In this Herald series, we asked prominent artists, comedians, authors and journalists to write about their “summer that changed everything”.
In this Herald series, we asked prominent artists, comedians, authors and journalists to write about their “summer that changed everything”. The Sydney summers that changed everything
The summer that changed everything
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The summer I traded for five weeks with a French family
From blue cheese and frog legs, to learning Latin in French: here’s how I fared being thrown into a French winter with the vocabulary of a two-year-old.
- Today, 4.00am
- by Millie Muroi
Discovering that motherhood has a strange way of stretching love
Outside, the city was baking, but my world had just narrowed and widened to just my boy.
- January 20, 2025
- by Kate Halfpenny
The single phone call that changed my world
On one hot summer morning 20 years ago, events on the other side of the planet intruded in the most shocking way.
- January 19, 2025
- by Nick Galvin
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From the Rolling Stones to a nosey parker, I eventually found my perfect job
When Niki Savva ended up in the nation’s capital she had the most exciting, dramatic and news-sodden time in her 50 years of political reporting.
- January 18, 2025
- by Niki Savva
When my fiance broke up with me, he said my moods were to blame
Swinging alone in a hammock designed for two at an exotic beach resort I began to feel hopeless. Until I saw him.
- January 17, 2025
- by Kathy Lette
I wasn’t in on the matchmaking plan that worked a treat
The bride wafted by with a sly eye that was not for me but my later bride-to-be.
- January 16, 2025
- by Malcolm Knox
It’s my party and I’ll philosophise if I want to
There was no dancing, so was my 40th birthday party a failure? Or was this a disguised farewell to both the times that had been and the people who had experienced them with me?
- January 15, 2025
- by Sean Kelly
Tight lines between an old man and a young boy
Beach fishing is akin to crossing the desert in search of an oasis. For one week in 1986, my grandfather and I took that trip together on the NSW South Coast.
- January 14, 2025
- by Shane Wright
Grand discovery after dazzling days and carefree nights
It was a summer of wild adventure through Europe: dancing on rooftops, swimming in fountains and sneaking into Roman ruins at midnight.
- January 13, 2025
- by Jordan Baker
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New fatherhood, collective grief and an endless summer on the road
The fatal felling of Phillip Hughes reinforced the fragility and preciousness of life for this cricket correspondent and first-time parent.
- January 12, 2025
- by Chris Barrett
Summertime and emigratin’ ain’t easy
Emigrating is an exhausting summer pastime. To do it once is challenging, twice could be considered madness. No more ping-ponging for us.
- January 11, 2025
- by Tim Barlass
Maggie’s movie star moments on trek through America
Gen Z’s ability to romanticise even the most mundane situation, like an overnight Greyhound bus trip, is a useful skill that served Maggie Zhou well on her West Coast adventure.
- January 10, 2025
- by Maggie Zhou
A road trip, mix tapes, crosswords by torchlight. We were destined to be together
She thought I was annoying; I can be. But our weekend getaways evolved into week-long adventures.
- January 9, 2025
- by David Astle
Get out! And do it before you crash into 40
Robbed twice, bitten by a dog, pushed in front of a train and “hit” by a car: this comedian certainly arrived in London with a bang.
- January 8, 2025
- by Reuben Kaye
When the Kingswood was my king and I felt free
Despite a near-miss, Liz Hayes’ driving ambition won through.
- January 7, 2025
- by Liz Hayes
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It was 60 bucks with glassed-in fins and my mum gave me half …
A brutal, salt-ridden learning curve for the young Markus Zusak was well worth it.
- January 6, 2025
- by Markus Zusak
Don’t sneer at fellow Australian holiday bogans lest you become one
I had always been faintly sniffy about bogan Australian tourists in trouble abroad. You’ve seen them on the news, right?
- January 5, 2025
- by Michelle Cazzulino
Teen acne, too tall, too loud: I was that weird kid who wanted to make people laugh
I should have felt like a freak, but I felt like a perfectly acceptable person. Until I didn’t.
- January 4, 2025
- by Michelle Brasier
The summer a shaggy Mr Optimism arrived
Monte, a golden-haired cavoodle, was born in Orange one shimmering, hot January before he headed west – Sydney’s inner west, otherwise known as Cavoodle Country.
- January 3, 2025
- by Michaela Whitbourn
Didge heroes, crocs and adventure in an adopted homeland for ‘concrete Koori’
I was entrusted with carrying a baby on my shoulders across a murky estuary, ensuring we didn’t become lunch for crocodiles.
- January 2, 2025
- by Blak Douglas
Snow bound for icy Moscow winter from Sydney summer heat
Deborah Snow worked as a Moscow correspondent at a time when the Soviet Union had just dissolved, Boris Yelstin was in power and tensions were high. It was also where she met her future husband on an unlikely helicopter day trip.
- January 1, 2025
- by Deborah Snow
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‘When the fire came, my neighbours beat it back’
Richard Glover was reading live on ABC Radio the latest fire evacuation orders on January 4, 2020. His property was on the list.
- December 31, 2024
- by Richard Glover
Deafening cacophony when it’s the Big Day Out in your backyard
You know it’s bad when you opt for a Motorhead rock concert to get a bit of shoosh from the summer wildlife.
- December 30, 2024
- by Wendy Harmer