Salt of the Earth Farm Stories
Welcome to "Salt of the Earth - Farm Stories". Host Darren Grigg invites you to step into the world of farmers from diverse backgrounds across Australia. Through intimate interviews, he delves into their farming practices, traditions, and the challenges they face in nurturing the land. From generations-old family farms to innovative sustainable practices, each episode offers a glimpse into the resilience, passion, and dedication of Australian farmers and explores the profound connection between people and the land. Be inspired by the stories of those who sow the seeds of the future.
Salt of the Earth Farm Stories
Ep 115: Lisa Millar _ Part A
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Lisa Millar- Part A | From a country kid with a dictaphone to one of Australia's most loved broadcasters
Before the Gold Logie nominations, before Back Roads, Muster Dogs, and decades reporting some of Australia's biggest stories, there was a curious country girl growing up in Kilkivan, Queensland, with a dictaphone in her hand and a love of asking questions.
In Part A of this special three-part conversation, Lisa Millar takes us back to where it all began.
We talk about growing up in rural Queensland, the people and experiences that shaped her, her first steps into journalism, and the determination that saw her chase a career she never imagined would take her around the world.
Along the way, Lisa shares stories that are funny, heartfelt and deeply personal—including a priceless recording of a ten-year-old Lisa interviewing her dad, Clarrie.
It's the beginning of an extraordinary journey, and a wonderful reminder that big dreams can start in the smallest of country towns.
If you enjoy this episode, don't forget to follow Salt of the Earth Farm Stories, leave a review, and share it with someone who loves a great story.
Welcome to Salt of the Earth Farm Story.
SPEAKER_00Even though I started in a small town, I had big dreams and I always thought that I could have a big life.
SPEAKER_04Well, this is a real privilege. Over the next three episodes, I get to sit down with one of Australia's most loved broadcasters. You know her from ABC's Backroads. You know her from Mustard's. You know her from all those years of telling some of the biggest stories in Australia and around the world. And right now, she's up for a gold logie for the second year running. But before all that, there was a country kid from Kilkeven in rural Queensland. A girl with the dictaphone. A big curiosity. And absolutely no idea where life was about to take her.
SPEAKER_01About Burling when the war happened over there. What was really the cause of that?
SPEAKER_00The news was on, people got to ask questions, and I just thought, wow, this is really spectacular. How great.
SPEAKER_04In this series, we go everywhere. From country newspapers to television, from flower shows to Death Knox. From Australia to Washington, London, and back again. And yes, we even hear of a recording of Lisa interviewing her dad, Clary, when she was just 10 years old. This is Lisa Miller, living a very big life. It's funny, it's fascinating, and honestly, a genuine honour.
unknownWe've got made out in the country.
SPEAKER_04Lisa Miller, good to see you.
SPEAKER_00Good to see you too, Darren.
SPEAKER_04Wow, what a week, Lisa.
SPEAKER_00What are we? We we're speaking on, is it Wednesday? I cannot believe the last few days.
SPEAKER_04Tell me about it.
SPEAKER_00So I came down to Sydney on the weekend after a two-week backroads trip in Cape York and I landed into Logies World. And for the second year running, I've been nominated for a gold logie. And honestly, I uh when they rang to tell me, I said WTF. And then I said WTAF. So sorry for swearing. I just couldn't believe it. I feel like I am currently going through an out-of-body experience. I feel like I am looking down on what the universe is doing with Lisa Miller, and I can't, I honestly can't believe it. So shocked.
SPEAKER_04Lisa, I think it's so well deserved. And and you are who we are gravitating to right now, I think. We we need people like you in our life. Well, that's kind of you to say. I think that's going to come out in the next half an hour or so. So a quick couple of questions to get us started. Yes. Extrovert or introvert?
SPEAKER_00Oh, extrovert.
SPEAKER_04Really?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, hands down. I was just on this trip I was doing at the end of it. The producer said to me, Wow, I thought you actually just talk to strangers all the time for work to get information, but you really thrive on just talking to strangers all the time.
SPEAKER_02Actually, I've seen that.
SPEAKER_00I do. I love it because I am so curious. And I couldn't honestly, I couldn't be an introvert if I tried. Like there, I literally see things in front of me, and I think, well, I want to find out about that. So I'm just going to go out there and ask people. And I have no qualms about doing that.
SPEAKER_04And I've seen your intrigueness and curiosity with people. And I think this is what makes you such a great storyteller.
SPEAKER_00Oh, well, I hope so. I mean, I get a lot of help with the storytelling with the colleagues that I have and the crews that I work with. It is definitely not a one-person operation, which is why I would love to be able to pull off this logi. But we've got some tough competition. We've got Robert Irwin. Oh man, the guy can dance and he can play around with crocodiles.
SPEAKER_04There's some big names out there. Yeah. Now I've voted. Good option. And I wanted to let our listeners know how easy it is. Google TV Week Logie Awards. And then click through the categories and you'll like some people there and vote for them too.
SPEAKER_00And you don't have to vote in every category. You can just hit next and skip.
SPEAKER_04And right at the end, there are about seven names, golden names, but you'll find Lisa Miller's name right there. It's pretty easy. Listeners, I recommend jumping on.
SPEAKER_00And then you have to verify your email. So once you've done that, you then have to go, yes, that was me. This is my email, and away you go.
SPEAKER_04And we'll remind them at the end of this episode how easy it is.
SPEAKER_00Well, thank you. Oh, yes. So do you see this is what's going to happen with our chat, Darren, right? You asked me one question, extrovert versus introvert, and that was now like five minutes ago. I cannot give a short answer if there is a long one that I can provide. So I just want to give you a warning on that.
SPEAKER_04We are hot off the press here. We had this booked in a month ago. Yeah. And it just happened to fall on the week of your announcement. So pretty exciting. Now, two more short answers, then we're going long answers. Dairy farm mornings or newsroom mornings, which has shaped you more?
SPEAKER_00Definitely breakfast television news has shaped me in a lot of ways that were unexpected, which drumroll will talk about, no doubt.
SPEAKER_04All right then. Kilkeeven Kidd or Global Correspondent, which feels most you?
SPEAKER_00Oh, Kilkeeven Kidd.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. Oh, without a doubt.
SPEAKER_00Oh, without a doubt. There is every bit of my core is still the young country kid who had some big dreams. And yeah, no, no, there is no doubt I am a country kid.
SPEAKER_04Country Kid Kilkeven, about three hours west north of Brisbane.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, you head up the Bruce Highway and chuck a left straight after Gimpy and then inland. It used to take a lot longer because the roads were pretty crap. It was single-lane, you know, dirt road some of the way. I used to think we lived way out of town, but we were townies, really. Like we were only a couple of kilometres out of town. And I do need to stress that mum and dad had sold the dairy farm, and that was all done by the time I came along. But what it had brought them and my siblings, of course, was a big part of my life. So I often say that I grew up as the daughter of dairy farmers, but I never milked a cow with them. My siblings, my poor brothers and sisters did all the hard work as they kept reminding us through our years.
SPEAKER_04What's some of your early memories then of that country life?
SPEAKER_00Just saying goodbye to friends at school at three o'clock on a Friday and not seeing anyone else again until Monday morning. There were no kind of play dates, and there was nothing wrong with that. I had my little sister as my playmate, and there were endless things to do around the property. I mean, mum used to try and grow roses, and we thought that garden bed was the best spot to create a river, and we'd put the hose in and we'd dig out through the garden bread, and we'd make our boats, and you were just constantly outdoors entertaining yourself, and that's the overwhelming memory of it. I mean, we did a lot of reading. We, you know, Friday afternoons, mum would take us to the library, which was a little corner in the town hall in Kilkeaven, and we were allowed to get two books, and then we'd go to the shop and get 20 cents worth of mixed lollies. In a little white paper bag. Yes. And so those memories of then kind of hitting the road and heading out of town are the strongest ones. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04And I believe it was a small school, and you didn't have team sports so much, did you?
SPEAKER_00No, it was tiny. I think there was probably barely a hundred people, and that was all the way to grade 10. So when you think about all of those kids, so all of the classes were composite, you know, grade one and two were together, grade four and five were together. But one of the things I do remember, and I was actually, even though I'm an extrovert, I was a shy kid, and I still get intimidated. I still get intimidated right now, to be honest. At the Logis announcement, the gorgeous Poe from MasterChef, she said to me, Oh, I've never felt very comfortable in these situations. And I said, Me neither. Like, I don't, even though I've worked in television for decades, I still turn up at something like that and am absolutely intimidated by the bright shiny lights and you know the nine and seven personalities. They were there with makeup artists and stylists and publicity people running through questions, you know. Well, you know, what are you gonna do if you get to ask this question? Like, what's your campaign gonna be? And I'm just standing there in the corner thinking, oh, I wonder where the toilets are. Like, I just need to go and do a nervous wee. And it was lovely to have that moment with Poe because she feels exactly the same way. And I do think it's kind of part of that small school upbringing because I didn't, you know, well, as you say, no team sports, so I never learned how to play netball, which was one of my great regrets in life because we never had enough people to kind of form two teams to play each other, right? And so I never learned how to play it. And then by the time I got to a bigger school in Gympie when I was a teenager, everyone knew how to play it and they were really good. And I didn't have the confidence to say, actually, I'd really like to learn how to play netball. I just pretended I didn't want to play. Yeah, but secretly I wanted to play netball and I never did. I'd never learned how to play it. Wow.
SPEAKER_04I'm really surprised. Lisa Miller, a little bit anxious, a little bit nervous, you know, in the spotlight. But maybe this does stem back from not being in that team sport as a primary school.
SPEAKER_00She knows we can put that to, you know, the next psychology meeting I had with a session. That I I don't know. I feel like, okay, this is what's going to come out in this chat, Darren, I reckon, is that I have many contradictions. And my family in particular know that I can come across as very confident, and there are parts of me that are confident, but also I'm a bit of a marshmallow on the inside. And I think when we talk more about some of the stuff I've done over the years, it doesn't take long sometimes for that soft underbelly to be damaged or hurt, I suppose, is how I'd put it. So I suspect we're gonna chat and you're gonna go, but hang on, that's a bit of a contradiction. You said you were this, but now you're showing yourself to be that. So I'm just putting it out there now. I put myself out of my comfort zone all the time, and it is hard to do it, but I make myself do it because I think the payoff is great. When you put yourself out of a comfort zone and you achieve something or you do something that you never thought you could, it's a real adrenaline rush. And so I think maybe I'm more addicted to that, kind of knowing what you get if you break through the hard times.
SPEAKER_04And I think a few nerves are good, aren't they? You get the best out of yourself.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Some of your listeners might remember Jim Middleton, who was a political editor in Canberra when I was a baby political reporter, and he was such a great mentor to me. And this is in the 1990s, and he always said to me, if you stop being nervous, you're in trouble. You should always have a little bit of nervousness about whatever you're doing.
SPEAKER_04Lisa, at the age of seven, I believe you had a pretend microphone. Or it might not have been a pretend microphone.
SPEAKER_00I was gonna say there was nothing pretend about it, thank you. No, it was a dictaphone.
SPEAKER_04Dictaphone, interviewing your sister.
SPEAKER_00Yes, and my grandmother. Yes, with the ABC News theme. Because it was all we'd be able to listen to in the country, basically. You you know, that's how you started your day with ABC radio on. And so I knew that when you heard dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun, that was time to be quiet, the news was on, people got to ask questions, and I just thought, wow, this is really spectacular. How great! And so I interviewed the I can remember one of the first interviews I did. I was very proud of her.
SPEAKER_02Are we right? Are we correct?
SPEAKER_00And I'm 57 now, right? So 50 years ago, half a century ago. So Goff Whitlam was Prime Minister or had been Prime Minister, so he I think he'd just um double dissolution had just happened. And I remember interviewing Trudy, my younger sister, who's two and a half years younger than me. So she would have been like four and a half, five. And I can't pronounce Goff Whitlam's name. So I'm going, I'm asking her a question and saying, Oh, I'll turn that's my phone. I'm so sorry, I'll turn that too.
SPEAKER_04It's running hot this week.
SPEAKER_00Oh, it is running hot, and I thought I'd put it on Do Not Disturb, so I'm super sorry about that. People, thank you for listening to this podcast. But wow, I cannot believe I did that. Do you know who sent me that message just then? It was my sister Trudy. So maybe she knew we were talking about it. Yeah, so I'm interviewing her, and and I've got this really deep voice on, and I'm saying, now what do you think about Goth Whip Ham? Whip ham, I called him, because I couldn't pronounce his name. So that's how young it was. And the minute she started answering, not even knowing what she was answering, I mean the poor kid's five, I cut her off. It's like, wow, even back then, I'm cutting people off.
SPEAKER_04I didn't mean to. And I think you found a tape from interviewing your grandmother. Is that right?
SPEAKER_00No, interviewing dad when I was 10. Yeah. It's honestly, I can barely listen to it without wanting to have a bit of a cry. It's so beautiful to have his voice. But what's gorgeous about it is that he's treating me like a grown-up. I'm asking him questions about a boycott of an Olympics, and he treats it as a serious interview, and he's trying to explain to me geopolitical matters, and I quickly, as any 10-year-old would do, lose interest. So I say to him, his first name is Clary, I said, okay, Clary, thanks for coming in. We're gonna have to wrap it up now. And that's the end.
SPEAKER_01About Berlin, when um the war happened over there, uh, what was really the cause of that?
SPEAKER_03Pre-World War II in 1936 the Olympic game for Haven Berlin.
SPEAKER_01We've better stop there, Clary. Thanks anyway.
SPEAKER_03Um, never get back here to be part of this.
SPEAKER_04Now, talking about Clary, yes, while we're on this note, uh, some of our listeners might even remember him. He was a federal member.
SPEAKER_00He was the federal member for Wide Bay. He went in in 1974 and he retired in 1991. So that was 16 years of pretty much my childhood and my teenage years, which you know, when you think about the chapters of your life and what has formed you, I can remember very early, of course, having this interest in the media because the ABC was what we listened to and watched. And then when Dad went into politics, we'd go down to Canberra occasionally, and Dad would say, What do you think of all of this? And he'd take me into the chamber and show me the House of Representatives, and my head was just gazing upward to the press gallery, and I was just looking at all these reporters up there with their notebooks and their, you know, their spiral notebooks and their pens. And I can remember Paul Kelly and Michelle Grattan and Richard Carlton.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, who was a mentor. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00So Richard Carlton, and you know, gosh, we're going back so many years now, there'd be some listeners here who would not know that name, sadly, but he was a big name. He had the Carlton Walsh Report, which is like the 730 report of its era, and then he went to 60 Minutes. And he, though, when I was 16, allowed me to go to the ABC for the recording of the Carlton Walsh Report. And this was a big program. Like everyone watched it, hey? That was.
SPEAKER_04And you going in there at 16. Yeah. Wow.
SPEAKER_00Big deal. And so at the end of the evening, he then said to me, and I remember it as if it was yesterday, he said, Well, if you're gonna do this, if you're gonna be a journalist, don't be a mediocre one. There's plenty of mediocre ones out there.
SPEAKER_04Wow.
SPEAKER_00And I went back to the hotel where I was staying with dad and I got the hotel writing paper out. It was the Talopia Park Inn, and I wrote down those words, and I still have that piece of paper.
SPEAKER_04Wow.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Going back to your dad, uh, you were off to all these meetings, and you would often sleep in the car while he was in these meetings. Oh, yeah, country member of parliament. Yeah. I think he'd also fly to some of these meetings, is that right?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, well, he had a pilot's license, and it had been his dream to have a Piper Cherokee or a small plane, and courtesy of my mum's mum, his mother-in-law, that happened. And so I came along in 1969. The Piper Cherokee came along in 1970, and Trudy, my little sister, came along in 1971. So it was a busy time. I sometimes think, and dad probably wouldn't argue with this, that the Piper Cherokee got more love sometimes than Trudy and me. It was a beautiful part of our family, and it was named after my grandmother. Her name was Ida Emma Cooper, and so the registration was IEC, and it was India Echo Charlie. We loved that plane. I had a very special moment not so many years ago when I was talking about India Echo Charlie on a podcast, and someone rang in to say they had the plane. They owned it. And it had had a couple of new engines, and but it had survived 50 years and was still flying. And I said, Where is it? And they said, Well, it's lived in WA and it's flown in the Northern Territory, and it's back now in a hangar in Mergen, which is just down the road from Kilkeaven. No way. Where we got it in the first place. And I said, I want to come and have a look. And I did. So I organized a trip to Queensland and went to have a look at the plane. It was amazing.
SPEAKER_04How did that feel?
SPEAKER_00Oh, super emotional. I took my big sister Wendy and we climbed into the cockpit. And I said, God, it feels so much smaller than what it was. How did Dad even sit here like and stretch his legs out?
SPEAKER_04I believe he was quite measured and he was a clever pilot. But you had a scare one time.
SPEAKER_00Oh, not with dad though. That came later in my 20s when I was working as a young reporter in Townsville, and it was where I started with the ABC. And back in the day, we used to charter planes to get places quickly. So I remember 730 Report in Brisbane needed me to go to a mine in central Queensland and do an interview because they were going to bring in alcohol and drug testing for the first time. So this was in 1993. Did it come in then? Yeah, 1993. And so I had to fly down there, do the interview, and then get back to Townsville and feed the material down to Brisbane for the 730 Report that night. And because we were up against it time-wise, because the mine was also doing some blasting, so we could only land and take off at particular times, we ended up flying back to Townsville and got caught in a tropical storm, and it was a fierce storm. And I didn't know what had happened at the time, but I was sitting in the back with my headphones on, listening to the material to try and sort out which bit we were going to send to Brisbane. And the engine in the middle of this storm, the left engine started spluttering and failing. And it was a horrifying sound and a horrifying moment. Now I found out later that the pilot, because we were having to dodge so many cells, uh, storm cells, he was using every little bit of fuel. In his main tank before he flicked to the reserve tanks. So we weren't in any danger. It was fine. If he was flying by himself, knock yourself out, mate. But sadly, he had paying customers on board. And what it did was then, for me, spark a fear of flying that lasted for a decade.
SPEAKER_04And it took a lot for you to get through that, didn't it?
SPEAKER_00When people talk to me about a fear, I'm far more empathetic now about people's fears. But I also say to them, pretty much whatever you're going to tell me about how you don't like flying or you're a bit uncomfortable, I am just going to tell you one story. I had to get on a plane with the then Premier Rob Bourbage to cover an election campaign event in Queensland. And my body was so stricken with this fear that I could not bend my knees to sit into the shape of the seat. And they allowed me to just lie on the floor of this plane to then take off.
SPEAKER_04And this was a time in your career you're wanting to do your best.
SPEAKER_00No, I know.
SPEAKER_04And you had all these other journos around you too.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and they were so supportive. They still laugh though to this day, laugh in a nice way, but they still say they're carrying the fingernail marks in their hands of that period. Because here's the contradiction again, right? So I'm facing this fear that it even if you'd put me on a big Boeing 737 to Sydney, I would start being physically sick three days beforehand. I'd be vomiting, I'd be irritable, I'd have diarrhea. So that is what the fear was doing to my body. Did I ever not get on a plane? No. I just I did it. I made myself do it each time. And I don't I don't know what what was making me do that. Maybe, I mean, dad had some a really high bar for ethics and morals. And he would often say, it's not only, you know, doing the right thing, it's the perception of making sure that you are seen to be doing the right thing. Like you stand as a, you know, credit to the family and all the rest of it. So I suspect that I felt a bit of that pressure that, well, I can't not cover this campaign event because I'm afraid of flying. You just have to do it. Yeah, so there was some, it was 10 tough years, 10 tough years.
SPEAKER_04What did it take to get over it?
SPEAKER_00Oh, well, it took my then husband at the time telling me that our life couldn't go on like that because it was controlling our lives. I mean, we got married and went on our honeymoon, and I can remember at the airport, you know, we'd booked this overseas flight, and it was like, you know, it was supposed to be this beautiful, joyful moment, and I was sobbing, just going, Why have you done this to me? Why have you done this to me? Why are you making me fly on our honeymoon? So he eventually said, You've got to do something. It was just before September 11, and Ansett still existed. I know there were so many things that could have gone wrong here. Ansett still existed. They had a great fear of flying course, and the best thing that was ever said to me was, you've spent 10 years building this fear, nurturing this fear, making this fear as big as possible. It's going to take so much work to change it. Like you are not going to just be able to do a course and click your fingers and it's all done. And it probably took, I reckon about two years after doing that course to suddenly be on a plane one day and think, oh, actually, I'm okay with this flight. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04And look at the thousands, honestly, thousands of flights you've had since.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I know. And now I love it. I love it. And I see planes flying above me here, and I just think, oh, where are they going? I want to be on that plane.
SPEAKER_04Oh man.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Now going back to your dad, Clary, quite a respected man, and also your mum, she was quite private.
SPEAKER_00Very private. And didn't love the world of politics. She would have been so much happier to just stay on the farm. And dad loved not politics. He was always irked when people called him a politician. He liked to be referred to as a parliamentarian. He loved Parliament. He loved the institution. He loved the idea that big ideas could be debated and things could be done and changes could be made and lives could be made better with decisions being made in Parliament. But the politics, yeah, he didn't love the politics. And mum didn't love the politics or parliament particularly. She was very happy in her garden. And you know, I feel like both mum and dad aren't with us anymore. If dad was alive, he'd be 101 now. And I feel like I wished I'd been a bit more patient with mum because I think I saw this great, exciting life. It was like, oh man, why aren't we just going down to Canberra all the time? Like, why aren't we, you know, making the most of this? And if I'd been a bit more mature, I would have realized that not everyone wants that kind of life. As we started this conversation, the introvert versus the extrovert, and she was definitely an introvert.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_04What did that early country Queensland life offer you then that you can't get in the city?
SPEAKER_00Oh gosh, that feeling of being surrounded by supporters and friends. And I get it now with my current job, which is to wake up to the sounds of nature and to have a big blue sky above your head, and that is just beautiful. And I feel like that is what it gave me. It also gave me no pressure. Like I feel like you're not trying to compete with the Joneses. There's that sense of everyone kind of being there for each other. And I Kilkeeven's still very, very fond to me. I took my fiance Simon there a month or so ago. Oh, really? I said, we've got to go to the pub, we've got to play pool at the Kilkevan pub because they've got this really fancy pool table. I think it's fancy, where it's like a fake cow hide is the um mat on the table, and I love it. And so I took him there, and we've still got family friends who are there in Kilkevan. And so I'm very, I never want to lose that connection.
SPEAKER_01No.
SPEAKER_00I'll tell you one other thing that just came to mind, Darren, actually, about the what does that childhood give you? I remember once we were at Wex's Four Square shop in the main street of Kilkeven, and there were probably only about five shops in the main street of Kilkeven. We're talking about a very small town. And mum had not been well, and she actually collapsed in the store. Trudy and I were outside in the car, and someone came out of the store kind of to jump in the car to say, Oh, your mum's not well, but don't worry, you know, we'll all look after you. And there was that sense of everyone looks out for each other.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. Yeah, nice.
SPEAKER_00And you get it in the city. I've had it in the city, but I just feel like everyone knew everyone in Kilkeehan.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. Although if you did something wrong, everyone knew about that too, didn't they?
SPEAKER_00Oh, yeah. I got into strife a couple of times in school. So, do you know one of my most embarrassing moments in primary school was that someone, I'm not going to name them, someone brought one of their parents' nudie books to school. And we were all trying to have a look at it. Because I'd never seen anything like it, right? And my dear friend Robin, who is still friends with, we're still great mates, she got busted first because she was leaning over, going, I can't see, I can't see. And she was making so much noise, the teachers heard us and said, What can't you see? And then we all got busted for having. I would have been about nine or ten, right? I remember it was like yesterday, and the teacher said, If you don't tell your parents, I'm going to tell them. And so I went home and confessed to mum and dad that I'd been caught. I mean, what would they have thought? They wouldn't just rolled their eyes, probably. Just, yeah.
SPEAKER_04Oh, dear.
SPEAKER_00You didn't think we were going to go off on that tangent, did you? I've completely thought listeners, I've thought it's the truth. Listeners, I have completely thrown Darren with that story.
SPEAKER_04And in last week's episode, I interviewed somebody who's about to take on this amazing challenge, and she's this incredible girl in a wheelchair. Her story is just incredible. Uh, she's gonna do 440 kilometers in a wheelchair in eight days. And I said, What are you going to pack? And she goes, I'm gonna tell you what I'm not packing. I'm absolutely not packing any underwear. Sam, where did this come from?
SPEAKER_00And why is she not packing underwear?
SPEAKER_04She doesn't want any extra restrictions in that chair or seams rubbing it to I've gone, okay, Sam.
SPEAKER_00You didn't think that was coming. Now I'm gonna have to listen to that podcast as well.
SPEAKER_04So I've gone off track too. Your cadet ship. So where were you?
SPEAKER_00At the Gimpy Times. Yes. I newspaper. Yeah, newspapers. That's a that's what I had planned on doing, interestingly. I maybe because even though I'd been interviewing members of my family and I'd loved the ABC, I probably never thought that I would actually ever be able to work for the ABC. In fact, and I'm just gonna jump ahead for a second, I can remember that when someone said to me there was a vacancy in Townsville at the ABC and I should apply for it, I said, I am not worthy. I'm not worthy enough. So that was the that is how high I regarded the ABC. That so I started in newspapers at the Gibby Times, which was a great experience. I've often, when young people say they want to get into journalism, and it's a very different world now, and so many of the country newspapers have closed, sadly. But I used to think, why would you want to start in the city? You're just making coffee for the editor every day. Whereas I was doing the TV guide, I was the police reporter, I'd take the Gimpy Times Company car, a brown commodore, and drive to Tin Cam Bay and just try and find stories. You know, you'd take the camera and take photographs and just it was a wonderful world and it taught me so much. And to this day, two of the people that I worked with on that newspaper at that time are still very good friends of mine. And so it was a really wonderful bonding experience. They were great mentors. In fact, one of them, Dean Gould, he's living in India at the moment, and I have to keep reminding myself that he's actually only a couple of years older than me, but I was 18 and he was already a D-grade, which was what you know was a big deal. I was a cadet, and he, you know, made me feel like he'd been there for years. And I said, Really? You actually didn't know much at all, but geez, you put on a good act.
SPEAKER_04Are they in the same game still?
SPEAKER_00Uh, not anymore. Dean's happily retired, but you know what? He's actually doing a podcast as well. Oh, awesome. Because he loves, he's still curious, and I think that is what drives people. And if you are gonna succeed in this industry, don't you think that just having endless, endless curiosity?
SPEAKER_04And everyone has a story to tell.
SPEAKER_00Oh, totally. There are no boring people. You've just got to ask the right questions. You've got to find a way to find those stories. Everyone has got a story to tell.
SPEAKER_04Thank you. So is this when you realised after the Gippy Times that storytelling could be a career? Or did you know at the age of seven?
SPEAKER_00Oh no, I always wanted to be a storyteller. Yeah. In high school, I remember kind of saying to friends that this was what I wanted to do. There was never any doubt when you go to do work experience. I remember having to do work experience with a speech therapist because there wasn't anything else to do, kind of thing. And I was like, man, that I don't want to be a speech therapist, I want to be a journalist, you know. So it was always, it was always there. On the back of my iPad, I've got engraved big life. And each iPad or phone or anything you can have engraved, I've always had that engraved. I feel like with anything, that has been something that's been really important to me. I never wanted a small life. Even though I started in a small town, I had big dreams and I always thought that I could have a big life. It's been a whole lot bigger than even I could imagine.
SPEAKER_04Absolutely. Way bigger. You got this engraved where?
SPEAKER_00On the back of the iPad. Yeah. You can have, you know, some people have their names and phone number in case they lose it. I would just engrave big life. Yeah. So the yeah, the Gimpy Times. And so then I remember doing the flower show in Gimpy for the second year running, and I thought, all right, I can probably move on now. It's probably I probably don't need to do three annual flower shows. So it that was the hardest move, though, to of all of my career moves, getting out of country newspapers to the city probably took the longest and was the hardest to try and convince people that you were worthy of making that leap.
SPEAKER_04So from the Gippy Times, so newspaper to TV.
SPEAKER_00No, I went to the Sun newspaper in Brisbane, another newspaper that's closed down. I swear this has nothing to do with me, that everything I've worked for now doesn't exist. But that was a very um hope this podcast keeper. Yeah, I know. I have this running joke with Rob Mills, actually, because he's a friend of mine, the performer, and he worked for neighbours, got cancelled. He appeared in The Amazing Race, it got cancelled. I said, geez, people are going to be very careful about what you appear on, Millsy.
SPEAKER_04Anyway. Well, when you think about the ABC tune that you're singing at seven, that's still strong.
SPEAKER_00Oh, I think so, isn't it? Yeah, no, good. We're safe. I wanted to tell you a little story about someone I met when I was working on The Sun because I was a police reporter then, and it was a very challenging job for a young reporter.
SPEAKER_04And cutthroat. You had to get that front page.
SPEAKER_00You've got to, you know, like you couldn't, you couldn't come back and say, oh, they didn't want to talk. You had to find ways to make people talk. But I think that I was so kind of inexperienced and naive that I probably that probably came across. And so one of the things we used to have to do, and I don't know that they do it as much anymore, thank goodness, but we used to have to do what we call death knocks. And something awful would have happened to someone, and you would have to turn up on their door pretty soon afterwards and knock on the door and see if they wanted to talk, you know, because you'd be writing the story either way, basically. And I did a death knock. I did many, I did many death knocks. I fainted at one death knock because I was so overwhelmed by what I was doing. But I just want to, I'm gonna jump ahead 30 years, and I'm giving a talk about my memoir, and I'm in Dolby, and they've got a festival called Words Out West. And this woman comes up to me with a copy of my book, and she asked me to sign it, and she says, We actually met 30 years ago. No way. And the minute she said that, I knew that the only thing I was doing 30 years ago was Death Knox. And so I said, Can I ask how we met? And she said, My husband died in a freak accident, and I lived at Victoria Point, and I said to her, and I'm telling this story with her approval, by the way, and I said to her, It was a freak accident with a kite surfer, and you had a nine-month-old baby, and you lived in a house with a white picket fence. And she looked at me and I said, I remember you. And we both shed a tear because she was a young mum when it happened. Her husband had been another kite surfer. The kite surfer had hit him in the chest and he'd been killed while out kite surfing. She'd sent him off that morning for him to go and enjoy himself, and he never came home. And she had a nine-month-old baby son, and I was 21 years old and turned up at her door and knocked on her door and asked if she wanted to say anything. And I said to her in Dolby, I still have that article, I still have the newspaper. I don't want you to ever think that you weren't thought of. And then I said to her, can I ask you a selfish question? Did I make your life worse that day by turning up? Because that is what has always bothered me. Whether the things that I've done in my career where I've been asked to do it by editors, and I might have on the inside thought, I don't feel comfortable doing this, but I've got to do it because I've got to show up. You know, I've got to do what the boss has asked me. Have I made people's lives worse? And she said to me that I'd spelt her husband's name correctly, and that had been really important to the family. And that her father-in-law had been waiting for the newspaper to come out, and they were relatively happy with how it had been written. And I said, I'm so glad about that. And guess what? Mary Kim and I are now really good friends. This is the lady. This is the lady, and I'm seeing her in a couple of weeks. She's picking me up at the airport in Brisbane, and we're going to spend the afternoon together. And don't you think that's amazing?
SPEAKER_04Well, maybe you could say that little chat 30 years ago might have helped this gold logi nominee.
SPEAKER_00Well, all of those things have made a difference, and that's why I wanted to share that story with you because I think one of the things that I hope, and look, even talking about myself like this feels really weird because I'm not all it's so kind of, I feel like it's bordering on narcissistic to even be kind of discussing this. But I think about all the people who have had an influence on me, and I feel like I've made plenty of mistakes in journalism, but I hope that I have learned and become better as the years have gone on. And to have that meeting with Mary Kim in Dolby and to be told that no, look, you did okay, you know, as a 21-year-old, you did okay.
SPEAKER_04I'm fascinated. Like in 30 years of journalism, you would have done tens of thousands of stories and met hundreds and millions of people. And yet when you saw her, I knew you were. You remembered the white picket fence. Yeah. What had happened? Yeah. Wow. From newspaper to TV. Yes. Where did you go to?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, to Townsfull to win television.
SPEAKER_04And this would be perhaps in the early 90s.
SPEAKER_00Yes, it was because the Sun newspaper closed down in a hurry in the middle of the night. We were all a bit blown away by it. And I thought So suddenly. So suddenly, I was doing the early morning shift because I was on the police rounds. So my alarm would go off at 3 a.m. and a taxi would come and pick me up. And you would ring the taxi company the night before to book the taxi, and you would do it each night. And you would speak to a person on the switchboard, Darren. I know there are people who are going to be listening to this and going to find that a very odd experience that I rang and spoke to someone for a taxi. You didn't have the app. Did not have the app, did not have a mobile phone. And I did it on a landline. And um, even saying those words just makes me realize how old I am. But anyway. Oh, probably. No, I think I pushed buttons at that stage. And the switchboard operator said, Oh, Lisa, are you going in into the newspaper the next morning? I said, Yeah, why wouldn't I? And she said, Oh, it's closed. I said, The newspaper has closed.
SPEAKER_04This is how you found out.
SPEAKER_00Yes. And she said, We've been employed to have our drivers to bring around your redundancy checks. And so you will have a driver at your door shortly with a letter explaining everything. And that's how I found out that I'd lost my job. How ruthless. Yeah, it's pretty wild, hey. So I thought, right, suddenly there were like 90 people without jobs. And I thought I better get onto this. And I know there were people at the time who, for those people who know Brisbane, they know the television stations are at Mount Cutha. And I know people who drove straight up to Mount Kutha and banged on the door up there and said, Can I have a job? And that was not going to be me. I had no TV experience. I'd applied to the Courier Mail, you know, hadn't been able to get a job there. And so I got a job with Wynn TV in Townsville. And it was fantastic.
SPEAKER_04Well, Lisa, I've worked it out. We were working for the same company at the same time at other ends of the country. I was in Ballarat and you're in Townsville.
SPEAKER_00Oh my goodness. Well, at that period of time, they had they were opening up these new newsrooms in Queensland. So there was um Maruchidor and Cannes and Townsville. Yes.
SPEAKER_04Yes.
SPEAKER_00Exactly.
SPEAKER_04Same time as us in Detroit.
SPEAKER_00And we started at with an empty room. We literally had to go out and buy rubbish bins for the office and the newsroom. And we used to file three TV news stories a day.
SPEAKER_04Yes.
SPEAKER_00A day. Oh my goodness.
SPEAKER_04Couldn't wait to shoot all the overlay and all that sort of stuff. Come back, write it.
SPEAKER_00But boy, taught you to be quick and you couldn't miss deadlines.
SPEAKER_04Oh no, deadlines. And I think that has taught me a lot too to have a production company and go and do a shoot on my own. Because at WinTV, you were taught how to do audio, lighting, shooting, editing, producing, directing.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_04So I am grateful.
SPEAKER_00But you never want to do that again.
SPEAKER_04It was hard work. Were you starting to build confidence story by story?
SPEAKER_00Yes, I think so. But that was the period then my flatmate was the North Queensland reporter for the ABC. And she moved to Melbourne, and she was the one who said to me, You should apply for my job. And I said, I'm not worthy. And anyway, she forced me to, and I got the job, and that's when I started with the ABC as the North Queensland TV reporter. And my patch was out to Mount Iser, up to the Torres Strait, and down to the Whitsundays. So can you imagine how big a patch that was? I was like a little kid in a lolly shop. I mean, there was no kind of constant, there was no 24-hour news to service, and there was no kind of mobile phone, so the bosses are always on the phone. Like we would send them a message and go, hey, we're gonna go to Mount Isa and we'll pick up stories along the way and see what happens. And they're like, okay, there was a beautiful chief of staff called Albert Asbury, and he would say, Okay, Bloss, he used to call me Bloss, okay, Bloss, talk to you in a week. Like, wow, what a dream that was.
SPEAKER_04Absolutely.
SPEAKER_00What a dream. And I did it for a year, and then was asked whether I'd apply for a job with the ABC in Canberra. And I remember thinking, nah, no way. Why don't I want to go to Canberra when I can just be floating around this incredible part of our country doing these amazing stories? Just, oh yeah, it was incredible.
SPEAKER_04Well, before we go to Canberra, because I believe this might be our next step, this might be the end of this episode. We are learning about the life of Lisa Miller, Gold Logie nominee. Come on, listeners, it's really easy. Google TV Week Logie Awards, follow the links.
SPEAKER_00Thank you. And it would be awesome. You know why I would love to be able to bring home the gold logi? Because I think it would be such a massive plug for regional Australia because I am, I am so proudly country. I'm so proudly regional, and I would just love to be able to say this one is for everyone who lives in all the parts of Australia that aren't the capital cities.
SPEAKER_04And we love you for it.
SPEAKER_00Well, thank you.
SPEAKER_04Well, that's part A, and we're only just getting started. In part B, Lisa heads to Washington in the aftermath of September 11th. Into a world of global tension, unrest, and reporting on events that were changing by the day. We also meet her fiance, an international airline pilot, who just made the coffee. And yes, we've popped a microphone on him too. Catch you then, and in the meantime, keep your hands dirty and your spirits high.