1 00:00:02,920 --> 00:00:07,440 Speaker 1: Hello. I'm Jamilla Risby. I've been a journalist for oh god, 2 00:00:07,520 --> 00:00:10,600 Speaker 1: too long, maybe ten years now. But growing up as 3 00:00:10,600 --> 00:00:13,320 Speaker 1: an Indian Australian, I heard and I read and I 4 00:00:13,400 --> 00:00:16,959 Speaker 1: watched stories being told by people who didn't look like me, 5 00:00:17,560 --> 00:00:21,720 Speaker 1: whose experiences weren't like mine. Whether it's our first people's 6 00:00:21,800 --> 00:00:27,640 Speaker 1: or our most recent arrivals, Australia is full of diverse storytellers. Enter, 7 00:00:28,160 --> 00:00:32,680 Speaker 1: find and tell. This is the search for the next 8 00:00:32,720 --> 00:00:38,520 Speaker 1: generation of Australian storytellers. We've taken four diverse Australian storytellers, 9 00:00:38,560 --> 00:00:41,240 Speaker 1: We've trained them up, and then we've set them loose 10 00:00:41,400 --> 00:00:44,879 Speaker 1: to find and tell weird and wonderful stories from all 11 00:00:44,920 --> 00:00:48,519 Speaker 1: around the country. Every episode, our storytellers are going to 12 00:00:48,560 --> 00:00:51,760 Speaker 1: go head to head, competing to give you the best 13 00:00:51,760 --> 00:00:54,920 Speaker 1: story to get one step closer to taking home the 14 00:00:55,000 --> 00:00:58,640 Speaker 1: grand prize. Think of it like a TV talent show, 15 00:00:59,200 --> 00:01:02,520 Speaker 1: but for poker. In the first episode, you will hear 16 00:01:02,560 --> 00:01:04,920 Speaker 1: it from Ben and Kate. They're going to match up 17 00:01:05,000 --> 00:01:07,760 Speaker 1: to find and tell the best story they can on 18 00:01:07,800 --> 00:01:12,279 Speaker 1: the theme of silver linings. In our first story, Ben 19 00:01:12,360 --> 00:01:16,800 Speaker 1: investigates a mysterious teddy bear invasion in the small country 20 00:01:16,920 --> 00:01:18,120 Speaker 1: village of Neith. 21 00:01:18,560 --> 00:01:25,000 Speaker 2: Here's a taste. 22 00:01:26,520 --> 00:01:30,080 Speaker 3: Welcome to Neath, a small country village on the outskirts 23 00:01:30,080 --> 00:01:33,240 Speaker 3: of Cesnok in the Hunter Valley region, Duckward Young Country. 24 00:01:34,319 --> 00:01:36,280 Speaker 3: It's a real blink and you'd miss it. Top of town, 25 00:01:36,800 --> 00:01:40,280 Speaker 3: one rode in and one rode out. It has a 26 00:01:40,319 --> 00:01:43,800 Speaker 3: population of four hundred and ninety people, a bus stop, 27 00:01:44,040 --> 00:01:47,760 Speaker 3: a servo and in true blue Australian country town fashion, 28 00:01:48,440 --> 00:01:52,520 Speaker 3: one pub. You'd be forgiven if you've never heard about Neath. 29 00:01:53,160 --> 00:01:56,480 Speaker 3: Not many people have. But for a short period of time, 30 00:01:57,160 --> 00:02:01,320 Speaker 3: Neath was the talk of the region. All unknown country 31 00:02:01,320 --> 00:02:08,080 Speaker 3: town became home to a mind boggling mystery. This story 32 00:02:08,120 --> 00:02:10,359 Speaker 3: begins a few years ago at the peak of covid 33 00:02:10,400 --> 00:02:13,679 Speaker 3: Lockdown in New South Wales. Morale was at an all 34 00:02:13,720 --> 00:02:18,959 Speaker 3: time low and there was nothing to look forward to, work, home, work, 35 00:02:19,160 --> 00:02:24,720 Speaker 3: and back home again. But that's exactly how this story starts. See. 36 00:02:24,919 --> 00:02:27,080 Speaker 3: I would have to drive on that one lonely road 37 00:02:27,160 --> 00:02:30,120 Speaker 3: through Neath on my daily commute to work, and that's 38 00:02:30,120 --> 00:02:35,959 Speaker 3: when I first encountered the teddy bears. That's right, teddy bears. 39 00:02:36,960 --> 00:02:39,840 Speaker 3: And I wasn't the only one. 40 00:02:41,360 --> 00:02:44,359 Speaker 2: Would someone tell me the significance of the teddy bears inneath. 41 00:02:44,520 --> 00:02:46,720 Speaker 2: They're all over the place, and some are even sitting 42 00:02:46,720 --> 00:02:49,360 Speaker 2: in chairs now, so the road to neath has become 43 00:02:49,400 --> 00:02:52,840 Speaker 2: a gallery of hanging teddy bears. I dig the kindergarten 44 00:02:52,919 --> 00:02:55,560 Speaker 2: lad the impaler aesthetic, but does anyone know the deal? 45 00:02:55,960 --> 00:02:57,320 Speaker 4: Yeah, it's disgusting. 46 00:02:57,760 --> 00:03:01,000 Speaker 1: Hopefully they get pulled down soon the place look filthy. 47 00:03:01,320 --> 00:03:04,120 Speaker 2: It's a beautiful gesture to make kids, and us big 48 00:03:04,240 --> 00:03:04,840 Speaker 2: kids smile. 49 00:03:05,480 --> 00:03:07,639 Speaker 1: People who get upset by them must have had very 50 00:03:07,680 --> 00:03:08,600 Speaker 1: sad childhoods. 51 00:03:11,320 --> 00:03:14,400 Speaker 3: In the following weeks, the teddy bears began to multiply, 52 00:03:15,400 --> 00:03:19,000 Speaker 3: and what started as five or six soon turned into twenty, 53 00:03:19,240 --> 00:03:22,519 Speaker 3: then thirty, then not before long, there was too many 54 00:03:22,520 --> 00:03:26,880 Speaker 3: beers to count inhabiting the village. Beneath the trees, the parks, 55 00:03:26,919 --> 00:03:30,160 Speaker 3: the benches, the telegraph poles, the signal boxes, the bus stops. 56 00:03:30,600 --> 00:03:34,359 Speaker 3: The teddy bears had even infiltrated the pub. Then one 57 00:03:34,440 --> 00:03:39,120 Speaker 3: day they all vanished. Where did the beers come from? 58 00:03:39,720 --> 00:03:44,480 Speaker 3: Who put them there? And where did they go? This 59 00:03:44,680 --> 00:03:48,240 Speaker 3: local mystery has perplexed me for far too long, and 60 00:03:48,280 --> 00:03:51,640 Speaker 3: it's about time I figured out some answers. So starts 61 00:03:51,640 --> 00:03:55,960 Speaker 3: my investigation to unravel the Mystery of the Neath Teddy Bears. 62 00:04:00,720 --> 00:04:04,240 Speaker 1: And in our second story, Kate poured over voice notes 63 00:04:04,320 --> 00:04:07,600 Speaker 1: she sent to a friend following a devastating breakup. She 64 00:04:07,760 --> 00:04:11,200 Speaker 1: enlists the Elizabeth Day to craft a love letter to 65 00:04:11,280 --> 00:04:12,800 Speaker 1: the friends who hold us together. 66 00:04:17,080 --> 00:04:23,599 Speaker 2: I consider my romantic breakups some of the most visceral 67 00:04:23,680 --> 00:04:27,559 Speaker 2: periods of grief in my life. But the mere act 68 00:04:27,800 --> 00:04:31,120 Speaker 2: of living through that and surviving it had made me 69 00:04:31,320 --> 00:04:34,200 Speaker 2: understand I was so much stronger than I thought I was. 70 00:04:35,360 --> 00:04:38,839 Speaker 2: It taught me a lot about my capacity for resilience. 71 00:04:39,640 --> 00:04:43,799 Speaker 4: That's author and podcaster Elizabeth Day in her book Friend 72 00:04:43,800 --> 00:04:46,200 Speaker 4: of Hollick. It's had such a big impact on me 73 00:04:46,279 --> 00:04:51,520 Speaker 4: this year. My copy is underlined and tabbed like a textbook, 74 00:04:52,040 --> 00:04:55,080 Speaker 4: because I think that breakups, they really often, shine a 75 00:04:55,160 --> 00:04:58,440 Speaker 4: light on all of our relationships a bit, in particular 76 00:04:59,080 --> 00:04:59,880 Speaker 4: our friendships. 77 00:05:00,800 --> 00:05:03,200 Speaker 2: One of the most momentous breakups in my life was 78 00:05:03,240 --> 00:05:06,479 Speaker 2: three weeks before my thirty ninth birthday. I remember so 79 00:05:06,600 --> 00:05:10,440 Speaker 2: vividly that breakup happening and me opening the window of 80 00:05:10,440 --> 00:05:13,000 Speaker 2: my rented flat and smoking a cigarette. I don't smoke, 81 00:05:13,120 --> 00:05:16,560 Speaker 2: by the way, but it felt like the only appropriately 82 00:05:17,200 --> 00:05:18,240 Speaker 2: tragic thing to do. 83 00:05:19,080 --> 00:05:23,960 Speaker 4: When your life gets unexpectedly turned upside down, like Elizabeths did, 84 00:05:24,279 --> 00:05:28,320 Speaker 4: like mine did. The balance in the scales of everything 85 00:05:28,520 --> 00:05:32,920 Speaker 4: kind of skews, including in your friendships. All of a 86 00:05:32,960 --> 00:05:36,520 Speaker 4: sudden you become that friend who is kind of a miss. 87 00:05:37,440 --> 00:05:41,640 Speaker 4: But there's also something so beautiful about friendship that is 88 00:05:41,720 --> 00:05:45,080 Speaker 4: born out of a time when there's no expectation of 89 00:05:45,200 --> 00:05:46,200 Speaker 4: anything in return. 90 00:05:47,400 --> 00:05:49,479 Speaker 2: I do not know what I would have done without 91 00:05:49,480 --> 00:05:53,720 Speaker 2: my friends after that breakup, literally to the extent that 92 00:05:54,000 --> 00:05:57,120 Speaker 2: the first person I called was Emma, my ex was 93 00:05:57,200 --> 00:05:59,520 Speaker 2: still in the flat, and I said, this has happened, 94 00:05:59,520 --> 00:06:03,120 Speaker 2: and she was right, but he doesn't mean that I mean, 95 00:06:03,120 --> 00:06:05,400 Speaker 2: because it seems so ludicrous to her. She's like, right, 96 00:06:05,400 --> 00:06:08,600 Speaker 2: but he's joking, isn't he. I was like no, and 97 00:06:08,680 --> 00:06:10,680 Speaker 2: she said, Okay, my darling, this is what we're gonna do. 98 00:06:10,680 --> 00:06:12,200 Speaker 2: And she basically gave me a plan of action. 99 00:06:16,200 --> 00:06:19,120 Speaker 1: That's just a little taste of Find and Tell. If 100 00:06:19,160 --> 00:06:22,440 Speaker 1: you love hearing stories told by people from all walks 101 00:06:22,440 --> 00:06:25,320 Speaker 1: of life, then search and follow Find and Tell in 102 00:06:25,360 --> 00:06:26,680 Speaker 1: the app that you're listening on now.