Forgotten Australia
Created by Michael Adams, author of The Murder Squad and Hanging Ned Kelly, Forgotten Australia delves deep into bloody crimes, dark histories, unsolved mysteries, eccentric personalities and bizarre happenings that are almost always stranger than fiction. Each episode brings to life people and events that were once known to everyone but are now barely remembered by anyone. Based on intensive original research, Forgotten Australia is crafted with a novelist’s eye for character and detail to create gripping narratives that sound so fresh it's like they're ripped from today's headlines. This is the history you wish you’d been taught in s...
Episodes
This Week in 1932: 32 Rabbit Holes – Part Three
In 1932, horror movies are on the rise, reflecting fears of an uncertain age – and fair enough, too, because, in addition to the woes of the Great Depression, the rise of fascism and Nazism, and the slide towards another world war, machines…
This Week in 1932: 32 Rabbit Holes – Part Two
While Hitler’s rise to power In Germany seems unstoppable and Mussolini celebrates ten years of fascism in Italy, Australia's homegrown New Guard numbskulls have already become irrelevant – and escaped investigation for their planned insurr…
This Week in 1932: 32 Rabbit Holes – Part One
From robots and rockets, to mad scientists, anti-democratic techbros and narcissistic fascist strongmen, a lot of what was making news this week in the Great Depression sounds, well, familiar. But at least we’re not declaring war on emus...…
This Week in 1907: All Quacked Up
Doan’s Backache Kidney Pills, Freeman’s Chlorodyne, Hearn’s Bronchitis Cure, Dr Morse’s Indian Root Pills – what was in these and other patent medicines and how much good and harm did they do? These questions were being asked this week in 1…
Short – The Coastwatcher’s Lonely War
In July 1942, as Australia’s armed forces were about to begin what would become the legendary battle for the Kokoda Track, in another occupied part of New Guinea, the brave Aussie coastwatcher Con Page was desperately trying to evade a huge…
Short – The Ballad of Australia’s Forgotten Boxing Champion
In July 1919, tiny-statured but huge-hearted youngster George Mendies won the Australian Flyweight Title. This was a crown he'd defend successfully again and again – until fate dealt him a cruel blow when he did a favour for a fellow boxer.…
Short – One Man, Two Mining Disasters
Australia suffered what is still our worst industrial disaster when an explosion ripped through the Mount Kembla mine on 31 July 1902. Strikingly, lead rescuer Henry MacCabe had 15 years earlier been acclaimed a hero of the 1887 Mount Keira…
Short: An Aussie Movie Star’s Acid Horror
At the height of the silent movie era, young Australian star Lotus Thompson set her sights on Hollywood. But she soon faced a problem: her legs were so beautiful that producers couldn’t see past her perfect pins to recognise her as a true a…
Short: SS Waratah – Australia's Own 'Titanic' Mystery
In July 1909, the world wondered what had become of the SS Waratah, last seen off coast of South Africa with more than 200 souls aboard. This grim mystery was even more sensational for featuring a one-armed double murderer, a passenger plag…
Short: Australia's Free Speech Martyr
William Chidley was an early 20th Century Australian eccentric with his own philosophies, which he preached and published - and for which he was relentlessly persecuted. Eventually, Chidley would be charged with being a lunatic – setting th…
This Week in 1981: Don't Believe the Hype
The death of stuntman Dale Buggins, the arrival of Adam Ant in Australia and new ‘evidence’ in the Azaria Chamberlain case – it was a big week for sensational tabloid stories. Plus: the birth of the Macquarie Dictionary, the Sale of the Cen…
This Week in 1956: TV debuts, rock ’n’ roll riots and a dancing senior citizen takes on the world
In the third week of September 1956, a small number of Australians finally saw what all the fuss was about when regular TV broadcasts began. It was a quiet start - unlike the arrival of the raucous, riot-inspiring youth movie Rock Around Th…
Short: The Death of Damien Parer
This week in 1944, Australia's most famous war cameraman — whose film Kokoda Front Line! had won us our first Oscar the previous year — was killed while filming American Marines trying to retake a tiny Pacific island held by the Japanese.It…
Short: Mark Twain Down Under
One hundred and thirty years ago this month, Mark Twain, creator of Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn, and hailed as the world’s funniest man, arrived in Australia for the start of a months-long speaking tour. Aussies loved the famous visitor – and …
Short: When War Came on Father's Day
As winter became spring in Australia in 1939, the world stood on the edge of the abyss.Then, on Father's Day, 3 September, everyone's worst fears were confirmed: Australia would once again go to war with Germany. In the hours that followed …
Short: Australia's Worst Shipwreck
180 years ago this month, Australia suffered what is still our worst civil maritime disaster when the emigrant ship Cataraqui struck a reef off King Island and sank in Bass Strait. Of the 409 aboard, just nine were to survive - but fate hel…
Short: From Dead Heart to Inland Sea
With Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre now flooded, we look back on the first time this happened in white history. Seventy-five years ago, Australia’s driest and most inhospitable region became a huge inland sea — and was explored by Elliot Price, a sa…
This Week in 1931: The Man Who Fell To Earth – Part Three
Having enjoyed a trifecta of splashy Sydney skydiving successes, Stanley makes a new start in Melbourne only to learn that disasters come in threes.It’s easy to get a free trial that will give you access to ad-free, early and bonus episodes…
This Week in 1931: The Man Who Fell To Earth – Part Two
After Stanley Thomas’s rapid rise to parachuting success in Sydney, his career starts to stall with a series of jumps that are erratic and dangerous.*Part Three is available now early and ad-free for supporters. You'll also get access to ot…
This Week in 1931: The Man Who Fell To Earth – Part One
Stanley Thomas was a young parachutist who made himself into a star in Sydney in the early years of the Great Depression. In public, he thrilled with his daredevil stunts. In private, he wrestled the darkest of demons. In the first instalme…
This Week in 1906: The Golden Rule Axe Murder
When John Hassett was murdered in his Adelaide hotel room, Australia wasn’t faced with a whodunnit but a whydunnit.Why had his wife Ada committed this cold-blooded crime?Is she was insane, what had broken her mind?For the first time, Ada’s …
The Curious Case of the Two-Headed Baby – Part Two
Reuben Doodeward faces court, but he’s not backing down, and neither is the NSW government, with the fight over the fate of the two-headed baby headed for the High Court… and beyond.It’s easy to get a free trial that will give you access to…
The Curious Case of the Two-Headed Baby – Part One
In 1906, Australia was scandalised that Sydney showman Reuben Doodeward (pictured) had exhibited a two-headed baby preserved in a bottle of spirits. Yet he was only doing what his dear old dad had done in Dunedin nearly 30 years earlier. Th…
Before the Mushroom Trial – The Poisoned Footy Player: Part Three
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.It’s easy to get a free …
Before the Mushroom Trial – The Poisoned Footy Player: Part Two
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 wonder…
Before the Mushroom Trial – The Poisoned Footy Player: Part One
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. More than 70 years later, this remains one of Australian sport’s most sensational, strange…
This Week in 1980 – The Family Court Murders, Miracle Babies and Birds, Our Richest Real Estate and the Village People Conquer Australia
A judge is gunned down, we welcome our first test tube baby and we try to save the world’s rarest bird. Meanwhile, Sydney sets a record house price and the Village People score bigly Down Under. Plus: Why does President Trump love the YMCA?…
This Week in 1955 – Part Two: A Ban on Aboriginal People, Putting An End to Polio, the Murder Manhunt and the ‘Murderphobia’ Case
While Sydney welcomes African-American entertainers, Moree bans Aboriginal Australians from exercising their human rights on the land that’s always been their home. But this regressive act will have progressive consequences… eventually. Plu…
This Week in 1955 – Part One: A Murderer Escapes, Our Politicians Jail Pressmen and an Aussie Witnesses Horror at Le Mans
Up in the Queensland, a murderer and a robber break out of prison, while down in Canberra our Federal Parliament puts a couple of newspaper blokes behind bars for breaching privilege. Meanwhile, a veteran Aussie journo at Le Mans witnesses …
Before the Mushroom Case: Australia’s Infamous Poisoning Murder Trial – Part Five
Following the verdict, Ronald Griggs has one last trick up his sleeve to amaze Australia. It’s easy to get a free trial that will give you access to ad-free, early and bonus episodes. Hit either of these links:Patreon: patreon.com/forgotten…
Before the Mushroom Case: Australia’s Infamous Poisoning Murder Trial – Part Four
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.It’s easy to get a free trial that will give you access to ad-free, early and bonus ep…
This Week in 1930 - America's Tariff Apocalypse, Aviatrix Amy Johnson Awes Aussies... and Ferris Bueller?
In the first week of June 1930, America was on the brink of economic apocalypse with its Smoot-Hawley tariffs – and their effects would be felt terribly Down Under and around the world. In this very same week, Aussies set in motion a proces…
Before the Mushroom Case: Australia’s Infamous Poisoning Murder Trial – Part Three
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, p…
Before the Mushroom Case: Australia’s Infamous Poisoning Murder Trial – Part Two
Following the mysterious death of his wife in the mountain town of Omeo, rumours about Methodist preacher Ronald Griggs reach a fever pitch — and a veteran detective is sent from Melbourne CIB to investigate.Parts three, four and five are a…
Before the Mushroom Case: Australia’s Infamous Poisoning Murder Trial – Part One
Nearly a century before Erin Patterson was put on trial in the mushroom murder case, Australia was scandalised by allegations that a young preacher from country Victoria had poisoned his wife, Ethel, the mother of his baby girl, so he could…
This Week in 1905: Aussie Feminist Highs & Lows, the First Empire Day, an American President Ends a Russian War, and a Ratcatcher Echoes in Eternity
In London this week, the Aussie suffragist Nellie Martel explains to English women how they can win the vote, while back at home pioneering feminist Louisa Lawson’s publication The Dawn teeters on the brink of closure. Plus: the first Empir…
This Week in 1979: Aussie Movies Go Global, Ye Olde TV Listings & Our Forgotten Comedy Genius
This week at the Cannes Film Festival, My Brilliant Career made Australian film history, while back home Rupert Murdoch became a Sydney TV mogul, setting the stage for his world-changing Fox News empire. Meanwhile, Aussies lived with limite…
This Week in 1954 - Sydney Anarchy, Killer Trains, a Climate Warming Warning, Record Setters & the Roo Roo Hop
Pirates, sailors, mountaineers and the Abominable Snowman run riot through Sydney – a Sydney were you risk life and limb every time you catch a train. Also this week: scientists prove that the world is warming – and cite civilisation as the…
Short – Nazi Aftertaste
85 years before American President Donald Trump gave unelected social media mogul Elon Musk unprecedented power with DOGE, Australian Prime Minister Robert Menzies gave unelected newspaper mogul Keith Murdoch unprecedented power as DGI - th…
This Week in 1929: The Blind Digger – Part Two
Just as Frank’s radio career is taking off, his private life is laid bare in a racy tabloid expose. But the sequel to this scandal is to be far more shocking and sinister. Nearly a century later, questions remain…For free trial access to ea…