Compass

6:30pm – Sunday, September 23 on ABC1

Today, the Australian Inland Mission goes by the name of ‘Frontier Services’ and John Flynn, the man on our $20 note, is an all but forgotten hero from the past. So, on the 100th anniversary of the unique frontier service he founded, Compass tells the extraordinary story of the man and his mission.

The Australian Inland Mission was established by the Presbyterian Church in 1912 to care for the needs of outback settlers. John Flynn, a young priest based in a bush parish, was appointed as its founder and remained its superintendent for nearly 40 years. In that time he worked tirelessly to bring medical assistance and spiritual solace to the people of the outback, or ‘the inlanders’ as he called them.

Rather than building churches, Flynn focused on providing nurses, clinics, hospitals and hostels. His life’s mission was to provide a ‘mantle of safety’ to the outback, and he was constantly on the road himself, personally assessing the changing needs of Australia’s inland pioneers.

Flynn went on to commission the invention of the Pedal Radio, which established a vital communication network throughout Australia’s remote interior. Significant as this was, for Flynn it was a means of realising his greater dream of launching the world’s first Flying Doctor Service which he did in 1928.

100 years after it all began, Compass tells the story of John Flynn and the work of his Australian Inland Mission.

6:30pm – Sunday, August 26 on ABC1

How African dads in Australia are coping with the challenges of a life in a new land where age-old cultural expectations may no longer apply…

Many African men have survived war, persecution, even torture to get here only to find they’ve lost their identity, position and role as head of the family.

Instead, they are confounded by a jumble of language and cultural differences in a society where their children have their own freedoms and rights, and wives might hold the purse-strings and power within the family.

As Father’s Day approaches Compass looks at how African men are making the transition to ‘Australian dad’ through several compelling father and son stories.

12:00am – Thursday, January 1 on ABC1

How a religious cult in Sydney tore two brothers apart – one trapped inside, the other watching helplessly from the outside…

In his early 20s David Ayliffe was drawn into The Zion Full Salvation Ministry, a religious cult based in Sydney.

David and its other members lived in secrecy and fear under their leader Violet Pryor, a middle-aged woman whose stigmata and ‘charisma’ convinced her congregation she was God.

For 16 years David shunned the outside world, including his parents and older brother John, who watched helplessly from the outside.

A compelling insider’s view of how ordinary people are drawn into cults, and why they sacrifice relationships, money and their lives to stay.

6:30pm – Sunday, August 12 on ABC1

Geraldine Doogue goes back to dinner with women across Australia to find out how their faith and values, hopes and dreams, careers and relationships have fared.

“Six years ago I got up close and personal with women around Australia.

“There were the ‘Real Desperate Housewives’ busy building the suburban dream in Sydney’s north-west; Queensland’s ‘Outback Dames’ battling the worst drought in history; and, ‘Women of Power and Influence’ in establishment Melbourne.

“Fifteen brave women who didn’t know each other but turned up ready to bare their souls to you and me! We’ve often wondered: Where are they now? How have their lives changed? So, we thought it was time to catch up over dinner on Compass …” Geraldine Doogue What’s really important when you are rich or famous? How do your relationships and friendships survive media attention, gossip or scandal? In 2006 Geraldine Doogue continued her inquiry into how the beliefs and values of Australia’s women are changing by inviting five influential women to dinner in establishment Melbourne. And seven years on, she finds much has changed in the lives of Joan Kirner, Ann Peacock, Christine Nixon, Louise Adler and Jill Reichstein.

12:00am – Thursday, January 1 on ABC1

Compass: Dinner In Longreach Sunday, 5 August 2012 Geraldine Doogue goes back to dinner with women across Australia to find out how their faith and values, hopes and dreams, careers and relationships have fared.

“Six years ago I got up close and personal with women around Australia.

There were the ‘Real Desperate Housewives’ busy building the suburban dream in Sydney’s north-west; Queensland’s ‘Outback Dames’ battling the worst drought in history; and, ‘Women of Power and Influence’ in establishment Melbourne.

Fifteen brave women who didn’t know each other but turned up ready to bare their souls to you and me.

We’ve often wondered: Where are they now? How have their lives changed? So, we thought it was time to catch up over dinner on Compass …”Geraldine Doogue Midway through the worst drought in living memory Geraldine Doogue joined five women for dinner in the central Queensland town of Longreach to find out how they were squaring up to the rural crisis, on top of the perennial hardships faced by women of the land – isolation, health, education. Not to mention romance! Seven years on, the rains have come and much has changed in the lives of the outback dames who captured our hearts with their resilience and optimism.

6:30pm – Sunday, July 29 on ABC1

Sunday, 29 July 2012 Geraldine Doogue goes back to dinner with women across Australia to find out how their faith and values, hopes and dreams, careers and relationships have fared.

In 2005 Compass put the great Australian suburban dream to the test over dinner in Kellyville in Sydney’s north-west.

Geraldine got up close and personal with five fabulous women, quickly dubbed the real desperate housewives, who were all juggling jobs, mortgages and raising families in the ‘McMansion’ belt. It was a lively, no-holds-barred discussion. In this program they do it all again, and we find out how the women’s hopes and dreams have survived the past seven years.

6:30pm – Sunday, July 22 on ABC1

In a two-part special, Church of Ireland bishop Trevor Williams goes undercover to find out first-hand what the people in his dwindling patch want from their church.

Bishop Williams presides over 16 parishes and 64 churches across five counties, but with just 3000 parishioners his church is facing a crisis of relevance. So, he ditches his bishop’s robes and goes undercover for a month, posing as a special TV reporter, to find out what people in his diocese expect from their church in an increasingly secular age.

In Part two Bishop Trevor Williams continues his undercover mission to find out what role the church should play in an increasingly secular Irish society.

6:30pm – Sunday, July 15 on ABC1

In a two-part special, Church of Ireland Bishop Trevor Williams goes undercover to find out first-hand what the people in his dwindling patch want from their church.

Bishop Williams presides over 16 parishes and 64 churches across five counties, but with just 3000 parishioners his church is facing a crisis of relevance. So, he ditches his Bishop’s robes and goes undercover for a month, posing as a special TV reporter, to find out what people in his diocese expect from their church in an increasingly secular age.

In Part One he helps prepare and deliver Meals on Wheels, joins a church-run Men’s Shed and visits a school where students offer a frank critique of the church and its leaders.

6:30pm – Sunday, July 8 on ABC1

Miracles, expensive cars, exorcisms and bodyguards are all part of the extraordinary world of Nigeria’s millionaire preachers.

In this ‘Unreported World’ special we meet the preachers and churches changing the face of Christianity in Africa.

Dr Sign Fireman claims to have God-given powers to heal the sick, and raise people from the dead.

Thousands turn out for his rock-concert-like services, giving 10% of their income in a tithe to ‘receive God’s blessings’.

Dr Fireman has become rich on the proceeds with flashy cars, bodyguards and luxury homes, but his ‘prosperity preaching’ model is not new: Pastor Chris Okotie is the fifth richest pastor in the country. His House of God church attracts Nigerian film stars, celebrities and musicians, and he’s used his power base to run for the last three presidential elections.

6:30pm – Sunday, July 1 on ABC1

The remarkable lives and dreams of Australia’s ‘The 100+ Club’ – the world’s only social club for centenarians.

The world’s only social club for centenarians, The 100+ Club, has some remarkable members on its books. At a time in their lives when most people have long given up on chasing dreams, Ruth (101), Olive (103) and Dexter (a spring chicken at 100) are on a mission to complete some unfinished business.

Ruth – the planet’s oldest competing athlete – is out to break her own world throwing records.

All-round entertainer Olive is determined to stage one last performance, while outback author Dexter hopes to finish his fifth and quite possibly last book.

Most centenarians insist they’re not terribly special (“age is just a couple of numbers on a piece of paper”) but as The 100+ Club reveals, there’s nothing at all ordinary about this group of Australians.