Stories From The Pacific

Each week Stories from the Pacific will hear from a unique and extraordinary Pacific Islander.

Our guest today is someone who doesn’t just pull up a chair - she builds the table. Born in Lae, Papua New Guinea and raised in Sydney, Australia, Sigrid Yaru navigated the culture shock of a new country through the universal language of netball. What began as a way to belong has grown into a lifetime of quiet, determined work for Melanesian visibility and community care. A community organiser with an open-door policy, a fierce advocate who protects artists and negotiates contracts from her living room, and the co‑founder of Kamp Kumul, Sigrid is creating the childhood magic she remembers for the next generation. In this conversation with Stories From The Pacific’s Wendy Mocke, Sigrid talks about taking up space, the power of simply showing up, and why the world needs to rethink the stories it tells - and consumes - about Papua New Guinea.

Each week Stories from the Pacific will hear from a unique and extraordinary Pacific Islander.

Each week Stories from the Pacific will hear from a unique and extraordinary Pacific Islander.

Each week Stories from the Pacific will hear from a unique and extraordinary Pacific Islander.

Each week Stories from the Pacific will hear from a unique and extraordinary Pacific Islander.

Quayd Purcell Ah You is a third-generation cultural practitioner and aspiring creator from La’ie, Hawai’i. Growing up under the famous Ah You name meant navigating intense family pressure to follow the sporting path, but Quayd found his own voice on stage at the Polynesian Cultural Center. Today, he uses dance, humour and social media content to carve a path of creativity and acceptance, inspiring young Pacific people to find balance between their culture, faith and identity. Quayd speaks to Bobby Macumber in this episode of Stories From The Pacific on ABC Radio Australia.

Flora Vano grew up drawing courage from stories and from the women who shaped her. Later, she learned the unforgiving arithmetic of cyclones; what happens when winds rise, communications fail, and care becomes a community’s lifeline. Today, as the country manager for ActionAid Vanuatu, Flora leads women across the islands in transforming disaster preparedness into collective power. In this episode of Stories From the Pacific, host Wendy Mocke meets the organiser who listens first, the advocate amplifying village voices, and the neighbour who always shows up when the lights go out. It’s a conversation about fortitude, leadership and the future women are building in the Pacific: one training, one network, and one storm at a time. Listen now on ABC Radio Australia.

Fipe Preuss is wired for the leap. At 16 she skydived without telling her parents, then learned to find calm midair, underwater, and in rooms full of people. That is the person we are meeting, the risk taker and community maker, who later co-founded Living Koko, a Melbourne chocolate company working with small-plot Samoan farmers to turn fair-priced cacao into small-batch chocolate, drinking cacao and teas. Stories From The Pacific’s host Wendy Mocke speaks with Phoebe (Fipe) about her roots, the leaps that shaped her, and the future she wants on the ground. Listen to this episode on ABC Radio Australia.

Each week Stories from the Pacific will hear from a unique and extraordinary Pacific Islander.

Willy Missack is an inspiring changemaker from Tanna, Vanuatu, whose work has reached far beyond his island home. As a PhD candidate at Victoria University of Wellington and founder of Learn to Serve: Vanuatu, Willy empowers young people to tackle climate and community challenges head-on. His journey has taken him from remote villages to royal recognition, including an award from Queen Elizabeth II. In this episode of Stories From The Pacific, host Bobby Macumber dives into how it all began, what drives him to keep creating change across the Pacific, and the lessons he's learned along the way. 🎧 Tune in to ABC Radio Australia for an incredible story of leadership, belief and impact.

Kalafi Moala is a Tongan journalist, editor, and founder of the Times of Tonga newspaper, a publication dedicated to holding power to account and giving voice to the people. His fearless reporting brought him into direct conflict with the Tongan government, leading to his imprisonment and eventual deportation from his own country. But Kalafi never gave up. He was later cleared of all charges, allowing him to return home. But there's more to Kalafi than his fight for a free press — after studying in New Zealand, he became a Christian missionary, travelling to Hawaii, Japan, Hong Kong and Papua New Guinea. In this episode of Stories From the Pacific on ABC Radio Australia, he shares his journey, the challenges of journalism in the Pacific, and what it takes to stand up for democracy and the truth in the face of adversity.

Samuel Gaskin is a Melbourne-based musician, composer, and creative producer whose work is transforming the arts. With roots in Aotearoa and Nigeria, Samuel has moved beyond chasing stardom to create spaces where communities feel seen, safe, and celebrated. His award-winning works Reckoning and Aunty have redefined representation on stage, blending ancestral knowledge with pop culture flair. In this episode of Stories From the Pacific on ABC Radio Australia, join host Bobby Macumber as she explores Samuel’s commitment to joy, healing and unapologetic visibility, and discover how his art is reshaping conversations around identity and inclusion.

Stories From The Pacific

Stories From The Pacific

Home can mean many things: the eucalyptus trees and beaches of Sydney, the chaos of New York City or the warmth of family barbecues with music and food. For singer-song writer, Mi-Kaisha home is both a physical place and a community that raised her. She carries the voices of her family and community wherever she goes to call home.

Stories From The Pacific

For Guam filmmaker, Brian Muna, storytelling began in a dark room — watching his mother develop photographs and later holding his first camera at juts five years old. But his most personal story came decades later, with his film Chamoru: A lost language — a work exploring identity, loss and survival. Just one day before the film's national premiere, Brian's mother passed away — forever binding the project to her memory. His story is one of contracts: of growing up under a heavy military presence while searching for his Chamoru roots, of struggling with language while being steeped in family values, and of using film as a tool to reclaim what was once fading away. Brian's journey is about turning personal grief into a cultural mission.

Stories From The Pacific

Stories From The Pacific