How did a mostly unknown public garden in Adelaide’s eastern suburbs become a memorial to JFK? Simon Royal unravels the extraordinary story of the driven man behind the project and his painful past.
Coronial files on the River Torrens drowning of gay university lecturer Dr George Duncan 50 years ago reveal that many swept up in the inquiries faced intrusive, intimidating police questions while others lost their jobs – collateral damage of an unsuccessful quest for justice.
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Seven months before George Duncan was drowned in the Torrens, a young man died near the same location in a way which has troubling echoes of the later crime. Simon Royal explains why 50 years on the teenager’s family still search for answers and want the official death verdict re-examined.
Two Adelaide scientists – both from very different backgrounds – share a bond and a desire to speak out about who they are and how they got there. They tell their story to Simon Royal.
He grew up in a tiny South Australian town famous for its rodeo, but historian Robin Prior has made his career roping in the myths proliferating around Australia’s war efforts. His huge new undertaking, however, is being hampered by cuts to our national archives, and politicians’ priorities which favour hagiography over history.
The heartwrenching television series It’s a Sin has evoked memories of the AIDS epidemic in Adelaide, when young men died and were commonly buried in rejection and shame. Simon Royal wonders if the real, terrible, sins of that time can be remedied.
A gift made possible by two of South Australia’s most significant arts figures is changing the lives of vulnerable LGBTQI+ people. Simon Royal explains how one scholarship rescued the dreams of the young person who received it.