Australian Histories Podcast

Australian Rules Football and the earliest clubs formed to compete, are said to be the oldest established football clubs in the world.  Started in the late 1850s, initially based loosely on the Rugby School game, within 20 years it had evolved to become the basis of Australia’s very own, different & distinctive code; Aussie Rules Footy.  (62 mins) --------------------------------------------------...

Early in World War 2, German Raiders were laying sea mines around Australian & New Zealand coastal waters.  Here we tell the story of one ship that was sunk by those mines, and the exceptional salvage operation that was undertaken to recover precious cargo that had gone down with the ship. (65 mins) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Enjoying the podcast?  Help su...

In Part 2 we will follow William Swallow and his fellow mutineer convicts on the commandeered ship, the Cyprus.  Swallow and his men were delighted to be heading into the Pacific, away from the dreaded Macquarie Harbour, and his sailing skills were put to the test as they made their way across the ocean.  But they ran in to unexpected trouble around the Japanese coast. (60 mins) ------------------...

In part one of Convict Mutineers, we learn about a felon who just could not bear the idea of a life in exile, willing to take all necessary risks to try to return to England.  And his efforts were extraordinary.  I think you will enjoy hearing about this Houdini like convict, a man the authorities had trouble keeping hold of.  Today we look at what brought him to Van Diemen's Land, and how he crea...

As an appendix to Episode 44, Henry Lawson, today's episode presents two final readings, two more humorous offerings.  We read a Banjo Paterson poem, called 'The Man from Ironbark' which I mentioned in Ep 44, and then a short story by Henry Lawson, titled 'The Loaded Dog'. (23 mins)  

This episode is an appendix to Episode 44- Henry Lawson.  We read poems that contributed to the 'Bulletin Debate', discussed in the earlier episode.  We include Banjo Paterson's 'Clancy of the Overflow', 'In Defense of the Bush' & 'An answer to various Bards', as well as Henry Lawson's 'Up the Country' & 'The City Bushman'. (26 mins)

Following Ep 44 on Henry Lawson, this episode will be a reading of Henry Lawson's short story (or sketch), The Drover's Wife, published in the Bulletin, July 1892.  Please listen to Ep 44 first, for the life & times of Henry Lawson. (20 mins)

Henry Lawson was a 'bush poet' and writer from the 1880s-1890s.  One of a number of writers that were focusing on the Australian experience and fostering a pride and understanding of the emerging Australian identity.  Today's episode looks at Henry's complicated life, and the times in which he was writing.  (62 mins)  Enjoying the podcast?  Help support the show with a one-off donation  

In 1796, the Calcutta merchants Campbell & Clark, sent a boat load of attractive goods, including much needed home and personal wares, and much desired rum, to sell to the isolated people in the new penal colony at Port Jackson (now current day Sydney). The Sydney Cove foundered and the men were obliged to take refuge on Preservation Island.  Some of the crew continued on, in a longboat & on foot,...

This episode concludes the series exploring the Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Scheme; the vast hydro electric, and irrigation project, that began in 1949 and was under construction for 25 years.  As well as providing much needed electricity  and irrigation water to a soon to be booming Australia, the international workforce helped usher in the era of Multiculturalism, and the project developed en...

Today we turn our attention the workers' arrangements.  At the peak of construction, over 1959/60, there were 7300 people employed on the project.  So that’s a lot of people to keep fed & watered, and entertained.  But it was hard and sometimes dangerous work, so we consider some of the human costs on the project too. (56 mins) Brilliant stories from Australia’s past!   www.australianhistoriespodc...

The Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Scheme began construction at Guthega, with a Norwegian contractor, and before too long, power was being delivered to the people.  Workers and families got used to the new environment and the working conditions as the construction projects multiplied across the project sites, while others had to get used to their relocated townships.  (60 mins) Brilliant stories f...

The Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Scheme was underway.  Now they Authority had to acquire  the land across the Alps, and recruit a workforce, to survey, plan and construct the many parts of the project; not an easy thing to do in booming post war Australia.  Part 2 gives an overview of the recruitment of workers, the majority coming from various worker schemes and displaced persons camps in Europ...

The Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Scheme, took nearly 30 years to complete in the post war period, and was an astounding engineering feat.  It remains one of the “engineering wonders of the world”.  It created thousands of jobs and drove the development of increased home-grown Engineering expertise in large civil projects. Not without social & environmental costs of course, it brought with it som...

Lady Jane Franklin was an unusual woman.  In the late 1830s, as the wife of Van Diemen's Land Governor Sir John Franklin, she took the opportunity to explore the new settlements and wilds of Tasmania, undertook an overland trek from Melbourne to Sydney, astounding the public with her drive & resilience. One source suggested, her “unfeminine curiosity” lead her to investigate many places where Euro...

PART 2:  Jandamarra was a Bunuba man, from the Kimberly region in Western Australia, who has been called both an outlaw and a hero.  It’s a story of conflict between the indigenous peoples, and the new comers to Australia; a chapter in what we more lately call the Frontier Wars.  In the late 1880s Jandamarra lead his people in resisting the takeover of their lands, at a time when stockholders wish...

Jandamarra was a Bunuba man, from the Kimberly region in Western Australia, who has been called both an outlaw and a hero.  It’s a story of conflict between the indigenous peoples, and the new comers to Australia; a chapter in what we more lately call the Frontier Wars.  In the late 1880s Jandamarra lead his people in resisting the takeover of their lands, at a time when stockholders wished to bri...

In the early 1930s the post WW1 Soldier Settlers in Western Australia were doing it hard, trying to make a living growing wheat in a tough economic climate.  When the native Emus descended on their crops on mass, they called on the Commonwealth Minister of Defense to come to their rescue.  And so began the Emu War in the west.....  (45 mins)   www.australianhistoriespodcast.com.au Brilliant storie...

With the rebellion at the Eureka Stockade ended, the authorities moved the main players to Melbourne to be tried for treason. In the days immediately following, the people of Victoria were at first apprehensive that there may be further outbreaks of violence and rioting, but as more information about exactly what happened at Ballarat was known, they became more unhappy about the lead up to and the...

With no positive response to their delegations, pleading & petitions, the Ballarat miners determined they must boycott the corrupt system all together and physically resist when the troopers came to arrest them. Under the leadership of Peter Lalor, the men swore under their Southern Cross flag, to stand together united in their resistance, and to protect each other from the authorities, with physi...

Relations between the authorities and the diggers on the Ballarat goldfield continued to deteriorate, and despite the reports of corruption and violent behaviour being reported to the senior government officials, no action was being taken. Following a murder on the goldfield, the miners meeting protesting the corrupt investigation that took place afterwards, escalated into a riot, and the Eureka H...

We turn our attention to the Ballarat Goldfield.  The road to the Eureka Rebellion here was actually quite long, and contained a myriad of grievances & triggers, which finally came to an unhappy clash on December 3rd 1854 at the Eureka Stockade.  But we are not quite there yet.  This episode we look at the early days under La Trobe, and the frustration & aggravation that grew after Hotham became G...

Gold miners built the Eureka Stockade at the Ballarat goldfields in December 1854, but trouble between the miners and the authorities had started pretty much with the gold rush in 1851.  Before we start looking at the Eureka uprising itself, Ep 29 will begin with some background to the story.  The discovery of gold and the chance to dig & make ones fortune, transformed the colonies. We'll look at...

Australia has a number of massive continuous barrier fences, built by farmers and pastorlists  from the late 1800's, to try and control the movement of native and introduced pests that were threatening their land and stock. We’re going to look at the development & operation of the massive Dingo Fence, the longest wild dog exclusion barrier, now running as a continuous line across 3 states, over mo...

We’re continuing our look at the convict era, in particular, the experiences of women convicts who passed through the Cascades Female Factory, in Hobart, Tasmania. After serving their sentences, many became successful members of their communities, and they are representative of the convict women who can be regarded as the literal mothers of the early Anglo-Australian society here. (58 mins)   www....