From a single mother’s audio diary to Indigenous art docos, these podcasts are brimming with homegrown imagination

Every week on planet Earth, new podcasts are born. They emerge fully prepared for listeners’ ears anywhere in the world. But let’s face it: the podcasts Australians tend to hear about are mostly American, right?



That isn’t entirely surprising. The American voice is ubiquitous across film, TV and nearly every other form of English-language media that Australians regularly encounter. Yet aural media has played – and continues to play – an essential part in the daily routine of so many Australians at every stage of life, in the city and the country – and especially on the long, ruminative drives between them. The lure of a disembodied voice or conversation is a nostalgic or connective one.



Australian radio and podcasting culture is known for its dry humour, rich soundscapes and circuitous storytelling. For those who have a hankering for something local, here are our current favourites.



'We need a moratorium on all coalmines': Naomi Klein in conversation – Behind the Lines podcast Read more

The Real Thing is a lively, dynamic podcast that’s a few stories into its first season. Its purview is distinctively Australian stories – “in search of the real Australia” – which is a broad definition for what’s turning out to be quite an idiosyncratic approach. Its layered and conversational style echoes the rapid cuts of Radiolab, sometimes jumping quickly between multiple voices to keep a story moving forward. But you’ll also hear great sound design, a lighthearted take on documentary, and the fast, self-deprecating and sometimes brash humour that’s often absent from podcast playlists.



Gateway episode: Backyard Lion Safari



In a sentence: Energetic documentary storytelling with a bold and distinctly Australian flavour.

For fans of: Radiolab, Third Ear

It’s worth digging through the entire back catalogue of this series, with each season exploring a different theme. From high-school survival tales to the untold stories of multicultural Australia, True Stories features some of Australia’s best emerging and established storytellers (with gorgeous original music and sound design to boot).



Season three is a departure from preceding seasons: a five-part investigation into the murders of gay South Australian men over the past several decades (as reported on from many angles as part of SBS’s Deep Water project). Told by award-winning Australian investigative journalist and writer Mark Whittaker, each episode follows Mark’s investigation, and interviews with the victims’ families, police and legal professionals. It’s respectful and superbly crafted audio storytelling from a deft production team.



Gateway episode: Rex, the beat, and the bashing



In a sentence: True stories that offer artful and insightful glimpses into Australia’s diverse society.

For fans of: Bowraville, Snap Judgment, Love+Radio

In AWAYE!, Daniel Browning reports on Aboriginal arts and culture from across the continent – as well as highlighting great radio from Indigenous broadcasters around the world. It’s a consistently interesting show that sometimes strays from its core subjects to bring focus to issues such as constitutional recognition, prison, geography and history … which of course bear no uncertain influence on creative work.



You’ll learn a lot about modern Indigenous Australian writing, art and media from this podcast, which is brimming with imaginative vibrancy, political urgency and wide global influences and effects.



One of our faves: The Word Up series



In a sentence: An indispensable entry point to the deep and varied Aboriginal arts and culture scene.

For fans of: RN Books and Arts, CBC Unreserved

All the Best is a weekly podcast and community radio show that tells stories using short-form documentary, personal narrative, interviews and fiction. Since starting out in 2010, the show has nurtured some of Australia’s best young radiomakers – with an impressive number subsequently producing excellent work in other podcasts, projects and radio jobs around the world.



The show is put together by producers orbiting community radio stations in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, and one of the things we love is that it’s so welcoming and encouraging of people who’ve never made radio before – supporting them with one-on-one editorial guidance, feedback, opportunities and exposure. The raw experimentation of newer producers, mixed with the experience of stalwart contributors, makes for a great weekly snapshot of Australian life – from the whimsical to the deadly serious.



Gateway episode: Grapes of Ridicule



In a sentence: Everyday Australia told through small, imaginative pieces from a broad palette of radio upstarts.

For fans of: This American Life, Earshot

Radiolab's Jad Abumrad on podcasting's uncertain future: 'Supply is outstripping demand' Read more

Not By Accident is a documentary podcast series about becoming a single mother by choice.



Over several years of recording – pretty astonishing on its own – Sophie Harper documents the intimate details of her not-so-conventional journey to becoming a parent. As a narrator, Sophie’s tone is quiet and personal. At times, it feels like you’re sitting on her couch hearing her tell her story. At others, she’s right in your ear.

Through audio diaries, conversations with friends and family, and fly-on-the-wall recordings, Harper describes her changing body, career, childbirth, and the enormous love that having her child has unlocked.



Gateway episode: Insemination Story



In a sentence: The process of becoming a single mother by choice – documented in intimate audio detail.

For fans of: Strangers, First Day Back, How to be a Girl

SleepTalker is a podcast ‘about sleep, dreams, nightmares and what happens in your head after dark.’ Really, though, it’s as much about the things that frame the experience of sleep – the compromises we make with those we sleep beside, the anxieties, disorders and distractions that keep us from a good night’s rest, or the ways in which we work with the experiences we have while asleep – and how they affect our waking lives.



Mostly, episodes are presented as edited single-voice stories stripped of the interviewer’s voice – with subtle sound design and music in the mix, too – but there’s a compelling sense of variation between (and sometimes within) its dozen-odd episodes to date.



Gateway episode: Compromise



In a sentence: Immersive, hypnotic stories about sleep and what happens around (and inside) it.

For fans of: Here Be Monsters, Love+Radio

Trump's victory and James Patterson on race and 18C – Australian politics live podcast Read more

Recently cancelled Soundproof opens up an hour-long space for, well, art. From sounded features to deeply weird experiments, in a podcast boom dominated by narration and journalistic approaches to storytelling, Soundproof is a rarity that takes listeners in a completely different direction. (Fact: it’s also one of the only podcasts in which you might actually hear a boom.)

Through long- and short-form creative audio, and with the appearance of many notable experimental musicians alongside sound and radio artists, writers and documentarians, Soundproof engages the imagination with work that mashes language, music and pure sound into something unique and expansive. Give it time to sink in: its best work generously rewards deep listening with transporting experiences. Headphones are an absolute must.



Gateway episode: Moving Homes



In a sentence: The most adventurous, mesmerising listening experience you’ll find.

For fans of: Sound Matters, The World According to Sound, Between the Ears

• The Wheeler Centre recently announced the Australian Audio Guide in collaboration with Audiocraft