Lust, Love, Loss Conversations: Julia & Jai

Shrine of Remembrance

Lust, Love, Loss: Conversations is a three-part series produced by renowned broadcaster Megan Spencer that delves deep into stories of Australian wartime relationships. This episode follows the story of Julia and Jai Michel, who in the nine years they've known each other have spent three and a half living in the same place. Julia has navigated the trials and tribulations of organising a wedding, buying a house and weathering a pandemic all with limited communication to her husband. Listen as she unpacks life as a contemporary defence partner and explains how she kept her relationship going despite the distance while helping others do the same.

Credits

This podcast has been produced for the Shrine of Remembrance to accompany the Lust, Love, Loss exhibition (1 December 2021 – 1 November 2022).

Speaker: Julia Michel

Actor: Jai Michel

Interviewer/Producer/Sound: Megan Spencer

Archival sound

'Children's Christmas party and messages to Vietnam 1968', Australian War Memorial Collection, Accession No. Accession No: F04721. Item copyright held by the Australian War Memorial ©, licensed under Creative Commons and used with kind permission.

‘Kentucky Fried Chicken - Hugo & Hill’ (1975, New Zealand) by Groove Myers. Reasonable attempts were made to identify the copyright owner of this audio material. If you have any information please contact Sue Burgess at the Shrine. Thank you to Grant Gillanders at Frenzy Music for his assistance.

Music

Original ‘Lovestruck’ music by Philip Brophy.

Performed by Bill McDonald (bass), Dan Luscombe (guitars), Garrett Costigan (pedal steel), Sianna Lee (vocals) and Philip Brophy (drums).

Audio mastering

Kris Keogh

Special thanks

Julia Michel for her time and the generous interview, and to Jai Michel.

Julia is the founder of the Defence Partners and Carers Support Group on Facebook

Her blog is The Home Post AU

Thank you

Beck Rayner, producer of the Military Life community and podcast (formerly ‘Military Wife Life’) and founder of the National Defence Partner Round Table (Julia is a speaker in the October 15, 2021 edition).

You can also hear Julia speak more about hers and Jai’s experience as an MWDU couple on Episodes 83 and 114 of Beck’s podcast. Find it at militarylife.com.au and on Facebook

The Shrine team: Leigh Gilbert, Tessa Occhino, Sue Burgess and Neil Sharkey, curator of the Lust, Love, Loss exhibition. See it at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne until November 2022.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this podcast are those of individual contributors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Shrine of Remembrance.

Support

If this interview raises any issues for you, please contact: Lifeline Australia on 13 11 14 Open Arms (formerly VVCS) - Veterans & Families Counselling on 1800 011 046 or on their website

Episode duration

One hour