanda Fung
I'm your host Amanda and this is Light It Up, a podcast all about Australian Lighthouses.
In this series we cover everything you want to know about Australian Lighthouses (and even things you didn't know you wanted to know) including what it was like to live at a lighthouse, shipwrecks, harrowing tales, women and first nations stories, the lens, how lighthouses have inspired artists and much, much more.
Sit tight, and strap in, because this will be a doozy.
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
Brad and Helen 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.
I know it is a bit of a stretch to feature Macquarie Lighthouse as an extreme lighthouse, but not only is it the site of Australia's first lighthouse, it is located in the glitzy Eastern suburbs of Sydney and probably has one of the most extreme price tags!
Bonus edit: Ted Peers on Gabo Island.
Co-hosted with Max Halden.
Sure, all lighthouses are isolated, but none is more deserving of the title than South Solitary Island Light, situated on a rock in the middle of the ocean. By popular demand I interviewed Rob Trezise, the last keeper on South Solitary and a legend in the lighthouse community who established FOSSIL - the Friends of South Solitary Island Light, dedicated to its preservation for posterity.
Bonus edit: How Lance Wilson swum a case of beer across to South Solitary Island Light
Co-hosted with Max Halden.
We shine a light on a new part in this series on EXTREME LIGHTHOUSES, a collection of episodes on the first, the last, the most isolated and more.
In this episode we visit the wild wild west - Western Australian Lighthouses with Paul Sofilas, Western Australian representation of Lighthouses of Australia, Inc and tour guide and caretaker at Cape Leeuwin Light.
Co-hosted with Max Halden.
Hopefully this doesn't ruin your bright and chirpy view on lighthouses...This episode is a compilation of ghost stories from various lighthouses around the country.
Bonus edit: Jessica Clifford and Hells Gates, Tasmania
Co-hosted with Zoe O'Connor.
We had a light taster of Bustard Head Light in the previous episode, but not all is sunshine and rainbows...now we flip to the dark side of lighthouses with the first of two episodes on Harrowing Tales in and around lighthouses.
This episode is about the Lighthouse of Tragedy, a.k.a Bustard Head with Stuart Buchanan and Jessica Cooke. Stuart is a former light keeper and key person who restored Bustard Head Light to its former glory and Jessica Cooke is part of the 1770! LARC Tours through whom you can visit Bustard Head Light.
Bonus edit: Jess Cook on how you can get yourself on a LARC! Tour at Bustard Head and more on the Lighthouse of Tragedy book.
Co-hosted with Zoe O'Connor.
Arrrr Matey!!! There may not be very much golden buried treasure left to find, but there sure are a heap of other natural wonders! In this episode we explore the natural treasures of lighthouses with Peter Braid and Neil Mergard.
Bonus edit: Jess Cooke on Jenny Lind and swimming echidnas.
Co-hosted with Mark.
We dive deeper into maritime archaeology with Cosmos Coroneous, maritime archeologist and director of Cosmos Archaeology. We will uncover a mutiny and and discover that shipwrecks a lot closer to home than we think.
Bonus edit: Jess Clifford on why Point Perpendicular Light was built.
Co-hosted with Mark.
We are shining a light on a new topic for the next few episodes…..SHIPWRECKS the reason why lighthouses were built in the first place.
Mike Nash Manager Historic Heritage at Tasmania Parks & Wildlife Service explores shipwrecks and heritages with us.
Co-hosted with Mark.
In today's episode, we are heading to where New South Wales, where lighthouses began in Australia with Jo Kijas. Jo is the historian instrumental in putting together Life under the Lights published in 2009 about lighthouse families of NSW for NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service Oral History Project, Office of Environment and Heritage and Department of Premier and Cabinet.
Bonus edit: Jessica Clifford on why lighthouses are not the same.
Co-hosted with Caroline Ma.
There can never be too much sunshine....in this episode we chat with Peter Braid, lighthouse kid turned Lighthouses of Australia, Inc Vice-President. We'll hear about how he did school on remote islands and the many illustrious visitors he encountered including Dick Smith.
Bonus edit: Michelle Seger and the goats that tyrannised Byron Bay
Co-hosted with Caroline Ma.
We take a trip across Bass Strait to Tasmania with Mike Jenner, former light keeper and current Treasurer of Friends of Tasman Island and Volunteer Operator at Tasmaritime Radio about his lightkeeping career which began on 4 May 1969 at Tasman Island.
Bonus edit: Christine Frater on how sometimes the sea life chooses you.
Thank you to the State Library and Archive Service of Libraries Tasmania for their support in the making of this episode.
Co-hosted with Caroline Ma.
We go back to where this podcast journey began for me, at Wilsons Promontory Lighthouse, a stunning waypoint along the Southern Overnight Hike.
This episode will explore what it was like to caretake at "The Prom" with Renata & Colin Musson, including encounters with the dreaded ravens, charging up Heartbreak Hill and of course, what happened to those missing school children I mentioned last episode.
Bonus edit: Ted Peers, lighthouse keeper for almost 20 years shares his experiences at Wilsons Prom
Co-hosted with Caroline Ma.
Starting us off with bang, we explore lighthouses with Mark Mitchell a.k.a Mr Gribble, the villain in Round the Twist. For those not familiar, Round the Twist was a hugely popular Australian children's TV show that centred on the Twist family and their adventures while living in a Lighthouse.
We cover magic realism, how some of the Paul Jennings' episodes were not too far off the mark and that car wash scene. Disclaimer, there are a few spoilers in there, so listen carefully and hang on until the end to listen to the iconic jingle.
Thanks to the Australian Children's Television Foundation for their support in the making of this episode.
Co-hosted with Max Halden.
I know what you're thinking...Australian Lighthouses are a very niche topic to make a podcast on, however that is EXACTLY why this journey has been so rewarding for me personally and will be mind-blowing for you.
I am so excited to be able to share with you a little taste of what is in store for my podcast series on Australian Lighthouses. This 10-part series will explore the history of Australian lighthouses and the experiences of the people that lived and worked in and around them.
We will uncover the social side of lighthouses including tales of romance and murders, shipwrecks and isolation, and to understand how fundamental they were to the colonisation of Australia as we know it today.
Get ready for it - this is going to be unexpectedly epic.