1.7K
Downloads
23
Episodes
Connecting people, yarning through stories.
Hosted by Lockie Cooke, founder and CEO of iYARN, this podcast brings together powerful conversations with changemakers, community leaders, researchers, and innovators across Australia and beyond. Each episode explores how culture, technology, and community insight intersect to drive meaningful change — particularly in health, wellbeing, and social innovation.
Lockie is a non-Indigenous Australian who has worked in partnership with First Nations organisations for over 20 years. Through these long-standing relationships — and his connection with his cultural;ly adopted Aboriginal family in Ardiyooloon community in the North West of Western Australia — Lockie approaches each yarn with deep respect, cultural humility, and a shared commitment to strengthening self-determination and data sovereignty across Australia.
Whether discussing Indigenous data sovereignty, wearable tech in remote communities, mental health, or creative grassroots initiatives, iyarn Yarns invites listeners into grounded and thoughtful conversations about connection, belonging, and purpose.
Episodes
Jan 24, 2020
Jan 24, 2020
32 min
Jesse Phillips is an Australian sprint canoeist. He is a five-time national champion (2010-2014) in the men's kayak doubles (200 m), and a member of the Bayswater Paddle Sports Club, under his personal coach Ramon Andersson. Phillips has also studied towards a bachelor's degree in media at Murdoch University but deferred due to Olympic qualification and selection commitments.
Phillips qualified for the men's K-2 200 metres at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, by placing in the 2012 ICF Oceania Qualification Tournament in Penrith, New South Wales. Phillips and his partner Stephen Bird finished sixth in the final by four hundredths of a second (0.04).
In early 2013, after his first Olympic Games, Jesse alongside doubles partner Stephen Bird commenced as sponsored ambassadors with Perth-based contractor.
Jesse recently competed for Australia in the world Marathon Championships and is in training for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic games.
iyarn can be found here:
Jan 24, 2020
Jan 24, 2020
34 min
Len is a Noongar elder, professor and Australian Research Council chief investigator at the School of Indigenous Studies University of Western Australia.
Len is a Whadjuk/Balardong Noongar, the traditional owners of the Perth region of Western Australia. He has a background in literature and communications. His research includes Noongar interpretive histories and Noongar theoretical and practical research models.
In 2011 Len commenced a three-year study of Noongar place names and intends to create a public website of 25,000 Noongar words for different places around the South West of Western Australia. In 2014 he announced his project to create the world's first online Aboriginal encyclopaedia, Noongarpedia, to preserve the endangered Noongar language
Len has been part of the Indigenous Communities Education and Awareness Foundation (ICEA) as an ICEA Classic patron, since its establishment in 2011.
iyarn can be found here:
Jan 20, 2020
Jan 20, 2020
23 min
With her husband Brett, Annie Fogarty AM founded the Fogarty Foundation in 2000 to help advance education and to build stronger communities.
We talk about the upcoming Australian of the year awards and the recent $15 million impact fund along with the future of education.
https://fogartyfoundation.org.au/
iyarn can be found here: