Aussie History Podcast

Welcome to 2018 and Episode 72. It's summer in Australia and that means cricket. Learn about the extraterrestrial origins of the game of cricket – yes aliens invented cricket. And my friend Kate joins me in this episode to talk about cricket and some of the memorable Ashes clashes between Australia and the old foe England at the WACA Ground. We also talk about cricketing songs and how bad I was at...

We finally finish our five-part series on the Eureka rebellion. In this episode we see what happened at the trials of the men charged for their role in the rebellion, the outcome of the Committee of inquiry, and just what happened to some of the main players. We also try and get a handle on why it happened in Ballarat and briefly reflect on the legacy of the Eureka rebellion for Australia. Was it...

It all finally comes to the battle. After a tense stand-off the Government forces finally storm the Eureka Stockade. The diggers are overwhelmed and at the end of it all 22 diggers and 6 soldiers lie dead. Though some put the death toll as high as 60.  13 men are charged with treason, but the key ring leaders including Peter Lalor (who is severely wounded) remain at large. The Victorian population...

Happy Birthday to me, Happy Birthday to me!  To celebrate here is part four of our five part series on the Eureka Rebellion. Things are hotting up on the Ballarat goldfields and things inch closer to the ultimate battle.  Anastasia Hayes and two of her friends sew the southern cross flag - five stars and a white cross on a blue background. Then the diggers engage in a skirmish with the police and...

Things are getting crazier and crazier on the Ballarat goldfields. A young miner called James Scobie is murdered and the diggers are outraged when the justice system fails them. Not only that the police rough up Johannes Gregarious the disabled servant of the local Catholic Priest. In retribution the diggers burn down the Eureka Hotel.   

It's late 1854 and the Victorian town of Ballarat. A gold rush is on and we are the gold diggings, but things are extremely tense. The gold miners are mounting a strong oppostion against the Victorian Government because of the mining license fee it is imposing. Police are undertaking raids into the miners camps and demanding that miners produce their license. So the miners respond by burning their...

In this episode we remember the late Peter Richard Woolnough - or as you may know him Peter Allen.  Allen was one of Australia's most successful entertainers.  Amongst the songs he has written include:  I Still Call Australia Home, Tenterfield Saddler, I Go the Rio and The More I see You.  

In this episode we look at two more bushrangers, Frank Gardiner and Ben Hall.  Both of these Bushrangers plied their trade around the Canberra region in the late 1850s and early 1860s.

In this episode we look at WWII coastal defences around Newcastle and in particular at Tomaree near Port Stephens. Check out the NSW Parks and Wildlife site for Fort Tomaree at:  http://www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au/visit-a-park/parks/tomaree-national-park  

Jack Lang was twice the Premier of New South Wales and was one of Australia's most controversial politicians. In 1932, at the height of the Great Depression, he was dismissed from office by the NSW Governor Sir Philip Game. He was expelled from the Australian Labor Party in 1942 and only re-admitted to the Labor Party in 1971 a few years before his death.

At 11 pm on 12 October 2002, three bombs were detonated on the Indonesian resort island of Bali. Two went off in busy nightspots in Kuta – the Sari Club and Paddy's Bar and the third in front of the American consulate. The explosions killed 202 people, 88 of whom were Australian.

At the height of the Cold War, in April 1954 Vladimir Petrov a Soviet diplomat sought political asylum in Australia. Petrov, and his wife Evdokia, were working in Canberra at the Soviet Embassy as diplomats. But they were really spies. The incident had a massive impact on Australian politics. It ended the political career of the opposition leader and leader of the Labor Party Dr Herbert 'Doc' Evat...

On 27 May 1967 a referendum to amend the Australian Consitution was held. This month is the 50th anniversary of that referendum, so it's a good time to remember this important part of Australian history. The referendum allowed Indigenous Australians to be counted in the population and for the Commonwealth Government to make policies in respect to Aboriginal people.

On 5 August 1944, Japanese prisoners of war staged a breakout from the detention camp in Cowra, New South Wales. Armed with improvised weapons including baseball bats and sharpened mess knives, they stormed the perimeter fences and overcame the machine gun posts. In all 231 Japanese prisoners were killed during the escape attempt. Four Australian soldiers were also killed in the breakout

In this episode we look at five inventions you may never have realised were made right here in the land Downunder. These are: spray on skin, the bionic ear or cochlear implant, the black box flight recorder, the pacemaker, and the cervical cancer vaccine. Remember, you can always email me at jamesdampier.awp@gmail.com    

Between 1952 and 1963 the British Government carried out 12 major nuclear weapon tests in Australia in the remote Montebello islands and in South Australia at Maralinga and Emu Field. Why did the Australian Government agree to nuclear weapon testing in Australia? Let's find out!

Every Australian knows the words to 'Waltzing Matilda'. On the surface it's a song about a swagman who steals a sheep and drowns himself in a billabong to avoid capture.  But, it's more than just a quaint bush ballad.  Behind the story of the song lies politics, industrial unrest, class divisions and of course economics.  

In this episode we look at a man who was one of the most important people in Australia in the 20th century. But I doubt you have ever heard of him. This man is  Herbert Cole Coombs – or as he is most often called – Nugget Coombs.

In this episode resume our review of Robert Menzies. Menzies became Prime Minister for a second time on 10 December 1949. Menzies founded the Liberal Party and was the dominant figure in Australian political and social life for the next two decades.   Menzies, was in many ways, a paradox. He was 'British to his bootstraps' but under his leadership we began to move closer to the United States and t...

Welcome to 2017! In this episode we recount the early career of Sir Robert Gordon 'Bob' Menzies, Australia's longest serving Prime Minister. Menzies served as Prime Minister twice –for a total of 18 years and it is still the record term for an Australian Prime Minister. Menzies totally dominated Australian politics and life for the better part of three decades. He dominated Australia so much that...

In this episode we delve into an extremely controversial period in Australian history – the genocide of the Tasmanian Aborigines. We also look at Truganini, the most famous of the Tasmanian Aborigines. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are advised that this episode contains the names of people who are deceased. Be warned!  This is a very long episode by AWP standards.  

It's back to bushrangers - more bushrangers who were not Ned Kelly. In this episode we will be looking at four bushrangers: Jack Donohoe the 'Wild Colonial Boy'; Mad Dan Morgan who roamed the Murray Valley area in the 1860s; Martin Cash the 'gentleman bushranger'; and Jimmy Governor – the last of the bushrangers about whom Thomas Keneally wrote his book "The Chant of Jimmy Blacksmith". Email me at...

Episode 50 - half a century! In this episode we cover Ronald Ryan's hanging and the public outcry that accompanied his execution. We then ask did Ryan really kill prison warder George Hodson? Check out this excellent 15 minute documentary on the Ryan execution: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDyFJqru9UI Also this website that seeks to prove Ryan's innocence:  http://www.ronaldryan.info   Email me...

At 8.00 a.m. on 3 February 1967 Ronald Joseph Ryan was hanged in Pentridge gaol in Melbourne for the murder of a prison officer named George Henry Hodson. He had been found guilty of shooting Hodson with a rifle he had taken off another prison guard while escaping from prison. Ronald Ryan was the last person to be executed in Australia. Email me at:  jamesdampier.awp@gmail.com      

On Fathers Day, the 2nd September R 1984, there was a shoot out between two rival motorcycle gangs at a British motorcycle swap meet in the Western Sydney suburb of Milperra. The shoot out had its origin in a bitter split within the Comancheros and Bandidos motorcycle or bikie gangs. At the end of the shoot out seven people were dead,including a 15 year old girl who was just standing by. Check out...