WEBVTT - Why Trent Dalton loves Australians

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<v Speaker 1>You can listen to the Front on your smart speaker

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<v Speaker 1>every morning to hear the latest episode, just say play

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<v Speaker 1>the news from the Australian. From The Australian, I'm Claire

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<v Speaker 1>Harvey a special bonus episode of The Front for you today.

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<v Speaker 1>It's the second in a special series honoring The Australian's

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<v Speaker 1>sixtieth anniversary. We've asked six of the nation's most celebrated

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<v Speaker 1>thinkers to pen their reflections on the past six decades

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<v Speaker 1>in essays available to read at The Australian dot com

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<v Speaker 1>dot au right now. Today, the journalist and author Trent

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<v Speaker 1>Dalton follows the thread that binds the thousands of stories

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<v Speaker 1>he's written in more than two decades of journalism. It's

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<v Speaker 1>that special Australian brand of resilience. Dalton came up as

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<v Speaker 1>a feature writer for the Weekend Australian magazine, but exploded

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<v Speaker 1>onto the global stage with his semi autobiographical novel Boy

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<v Speaker 1>Swallows Universe in twenty eighteen. That's today's episode.

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<v Speaker 2>I want to briefly consider the notion that resilience is

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<v Speaker 2>formed from love. So often do we Australians carry on

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<v Speaker 2>in the memory of someone we've lost or in the

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<v Speaker 2>name of someone we love. What if it's actually loved

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<v Speaker 2>that's been keeping this whole wild and shimmering island moving

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<v Speaker 2>forward for all these years.

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<v Speaker 1>This is the world renowned author in journo, Trent Dalton.

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<v Speaker 1>He's reading an excerpt for an essay he's written about

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<v Speaker 1>resilience for The Australian.

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<v Speaker 2>I never really had to do twenty three years of

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<v Speaker 2>journalism to work out why my mom kept standing up,

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<v Speaker 2>moving forward, carrying on through her darkest hours. I've always

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<v Speaker 2>known it was love, love of her four sons and

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<v Speaker 2>love of me.

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<v Speaker 1>Stories about resilience kind of Trent Dalton's thing. He's written

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<v Speaker 1>thousands of them about Australians who faced absolute terror and

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<v Speaker 1>came out the other side, more often than not with

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<v Speaker 1>a smile. But none is more compelling, more heartbreaking, more

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<v Speaker 1>stirring than Trent's own story. Dalton grew up in the

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<v Speaker 1>outer western suburbs of Brisbane with his single mum and

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<v Speaker 1>three brothers. His beloved stepdad shared their home for a

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<v Speaker 1>while too. Down the road lived the former convict Slim Halliday,

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<v Speaker 1>who escaped twice from Brisbane's Boggo Road jail before his

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<v Speaker 1>conviction for the murder of a Gold Coast taxi driver.

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<v Speaker 1>To Trent Dalton, Slim was just a funny old bloke

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<v Speaker 1>who helped out with babysitting and family errands from time

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<v Speaker 1>to time. But he was also a man who shared

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<v Speaker 1>his uncharacteristic wisdom with a young family finding its way

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<v Speaker 1>in the world. As a kid growing up in Brisbane

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<v Speaker 1>in the eighties, Trent Dalton saw the worst of it abuse, addiction, dealing,

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<v Speaker 1>domestic violence, mental illness. His mom and stepdad were both

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<v Speaker 1>in prison for dealing heroine before he was old enough

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<v Speaker 1>to drive. Unless you count the time Slim holiday let

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<v Speaker 1>Trent sit on his lap and steer his truck down

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<v Speaker 1>the street when he was barely more than a toddler.

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<v Speaker 2>You know, you just carry these rocks. I had some

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<v Speaker 2>rocks from my childhood that I carried around deep inside

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<v Speaker 2>me that I never told anyone about stuff that my

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<v Speaker 2>mom went through. And you know, I'm talking about domestic violence,

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<v Speaker 2>and I'm talking about imprisonment and things that I buried

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<v Speaker 2>deep inside me that I explored as a journalist.

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<v Speaker 1>After almost twenty years in journalism, many of them spent

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<v Speaker 1>as a feature writer for the Weekend Australian magazine Trent

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<v Speaker 1>Dalton shared a pivotal moment with the mum he adores

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<v Speaker 1>as they loaded groceries into her car. She gazed at

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<v Speaker 1>his then seven year old daughter and said, I wouldn't

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<v Speaker 1>change any of it. Not long after, he sat down

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<v Speaker 1>to write his own story for the next year. In

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<v Speaker 1>the late hours, after work was finished for the day

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<v Speaker 1>and his kids were in bed, Trent wrote the semi

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<v Speaker 1>autobiographical novel Boy Swallows Universe. It chants the turbulent nineteen

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<v Speaker 1>eighties suburban childhood of Eli Bell and his older brother

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<v Speaker 1>August or Gus for short. Fittingly, Dalton's mum was the

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<v Speaker 1>first person to read it. They agree it's equal parts

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<v Speaker 1>fact and fiction. There's a free spirited young mum struggling

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<v Speaker 1>with addiction, a doting stepdad battling his own demons. Slim Halliday,

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<v Speaker 1>whom they called the Houdini of Boggo Road, features prominently.

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<v Speaker 1>Some parts of the novel are embellished impossible, even, like

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<v Speaker 1>the fact that Eli's taciturn older brother Gus can see

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<v Speaker 1>into the future and writes his predictions in the air

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<v Speaker 1>with his fingertip. But others are as real as real

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<v Speaker 1>can be. The desperate longing, Eli feels for his incarcerated

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<v Speaker 1>mother his own experience, writ large Boyce. Swallow's Universe was

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<v Speaker 1>an instant bestseller. In fact, it was the fastest selling

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<v Speaker 1>debut novel in Australian history, with more than a million

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<v Speaker 1>copies sold. Earlier this year, Netflix took this extraordinary story

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<v Speaker 1>of Australian resilience global arm Melo Baum, I've got a story.

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<v Speaker 1>What kind of story? It's a crime story. The seven

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<v Speaker 1>part series stars Australians who've made it big in Hollywood,

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<v Speaker 1>Travis Fimmel, Simon Baker and Phoebe Tonkin. Things are going

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<v Speaker 1>to gets so good we'll forget that. Over Bear, the

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<v Speaker 1>streaming giant said in January. The TV adaptation is its

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<v Speaker 1>most successful Australian title to date, racking up almost eight

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<v Speaker 1>million views globally in the first fortnight after its release.

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<v Speaker 1>And you told me you wouldn't to be a good person.

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<v Speaker 2>This is a test.

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<v Speaker 1>Dalton says in his essay that it's our collective resilience

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<v Speaker 1>that defines us as a nation.

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<v Speaker 2>These journalistic endeavors, I assure you have transformed my life.

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<v Speaker 2>They have shaped me as a father, a husband, a brother,

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<v Speaker 2>a son and a man. I have no doubt this

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<v Speaker 2>obsession is rooted in my need to make sense of

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<v Speaker 2>the ways in which, through much of the nineteen eighties

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<v Speaker 2>and the ninety nineties, I watched someone I love very

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<v Speaker 2>very much, my Mum, overcome everything from drug addiction to

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<v Speaker 2>imprisonment or domestic abuse, drawing on nothing from what I

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<v Speaker 2>could observed, particularly Australian kind of inbuilt human resilience.

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<v Speaker 1>But if the global appeal of his own story, real

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<v Speaker 1>and imagined, is anything to go by, resilience is a

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<v Speaker 1>fundamental part of the human experience.

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<v Speaker 2>I'm deeply honored and deeply questioning of why anyone would

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<v Speaker 2>ever tell me a story, and I get so proud

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<v Speaker 2>when they do. Ordinary Australians can be just as interesting,

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<v Speaker 2>and I love that if you sit with them long enough,

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<v Speaker 2>their story will get that interesting. There's time. It's the

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<v Speaker 2>time you're willing to put in, and I promise you

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<v Speaker 2>every one of us has an incredible tale to tell.

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<v Speaker 1>Coming up what Trent Dalton learned about resilience from ordinary

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<v Speaker 1>and extraordinary Australians. Join ours subscribers to read more stories

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<v Speaker 1>just like this one at the Australian dot Com. You

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<v Speaker 1>it might just wind up being a best seller be

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<v Speaker 1>back after this break. For a long time, Trent Dalton's

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<v Speaker 1>day job was writing features about the best and worst

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<v Speaker 1>of Australian life for the Weekend Australian magazine.

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<v Speaker 2>It was so weirdly cathartic and weirdly healing and deeply

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<v Speaker 2>empowering to go write those stories because of those incredible

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<v Speaker 2>women on that newspaper. I was led by a woman

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<v Speaker 2>named Christine Midapp on the Weekend ozmag for years and

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<v Speaker 2>she's become a deep friend. But I think weirdly she

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<v Speaker 2>suspected that I needed to do these things. I have

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<v Speaker 2>no idea why she would just gently tap me on

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<v Speaker 2>the shoulder and ask me to go do these types

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<v Speaker 2>of stories. And I just think she suspected it was

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<v Speaker 2>a well somewhere deep inside that I could draw from,

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<v Speaker 2>and I really did, and I did it for a

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<v Speaker 2>decad And when I talk about resilience, I'm talking about

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<v Speaker 2>this unseen thing that Australians have where we are bid

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<v Speaker 2>and I firmly believe we do it through love. I

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<v Speaker 2>think we do it for each other, we do it

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<v Speaker 2>for our families, and I've really got an open heart

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<v Speaker 2>for the people who can't abide any longer. I wrote

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<v Speaker 2>so many stories about the people who succumbed, you know,

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<v Speaker 2>the people who couldn't get out of the cracks, and

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<v Speaker 2>I loved that we had space for those people as

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<v Speaker 2>well in our pages.

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<v Speaker 1>Over the years, Trent has knocked on the doors of

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<v Speaker 1>much loved Australians like Mick Fanning and Betty Cuthbert. He

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<v Speaker 1>sat with flood and bushfire victims, with workers, with parents,

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<v Speaker 1>with those who'd experienced great loss, great joy, and everything

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<v Speaker 1>in between.

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<v Speaker 2>I watched their faces turn from darkness to light as

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<v Speaker 2>they shrugged their shoulders houseless and broken, and found silver

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<v Speaker 2>linings and the most absurd truths. Well, at least it's

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<v Speaker 2>not as bad as last time. That was invariably when

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<v Speaker 2>some misguided and young media person standing in the main

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<v Speaker 2>street to grant them battling a bad case of intra

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<v Speaker 2>rectal craniolitis, would whisper something out of his rear ends

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<v Speaker 2>such as why the fuck didn't they move? Why because

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<v Speaker 2>they had nowhere else to go, because they were penniless,

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<v Speaker 2>because they were screwed by God and they're chosen insurer,

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<v Speaker 2>and because they were resilient.

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<v Speaker 1>Many of those yarns have stayed with Trent, but one

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<v Speaker 1>is forever wedged in his consciousness. It's the story of

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<v Speaker 1>Paul Stanley, whose fifteen year old son Matthew, was killed

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<v Speaker 1>in a coward punch attack in two thousand and six.

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<v Speaker 1>Dalton calls Paul Stanley the most resilient man he knows.

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<v Speaker 1>Rather than be swallowed by his grief, he established a

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<v Speaker 1>foundation in his son's name and worked to transform the

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<v Speaker 1>way Queensland deals with youth violence in social se In

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<v Speaker 1>his essay for The Australian, Dalton recalls the time he

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<v Speaker 1>visited Paul at his home.

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<v Speaker 2>I will never forget the way he walked me out

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<v Speaker 2>to the car after our chat, sunset in the suburbs,

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<v Speaker 2>birds whistling. He asked me, just in the interests of

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<v Speaker 2>filling a silent space with small talk, how the rest

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<v Speaker 2>of my week was shaping up? And I told him

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<v Speaker 2>that my wife was scheduled to give birth to our

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<v Speaker 2>daughter in the Martyr Hospital in a matter of days.

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<v Speaker 2>I explained I was going to be a dad. And

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<v Speaker 2>Paul threw his head back and he laughed, and he

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<v Speaker 2>looked back at me. I could see there were tears

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<v Speaker 2>in his eyes. I swear to you now they were

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<v Speaker 2>tears of joy. This man, who had just spent four

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<v Speaker 2>brutally honest hours talking about the tragic loss of his son,

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<v Speaker 2>had somehow, somehow dug deep inside himself to find the

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<v Speaker 2>resilience and the love, to find joy inside a quiet

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<v Speaker 2>sub urban moment between two men standing beside the Toyota

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<v Speaker 2>hatchback that I drove my daughter home in three days later.

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<v Speaker 2>You will never do anything more beautiful in your life,

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<v Speaker 2>Paul said.

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<v Speaker 1>His reflections on the Australians past six decades have made

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<v Speaker 1>it abundantly clear to Dalton that the paper's fundamental purpose

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<v Speaker 1>is to shine a light on these stories, to bear

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<v Speaker 1>witness and to help make sense of the madness.

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<v Speaker 2>I think the paper's role is to absolutely reflect our

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<v Speaker 2>nation at any given time, and to do that you

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<v Speaker 2>need to get to all parts of this country of ours.

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<v Speaker 2>But the beautiful thing is that I had these people

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<v Speaker 2>around me in really high important positions who said it

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<v Speaker 2>was important to tap into that stuff as well, that

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<v Speaker 2>that stuff belonged, that was just as important as the

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<v Speaker 2>stuff in the business pages, or the stuff in the

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<v Speaker 2>sport pages or the culture pages. And it's really important

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<v Speaker 2>in journalism to speak to those people who have fallen

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<v Speaker 2>through the cracks.

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<v Speaker 1>You can read Trent Dalton's stunning essay about resilience right

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<v Speaker 1>now at the Australian dot com dot au. This episode

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<v Speaker 1>of the Front was produced by Kristin Amient with support

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<v Speaker 1>from Bianca far Marcus