ABC Rewind

How a South Australian geologist named Reg Sprigg helped solve Charles Darwin's dilemma

When a Norwegian container ship - the MV Tampa – rescued 438 asylum seekers from a sinking boat on August 26, 2001 who was to know the political fallout it would leave in its wake?

We travel to the west coast of Tasmania, to meet the mining communities who carry on a rich cultural tradition of storytelling in poetry and song.

On the 100th anniversary of Sydney's Archibald portrait prize, artist Wendy Sharpe takes a look at some its most controversial moments.

The music of Johann Sebastian Bach is a lifetime companion for many violinists. And in our time of Covid-19 isolation, his Six Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin have taken on a new resonance. These pieces are spiritual, virtuosic, joyful - and enigmatic.

In the Cold War winter of July 1971 ALP leader Gough Whitlam made an audacious trip to Beijing. This is the story of the events, 50 years ago, that turned Australia towards communist China.

Early in 2020, a vegetarian version of the iconic Four’N Twenty meat pie hit service stations around the country. For lifelong vego Carly Godden, this re-imagining of an Aussie classic was a sign - vegetarianism had finally gone mainstream.

One soldier's incredible World War II escape story through southern Europe. Why haven't Australian's heard more about the heroic ANZAC campaign in Greece? ON the 80th anniversary of the Battle of Tempe Gorge, the story is revealed.

Dyarubbin, the mighty Hawkesbury River, winds its way along the foot of the Blue Mountains, around the north western rim of Sydney’s Cumberland Plain. Settlement along the river, like much of Australia’s history, has been told from a colonial perspective. We hear from Darug knowledge holders about their long and enduring relationship with this country, and the river they know as Dyarubbin

Martin Orne was one of the leading psychologists of the 20th century, his specialty was the science of hypnosis. In the 1960s, his scientific method brought him to the University of Sydney, and it's world respected psychology faculty. Unbeknownst to his Australian researchers, however, Professor Orne was being secretly funded by the CIA, in their Cold War quest to control the human mind.

The whip played a central role in the development of Australia. What can it tell us about our society today?

The refreshing beverage that revolutionised the law.

An envelope is a humdrum communications device – except when it’s full of misinformation, tucked into the pocket of a dead man, and dropped by a submarine off the coast of wartime Spain.

The story of how the humble cup of tea came to represent a ruthless British Empire.

How did one long, skinny strip of paper plunge the world into the worst global economic downturn history had ever seen?

The story of the train carriage which propelled the globe from WWI, straight into WWII.

This special podcast extra episode tells the story of the world's most powerful, imaginary telephone.

This pistol lies at the centre of one of history's most famous duels - Hamilton Vs. Burr.

Umbrellas aren't known for being dangerous, but this one is famous for being deadly.

The clove and nutmeg trade not only lead to colonisation, but long before the Europeans arrived, it helped define the language, culture, religion and geographic spread of Indonesia.

What's the story behind your favourite wine? This fermented beverage has long been an important part of Australia's social and cultural history, used for ceremonial, medicinal and celebratory purposes.

Behind your humble shaker of table salt lies a curious and industrious history

By the turn of the twentieth century Australians were the world’s most obsessive tea drinkers. Four cups with a meal wasn’t uncommon. Where did this insatiable thirst start? and did it ever really stop? A story about Australia's tea drinking history, and the beverage that keeps us brewing

In the early 1950s Adelaide housewife Anne Neill made a life-changing decision: she joined the Communist Party of Australia, and ended up travelling behind the Iron Curtain and befriending KGB spy Vladimir Petrov. But what did this extraordinary woman truly believe in?

The story of 1960s surfing legend Kevin Brennan charts a young man's path to fame and to premature obscurity set against the backdrop of Sydney's Bondi Beach.