RN Presents

Muslim Malaysians often have complex and tangled views about polygamy. Their feelings and beliefs aren’t always mirrored by their actions.  What role does pragmatism play? What role does faith play?

The island of Poruma is a shrinking tropical paradise — battered by king tides and eaten by coastal erosion. Meet the locals fighting for survival, in more ways than one. Climate change is lapping at the shores of Poruma, a tropical island in Australia’s Torres Strait. It’s a dot in the Pacific Ocean — just two kilometres long and 300 metres wide — that sits halfway between the northern tip of Aus...

Expectation and competition are pushing young South Koreans to give up on marriage and kids.

If everyone was against the Vietnam War, how come Australian forces spent 10 years fighting in Southeast Asia? Why have the supporters of the Vietnam commitment been forgotten? And why do we believe returned men were abused? Perhaps we should ask Rambo. Written and presented by Dr Mark Dapin.

Anyone could be discharged from the Australian armed forces for gay sexual behaviour in Vietnam. And since nobody wanted to fight the Vietnam War – and gay men were excused national service — there must have been no gay people on Australian military bases in Vietnam, right? Wrong. Written and presented by Dr Mark Dapin.

Did mateship really sustain Australian POWs of the Japanese any more than it helped — for example — the Dutch to endure the horrors of the Thai-Burma Railway? And why is there a bridge on the River Kwai today when there was no bridge in the Second World War? Written and presented by Dr Mark Dapin.

Why do we commemorate an event that probably didn’t happen? Did the Japanese really plan to invade Australia in 1942? What does it mean that we have come to commemorate a battle that many historians argue never actually happened? And whatever happened to the Rats of Tobruk? Written and presented by Dr Mark Dapin

Why some prisoners of war were happiest in Singapore. Was Changi a POW heaven or a death-camp hell? The camp’s reputation has worsened in the years since the Second World War, but the truth lies somewhere in between. Written and presented by Dr Mark Dapin.

A great general — but was he really the greatest? General Monash, the only Jew to command an army in the First World War, has been described in Australia as an outsider who won the war. But how much of an outsider was Monash, and how much of the war did Australia win? And did Monash write his own story? Written and presented by Dr Mark Dapin.

Ataturk never said his famous words and Bert Facey wasn’t there for the landing. Gallipoli stripped bare. One of the most famous and best-loved Australian accounts of the Gallipoli landing is a fabrication. The most quoted quote was never actually said. What else do we believe about Gallipoli that is untrue? Written and presented by Dr Mark Dapin.

Did young women really hand out white feathers to young men who didn’t enlist in the services during the First World War? It sounds like a myth, but there are lost limbs and lost lives to attest that the white feathers were real. A relative of a prominent Australian historian joined up when he received a white feather and returned from the front with only one leg. Written and presented by Dr Mark...

In January 1989, East German leader Erich Honecker declared that the Berlin Wall would still be standing in 50 or even 100 years. By November that same year the Wall was down and the Cold War was over. 1989 was a year that no-one saw coming. Head back to 1989 and learn about the luck that led to the collapse of the Soviet empire.

How did a committed communist become an accidentally revolutionary Soviet leader? Take a closer look at the leadership of Mikhail Gorbachev and discover how his approach to economic and political reform opened up a Pandora's box of free speech and criticism. Find out how Gorbachev earned himself a seat at the negotiating table with the West and learn why he was no longer willing to hold on to empi...

The Cold War is often referred to as the 'War of Words'. Meet the people who tore down the Iron Curtain from within the Soviet Union through protest and dissent. Hear the stories of a Romanian radio repairman and his buried typewriter and the Polish scientist who swam for freedom.

The most familiar story of the Cold War is that of the superpower rivalry between the US and the USSR—two armed camps, teetering on the precipice of nuclear war. Find out how the standoff played out, whether America really won the Cold War and why personalities matter in politics.

Could breakthroughs in DNA technology and forensic genealogy identify Adelaide's Somerton Man? And is it time to finally dig him up?

Derek Abbott has spent decades trying to identify the man found dead on Somerton Beach. If his theory is correct, he's married to the unknown man's great granddaughter. But to prove it, he needs the Somerton Man's DNA.

The man who died on Somerton Beach in 1948 went to great lengths to disguise his identity. But he couldn't hide the clues on his body — his peculiar ears, teeth and calves. His DNA. Modern science sheds new light on this decades-old mystery.

A torn piece of paper from a book of Persian poetry leads to the discovery of an elusive young nurse. What was her relationship to the dead man on Somerton Beach? Does she hold the key to cracking the case?

In post-war Adelaide, there's a feeling of optimism and relief in the air, but it's mixed with paranoia about the changing world order. And in this mix, on a summer day on Somerton Beach, a man's body is discovered.

Union membership is a fraction of what it was but people power is finding a voice through new platforms and movements.

The different power players in each state. All six states are led by Premiers and have cabinets — they're the same. But they're also different. In part three, we look at the industries, groups and people who have power in each state, including mining peak bodies, radio shock-jocks, the AFL and poker machine operators.

The industries and organisations that get what they want from government. In part two we stay in Canberra and look at the lobbyists, the industries and organisations most effective at getting what they want from the government. We also look at the revolving door between politicians and lobbyists.

More power is concentrated inside Canberra’s Parliamentary Triangle than anywhere else. The Constitution doesn’t mention the Prime Minister but that office is where the power is. We look at how Prime Ministerial power has changed in the 21st Century. And, over the same time period, another part of the Canberra landscape has gained a huge range of powers: the security agencies. 

Why don't we talk about class directly? We recognise it when its rendered through language, dress and cultural taste. And a lot of our best comedy, drama and writing is about class. We revisit that rich cultural landscape, and hear how we talk in code about class.