Inner West Icons: the other side of Sydney

Inner west Sydney is one of the doggiest places in the Australia.

Even our most famous resident, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, meets world leaders with First Dog Toto.

This episode is about the stories and history of dogs in the inner west.

Hear about...

• the original dog, dingoes
• dogs in the Frontier Wars of Sydney
• hunting dogs of the early colony
• Sydney's most valuable dog of the 19th century, the Kangaroo Dog
• how Australia's policy of poisoning dogs started here
• the world's first dog-friendly cafe
• Leichhardt Dog Training Club, run by volunteers
• the three dogs of Newtown, and
• who is Maggie of Maggie's Rescue?

Guests

Callan Park is where you’ll find Callan Park Hospital for the Insane - closed but still standing. It's the biggest green space in the inner west. And it’s got a chequered history.

Find out..

• Why this spot was chosen for mental health?
• How ‘green therapy’ came and went?
• What is the crocodile of Callan Park?
• How the community fights to keep it going?
• And how the quality of our parks impacts mental health.

Guests

• Hall Greenland, President of Friends of Callan Park
• Drew Roberts, Shared Knowledge
• Deborah Lennis, Inner West Council Cultural Advisor
• Roslyn Burge, historian and author
• Peter Gray, former patient and member of Friends of Callan Park
• Jenna Bateman, former mental health nurse at Callan Park and CEO of Mental Health Coordinating Council 2000 - 2017
• Stephen Gillespie, Coordinator of Glovers Garden community garden
• Emma and Kimmy, members of Glovers Garden community garden
• Xiaoqi Feng, Associate Professor in Urban Health and Environment at UNSW

The inner west is home to Sydney’s street art. Find out..

• How a world-famous, graffiti health campaign started here?
• Why the inner west has the most murals in Sydney?
• How its most iconic mural was painted? (illegally, in the middle of the night)
• What stencil inspired a top selling kids book?
• The other street art - stickers, pasteups, yarn bombing...
• And how it all still challenges us...

Guests

• Tour guide, author and photographer Melinda Vassallo
• Not Quite Newtown: Author Peter Warrington and photographer Rachel Williams
• Writers Bonnie Huang and Tom Martin
• Artists: Juilee Pryor, Sharon Billinge, Lotte Smith, Rebecca Enya Loury, Kim Siew, Zachary Bennett-Brook, and Hugues Sineux

Hosted by Bernie Hobbs. Produced by Jane Curtis. Sound engineering by John Jacobs. Artwork by Dylan Tonkin.

A group of spooky homes in Sydney’s inner west are an unmissable landmark.

• How did these gothic mansions get here?
• What school song are they in?
• Why might they be Australia’s ‘first real estate display homes’?
• How did they become the setting for a best-selling YA novel?

Host

Bernie Hobbs is a long-time inner westie, and an award winning science writer and presenter on TV and radio.

Guests

• Jane Fox: Assistant Principal at Annandale North Primary School
• Vanessa Berry: Writer and artist who works with history, memory and archives. One of her books is Mirror Sydney: An atlas of reflections.
• Belinda Murrell: Award-winning, internationally published author who’s written over 35 books for kids and teenagers.
• Dr Stephen Gapps:  Historian, author and museum curator with a particular interest in the Frontier Wars. One of his books is The Sydney Wars: Conflict in the early colony 1788-1817.
• Norma Perry: Former Witches House resident and co-author of the AURA Journals on the history of the Witches Houses and the history of Annandale.