“GIRLS ON PYLON SEX MACHINE”– it’s gotta be the weirdest newspaper headline of the 1930s. So what’s the strange story behind it? Join me for a plunge into the "Pashometer" craze that had Australians going bonkers to have a go on the machine that scientifically measured their all-important Sex Appeal!

Change.org petition to fully fund Trove - https://www.change.org/p/fully-fund-trove

Contact Tony Burke - https://www.tonyburke.com.au/contact

Support Forgotten Australia:

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Contact email forgottenaustraliapodcast (at) gmail.com

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It’s July 1950 and Sydney detectives have Arthur Graham - aka Fred Stevens, aka Thomas Croft, aka Lionel Thomas – cornered in Perth. But can the man they suspect of multiple murders escape justice again?

Support Forgotten Australia:

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It’s winter 1950 and Sydney detectives are criss-crossing Australia as they try to piece together the whereabouts of Blacktown widow, Phyllis Mary Page, last seen in the company of Fred Stevens – aka Thomas Croft – aka Lionel Thomas.

Support Forgotten Australia:

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It’s 1945 and Lionel Thomas - aka Thomas Croft – looks set to pay for one of the most heinous murders in Melbourne’s recent history: the cold-blooded shooting of a railway stationmaster.

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Lionel Charles Thomas went by a lot of aliases. But by any name, he was one nasty character. In this instalment, we chronicle his early criminal career and piece together the evidence that made Sydney and Melbourne suspect him in a handful of murders.

Support Forgotten Australia:

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With the true horror of the pay car outrage revealed – but buried ever-deeper in the war-time newspapers – Sydney police follow promising leads, conduct sweeping interviews and utilise the skills of the scientific squad in the hope of cracking the case. Eventually they’ll come up with a prime suspect – but where is he?

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Just hours after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, cold-blooded bandits staged a ruthless ambush on a railway pay car crew south of Sydney. In the aftermath of this ambush, homicide detectives faced an unprecedented task. How could they get the public’s attention – get the information they needed to catch these killers – when all anyone could talk about was the new and unprecedented threat to Australia?

Apple - http://apple.co/forgottenaustralia

Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/ForgottenAustralia

To help save Trove, please sign and share these petitions:

Government petition (sign by 22 February) - https://www.aph.gov.au/e-petitions/petition/EN4747

Change.org - https://www.change.org/p/fully-fund-trove?redirect=false

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With Australia's biggest manhunt at an end, Kevin John Simmonds faced the darkest fate imaginable.

New episodes are on the way!

To support the podcast:

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In November 1959, after eluding authorities for nearly one month, wanted killer and gaol escapee Kevin John Simmonds disappeared into harsh bush on the NSW Central Coast, with 500 heavily armed police scouring the terrain for any signs of him in what was the largest manhunt in Australian history. But the fugitive had plenty of tricks up his sleeve, leading to an outpouring of public sympathy, political showdowns and even an assassination threat against the state premier.

To support Forgotten Australia, and get early ad-free access and exclusive bonus episodes:

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Determined not to serve 15 years for his incredible crime spree, Kevin John Simmonds broke out of Long Bay Jail in October 1959. What followed was a tragic and senseless killing, the biggest manhunt in the nation's history and the first media circus of Australia's television era.

Parts 3 & 4 will be released next week but are available now to Apple subscribers and Patreon supporters.

Apple - http://apple.co/forgottenaustralia

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In November 1959, Australia was electrified by the massive manhunt for handsome young prison escapee and killer Kevin John Simmonds, who eluded hundreds of heavily armed police for weeks to become a rebel heart-throb every bit as popular as Elvis Presley and Johnny O’Keefe.

Part 2, 3 and the epilogue will be released over the coming week but they are available now ad-free for Patreon supporters and Apple Subscribers. By supporting and subscribing, you're helping me to keep making this podcast.

Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/ForgottenAustralia

Apple - http://apple.co/forgottenaustralia

My latest book, Hanging Ned Kelly, is out now. Read an excerpt here free — and get 19% off cover price:

https://affirmpress.com.au/publishing/hanging-ned-kelly/

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In the weeks after Shirley Butler's murder, newspaper reports hinted that police weren't divulging everything they knew. Then, in June 1953, nearly six months after her death, detectives announced a stunning breakthrough. But the arrest of their suspect would pale in comparisons with the revelations to come.

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Christmas Day 1952 saw three tragedies result in eight sudden deaths in Sydney. But the most haunting of these was the vicious murder of Shirley Butler, a 21-year-old woman whose body was found just a stone’s throw from her home in Waverton on the lower North Shore. Who had killed her and why? An army of detectives would scour the city for clues – and even authorise a world-first radio re-enactment of Shirley’s last tram journey.

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After Fred Jones's betrayal, with Hayati branded an 'enemy alien', the showman and the performer go head to head in a series of court cases that make headlines all around Australia.

You can see a photo gallery from this story free at Patreon - no need to sign up or pay.

If you do want to support Forgotten Australia:

Apple - http://apple.co/forgottenaustralia

Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/ForgottenAustralia

You can read an excerpt from my book Hanging Ned Kelly at: https://affirmpress.com.au/publishing/hanging-ned-kelly/

You can also buy the book there at 26% off the RRP

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Who was Frederick Hooper Jones, the man who tried to ruin Hayati Hassid? In this instalment, we look at Fred's life and career as a showman and as a pioneering aviator.

Apple - http://apple.co/forgottenaustralia

Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/ForgottenAustralia

Read a free sample of Hanging Ned Kelly here – and buy the book with a 26% discount on the recommended retail price of $35.

https://affirmpress.com.au/publishing/hanging-ned-kelly/

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Having conquered Australia with Tiny Town, Hayati Hassid goes out on his own and falls into the orbit of Frederick Hooper Jones. To heat parts 3 & 4 right now ad-free, become an Apple subscriber or Patreon supporter.

For a three-day free trial, Apple - http://apple.co/forgottenaustralia

For Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/ForgottenAustralia

You can read a free sample of Hanging Ned Kelly and get 26% off the RRP here:

https://affirmpress.com.au/publishing/hanging-ned-kelly/

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From a digitised formerly secret Australian military intelligence file comes one of Forgotten Australia’s strangest stories.

In 1911-1912, from Sydney to Brisbane, Perth to Melbourne, and all points in between, Australia was enthralled by the little people entertainment troupe known as Tiny Town.

Everyone was especially fond its undisputed star, 'The Mayor of Tiny Town', aka 'The Turkish Tom Thumb', the incomparable small-man performer Hayati Hassid.

Yet how did this beloved celebrity - who also acted as editor of 'The Tiny Town Times' - become designated an enemy alien after the Great War broke out?

What did this dark twist have to do with showman and self-professed father of Australian aviation Frederick Hooper Jones?

And just where do genocidal Turkish sultan Abdul The Damned, legendary escapologist Harry Houdini and Aussie rock band The Angels fit into this picture?

Join me for a four-part deep dive that takes us from the harems of the dying Ottoman Empire to the roller-skating-mad London vaudeville scene, from a forgotten antipodean box office blockbuster to the controversial very earliest days of Australia aviation.

You won't believe your ears.

Apple - http://apple.co/forgottenaustralia

Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/ForgottenAustralia

My new book Hanging Ned Kelly is out now and will make a cracker of a Christmas present.

You can read a free excerpt here - and get 26% off the RRP: https://affirmpress.com.au/publishing/hanging-ned-kelly/

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With the accused murderer of Holly Murphy and Kathleen Brown set to go to trial in April 1946, there's a series of shocking secret developments, including a bombshell letter that makes disturbing claims against Queensland's boys in blue. Via the original police murder file - and from information from a descendant of one of the men involved - we explore what might've really happened.

To hear me talk about my new book Hanging Ned Kelly - and for excellent true crime and history episodes, check out these podcasts:

Australian True Crime - https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/australian-true-crime/id1217681421

In Black & White - https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/in-black-and-white/id1466009446

To read an excerpt of Hanging Ned Kelly - https://affirmpress.com.au/publishing/hanging-ned-kelly/

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With Detective Senior-Sergeant Frank Bischof in Cairns, Bob Davis soon identifies the murderer. But how far can Bob be trusted? And what is Bischof offering?

Part 3 will be available later this week via regular podcast platforms. But as an Apple subscriber or Patreon supporter, you can hear it right now ad-free.

Apple - http://apple.co/forgottenaustralia

Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/ForgottenAustralia

To hear me talk about my new book Hanging Ned Kelly - and for excellent true crime and history episodes, check out these podcasts:

Australian True Crime - https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/australian-true-crime/id1217681421

In Black & White - https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/in-black-and-white/id1466009446

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On a hot night in January 1946, two women were cold-bloodedly murdered with a grenade in the centre of Cairns. In this three-part special episode - based on the original police murder file - we take a deep dive into this callous crime, whose solution was frustrated not only by the underworld’s code of silence but also by the conduct of Queensland’s most infamously corrupt cop.

Parts Two & Three will be available next week via regular podcast platforms. But as an Apple subscriber or Patreon supporter, you can hear them right now ad-free.

Apple - http://apple.co/forgottenaustralia

Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/ForgottenAustralia

To hear me talk about my new book Hanging Ned Kelly - and for excellent true crime and history episodes, check out these podcasts:

Australian True Crime - https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/australian-true-crime/id1217681421

In Black & White - https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/in-black-and-white/id1466009446

To read an excerpt of Hanging Ned Kelly - https://affirmpress.com.au/publishing/hanging-ned-kelly/

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Note: This episode - like all old and new regular episodes - is free for everyone to listen to.

I'm very pleased to present an exclusive audio version of the first 20 pages of my new book Hanging Ned Kelly, which is published this week by Affirm Press. Here's what it's about:

HANGING NED KELLY

When it came time to hang Ned Kelly, the deed fell to the nightman-turned-quack-doctor-turned-drunken-chicken-thief Elijah Upjohn. Such is life indeed.

Upjohn was the latest in a long line of 19th century flogging hangmen who were allowed to run amok because they did the dirty work of the establishment that allowed officials to keep their hands clean. Despite being duly appointed ‘finishers of the law’, Upjohn and his fellow boozing bunglers were so hated they were often hunted by angry mobs.

In Hanging Ned Kelly, the tale of Elijah Upjohn becomes the rusty scalpel that slices open the underbelly of colonial Victoria – an underworld seething with serial killers, clueless cops, larrikin vigilantes, renegade reporters, racist settlers, furious fallen women and cunning waxwork showmen. Looming over them all: the depraved hangmen... and Australia's most infamous outlaw.

Hanging Ned Kelly is available on 27 September at all good bookstores and online retailers.

To support Forgotten Australia and access early ad-free and bonus episodes:

Apple: http://apple.co/forgottenaustralia

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ForgottenAustralia

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While 1950s eccentrics Bea Miles and Rosaleen Norton are well remembered, Luba Shishova was twice as wild yet she's all but forgotten. Dubbed a ‘one-woman Russian Revolution’, this chaotic beauty cut a swathe through Kings Cross, earning adoring fans among the city’s reporters and outraging the cops and the judges. Now, for the first time, Luba’s story is told in detail – from her background in a war zone and her bikini court sensation to her flesh-ripping assaults and stints in jail and psych hospitals.

To support Forgotten Australia, subscribe via Forgotten Australia +Plus at Apple Podcasts or via Patreon at patreon.com/forgottenaustralia

My book, Hanging Ned Kelly, is out on 27 September. You can read an except for free at the link below. 

https://affirmpress.com.au/publishing/hanging-ned-kelly/

Buy Hanging Ned Kelly via this very same link – or at any good bookstore or online retailer.

Back catalogue Forgotten Australia +Plus bonus episodes will be released in the coming weeks.

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On this day in 1922, Henry Lawson died at the age of 55. In this episode, we revisit his death and the pomp, circumstance and furore of his funeral, while also weighing the claim the Aussie bard of the bush was actually the world’s first screenwriter.

Bonus episodes available as soon as you support the show via patreon.com/forgottenaustralia

* The Mad Bomber of Boulder: in February 1942 the goldfields of WA were rocked by one of the worst mass murders in modern Australian history.

* Sydney, Spanish Flu and Covid-19: a live talk at MEDfest, held at the State Library of NSW in July 2022.

* Hanging Ned Kelly: an audio preview of my upcoming book, comprising the prologue, author’s note and first chapter. Note: this will be released on regular platforms in late September. You can pre-order Hanging Ned Kelly and read a chapter sampler for free here: https://affirmpress.com.au/publishing/hanging-ned-kelly/

* All Hail, Megaethon: the bizarre story of Australia’s first road trips - in the mid-1850s!

* Last of the Bushrangers: an addition to the regular episode Young Ned Kelly, this tells the story of another young outlaw in country Victoria in 1922.

* The Rats Must Die: a live talk about Bubonic Plague, delivered at the Sydney Festival in January 2022.

* Black Thursday: the tale of the 1851 bushfires that burned out one-quarter of Victoria.

* To Sir, With Hate: who murdered a teacher in 1928 in the tiny town of Wolumla on the NSW south coast?

* The Body in the Barwon: in 1953, Australia was shocked by the discovery of a headless body, with the crime committed by a truly bizarre crook.

* Revolvers & Razors: a three-part episode about a grisly 1927 murder in the Blue Mountains that had links to the infamous razor gangs.

* The Wreck of the Errol: an addition to the Mysteries of Mystery Island episode, this is the tale of a 1909 shipwreck and the horrors that followed.

* Detective McRae vs the Lady in Grey: a two-part real-life noir that pits Sydney’s top homicide cop against a drop-dead gorgeous femme fatale.

* Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Spiritualist Tour Down Under: the creator of Sherlock Holmes came to Australia in 1920-21 to chase ghosts. Best heard in tandem with The Guyra Ghost.

* The Bones & The Beast: the case that made Det-Sgt McRae a homicide investigation hero… and the ghastly case that confronted his sometime partner in crime-solving, Det-Sgt Joe Ramus, who were met in The Human Glove Mystery.

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After the discovery of new evidence, the police and the crown prosecutor are determined to see Dot's killer swing from the gallows at Long Bay Gaol.

To support Forgotten Australia: patreon.com/forgottenaustralia

To read an extract of Hanging Ned Kelly for free: https://affirmpress.com.au/publishing/hanging-ned-kelly/

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With the coronial inquest used to build a case against the chief suspect in the murder of Dot Everett, witness 'Miss X' tells the court sordid stories about the man she's sure is a brutal sex maniac.

You can hear the finale now as a supporter - www.patreon.com/forgottenaustralia

Check out my new book, Hanging Ned Kelly, including a free extract - https://affirmpress.com.au/publishing/hanging-ned-kelly/

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While the newspapers reported detectives investigating Dot's murder had reached a dead end, the opening of the coronial inquest revealed the cops believed they had the maniac responsible dead to rights. With so much evidence, he'd surely be committed to trial – where a guilty verdict would see him swing.

Parts 4 & 5 will be released soon.

But they're available ad-free now to supporters: www.patreon.com/forgottenaustralia

If you'd like to read the first chapter of my new book, it's here: https://affirmpress.com.au/publishing/hanging-ned-kelly/

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In the days following the discovery of Dot Everett's body, Newcastle police are joined by a star Sydney CIB detective. They have to catch the killer before he strikes again. Part 3 of The Vampire Murder will be released next Monday but all five instalments of this episode are available now for supporters (from as little as $3 per month): www.patreon.com/forgottenaustralia

My book, Hanging Ned Kelly, comes out on 27 September. You can see the cover and read an extract: https://affirmpress.com.au/publishing/hanging-ned-kelly/

Like the show? I'd love you to leave a rating and/or review. Thanks!

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In November 1937, Dorothy May Everett was murdered in the grounds of the elite Newcastle school where she worked as a live-in kitchen maid. The case was a front-page sensation – as was what came afterwards. The five-part mini-series The Vampire Murder is one of the most haunting stories I've researched. I'll be releasing instalments this week and next. But the entire mini-series is available now ad-free to supporters.

For more info: www.patreon.com/forgottenaustralia

Hanging Ned Kelly will be released on 27 September.

https://www.booktopia.com.au/hanging-ned-kelly-michael-adams/book/9781922806406.html

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Here is the conclusion to Reg Evans's astounding story – including his belated rediscovery.

I'll be making another episode about another incredible coastwatcher soon.

Stay tuned. To support the show: patreon.com/forgottenaustralia

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Recently I was very pleased to be able to help the United States embassy with information, contacts and material relating to the activities of our coastwatchers, who played such a vital role in the South Pacific during World War II.

This assistance was to help incoming American ambassador Caroline Kennedy pay her respects to these brave men.

Ambassador Kennedy, of course, has a deep personal connection to their heroism because her father, President John F. Kennedy, was saved by Australian coastwatcher Reg Evans in 1943.

A couple of years back I produced a two-part episode about Reg’s life, that incident, how Reg’s role went unknown for so many years and how he was rediscovered after JFK won the 1960 election.

It’s one of my favourite episodes and I’m glad to present it again if you missed it - or if you want to hear it again.

I’ll be back next week to start a new round of brand-new Forgotten Australia episodes.

I’ve been hard at work these past weeks on a handful of amazing stories that I’m really looking forward to sharing.

There’s also a new bonus episode coming down the pipeline for supporters.

But in the meantime, here’s Reg Evans’s story. Lest we forget.

To support Forgottten Australia: patreon.com/forgottenaustralia

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In this concluding instalment, Eve Gray tries to come to grips with being mostly for her beauty before making the move to London that will change her life.

Like the podcast? I'd love it if you'd leave a rating, review or maybe consider becoming a supporter: www.patreon.com/forgottenaustralia

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A century ago, Sydney chorus girl Eve Gray won a beauty competition and shot to national fame. 'Australia's Most Beautiful Girl' was soon a theatrical leading lady. But Eve discovered that being a celebrity came with a dark side. Nevertheless, she was to persist with her performance career, winning critical respect on stage and screen, working with the likes of Alfred Hitchcock and Errol Flynn. Part 2 and an extensive image gallery are available now for Patreon supporters. To support: www.patreon.com/forgottenaustralia

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In this final instalment of The First Dismissal, we look at Robert Beardsmore's horrific experiences at Fromelles in 1916, his role in a 1922 soldier-settler controversy and at the 1929 Battle For Rothbury. Then came the 1932 Dismissal of Jack Lang. Afterwards, feted as a hero, Beardsmore was to play a part in the downfall of another NSW Premier – and his and Jack Lang's sons would have one final battle. To support the show: patreon.com/forgottenaustralia

**PLEASE NOTE** I'll be archiving the below episodes soon. Please download now if you've not listened to them already.

The Battle for Rothbury, The Bombing of Rothbury, In The Execution of their Duty, The Fugitive, Sydney’s Red Year, Australia’s First Serial Killer Manhunt and The Human Glove Mystery

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When – if – Robert Henry Beardsmore is mentioned in connection with the May 1932 dismissal of Jack Lang, he's depicted as merely an old public servant who reluctantly did his job. But in reality he was the Forrest Gump of Australian history in the first half of the 20th Century. In part A, we look at his role on the Aborigines Protection Board and how he was enmeshed in a scandal that tainted Australia's first military victory. Part B is on the way!

Want to support the show? patreon.com/forgottenaustralia

Or leave a rating & review

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On this day 90 years ago, firebrand NSW Premier Jack Lang was sacked by Governor Sir Phillip Game. 

In this first of two instalments, we look at Lang's early life and business career, the scandalous aspect of his personal life and his embrace of the White Australia policy, his political rise and the massive opposition he faced from his own party, from big business, from the newspapers and from the fascist New Guard. Then, in early May 1932, during the worst of the Great Depression, Lang's collision with the Commonwealth government threatened chaos and civil violence. 

But it would be one forgotten man who actually brought about Lang's downfall. 

In part two, The First Dismissal: The Public Servant Who Toppled the Premier, we'll explore the role played in Lang's dismissal by Robert Beardsmore. Usually he's written in and out of the story in a sentence or two, and if there's any elaboration it's to characterise him as a faceless public servant who merely did his duty. But we're taking a deep dive into the background and potential motivations of a man who – between 1900 and 1932 – was like the Forrest Gump of Australian history.

Part 2 will be available early next week for Patreon supporters and be on general release on 20 May. To support the show: patreon.com/forgottenaustralia

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Trapped in Melbourne in bizarre circumstances, Herbert Kopit's last chance is to talk his way out of an arrest and flee the country.

Like the podcast? Let me know with a rating and/or review. Thanks!

To support the show and get early ad-free access, bonus episodes and more: www.patreon.com/forgottenaustralia

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How did Herbert Kopit become the most wanted man in Australia, trying to escape a massive tri-state murder manhunt while dressed as a woman?

To support the show: patreon.com/forgottenaustralia

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It's just after dawn on 2 April 1936 at Brisbane's Central Railway Station and as a porter enters a sleeping car on the overnight train from Bundaberg he discovers a slaughterhouse. Within minutes Queensland police will begin a desperate hunt for a maniac responsible for multiple murders. Parts 2 & 3 will be released next week. But you can hear them now as a podcast supporter. For more: www.patreon.com/forgottenaustralia

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With the newspapers depicting Henry Maple as determined to commit crimes as terrible as Ned Kelly's atrocities, and the police handing out high-powered military rifles to civilian vigilantes, the stage was set for a bloody showdown in the thick forest of Glen Nayook. To support the show: patreon.com/forgottenaustralia

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100 years ago today a 15-year-old bushranger dubbed ‘Young Ned Kelly’ made his last stand against an army of heavily armed police and vigilantes. In this two-part episode, we delve into Henry Maple’s short life and reckless crimes — and ask whether he was the victim not only of sensationalist reporting but of a Victorian government cover-up. To support the show: patreon.com/forgottenaustralia

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Kathleen Butler's smarts and skills saw her play a huge if forgotten role in making the Sydney Harbour Bridge a reality. But this female pioneer in engineering lived in a time when women "couldn't have it all". www.patreon.com/forgottenaustralia

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From humble beginnings in the Blue Mountains, Kathleen Butler's smarts and skills saw her play a huge but largely forgotten role in making the Sydney Harbour Bridge a reality.

But this female pioneer in engineering lived in a time when women "couldn't have it all". Part two released tomorrow, the 90th anniversary of the opening of the bridge.

www.patreon.com/forgottenaustralia

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Like the podcast? Take a sec to leave a rating and review — this helps it reach other people who might be interested. Cheers!

Just when they thought it was safe to go back into the water, another young man was mauled by a shark at Coogee and rescued by another brave lifesaver. Now war was declared on the monsters of the deep. It was a conflict that'd attract charlatans, hoaxers and Pacific Islanders armed with knives — all of them watched by huge crowds because people trying to kill sharks had became a good afternoon's entertainment. Meanwhile, whipped into a mania by newspaper moguls, Australia had heroes to celebrate, to fete as celebrities and to shower with cash. But not all bravery would be rewarded equally...

By supporting Forgotten Australia, you're helping me to to dig through (and digitise) ancient files to bring you history as it's never been heard before. As a Patreon, you get a) ad-free early access to shows b) a show shout-out c) exclusive supporter-only bonus episodes d) Australia's Sweetheart — my audiobook about our forgotten film star Mary Maguire.

patreon.com/forgottenaustralia

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100 years ago today — 4 February 1922 — Australia's attitude to sharks changed when the first known fatal shark attack on a Sydney ocean beach happened in front of thousands of people as a surf carnival was about to start at Coogee. It was a day of horror and heroism that would very quickly have a bloody sequel.

Part 2 coming soon. Support: www.patreon.com/forgottenaustralia

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In March 1902 — as the Bubonic Plague tightens its grip — Sydney awakes to a disastrous fire at Her Majesty's Theatre. Next the city's Zoo falls victim to the disease that will make encore appearances for the next 20 years. To support Forgotten Australia — www.patreon.com/forgottenaustralia

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With Bubonic Plague spreading in Sydney, the highest-profile "victim" is Ben Hur at Her Majesty's Theatre, despite producers putting pressure on the Premier to circumvent health orders to get the show running again. As more people become infected and die, authorities still struggle to respond in line with their new catchy slogan: "Kill the rats and you kill the plague!" To support Forgotten Australia - www.patreon.com/forgottenaustralia

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120 years ago today, Sydney faced an epidemic. And it also had a rat problem — but in this case it was there was too many of them.

January 1902 saw the second wave of the Bubonic Plague and — despite the lessons learned during the horrific outbreak of 1900 — politicians, bureaucrats and citizens made all the same mistakes. Meanwhile, as rats multiplied and the body count rose, Sydney prepared for the most spectacular stage show ever seen in Australia. Ben Hur — nothing could be bigger! Except, maybe, microscopic bacteria carried by rat fleas...

Parts 2 & 3 will be released very soon. To support Forgotten Australia and get access to early ad-free eps, bonus shows and more:

www.patreon.com/forgottenaustralia

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70 years ago this Christmas, Pentridge prisoners had a surprise visit from Santa. This is the story of Harold 'Dusty' Sheehan, who could get out of — and into — prison as easily as Old St Nick down a chimney. Seasons Greetings to all. To support Forgotten Australia, go to: patreon.com/forgottenaustralia

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In this last instalment, the jury delivers its verdict in the marathon trial of Phillip Treffene and William Coulter for the murders of Detective-Inspector John Walsh and Detective-Sergeant Alexander Pitman. But their decision isn't the end of the story — with twists even brilliant barrister Arthur Haynes couldn't see coming. To support the show: patreon.com/forgottenaustralia

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On Monday 16 August 1926, a large crowd gathered outside Perth's Supreme Court, hoping to get access to what promised to be the most sensational criminal trial Western Australia had ever seen. Had Phillip Treffene and William Coulter murdered Detective-Inspector John Walsh and his partner Detective-Sergeant Alexander Pitman? What the court heard was an incredible new version of events that left many wondering where the truth lay. To support: patreon.com/forgottenaustralia

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After police swoop on their suspects, Evan 'Teddy' Clarke, Phil Treffene and William Coulter are charged with the murder. But one of these men will turn against the others, with brilliant barrister Arthur Haynes using this betrayal as a chisel with which to chip away at the crown case. To support: patreon.com/forgottenaustralia

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On 12 May 1926, south of Kalgoorlie, at an abandoned mine known as Miller's Find, Detective-Sergeant Grenville Purdue makes a horrifying discovery. The biggest manhunt in Western Australia is now on for the murderers of Detective-Inspector John Walsh and Detective-Sergeant Alexander Pitman. This episode produced from research material made accessible thanks to Forgotten Australia supporters. For more info on helping out (and for show shout-outs, early ad-free access, exclusive bonus episodes and the Australia's Sweetheart audiobook) go to: www.patreon.com/forgottenaustralia

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In April 1926 Detective-Inspector John Walsh and Detective-Sergeant Alexander Pitman disappeared while investigating gold thefts around Kalgoorlie. It was nearly two weeks before they were missed. When the alarm was raised, a massive search was started. Parts 2-5 will be released soon. This episode has been made with the use of archival material paid for Forgotten Australia supporters. For more information: patreon.com/forgottenaustralia

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Season Five is just around the corner. We're kicking off with an episode called Blue Murder On The Golden Mile. It’s a killer tale set in 1926 and it takes us inside what was then the most intensive manhunt and homicide trial in Western Australian history. One of the main characters in Blue Murder On The Golden Mile is a brilliant barrister named Arthur Haynes. I featured Haynes two years ago in the episode Murder On The Dance Floor, which was set in 1925 in Perth.

So, ahead of Season Five, I've dusted off this two-parter in case you haven’t heard the story — and want a bit of an idea of just how formidable Arthur Haynes was a defence lawyer. Here's the gist of Part Two:

There was no doubt Audrey Jacob had shot Cyril Gidley dead in front of hundreds of people during a charity dance at Perth’s Government House. But why had she killed him and was she guilty of murder? The final instalment of this episode takes us inside one of Australia’s most extraordinary trials—and beyond to a second murder, the tragic downfall of a business titan and across the world to the Cuban Missile Crisis, Vietnam War and Carter White House.

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Season Five is just around the corner. We're kicking off with an episode called Blue Murder On The Golden Mile. It’s a killer tale set in 1926 and it takes us inside what was then the most intensive manhunt and homicide trial in Western Australian history. One of the main characters Blue Murder On The Golden Mile is a brilliant barrister named Arthur Haynes. I featured Haynes two years ago in the episode Murder On The Dance Floor, which was set in 1925 in Perth. So, ahead of Season Five, I've dusted off this two-parter in case you haven’t heard the story — and want a bit of an idea of just how formidable Arthur Haynes was a defence lawyer. Certainly, if you were charged with murder back in the day in WA, he was the man you wanted on your side.

Here's the gist of Part One:

In 1925 beautiful young Audrey Campbell Jacob shot a young man dead in front of hundreds of revellers during a charity dance in the ballroom of Government House in Perth — and the court case that followed the crime was every bit as shocking.

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In the wake of the massacre, Dr James Patrick Murray makes a series of surprising moves that further his infamy in Australia and across the British Empire.

Listener Desiree Pettit-Keating, of Bendigo Regional Archives Centre, was kind enough to send through an article they did about the Bendigo smallpox outbreak that features in this instalment — and in which Dr Murray played a central role. To read their piece — which has plenty of parallels with Covid-19 — go to:

https://www.brac.vic.gov.au/disease-deja-vu

Season 5 of Forgotten Australia will start in mid-November.

In the meantime, I'll be releasing a new bonus episode for supporters. Supporters also have access to half a dozen bonus episodes I've already produced.

For info: patreon.com/forgottenaustralia

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Dr James Patrick Murray takes the brig Carl to the sunny South Seas and into a heart of darkness beyond the imagination of even Joseph Conrad. In this nightmare of his creation shooting dozens of defenceless men is only the start of the atrocities. To support the production of this podcast: www.patreon.com/forgottenaustralia

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150 years ago today — 13 September 1871 — Australian slavers — aka 'blackbirders' — fired their guns into the hold of the brig Carl, where they had imprisoned 160 South Pacific Islanders they had recently attacked and kidnapped. Thirty five men were killed in hours of fusillades — and that many again would soon suffer an unbelievably horrific fate. To understand this massacre, we need to understand the man who ordered it. In part one of "Australia's Slave Ship Massacre", we delve into the life of forgotten mass murderer Dr James Patrick Murray, who played a role in the Burke & Wills, Ludwig Leichhardt and Adam Lindsay Gordon stories — and who had been widely hated across Australia even before he told his men on the Carl to "Shoot them all". To see images of the people from this episode (free, no sign up), go to patreon.com/forgottenaustralia

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Months before Australia's first heavier-than-air flights, people from Sydney to Hobart, Goulburn to Kalgoorlie, Melbourne to Perth reported seeing strange lights in the night skies. These mystery airships — dubbed "Scareships" — were said to travel at astounding speeds and perform complex aerobatics that suggested they were under intelligent control. What were they? The truth is out there. To become a Forgotten Australia supporter and get exclusive full-length bonus episodes: patreon.com/forgottenaustralia

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George O'Brien's life hangs in the balance as his DIY yacht is smashed by a gale and heavy seas. Gower Wilson's son Roy grows up to become the hero of a Lord Howe Island aviation disaster. Plus: the legacy of George Rikard-Bell — aka movie star Brian Abbot — and how I found my birth family and discovered I hail from Lord Howe. To support Forgotten Australia from as little as $A2.75 per month, go to: patreon.com/forgottenaustralia

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Despite the recent double tragedies of the Mystery Star and Viking, taxi driver and nautical newbie George O’Brien decides he’s going to build a yacht so he and wife and their two young sons can sail from Sydney to Lord Howe Island. Why does he do it? Perhaps it's to impress his father-in-law: legendary Sydney shark hunter and all-round maritime madman Charlie Messenger. To support Forgotten Australia and get bonus episodes — including those related to this series — go to: www. patreon.com/forgottenaustralia

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While Brian Abbott and Leslie Hay Simpson are feared lost with Mystery Star, a macabre discovery on the coastline raises new questions, new hopes and new fears. Meanwhile Gower Wilson sets sail for Lord Howe Island aboard Viking — with his crew an eerie echo of the characters from the film Mystery Island. To hear all eight parts of this series now — and access bonus content – become a supporter: patreon.com/forgottenaustralia

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Fears mount for the Mystery Island movie stars aboard the little launch Mystery Star. Brian Abbot’s wife Grace and Leslie Hay Simpson’s brother-in-law Arthur Titterton do everything in their power to convince the Federal Government to launch an air-and-sea search of the Tasman Sea. But the weather is turning bad and time is running out. Meanwhile, Gower Wilson offers his theories about the missing men — and plans his own voyage to Lord Howe Island. To hear all eight instalments now — and for bonus episodes and the audiobook of Australia's Sweetheart — become a supporter: www.patreon.com/forgottenaustralia

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Despite warnings from Lord Howe Island’s unofficial chief Gower Wilson, Brian Abbot and his co-star Leslie Hay Simpson set sail for Sydney in the tiny motor launch Mystery Star. To hear all eight parts of this series now, become a supporter: patreon.com/forgottenaustralia

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As Mystery Island's cast and crew descend on Lord Howe Island, Brian Abbot has a secret plan to return to Sydney in his little motor launch Mystery Star. Why did he feel confident about making this dangerous trip? Likely because the Pup — sister ship to his vessel — had recently survived epic marine treks. But did Brian know the true fate of one of Pup’s skippers? To hear all eight parts of this series — along with bonus episodes — become a supporter at: patreon.com/forgottenaustralia

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After enjoying stage success in Sydney in early 1935, Brian Abbot breaks into the movies and lands a starring role in Ken G. Hall's kangaroo drama Orphan of the Wilderness. Next he's cast as the romantic hero of shipwreck thriller Mystery Island. That it's to be shot on Lord Howe Island gives real-life seafarer Brian an idea for his most daring adventure yet. But it's an adventure that risks replicating Lord Howe's most tragic mystery.

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In 2018 I found and reunited with my biological family, discovering that my people go back to 1842 on Lord Howe Island. On my first visit that Christmas, I became fascinated by the mystery surrounding the early talkie Mystery Island, which was shot on Lord Howe in 1936. Why did its leading man Brian Abbot — who had everything to live for — try to sail to Sydney across the treacherous Tasman Sea in a tiny motor launch? Was he mad, like they said, or was there something else at play?

In the past few months, my investigations have unearthed dozens of startling stranger-than-fiction stories that each shine a different light on this question. So, strap in for an eight-part epic series. You're going to meet Hollywood hopefuls, surf rescuers, plucky canoeists, turf tricksters, war heroes, daredevil aviators, shipwreck survivors and a handful of accused killers. Then there’s one chap who wrestled an octopus, rode sharks, hunted a humpback whale in Sydney Harbour, tried to reel in an Olympic swimming champion and led an expedition to catch a mysterious sea serpent — twice. Underlying all of these dramatic, tragic and comic tales is a haunting question: what role does “the element of luck” play in who lives and who dies?

In Part One, we meet young George Rikard-Bell, who rejected his privileged upbringing to become an adventurer and a conman in the Great Depression — before reinventing himself as the actor Brian Abbot. Part Two will be released on Thursday. Instalments will be out on Mondays after that. But you can binge all eight parts now by becoming a Forgotten Australia supporter for just a few bucks per month — go to: patreon.com/forgottenaustralia

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Born in 1864 on Lord Howe Island, Albert Nichols led a colourful life that ended with him an unsung hero of the Titanic sinking. This re-release comprises parts one and two of the S1 episode “Australia’s Titanic Hero”. It provides a lot of background to next week’s episode The Mysteries of Mystery Island — including insight into my link to Albert and Lord Howe.

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Having escaped prison, fled interstate and joined the army under yet another new name, George Blunderfield seeks reinvention and redemption on the Western Front — but his true nature compels him to commit his most atrocious crimes yet. To become a Forgotten Australia supporter, go to patreon.com/forgottenaustralia

**This podcast episode contains references to suicide, violence and sexual violence against children. Listener discretion is advised**

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After committing a sickening outrage in the first weeks of 1900, George Blunderfield serves a relatively short jail sentence. When he's set free he sheds his identity but can’t help but follow the nature that causes him to hurt those who only want to help him. **This podcast episode contains references to suicide, violence and sexual violence against children.**

To become a Forgotten Australia supporter, go to patreon.com/forgottenaustralia

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Over two decades George Farrow Blunderfield left a trail of pain and death in his wake from one side of the country to the other. I’ve made a three-part podcast exploring the life and crimes of this forgotten monster of early 20th Century Australia. To hear the whole story right now ad-free, become a Forgotten Australia supporter: patreon.com/forgottenaustralia

**This podcast episode contains references to suicide, violence and sexual violence against children. Listener discretion is advised**

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Following a shock verdict, Ronald Griggs has one last trick up his sleeve to amaze Australia. To get early ad-free access to episodes, exclusive bonus episodes and the full audiobook of Australia's Sweetheart, become a Forgotten Australia supporter — patreon.com/forgottenaustralia

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Having already been convicted by the newspapers, Ronald Griggs stands trial for the murder of his wife. If he’s found guilty, he’ll be sentenced to death. The final part of this mini-series is coming soon.

Can't wait? Forgotten Australia supporters can download the finale right now. Supporters also get a shout-out in an upcoming episode, early ad-free access to every episode, exclusive bonus episodes and the full audiobook of Australia’s Sweetheart, my biography of our forgotten film star Mary Maguire.

Hear the whole story first at: patreon.com/forgottenaustralia

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After Lottie Condon’s shock confession, Ronald Griggs becomes infamous overnight when Truth newspaper publishes every sordid detail of his scandalous love life. But with his wife’s body exhumed and the true cause of her death established, public shame is soon the least of the embattled Methodist minister’s problems. The last two parts of this mini-series are coming soon. But they are available right now to all supporters. This instalment also includes a 10-minute preview of the new bonus episode Detective McRae vs The Lady In Grey. Hear it in its entirety by becoming a supporter at: patreon.com/forgottenaustralia

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Following the mysterious death of his wife in the mountain town of Omeo, rumours about Methodist minister Ronald Griggs reach a fever pitch — and a veteran detective is sent from Melbourne CIB to investigate.

The next three parts of this mini-series will be released here in the next two weeks. Can't wait? Forgotten Australia supporters can download all of them now. Supporters also get a shout-out in an upcoming episode, early ad-free access to every episode, exclusive bonus episodes and the full audiobook of Australia’s Sweetheart, my biography of our forgotten film star Mary Maguire.

Hear the whole story now at: patreon.com/forgottenaustralia

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A village scandal leads to a sudden death in the parsonage that’s investigated by a big detective who waxes his little moustache. This really was a murder mystery that could’ve been written by Agatha Christie.

Join me for a deep dive into the story of Ronald Griggs, Methodist minister in Omeo, who shocked Australia in 1928 by shattering the commandments he supposedly held so sacred.

The next four parts of this mini-series will be released here in the next two weeks. Can't wait? Forgotten Australia supporters can download all of them now. Supporters also get a shout-out in an upcoming episode, early ad-free access to every episode, exclusive bonus episodes and the full audiobook of Australia’s Sweetheart, my biography of our forgotten film star Mary Maguire.

Hear the whole story now at: patreon.com/forgottenaustralia

Credits: Wagner Bridal Chorus Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License

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Sister Ellen Savage was the hero of Centaur and over the next four decades she'd keep alive the memory of her fallen sisters and brothers.

She was an Anzac hero who was to pass away on an Anzac Day.

To support Forgotten Australia: patreon.com/forgottenaustralia

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On 14 May 1943, the Australian Hospital Ship Centaur was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine off the coast of Queensland, with the loss of 268 people. Nursing sister Lieutenant Ellen Savage was one of the survivors and was hailed a hero for her bravery. While Centaur is well remembered, this podcast focuses on Nell Savage and her life of service before, during and after WWII. Part two will be released tomorrow. To become a Forgotten Australia supporter, go to patreon.com/forgottenaustralia

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Part two introduces us to a hard-charging cop and a spiritually minded reporter as the search for a solution to the Guyra Ghost mystery takes us to Gallipoli and onto the mean streets of Sydney.

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Starting 100 years ago this week, Australia was mystified by strange happenings at a farmhouse at Guyra in northern New South Wales. Showers of stones and unexplained bangings occurred night after night at the Bowen property, seemingly centred on the family's 12-year-old daughter Minnie. Police, the public and the press descended — and, with no rational explanation forthcoming, supernatural solutions were suggested.

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One hundred years ago today – 22 March 1921 – a gunman shot up the Riverton railway station in South Australia. One man would put himself in the firing line to save lives: Percy "Jack" Brookfield, a firebrand socialist NSW state parliamentarian whose politics had made him of the most loved – and hated – figures in Australia. To become a supporter of Forgotten Australian and get ad-free early and bonus episodes, along with the Australia's Sweetheart audiobook, go to patreon.com/forgottenaustralia

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In March 1907 Australia was gripped by the plight of Italian miner Modesto Varischetti, trapped deep underground and underwater at the Bonnie Vale gold mine in Western Australia. The Entombed Miner's only hope? A brave diver named Frank Hughes. To support the show and access bonus content: www.patreon.com/forgottenaustralia

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With Greg McHardie on the loose, there's another Woolworths bombing. Is the fugitive out for revenge or is he leading a far more laidback life? Even if his plans to leave the country don't come off, is there a jail that can hold him? In any case, both Greg and Larry aren't destined to stay behind bars long because that's just how NSW works

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In this, the second-last instalment of this special series, Greg McHardie is as free as a bird after his audacious Easter escape from Parramatta Jail. That leaves consummate entertainer and storyteller Larry Danielson to give the performance of his life for the most importance audience he’s ever faced: a jury of his peers. If you enjoy Forgotten Australia, please leave a rating and review because it helps other people find the show.

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As the trial of the alleged Woolworths Bombers gets underway, the jury hears about ransom letters, suspicious clock mechanisms and gelignite bomb explosions — along with jokey European accents, disappearing Ford Falcons and the provenance of a gaudy blue safari suit. Witnesses include the accused men’s family and friends, cops both upstanding and corrupt — and a police informer who’ll be revealed as one of Australia’s vilest offenders. With the case against Greg McHardie looking airtight, he'll be damned if he’s going to hang around to be convicted.

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The Task Force’s Operation Softly, Softly circles Larry Danielson in Huskisson — with one of the detectives a Manly mate from the good old Flicks days who gets stuck into the booze while on interrogation duty. Fraught though his outlook is, Larry still has a chance at freedom. But Greg McHardie? He's in for serious time, which turns his mind to a jailbreak.

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With Greg McHardie claiming to detectives he’s a dead man if he names those behind the Woolworths bombings, the Task Force turns its attentions to his associates on the South Coast, including his housemate Larry Danielson, a lovable larrikin who made his name as a singer-songwriter in Papua New Guinea before becoming the host with the most at one of the best venues of the emerging Aussie pub rock scene.

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After “Mr Bridge” is caught red-handed with the $1m Woolworths ransom, the suspect tells Task Force detectives he’s only a courier hired for the job. The mastermind’s name? Benny. From that moment on, Sydney’s police, press and public are all on high alert for this flashy character, who has threatened four more store bombings and for whose capture Woolies is offering a $250,000 reward.

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As 1980 ends and the New Year begins, Woolworths and the NSW police wage a war of nerves with Mr Dunmore over arrangements for the $1m ransom handover. While the extortionist bomber has a cunning plan to get away with the loot, the Task Force’s massive undercover Operation Alpha has set an elaborate trap that’ll end in a showdown on Sydney Harbour.

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After the Christmas Eve bombing of Woolworths' flagship Sydney store, the company awaits contact from the extortionist calling himself Mr Dunmore. Meanwhile, Woolies receives dozens more threats, a beer carton bomb is found in a store and a sensational leak splashes the terrorist’s secret $1m ransom demand all over the media. But what crime reporters don't know is that undercover detectives are already on the trail of man fitting the description of a Woolworths suspect — a man just released after a long prison sentence for Sydney gelignite bombings…

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On Christmas Eve 1980, young constable Allan Duncan responded to the Woolies Town Hall bomb threat and would be inside the building when the device detonated.

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On Christmas Eve 1980, the Woolworths’ head office in Sydney gets a phone call from the man already responsible for two regional store bombings in the past week. An explosive device has been placed in the flagship variety store opposite Town Hall. It's going to detonate in 10 minutes. What follows is like something out of a Hollywood movie. But with its Holden utes and safari suits, beer carton bombs and pub rock gigs, this true-blue true-crime yarn could only have come from Australia.

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On Christmas Eve 1859, Margaret Douglas and Beverley Howard started their epic 1500-mile walking match in Melbourne — which the city’s newspapers did their very best to ignore. Despite such hostility at home, our first sporting heroine would be appreciated by English reporters when she performed her walking feats in London and Liverpool. In this episode we also trace Margaret’s likely identity — and learn how she inspired a rival in Emma Sharp (pictured), who in turn nearly 150 years later inspired a distant relative to undertake a stirring long-distance charity walk in Canberra.

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Melbourne’s Margaret Douglas was an endurance pedestrian every bit as remarkable as her Sydney contemporary The Flying Pieman. After stumbling upon a passing reference to her in an 1878 newspaper, I took a deep dive to shine a light on her completely forgotten achievements and examine how she was deliberately excluded from many newspapers of the time and then from a seminal history book that provided a chronology of pedestrianism. In part one we look at the colourful history of women who walked long distances in England and America, the abundance of coverage given to a man who walked 1000 miles in 1000 hours in Melbourne in 1858 and how Victoria's newspapers treated Margaret’s attempts to conquer the same challenge in the city six months later.

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Having made his dazzling pedestrian comeback, The Flying Pieman takes another tilt at politics in typical comedic fashion before jolting the Sydney establishment with one last audacious stunt. Feeling his mortality as he enters old age, William Francis King makes a public pledge of love — only for heartbreak to follow.

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In September 1847, after crashing out during the challenge to walk 192 miles in 48 hours non-stop, The Flying Pieman takes a second tilt at this epic feat of pedestrianism. But he won’t stop there because he has much bigger dreams that include walking 250 miles in 250 hours, spilling his soul in lectures on social issues and finding a damsel he can call Mrs Pieman.

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In the 1840s Australia was amazed by the epic pedestrian feats of William Francis King, who was known far and wide as The Flying Pieman. Our first sporting hero, this eccentric celebrity was every bit as famous for his non-stop talking as for his non-stop walking. In this episode we delve into his incredible accomplishments, the larrikin streak that saw him lampoon colonial politics and the tragedies that turned his life into legend. We begin with The Flying Pieman taking on his greatest challenge — walking 192 miles in 48 hours… without stopping for a moment.

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Jack Brown — murderer of three people, supposedly inspired by reading Deadwood Dick pulp novels — went to trial in October 1906. But could a boy who reckoned he’d slaughtered his best friends in the name of a genocidal revolution for White Australia actually be sane, be convicted and be hanged?

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Following the supposedly Deadwood Dick-inspired murders committed by Jimmy and Joe Governor, Jack Underwood and Thomas Quinlan, in July 1906 Australia was rocked by a new outrage attributed to “pernicious literature”: the brutal killing and mutilation of three people at German Creek on the NSW north coast. The perpetrator was young Jack Brown. But he said his motivation wasn’t to be a pulp novel hero. Instead, Jack wanted to start a genocidal revolution in the name of White Australia.

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Deadwood Dick was the first pop culture superhero – 50 years before Batman — and he was the first such character to spark widespread moral condemnation as a "cause" of crime. In Australia from the 1890s, Deadwood Dick was blamed for everything, from truancy to... mass murder. In this two-part episode we look at the role Deadwood Dick did — and didn't —play in three horrific murder cases.

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75 years ago this week, the Japanese surrendered and WWII was over. After these celebrations came horror at what POWs had suffered. Of the many accounts of surviving atrocities, one stood out: Changi prisoner AIF private Colin Fleming Brien had lived through his attempted beheading. This front-page story shocked Australia and his testimony would help convict Japanese war criminals. In a special Forgotten Australia episode, we'll hear Colin's story in his own words.

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By mid-autumn 1900, dozens of people in Sydney had died from Bubonic Plague – many within a day of showing symptoms. Yet the CMO’s rat-killing recommendations were initially ignored and it’d be up to a future PM to stand up for poor people on the front lines of the lockdown, washdown and knockdown policy. Despite lessons learned from the 1900 outbreak, the Black Death would recur through the first quarter of the 20th Century in Australia – with hundreds more dying... before one final lonely and forgotten fatality.

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It's New Year's Day 1900 and Sydney is celebrating on this sunny day. But Dr Ashburton Thompson, NSW's chief medical officer, knows that darkness is coming over the horizon in the form of Bubonic Plague. Once the Black Death strikes, he'll be in charge of Sydney's defences — and have to convince the populace that fleas from infected rats are to blame for the pestilence.

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In winter 1950 a dark old house in Melbourne — owned by an elderly dying widow — was terrorised by nightly visitations from a fiend who was nicknamed "Jack The Rapper". Like something of out a classic horror movie, the sensational story included frightened nurses, traps laid by cops, vigilante mobs stalking the streets, voyeuristic ghostbusters and a stake-out orchestrated by a tabloid reporter with his own war-time ghosts. As the disturbances spread beyond the original "haunted house", Jack The Rapper became national front page news — and the "answers" offered posed only more questions. For more information: www.forgottenaustralia.com

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While the evidence against Veronica Monty was damning, she was also damned by the hypocritical morality of Australia in the 1950s. Tried for attempted murder, she was convicted of far worse — and would pay the price. For more information: www.forgottenaustralia.com

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When Sydney detectives confirm star Balmain rugby league player Bob Lulham has been poisoned with Thall-Rat, they begin an investigation that at first turns up few leads. A series of mysterious phone calls to the CIB keeps the police wondering until they finally make a shocking arrest. While the identification of the suspect is sensational, what emerges at the accused's committal hearing has jaws on the floor in 1950s Australia — as it would be today. For more: www.forgottenaustralia.com and www.facebook.com/forgottenoz

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On the 20th of July 1953, Sydney detectives discovered that someone had used rat poison to try to murder star Balmain rugby league player Bob Lulham. Nearly seventy years on, this remains one of Australian sport’s most sensational, strangest and saddest scandals — and among the least remembered. In part one of this deep dive, we explore Bob’s proud family legacy – his father fought at Gallipoli on 25 August 1915 — and Bob’s meteoric rise in rugby league, which included his record-breaking 1947 debut season and him donning the Kangaroo jersey to represent Australia against England in 1948-49. For more information: www.forgottenaustralia.com and www.facebook.com/forgottenoz

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WWII Aussie coastwatcher Reg Evans rescued John F. Kennedy in the Pacific in 1943 but his world-changing role in history would be left out of media articles and campaign propaganda that sought to emphasise Jack’s war heroism. It wasn’t until a little Sydney magazine started digging some 17 years later that the truth about the man who’d saved the life of the 35th President of the United States began to emerge. This is the conclusion and it's a story of wartime bravery, alleged Nazi spies, West African riots, men's magazines, TV game shows and Hollywood movie deals — with... of course... a cameo by Betty White. For more information: www. forgottenaustralia.com.au

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Sixty years ago this month JFK won the West Virginia primary — a decisive moment for his campaign — and he did so with a low-blow political move meant to showcase him as a naval war hero. But not even JFK knew the truth behind the story that was to help him capture the White House — that he was only alive thanks to the work of a mysterious Australian coastwatcher. For more information: www.forgottenaustralia.com and www.facebook.com/forgottenoz

 

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John Kinsela is an Aboriginal man, a Vietnam veteran, a two-time Olympic wrestler and a survivor of PTSD and cancer who was awarded the OAM in 2017 for his work with Circle Sentencing, a western Sydney initiative to keep Indigenous offenders out of the prison system where possible. I spoke with him about growing up in poverty in the 1950s, the road to the Mexico City Olympics in 1968, seeing combat in Vietnam two years later, being at the Munich Games in 1972 when Israeli athletes were massacred and how he dealt with PTSD and his recent and very grim cancer diagnosis. For more information: www.forgottenaustralia.com

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Having achieved fame as a fashion model in Paris and London by 1935, Margaret Vyner set her sights on the movies — finding her first substantial film role in the most unexpected place, just as she’d soon meet the love of her life when she least expected it. But the Second World War would change everything — and by the 1950s Margaret would have to reinvent herself yet again to survive. For more information: www.forgottenaustralia.com

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In August 1934 — more than half a century before Elle Macpherson was dubbed “The Body” by Time magazine — Sydney teenager Margaret Vyner was acclaimed as Australia’s first celebrity model when she caused a sensation at Paris fashion parades as muse to legendary French designer Jean Patou. But with the Second World War bearing down, plucky Margaret would have to be more than just a pretty face and figure to fulfill her dreams of living a charmed life. For more information. www.forgottenaustralia.com

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After helping to catch serial killer Mad Mossy, Tracker Riley became Australia's most-decorated Aboriginal policeman, yet he still faced racism — with tragic circumstances. For more information: www.forgottenaustralia.com

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In the Dubbo region in the mid-to-late 1930s, Aboriginal tracker Alexander Riley worked three high-profile murder investigations — including bringing serial killer "Mad Mossy" to justice. For more information: www.forgottenaustralia.com

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For nearly 40 years, Aboriginal tracker Alexander Riley chased down thieves, fugitives and murderers in outback NSW — and saved the lives of many people who’d become lost in the harsh landscape. Among Tracker Riley's famous cases were the frustrating manhunt for Roy Governor, known as “the last of the bushrangers”, and collecting grisly evidence against “Mad Mossy”, one of Australia’s most deranged serial killers. For more information: www.forgottenaustralia.com

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In 1919 Australia was baffled by a real-life mystery worthy of Sherlock Holmes when the body of a young man was discovered on top of a railway carriage outside Melbourne. Who was he? How had he died? How had he ended up on the roof of a moving train? While there would be an official explanation, a century down the track I'm presenting a new theory about what really happened. For more information www.forgottenaustralia.com and www.facebook.com/forgottenoz

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In the mid-1950s, Jeanette Elphick, an Australian model known as "The Face", reinvented herself as Hollywood movie star Victoria Shaw, going on to make big studio films opposite the likes of Tyrone Power, William Holden and Yul Brynner. But fame came at a steep price. For more information: www.forgottenaustralia.com and www.facebook.com/forgottenoz

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In 1954 popular Sydney model Shirley Beiger went on trial for the shooting murder of her boyfriend, with the already sensational proceedings made wilder by her outbursts, a media frenzy, the appearance of a crazed mystic, the accused's unruly cheer squad and a confused verdict. For more information: www.forgottenaustralia.com and www.facebook.com/forgottenoz

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In 1954 glamorous Sydney model Shirley Beiger shot her lover dead outside a Sydney nightclub. But why did she kill him — and what punishment would she face? For more information: www.forgottenaustralia.com and https://www.facebook.com/forgottenoz

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Just days after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, Murray Chambers from Queensland survived when an enemy submarine sank the merchant ship Donerail a few hundred miles off Hawaii. Twenty four men made it into a lifeboat. When this lifeboat washed up 38 days later, 2000 miles away in Tarawa, Chambers was the lone survivor. But his story didn’t quite add up.

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In June 1946 a crew of four sailing the ketch Nova down the New South Wales coast vanished with their boat in bad weather. 132 days later a lone skeletal figure washed up just barely alive 1000 miles away, having endured one of history’s most incredible forgotten oceanic ordeals. But for this survivor the battle was just beginning.

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Fifty years before Fine Cotton, Australia was electrified by a series of audacious racing ring-ins starring a champion horse named Erbie. The man who exposed the conspiracy? Bert “Cardigan” Wolfe, the country's top turf writer, who’d recently witnessed Phar Lap’s greatest moment — and then his last.

 

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As 1940 starts and the “Phoney War” ends, Australian RAF Bomber Command pilot Jim Brough flies ever-more dangerous missions against the Nazis and faces death again and again — wondering how long it’ll be before his number is up and whether a fortune teller’s prediction will come true. For more information, visit www.forgottenaustralia.com and www.facebook.com/forgottenoz

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Eighty years ago this week, World War II began when England declared war on Germany in response to the Nazi invasion of Poland. Within 48 minutes of the war starting, RAF Bomber Command launched its first mission. For Australians in the RAF, the fight was on — and James Brough from Tasmania would be among the first to take on the Luftwaffe. This forgotten hero's story is told for the first time in this episode. For more information: www.forgottenaustralia.com and www.facebook.com/forgottenoz

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From making pioneering bushranger films and launching the careers of Australia’s most famous early stars to a bitter business betrayal and a bloody murder in the remote wilderness, the conclusion to movie mogul Cosens Spencer’s story is like something from the silver screen. But it’s all true. For more information visit: www.forgottenaustralia.com and www.facebook.com/forgottenoz

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In the early 20th century, Spencer Cosens was Australia’s greatest showman. With his wife, projectionist Senora Spencer, he pioneered motion picture exhibition, establishing the first permanent cinema, introducing sound and colour films and championing local feature production. But a business betrayal would ruin Spencer’s career, permanently sabotage the Australian film industry and result in a bloody tragedy that sounded like something out of the movies. For more information and to see Spencer's films, visit www.forgottenaustralia.com and visit us at www.facebook.com/forgottenoz

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On a Saturday night in June 1928 a masked gunman shot and killed sisters Esther Vaughan and Sarah Falvey in the lolly shop that had made them favourites in the inner Sydney suburb of Dulwich Hill. Who killed the woman and why? For the first time, the murder, the mystery and the main suspect are re-examined. For more information: www.forgottenaustralia.com and www.facebook.com/forgottenoz

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In 1937 Jean Burns was widely reported as Australia’s first woman parachutist — but the newspapers were out by nearly half a century. For six months in 1890, Valerie and Gladys Van Tassel — under the management of American aeronaut “Professor” Park Van Tassel, their supposed brother — caused a sensation with their dazzling parachute jumps from trapezes suspended beneath crude hot air balloons thousands of feet in the air. But along with the spectacle came scandal and tragedy whose mysteries endure to this day. For more information: www.forgottenaustralia.com and www.facebook.com/forgottenoz

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At the age of 17, Robert Brand did work experience at the Overseas Telecommunications Commission’s station in Paddington, Sydney, where he played a small part in ensuring the television images of Neil Armstrong taking his first steps on the moon were seen around the world. On the 50th anniversary of that historic event, Robert talks about how this experience inspired him to spend the next half century working in the space sector. The conversation ranges across what The Dish got wrong, what it was like to hear Apollo 13's crew fight for their lives, how he saved the space mission to Halley’s Comet and his plans to revolutionise communications using stratospheric drones. For more information: www.forgottenaustralia.com and www.facebook.com/forgottenoz

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Just hours before Apollo 11 landed on the moon on 20 July 1969, young Australian pop star Cathy Wayne was shot dead on stage while performing for American Marines in Vietnam. Yet Cathy hadn’t been killed by the enemy — she’d been gunned down by one of the very soldiers who she’d travelled half way around the world to entertain. But who shot Cathy and why?

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There was no doubt Audrey Jacob had shot Cyril Gidley dead in front of hundreds of people during a charity dance at Perth’s Government House. But why had she killed him and was she guilty of murder? The final instalment of this episode takes us inside one of Australia’s most extraordinary trials—and beyond to a second murder, the tragic downfall of a business titan and across the world to the Cuban Missile Crisis, Vietnam War and Carter White House. For more information: www.forgottenaustralia.com and www.facebook.com/forgottenoz

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In 1925 beautiful young Audrey Campbell Jacob shot a young man dead in front of hundreds of revellers during a charity dance in the ballroom of Government House in Perth — and the court case that followed the crime was every bit as shocking. For more information, including photos and articles, go to www.forgottenaustralia.com and www.facebook.com/forgottenoz

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Back in Melbourne in early 1954, James Robert Walker is hellbent on murdering The Brain and The Thing. But after he reluctantly casts himself in the role of protector to a damsel in distress, the veteran gunman finally ends up serving a life sentence in Pentridge Prison. There, true to form, he hatches a plan as ruthless as it is audacious. Every bit as bold is that Walker is secretly writing his autobiography, which is to cause a sensation when it's smuggled from jail and published Australia-wide. For more information and for photos, visit www.forgottenaustralia.com and www.facebook.com/forgottenoz

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Having spent half of the 1930s behind bars, murderous gunman James Robert Walker moves back to Melbourne to start a new life on the straight and narrow. There, he meets the sultry Rita, the love of his life, who he makes his wife, and they amass a stash of cash so they can buy a hotel together. But Walker's past won't let him go and he's soon at the centre of an underworld feud involving The Brain, The Thing, The Gambler and The Mark Foy — and being stalked by a young assassin nicknamed Scotland Yard.

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Charismatic crook and killer James Robert Walker pretty much wrote the playbook that Mark “Chopper” Read would later follow. Finally convicted of murder in Melbourne in 1953, he made headlines by demanding to be hanged. Denied his death wish, Walker then planned a massacre in Pentridge Prison – setting out his reasons in a book-length confession he’d written in secret, in which he also admitted to unsolved murders, shootings and robberies. The publication of “The Robert Walker Story” in newspapers around Australia enthralled hundreds of thousands of readers, though his life and times would soon be inexplicably forgotten — until now. In part one of this three-part episode, we follow Walker in the 1930s as he rejects his respectable upbringing for a career as a petty criminal and cold-blooded gunman responsible for two murders. For more information: www.forgottenaustralia.com and www.facebook.com/forgottenoz

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Long before Mick Molloy or Kyle Sandilands, Arundel Nixon ripped up the radio waves as the risqué “King of the Cads”. For a decade the Cad worked for —and was sacked from — hit stations in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and Brisbane as he battled censors, conservatives, radio bosses, his three wives and a small army of his own personal demons. On-air sackings, drinking binges, court cases, fateful prophecies, private detectives, car crashes and splashy headlines: this is the forgotten story of our original shock jock.

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Radical revolutionaries, maniacal Marines, sexual shenanigans, dodgy dealings, horny hippies, Hare Krishnas and High Court judges: this is the stranger-than-fiction story of American military deserter Douglas Beane. From the violence of Vietnam in the Seventies to beach life in Brunswick Heads in the Eighties, Doug’s case rattled the echelons of power in Washington and Canberra while proving beyond any reasonable doubt that the man himself was one of the world’s most accomplished lovers — if one of its most lacklustre fighters.

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Private James Coughlan only saw one day of combat — 25 April 1915 at Gallipoli — yet his war would continue at home for years, one of thousands whose quiet fates are often forgotten on Anzac Day. For more information and photos: www.forgottenaustralia.com Find us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/forgottenoz

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This 1939 case seemed ripped from the pages of a detective novel — and may even have been inspired by one. There was the man with the murky past. Sisters who met sudden suspicious deaths. A corpse that had to be exhumed. Crucial evidence that was allowed to be destroyed and a coroner with a bizarre conflict of interest. Adding to the sensation: police thought by solving the Walwa mystery, they might also solve Australia’s most famous unsolved murder — that of the Pyjama Girl. For more information and photos: www.forgottenaustralia.com Find us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/forgottenoz

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Who was this good guy with a gun? We delve into life of American cowboy Albert “Arizona” Ryan, who became a celebrity in 1919 in Australia after killing a man to end a Sydney siege. Hear how Arizona, like Dirty Harry, had a history of trigger-happy vigilantism, and how, like Dirty John, his creepy marriage to a wealthy woman came to a violent end. For more information and photos: www.forgottenaustralia.com Find us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/forgottenoz

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A century ago, in the Sydney slum of Surry Hills, a Chinese gunman shot more than a dozen people, triggering a dramatic police siege that was only ended by the violent intervention of a lone American vigilante. But who was this self-styled cowboy with the six-shooter?

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In 1891 Henry Lawson published a poem called “The Ghost at the Second Bridge”, which told of encountering a terrifying spectre on lonely Mount Victoria Pass in the Blue Mountains. While a fright of fancy, Lawson’s poem was based on a tragic true story. Gather round for the haunting tale of a handful of murders, a couple of hangings, chaotic court cases, drunken witnesses, shock acquittals, and, of course, sightings of the restless spirit known as “The Woman in Black”. For more information and photos: www.forgottenaustralia.com Find us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/forgottenoz

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Another missing woman, more illegal operations and alleged murders, along with scandalous affairs and amnesiac witnesses. In the final part of this episode, the full extent of Nurse Hannah Mitchell’s trials and tribulations is revealed. For more information and photos: www.forgottenaustralia.com Find us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/forgottenoz

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In 1923 Nurse Hannah Mitchell faced trial, charged with the murder of Bertha Coughlan and the attempted murder of her ex-husband Frank Bonfiglio. The evidence was sensational, as were the verdicts. For more information and photos: www.forgottenaustralia.com Find us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/forgottenoz

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She dropped a headless torso into the Yarra River and shot her ex-husband full of holes — and these were just two of the horrific crimes alleged against Nurse Hannah Mitchell in the 1920s. The full story of “Melbourne’s Most Notorious Woman” is told for the first time in a special three-part episode. For more information and photos: www.forgottenaustralia.com Find us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/forgottenoz

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While many bushrangers are celebrated as rebel leaders, the one man who might really fit the bill—Ralph Entwistle, leader of the Ribbon Boys—is all but unknown. It was his naked swim that led to Australia’s biggest convict uprising—1830’s The Bathurst Rebellion—and resulted in one of the largest mass hangings in our history. Yet the entire tragedy wouldn’t have happened if it not for a police magistrate’s fondness for handing out brutal punishments. For more information and photos: www.forgottenaustralia.com Find us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/forgottenoz

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Elected to state and federal parliament, Thomas Ley’s career in 1920s politics was marked by hypocrisy, corruption, ruthless manipulation and the lingering suspicion that he may have killed his rivals. The worst fears of his critics were confirmed in 1947, when Ley was convicted of cold-blooded murder in one of England’s most sensational court trials. For more information and photos: www.forgottenaustralia.com Find us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/forgottenoz

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Australians are no strangers to big cat stories, but only one mystery resulted in the capture of not one but two monsters. In the early 1890s, witnesses claimed to have seen a tiger in the Tantanoola region of South Australia and graziers often found their sheep mutilated and partly devoured. Search parties failed to capture the beast until an expert marksman joined the hunt. Yet even after the creature was slain, sheep kept disappearing, falling prey to an even more terrifying predator. For more information and photos: www.forgottenaustralia.com Find us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/forgottenoz

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In March 1872 Australians were shocked by one of the most cold-blooded murders the colonies had ever seen. The nightmare began with the discovery of a badly decomposed body that had been weighed down with a heavy stone in the Parramatta River. Even more chillingly, it soon emerged that this victim, John Bridger, had been lured to his brutal death via an employment advertisement in The Sydney Morning Herald. Then it became clear that this murdered man wasn’t the only victim. For more information and photos: www.forgottenaustralia.com Find us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/forgottenoz

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With Titanic sinking in the early hours of 15 April 1912, boatswain Albert Nichols has to muster his men and make ready the lifeboats. Around 1am, it’s claimed, he was given a dangerous mission that, if successful, would save many more lives. But mystery swirls around what happened in the next 80 minutes. For more information and photos: www.forgottenaustralia.com Find us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/forgottenoz

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Albert Nichols was born in 1864 on remote Lord Howe Island. After a public scandal that saw him pitted against his parents, Albert fled to Sydney before working his way to London as a seaman. There he established a successful career with the White Star Line, working as a boatswain first on the company’s luxury liner Adriatic and then on the even-bigger Olympic. In April 1912 he transferred to Titanic, the greatest ship ever built and was aboard for the liner’s sea trials, for the trip from Belfast to Southampton and for the maiden voyage. His life story is told for the first time in this two-part episode — and, despite this being a true Titanic tale, you simply won’t believe the ending. For more information and photos: www.forgottenaustralia.com Find us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/forgottenoz

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From 1946 Sydney’s Leonard Lawson was a hero to kids for creating the comic book The Lone Avenger. But in reality the young artist was a psychopathic villain responsible for crimes far more terrible than anything in his stories. For five decades Lawson would outrage Australia by destroying innocent lives and make a mockery of the law’s ability to control violent offenders. For more information and photos: www.forgottenaustralia.com Find us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/forgottenoz

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It was the Teacher’s Pet-style mystery that gripped Australia 80 years ago. Brisbane socialite Marjorie Norval disappeared in November 1938 under bizarre circumstances, sparking the biggest search in Queensland’s history. In the days and months to come, four heroic rescuers would die, one of her rumoured lovers would commit suicide, and a light would be shone on the city’s shady characters, from illegal abortionists to peeping Toms. For more information and photos: www.forgottenaustralia.com Find us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/forgottenoz

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While the random mass shooting that inspires a further murder spree seems a very modern and very American phenomenon, the first such outrage happened nearly a century ago in Australia. Melbourne’s 1924 Botanic Gardens Massacre saw the public turn paranoid and police and alienists mystified as the man the newspapers called a maniac evaded a huge manhunt. Then came the copycat killer. For more information and photos: www.forgottenaustralia.com Find us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/forgottenoz

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Most cops are on strike. The few loyalist police left on duty risk life and limb because tens of thousands of citizens are crowding the streets and the mood is turning darker as fists and bottles fly. When the last cops defect or retreat just after dark, rioters become looters and the city becomes a war zone. With blood flowing in the streets, politicians summon a militia and order the military to protect the city. But this isn’t Berlin or Moscow. It’s Melbourne, November 1923, and Australia’s sophisticated southern metropolis is descending into anarchy. For more information and photos: www.forgottenaustralia.com Find us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/forgottenoz

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A century ago, a world already at war faced its worst-ever natural disaster: Spanish Flu. But in late 1918, this plague, which would claim as many as 100 million lives, was yet to infect Australia, with Sydney’s North Head Quarantine Station becoming the frontline in the battle against the deadly invader. Young nurse Annie Egan was among those brave souls who risked their lives to help the infected. Her fate sparked a furore — and foreshadowed what awaited many Australians in 1919. Be sure to subscribe to get every episode. For more information and photos: www.forgottenaustralia.com Find us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/forgottenoz

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