This week, stories that delve beneath the surface of the summer heat.
Sunburned
First up, Phoebe heads back to school to learn about workshops educating teens on sun safety and the lifelong risks of skin cancer – which affects two in three Australians. Through stories from survivors, students, and insights from experts and volunteers, she highlights the urgent need for prevention, behaviour change, and prioritising sun safety education.
What you do under the sun today is a step toward a safer, brighter tomorrow.
This story was produced by Phoebe Adler-Ryan with Supervising Production by Shelby Traynor.
Special thanks goes to Susan Collins, Simon Board, Dr. Philip Tong and the team at Dermscreen, Kirstie Fitzpatrick and the students and teachers at Inner Sydney School.
Educate yourself about sun safety and skin cancer by heading to: https://conqueringcancercampaign.com/conquering-skin-cancer/
Music featured:
Nuisance – ‘We live in gardens’ & ‘Flourescene’ [Free Music Archive]
Howard Harper-Barnes – ‘The Light from Within’ [Epidemic Sound]
Sindrandi – ‘Summer in November’ [Epidemic Sound]
Hook Line and Sinker
Then, Kwame and Ramon dive into the surprising world of fishing, uncovering its appeal among young people from diverse backgrounds who find it both relaxing and thrilling. Whether passed down through family, inspired by social media, or propelled by a need to escape, fishing is more than a hobby—it’s a blend of freedom and connection.
Beneath the surface, it’s not just about catching fish; it’s about finding peace, purpose, and a tug on the line that feels like life itself.
This story was produced by Ramon Briant and Kwame Slusher, featuring B Fung Ling.
The story was made in Audio Club’s 24 Hour Radio Challenge in November 2024, you can hear the other works produced in our episode Beneath the Surface.
Do you have an idea for your own audio story?
We’re currently accepting pitches! Find the full details here: https://forms.gle/RfSSpeMuRZvRufwe9
Transcript:
Stories from around the corner.
Mads: And around the country.
You’re listening to All The Best.
Proudly supported by the Art Gallery of New South Wales.
You’re listening to All The Best, from FBI Radio 94. 5. I’m Madhura Prakash. Before we get into this week’s stories, I want to take a moment and acknowledge that I’m recording from stolen Gadigal land, and pay my respect to Gadigal elders past and present. I also want to recognise that the area where I’m recording from, Bredfern, has long been a place of storytelling, strength, and wisdom.
Welcome to the final installment of our summer series. Today we’re exploring two stories that delve beneath the surface of the summer heat. First up, Phoebe heads back to school. to learn about a series of workshops educating teens about skin cancer.
Phoebe (3): Sydney in the summer, this is my favorite time of year. The sea and sky mirror each other in a delicious blue and humid hazy days are extinguished by a dip in the pool or a trip to the beach. Today it’s 32 degrees and for most of my life I would have been out in that sunshine. But this summer is different.
Do you know someone who’s been impacted by skin cancer? The chances are you probably do, because two in three Australians have it in their lives. Every six hours, someone in this country dies from it. And back in 2023, my mum was one of those people. Since then, checking the UV index has become like checking the rain forecast for me.
And I’m the one nagging my friends to put sunscreen on, or to think twice about going to the beach in the midday heat. It’s been a harrowing way to force behaviour change. And it left me wondering, what else would have convinced me to take sun safety seriously?
Kirsty Fitzpatrick: So, I was 19 years old, I had just finished school the year before, not much older than you guys are here today.
And I found out that I had a rare and aggressive form of skin cancer. Now what made that so much more confronting and difficult at the time was that I didn’t know anything about skin cancer I had never had a skin check and I wasn’t taking care of myself In the way that I should be and that we’re gonna hopefully teach all of you guys to be doing today
Phoebe (3): That’s journalist and sun safety advocate Kirstie Fitzpatrick She’s here on a sweltering day in November at an inner Sydney high school in a sports hall talking to about a hundred year sevens About her experience getting diagnosed with skin cancer in her teens.
It’s part of a workshop being tested with 13 and 14 year olds around Sydney. And I’ve come along to find out what students at school today are thinking about sun safety.
Student 1: I definitely feel like social media and society has like glamorised tanning a lot and like a lot of kids don’t know a bunch of like skin safety and stuff like that.
Uh, I didn’t know that tanning was unsafe, like at all costs. I thought, I thought sunscreen stopped it. I
Student 2: knew that sunscreen,
I don’t really wear sunscreen on an everyday basis. I do carry sunscreen in my bag, like a bar of it to put on my face. I usually don’t wear any unless I’m going to the beach.
Student 1: I, I try and use sunscreen every day but sometimes I forget. Um, my parents like do nag me about it, but not so much anymore.
Phoebe (3): That’s pretty much how I was at school too.
I knew sunburn was bad, but just like having too much to drink or eating junk food, we do things we know are bad for us all the time. It can be partly explained by a phenomenon called hyperbolic discounting, where we tend to be more invested in present rewards, like having a summer glow, than future ones.
In fact, the Cancer Council ran some surveys in 2024, and it found that most young Australians believe their risk of getting skin cancer is unlikely, and one in three of them believe that it’s fine to get a suntan at their age. It’s really hard to feel the consequences that might be waiting for you down the track, especially when we’re young.
But the thing is, Kirstie is not an anomaly. Skin cancer is the number one cancer. I spoke to dermatologist Philip Tong. He’s also part of this workshop series. He’s become a skin cancer advocate after seeing so many of his patients diagnosed. And he shared with me that just five bad sunburns as a teenager can substantially increase our risk of developing skin cancer later on in life.
Dr. Philip Tong: It’s that childhood blistering exposure whereby your skin and shoulders, your nose peeled, um, and your skin went very red in your early days, that experience conferred an increased risk of melanoma later on in life. That’s, that’s quite well established.
Phoebe (3): Studies have shown that 40 50 percent of total UV damage occurs before the age of 20.
So even though I’ve changed my behaviour now, the damage I got at school matters. and could still raise my risk of developing skin cancer. But there’s some really good news as well when it comes to diagnosing and treating skin cancer. And it all comes down to some changes in technology.
Dr. Philip Tong: In the 80s we had to cut out maybe 20 suspicious moles to diagnose one melanoma.
But then in the 90s and in the 2000s you started to see the development of tools such as a dermatoscope. We reduced that number because we’re getting better at diagnosing them and being able to differentiate which ones needed to be left alone and which one needed to be cut out by maybe every 10 to 15 moles to, to diagnose one melanoma.
Phoebe (3): And what is this like latest technology in terms of the body scan? How would you describe that?
Dr. Philip Tong: So it’s a series of cameras, some are positioned in front of you, some are positioned around you, and they take, um, very standardized photographs of different body surfaces, but also allows the person doing the examination to take up close, microscopic photographs.
Of moles or any lesions of concern.
Phoebe (3): Getting a skin check is one of the first things I did after my mom passed away and I ended up having a mole removed. Thankfully, it wasn’t cancerous, but I now have a nice shiny scar on my left shoulder and I’d prefer not to collect anymore. So it’s pretty great to hear that these new technologies are helping reduce the number of moles that are being removed that don’t have to be mole map machines are operated by menos.
That’s a fancy term for a registered nurse who has special training to identify skin cancers. I met with one in Sydney named Lynn to get my first ever mole map done.
Lynn: We’ll be spending around half an hour to generate a baseline images for you. And after that, I will perform another head to toe skin check for you as well.
You might want to let me know if you have anything that you’re worried about, anything that you want me to check specifically. I just want to make sure that the doctor can have a look at that. There’ll be four flushes coming up, okay? Just me. Make sure that you stay still. Thank you. We start now. I think that it’s very, very, um, good that we actually established this technology into the skin check service because it’s actually good for Australian people to have a baseline like this for the rest of their life because skin cancer can actually start with something new or something changing.
So it will be easier, much more easier to catch things at early stage. If we have a baseline to compare with.
Phoebe (3): The progress we’re making around diagnosing and treating skin cancer is a really good news story. With the advent of these technologies, we’re only needing to remove up to four suspicious lesions to diagnose one melanoma.
But, to be frank with you, this scan costs around 280 Australian dollars. And there aren’t many of these machines around Australia yet. The government’s currently reviewing the efficacy of more maps. And there’s a chance a subsidy will be introduced in the future, which would make a huge difference to this technology becoming more accessible.
As amazing as these technological advancements are, what’s even better than treatment is prevention. That’s why Dr Philip Tong, Kirsty Fitzpatrick and their colleagues are so committed to reaching young people while they’re still in school about sun safety.
Simon Board: The reason we started this is because we realised as PE teachers it’s really not a priority and we don’t do it well.
And the new syllabus from 2027 means we don’t have to do it at all in high school. So to me that is a massive concern.
Phoebe (3): That’s Simon Bord. He’s a physical development, health and physical education teacher, also known to some of us as PDHPE. He’s one of the main organizers of these workshops going to year 7s and year 8s.
I’ve been here for the afternoon and it’s super engaging, with half a dozen little stations where students can interact with different technologies and also meet different medical professionals who are involved in skin cancer and sun safety.
Simon Board: Kids are learning so much more about their skin at the different levels, even applying sunscreen, what does it look like when you miss bits.
Student 2: People got to put their faces in these machines that showed sun damage, and that was really funny and cool. Because in the UV light, they would cover half their face in sunscreen, and then they would like show you the difference, and it was like a huge difference. We found out how they found like moles and stuff, that the girl, she brought out her magnifying glasses, so she had a big one and she had small lights on them, and that was really cool.
Yeah. And I found out that, um, Males in their 40s, um, the only sun protection most of them use are sunglasses.
Simon Board: And then we’ve also had SC Johnson here. They’re here volunteering their time to teach about sunscreen and what are the ingredients of the sunscreen. How does it impact on the skin? How does it impact and prevent further skin cancers developing?
And we find that, that actually makes kids think twice. And realize that yes, they need to apply sunscreen, they need to be safe in the sun and take those steps to make sure when they get older there’s less interventions that are required.
Student 2: I probably would take extra measures. I still wear a hat and I’d probably put more sunscreen on.
Student 3: I think it’s looking at the effects and how it can actually impact you. When you’re told, oh, you know, like these are statistics and wear sunscreen every day and stuff, you just see, um, it impacting older people, but young people can also be affected.
Kirsty Fitzpatrick: So she said when you are young and you’re exposed to the sun, it’s that damage that we might not see at the time, but we might see later on in life.
So what do we think then we need to be doing when we’re young? Educating ourselves. Right? Educating ourselves about skin cancer.
Phoebe (3): It’s been really special to see these volunteers come together who’ve been impacted by skin cancer in various ways and are passionate about making sure that young people are aware and protecting themselves.
And it seems to be having an impact. It seems to be helping some of these young people to rethink sun safety. But currently, it’s only being rolled out to a handful of schools in inner city Sydney. And as Simon mentioned, there’s uncertainty about whether sun safety will be compulsory in the upcoming NSW curriculum for high school students.
I don’t know if you’re the same as me, but I didn’t know any of this information about skin cancer. It certainly wasn’t taught to me at school. I didn’t know that the burns I was specifically getting as a teen could greatly increase my risk of skin cancer later on in life. And I didn’t know that skin cancer is impacting not only so many Australians, but young ones, even more than my mum passing away.
It’s been learning about skin cancer that’s helped me turn my behaviours around. And that doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy the Sydney summer. It just means that I might go to the beach earlier in the day or later in the evening, and I might actually reapply sunscreen because it says to do so on the back.
Individual behaviour is a huge factor, but that’s coming from governments and schools prioritising it. We need to be taught how to look after our skin in this country. When to get them all checked, and why it can make a difference. So it doesn’t take a diagnosis like Kirstie experienced at the age of 18, or an experience like losing a loved one, to make us pay attention.
So that we can all enjoy the Sydney summer, without facing a two in three chance of skin cancer in
Mads: our future. That story was produced by Phoebe Adler Ryan, with supervising production by Shelby Traynor.
Special thanks goes to Sue Collins, Dr. Philip Tong from DermScreen, and Simon Board. To learn more about sun safety, head to www. conqueringcancercampaign. com. Next up, Kwame and Ramon take us fishing.
Ramon Briant: There’s three of us here in the studio right now, and we are going beneath the surface on fishing. So, uh, my name is Ramon and I’m with, I’m Kwame and I’m not a fisherman.
B Fung Ling: Um, my name is Fangling and I am not a fisherman at all.
Ramon Briant: I am somewhat of a fisherman. I guess I’ve been fishing several times, but not, not for a few years.
But we’re talking about fishing because, uh, beneath the surface, you know, we kind of thought surface what’s beneath the surface, you know, we go beneath the surface when you’re fishing, there’s fish beneath the surface, but also like we wanted to go beneath the surface. Fishing itself and find out what, what’s it really about?
What are people doing? What are they thinking? Why, why would, why would you go fishing? So, but when we went and talked to these people, we actually realized like we, even I don’t really know much about fishing. So a lot of the stuff that we thought about fishing people and fishermen and fisher women and fisher people, it was actually all wrong, you know?
So we wanted to get your opinions and ideas about what you might want to do. You know, think or assume about people that go fishing. Yeah. And then see how they’re compared to our ideas and then see how they’re compared to like, what actually goes on, you know?
B Fung Ling: Yeah. I’m really keen to find out.
Ramon Briant: Yeah. Yeah.
It’s pretty interesting. First thing we asked people were like, where are you, where are you from? Like, what are you, what are you doing down here? We went to Miller’s point actually just down in the rocks, you know? So, um, where did you think people might be from hanging out in Miller’s point doing some fishing?
B Fung Ling: Um, my first guess would be. older people from around the area. So maybe people living, um, Um, in like, Balmain, in the west, like near the waters, or eastern suburbs.
Ramon Briant: Totally. Okay, shall we play a couple of clips and find out how accurate that was? And I will be proven wrong!
Interviewee 1: Are you from around here? You come here often?
Uh, I’d say, not from here. Close by, probably like half an hour, 40 minutes away. Oh yeah, like what area? Uh, Auburn. Auburn.
Interviewee 2: Yeah. How often do you come out here? I come here like every weekend. Every weekend? Yeah. Sweet. Are you from like this local area or? I’m from, uh, Cabramatta. From Cabramatta? Yeah. They’ve come
B Fung Ling: a long way.
Ramon Briant: Yeah. Totally. And not just that. They were like, They were like kids. They were like Yeah,
B Fung Ling: this one doesn’t sound very old at all.
Ramon Briant: So many kids. Yeah, they’re coming out from Cabramatta to go fishing like twice a week.
B Fung Ling: Is it a cultural thing? Are they Vietnamese kids?
Ramon Briant: Uh, one of them was Laotian. Laotian Vietnamese.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. But um, no, they were like kids of all different ethnicities and nationalities it seemed like out there, you know, like lots of Aussie kids as well. Yeah, so it was, it was pretty interesting.
Kwame: Yeah, I think what was interesting as well is it was the hottest time of day In Miller’s Point, we were sort of begging for shade.
The first people we saw there, they were kind of like, they had their rods set up in the water and they were off in the corner, hiding in some shade, and so it
B Fung Ling: was just really interesting. Oh, okay. I
Ramon Briant: see. Yeah, so very much defying our expectations. We weren’t expecting to be like, oh, these kids and their fishing rods, you know.
So what about like, why do you think people might, you know, get into fishing in the first place?
B Fung Ling: I thought it would be a very meditative activity. Mm-hmm . Um, I imagine it as a lot of sitting very still, so I imagine it’s a lot of like relaxing and maybe sitting quietly meditating. Mm. Um, and then the only like rush of excitement that you would get is when a, when you’ve caught a fish.
So. Yeah, I would expect it to be like a quiet meditative activity.
Ramon Briant: Mm, yeah. Is
B Fung Ling: that wrong?
Ramon Briant: No, no, no. I mean, in many ways it is right. What do you enjoy about fishing? Just really in
Interviewee 3: the fish, how like the fish fights. The
Ramon Briant: fish
Interviewee 3: fights? What do you mean? Like, uh, sometimes the bigger fish, they fight really hard.
They pull the line. Yeah, I just like how it’s fun to do it.
Ramon Briant: Like the concept of a fish fight.
B Fung Ling: Yeah, it sounds intense. It’s like tug of war with a fish, right?
Ramon Briant: Is it like excitement or relaxation or a bit of both, socialization? Like what, why do you go fishing?
Interviewee 4: I would say it’s both. For me, I would say it’s both.
I like, yeah, 100%. I’d say like, yeah, um, relaxation and just like the thrill of it. Like, um, waiting for a fish and then being able to catch a fish and just like the feeling afterwards where you catch a fish and you get to eat it and yeah, satisfaction. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Interviewee 5: Yeah. I’ll say the same thing. It’s just peaceful being with a rod, trying to catch a fish.
Talking
Ramon Briant: about this idea that it’s like, Simultaneously a very relaxing hobby, but also like very exciting.
B Fung Ling: Yeah. And
Ramon Briant: like are there many, I can’t think of many other hobbies that are both relaxing and very exciting.
B Fung Ling: I’ve been trying to get into archery and I guess when you make a really good shot. you get excited, but for the rest of the session, you’re just trying to stay really focused.
But yeah, I think otherwise, not very many things that’s both so quiet and so excited, exciting at the same time.
Ramon Briant: Yeah. Yeah. A hundred percent. Could you think of any Kwong?
Kwame: Well, no, but I was just thinking about another comment that you made before about fishing is waiting.
Ramon Briant: Yeah. And that’s a comment that I made when I was a kid.
And then my parents famously never let me forget that. How do you think people get into it?
B Fung Ling: Maybe their parents will show them how to do it. Maybe their parents will show them how to do it on a camping trip or something. Yeah, I never really quite thought about it because I thought, Only old people did fishing.
So yeah, how would old people, maybe it’s a hobby you pick up after retirement or something. Yeah, but yeah, I have no idea how these kids in Cameron Meadow would have gotten to fishing.
Ramon Briant: Yeah, let’s
Interviewee 3: find out.
And it made me want to go fishing a lot more, so then, I went fishing with my uncle, it’s kind of, I like it a lot, it’s fun.
Interviewee 2: Totally, so it’s like a family thing? Yeah. Do you think
Ramon Briant: like, I don’t know, your grandfather or grandmother used to fish as well maybe? Yeah they do fish. Nice. And how did you come to fishing?
Was it like your family showed you or you started going with friends?
Interviewee 4: Um, I don’t know we just kind of I just saw it on like instagram. I was like that looks cool And I just started doing it. Oh, no way you got into it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah
Ramon: As the first person everyone else is like my uncle took me or something.
You’re like not instagram
Interviewee 4: not instagram.
Ramon: That’s
Ramon Briant: sick What about you guys?
Interviewee 4: Uh family and like also social media like you’d see it and be like it looks fun. Yeah
Ramon Briant: Like we had no idea that fishing was Big with the kids on TikTok and Instagram. I
B Fung Ling: had no idea either. I wish I get fishing content on Instagram I think it would be very wholesome.
Ramon Briant: A hundred percent. I would much rather have like fishing content than, I don’t know, like fitness content or something like, come on, give me the, give me the big.
B Fung Ling: Yeah. I really hope my phone is listening right now. I can send it
Kwame: all to you. I’ve been searching fish, fish talk. Is it fish talk? That’s like, that’s funny.
So I think that that will be my algorithm for the next couple of days. But we are on the hunt for the, the fish fluencer. Is that right? So I have messaged a few, so we’ll see what happens.
Ramon Briant: Mm hmm. Yeah, yeah. I think that’s the technical term, I believe. And so the last sort of thing that we, that we found out, or that we, when we spoke to people, we found interesting, was like, what, what’s going, what, what’s going through their head when, when they’re fishing?
Like, for me, I, I always found, like I said, like fishing for me was like waiting. So I’m like, oh, this is like, you know, I, I never, I didn’t really get it in that way. Um, and I wasn’t, I was thinking about other things, maybe just getting bored. Um, what, what do you think would go through, like be going through your mind as you’re hanging out fishing?
How do you, how would you feel?
B Fung Ling: Well, there’s the waiting, um, what you said, and maybe unwinding. I know that’s what I would do if I were given, I imagine, like a chunk of time to just be by myself. Um, but then these are kids. So, are they unwinding? Or are they just, maybe they’re remembering school drama?
Ramon Briant: Maybe they’re winding. I was waiting for the pun, because we haven’t dropped a
Kwame: single
B Fung Ling: one. Or maybe they’re remembering their favorite fish fluencer on Instagram.
Ramon Briant: Maybe they’re making Instagram videos and TikToks about the
B Fung Ling: fish. So
Ramon Briant: yeah, we had a couple of interesting responses for that one as well.
Interviewee 4: Fish.
Fish. I’m thinking about the fish. You’re
Interviewee 5: imagining it.
Interviewee 4: Yeah, just thinking about the fish, honestly. That’s kind of it.
Interviewee 5: Yourself, same thing? Yeah, I’m just waiting for the fish to bite. Adorable. What goes through your mind when you’re fishing? I
Interviewee 3: feel free.
Interviewee 2: You feel free? Yeah, from like school and everything. Aw.
Okay, so you’re still in school? Yeah. Yeah, right. There’s a bunch of like, younger like kids, like kids and teenagers and stuff fishing. I was kind of surprised. Is that normal? Yeah brother. They’re
Interviewee 3: knowing me. It’s annoying. Because I just think the rubbish should die out everywhere.
Ramon: Yeah. Totally. And so you say it makes you feel free, like free, free in what way?
Like are you able to
Interviewee 3: Like stressful, like for my school and stuff.
Ramon: Yeah.
Interviewee 3: Because school is kind of hard for me right now.
Ramon: Yeah. Yeah, totally. So you come out here and you just sort of think of nothing in a way. Yeah.
Ramon Briant: Yeah, I guess like he was, he was, he was definitely unwinding for sure. But feeling free is not something I would have necessarily associated with, with, with fishing, right?
Exactly. Yeah. I can see what he means. Yeah.
B Fung Ling: It’s a very poetic answer. Mm hmm. Well done.
Ramon Briant: Yeah, and so do you feel like, do you feel like listening to these, these kids talk about fishing, does it inspire you to maybe Go fishing.
B Fung Ling: Honestly, yes. Honestly, yes, and yeah, it’s it’s really surprised me that It’s the kids that are doing it and I’m really glad that they’re able to find an activity that they like and then Helps them get away from school for a bit.
Ramon Briant: I mean we learned a lot about about fishing and I don’t know I feel like going fishing now just relaxing
Kwame: You know? I wouldn’t go that far, but definitely follow a few, um Fish flint too, so you can see what’s going on.
B Fung Ling: Yeah, I think that’s where I’ll start too. You know how there’s so many hobbies out there where you’re like, I’d rather just watch people do it rather than actually do it myself?
Yeah. Maybe fishing is one of them. Yeah. For me. Totally.
Ramon Briant: Cool, thank you so much for uh, participating in our 24 hour
B Fung Ling: no worries, I learned a lot!
Mads: That story was produced by Kwame Slasha and Ramon Bryant. Featuring Bi Feng Ling. The tale was made in our 24 hour challenge back in November 2024. You can hear the other stories in our episode Beneath the Surface. We’ll be back next week with more original audio stories. And if you have your own idea, we’re currently accepting story pitches.
Check out the link in our show notes for more details, or head to www.allthebestradio.com.
All the best would like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the lands on which we make these stories and pay our respects to elders past and present. All the best is made at FBI Radio on Gadigal land in association with sin. And three Triple R on Morre Ong and Boon Wang Lands. And A triple C on a run day.
And we’re a Mungu land. The All the Best Editorial Producer is Mel Bakewell, and Phoebe Adler Ryan is our Executive Producer. Patrick McKenzie is our Community Coordinator. Shining Bird composed our theme music, and Annie Hamilton designed the artwork. We’re heard across Australia on the Community Radio Network, and were made possible by the Art Gallery of New South Wales and the Community Broadcasting Foundation.
You can find our full archive of more than 500 episodes at allthebestradio. com. I’m Madhura Prakash, thanks for listening.