How Good Are Humans

Jill Boltz is a two-time Olympian, Commonwealth Games medalist and former world record holder in two athletics distances. She is now devoting her time to training future generations of athletes in the outer regions of Queensland where talented kids typically have not had a fair go. On this episode we spoke about her own Olympic journey and how she is readying those who have a chance of representing Australia at the 2032 Brisbane Ol...

The How Good are Humans podcast recently published its 50th episode.

To celebrate, we have chosen the top 15 moments from the first 50 episodes and ranked them here in this special episode of the podcast that looks back on an awesome group of humans with truly inspiring stories to share.

Warning, this episode contains distressing material and topics such as suicide and sexual assault. Support can be found by calling Lifeline on 13 11...

Shai Ager leads the largest wildlife rescue organisation in Queensland. She and her team have rescued and relocated almost 1000 macropods (kangaroos and wallabies) in conditions that even environmental scientists said were impossible. She personally cares for dozens of wild animals at her own property, consults locally and interstate, and is sent around the country to rescue the most delicate animals and the rarest species in highl...

Three decades ago, Suellen Maunder was using her own furniture as stage props for the productions of what was then thought of as a radical, audacious and in-your-face theatre company. As an actor and director, Suellen and her co-boundary pushers have challenged audiences in regional Australia to see beyond the facades of their own towns and traditional beliefs. Now the JUTE Theatre Company, of which she is the founder and CEO, is r...

Lucy Graham is going deep into the subarctic wilderness, alone. Bears, storms and isolation will be her frenemies for three months. So why is she doing this? For fun? Sure. To challenge her adventurous spirit? Absolutely. What about for a cause even greater, beyond just herself?

For years Lucy has lived with pain, drop-you-to-your-knees pain. She previously kayaked more than 2000km along the Canadian coast, suffering in her body eve...

Tracey Hannah is one of the best downhill mountain bikers of all time. As one of the most extreme sports in the world, downhill MTB is replete with stories of catastrophic injuries. Tracey has suffered more than her fair share. But that did not stop her from becoming an eleven-time national champion as well as a world champion in both the junior and elite categories. She literally won a national title with a femur that was still fr...

Dr Narayan Gopalkrishnan has made an impact on some of the toughest problems challenging some of the most impoverished communities across the world. Now, the James Cook University professor and leader within Far North Queensland's social enterprise sector is putting the case to government to properly address and fix Northern Australia's most intractable social and economic issues while strengthening the region's econ...

Rob Hodge possibly has the largest heart in Far North Queensland, and he is applying it and his street smarts to keeping troubled kids out of prison and giving them a shot a life, which many of them are born without.
As the youngest of 21 children born into poverty in New Zealand, Rob quickly became familiar with the hard life. He was kicked out of every school in the country's North Island. His family were connected to ga...

Barney Swan is an adventurer and entrepreneur who has trekked to the South Pole three times before the age of 30 and is now regenerating a 527-acre patch of the Daintree Rainforest while building a replicable polyculture model that encapsulates and protects the strength of biodiversity, is economically viable and is pliable to cultural needs.
The goal of his organisation, Climate Force, is to plant more than 450,000 trees from ...

Building mountain biking trails can completely transform a city. 
In one Tasmanian case, new trails turned a town that history almost forgot into an economic victory and happiness mecca.
Glen Jacobs is the brains behind those trails as well as many others in the most picturesque parts of the world.
On this episode of the podcast, Glen speaks about how he designs trails, where he’s currently building them and their town-...

What do housing supply, commute times, obesity rates, water shortages, neighbourhood crime, tempers, leisure, culture, thermometer readings, employment opportunities and your nearest ice cream shop all have in common?
Answer: they are all affected by how your city or town is designed.
If the experts aren't consulted, then your social and economic outcomes are affected, perhaps irreversibly. 
On this episode of the ...

More than two decades ago a Cairns citizen would have needed to travel hundreds, maybe thousands, of kilometres to receive certain medical treatment residents of other cities could access locally.
Much of that reality has now changed thanks in large part to the mammoth efforts of a plucky and enterprising Far North Queensland charity, and its army of donors and volunteers.
Over two decades the Far North Queensland Hospital ...

Ever thought about running a marathon? What about an ultramarathon (distances often above 300km)?
Just running one of those events in a lifetime would be an epic achievement, right? Well, yes, of course. 
But what about running six of them inside 12 months, setting a world record in the process? What about hallucinating a bear eating you mid-stride while wheezing through early-stage pneumonia? What about running the equival...

Sarah Grainer and her family have cared for more than one hundred foster children over two decades. Some children have required just one weekend of respite, while others have stayed in the Grainers' home for years. Some children arrived with notice. At other times, Sarah has received a call a midnight from government departments seeking her help to take on a child immediately. She is among scores of kind and selfless humans in...

Seventy-five per cent of Australian children in foster care will not finish school. One in three will be homeless in the first year out of care and even more will not find employment.
Children enter into care after experiencing neglect, abuse or both. This trauma often causes them to be disengaged from education and makes it difficult for them to build healthy relationships with other adults and children.
The foster carers ...

Waynead Wolmby is an outstanding young man from Aurukun, Cape York. He has managed to beat the nation's expectations of a young Indigenous male from a remote community and is now inspiring other youth in his orbit to live fulfilling and healthy lives.
I speak to Waynead about how unique education opportunities helped him launch a good life and how he's gone from a boy sitting in the red Cape York dirt to running marat...

Marc Harbrow is a leader in Far North Queensland's social work sector,  and has started several inspiring and wholesome entities and initiatives that focus on youth empowerment, Indigenous empowerment and community wellbeing.
As a teenager, Marc was put through perilous adversity, and he shares how he pushed through and what he did with his new lease on life.
Marc is the brains behind the successful youth engagement pr...

Kim Edwards has truly had a life filled with adventure and benevolent achievement. Her journey has taken her across the world but her story is notably centred on the Middle East. 
She has opened schools and training institutions in Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan and has co-ordinated war relief efforts in Iraq and Lebanon. 
She has also co-ordinated underground endurance events, such as triathlons and marathons, in countries w...