ABC Rewind

When Penny Bristol Jones inherited a battered trunk full of family objects, she uncovered a rich wartime history in the collection of letters written by her great grandmother Edie Digby, whose husband and two sons were away fighting in World War One

Journalist Fiona Gruber goes on a very personal journey in the footsteps of her great grandfather, Victorian music hall comedian Walter Groves, to uncover his career and his hidden link with the greatest comedian of them all, Charlie Chaplin.

In 1768 when James Cook sailed from Tahiti looking for the great southern land, Tupaia, a traditional Polynesia navigator was on board. His knowledge proved invaluable to Cook and his sailing skills astounded the crew. What role did Tupaia actually play in the voyage and why haven't we heard heard about him?

The story of how the traditional custodians of Ooldea got their sacred water soak back and the healing of the land.

North west of Ooldea in South Australia's Great Victoria Desert is Maralinga where the British exploded seven nuclear bombs. This episode explores the Cold War politics behind the bomb tests and their ongoing impact on the traditional owners of the land, the Maralinga Tjarutja people.

Ooldea's most famous resident was Daisy Bates, also known as "Kabbarli" or grandmother. She lived at Ooldea for sixteen years in a tent, helping to feed and clothe Aboriginal people, but these days her reputation is very mixed.

On the edge of the Nullabor, Ooldea, with its ancient water soak "Yuldi Kapi", is one of the most important Aboriginal sites in Australia. Trading routes and dreaming stories crossed here for thousands of years, but then the transnational railway arrived in 1917.

Forty years ago Australian women weren't fighting for equal pay, they were fighting for an equal right to work. This is the story of our nation's biggest class action suit, instigated by a group of blue-collar women against the company known in those days as The Big Australian.

Find out why, in its relatively short history, one instrument has offended ideologues, drawn the ire of dictators, and been put down, shunned and outlawed.

In part 2, we trace the growing discontent in East Germany in the 1980s. An Indigenous Australian rock band tours East Germany while anti-government protests are brewing, and just like the Berlin Wall, one person’s dedication to communism will come crashing down.

A Cold War tale of spies, diplomacy and secret police, from Indigenous communities in the Top End to the opera houses of Berlin.

Gamilaraay woman Marika Duczynski travels to the Gulf country of north west QLD, then across the Blue Mountains, to western NSW, looking for trees that have become symbols of our contested history, but also markers of a culture bound in deep time.

Three teenage girls — a Muslim, a Serb and a Croatian all from Bosnia Herzegovina, are drawn into one of the bloodiest conflicts in post war Europe. 30 years later they find their voice.

Gifted naturalist, ground-breaking photographer and early feminist figure. Guide Alice was Mount Buffalo's most sought after mountain guide.

A glimpse into the 1930's and 40's through the fragments that remain of one woman's story – socialite, swordswoman, actress and the first woman to read the ABC national news.

The discovery of an old recipe book of her Hungarian grandmother's sets Ruth Balint on a family investigation. Between the pages, she uncovers more than just the instructions for her beloved margosh beigli.

A women-only utopia deep in the Australian bush — no men, no meat, no machines. It was a wild ride, complete with rainbows and tiger snakes, sisterly joy and un-sisterly tensions. 

Shortly after the 1979 Iranian Revolution, a young Bahai mother was smuggled out of the country on camelback with her baby daughter. 40 years later she recounts her story.

On the western edge of central Melbourne lies a blind spot: the now industrialised zone was once home to the shanty town called Dudley Flats. Writer David Sornig has been walking the area re-imagining its residents.

Andy Komarnicki disappeared without a trace from the south west Queensland town of St George in January 1980. What happened to him?

American artist Georgia O’Keeffe (1887-1986) is an icon, much loved today for her un-conformist spirit and beauty, as much as for her paintings of sensual flowers.

The lives of women at the turn of the 20th century were bound by strict social conventions and rules. These Australian stars of silent film defied most of them.

Dubbed “World’s End” by its inhabitants, Port Essington in western Arnhem Land was the third failed attempt by the British to settle northern Australia. The settlement lasted 11 years, from 1838 to 1849, and sparked an intriguing cultural exchange between the British settlers and the local Indigenous people.

The amazing story of the 1919 pioneering air race from England to Australia.

During War time food shortages and rationing preoccupied most people  - but the hunger suffered by the prisoners of War was on a whole different level.