ABC Australia

The Dead Can't Sue

History EN ↓ 4 episodes

Serious academics. Dead subjects. A bit of gossip. Is it appropriate for historians to gossip about the dead? Associate Professors Alecia Simmonds and Leigh Boucher aren't afraid to find out. In The Dead Can't Sue, they poke around in the entrails of Australian history, dishing up the best dirt and juiciest scoops on our nation's dead. Each week, you'll join us for the best dinner party conversations you've ever overheard, as Alecia and Leigh bring you their unfiltered takes. There'll be big names you'll get to know in new ways, as well as names you've never heard of, with jaw-dropping stories...

Author

ABC Australia

Category

History

Podcast website

www.abc.net.au

Latest episode

Jul 6, 2026

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Episodes

Tilly Devine: 'The Worst Woman in Sydney' 06.07.2026

Tilly Devine (1900-1970) was a founding mother of Sydney's underbelly, and, as NSW police commissioner Norman Allan simply said: "She was a villain, but who am I to judge her?" Luckily Leigh and Alecia love to judge. Beyond the rivals, razor blades and racketeering, they ask: Was Tilly the original girl (mob) boss? Why did she shoot her fiancé a few months before their wedding? (Yes, the marriage...

Matthew Flinders: The death of a cat daddy (part 2) 01.07.2026

Alecia and Leigh sail into the muddy waters of naval history, exploring the key role Indigenous explorer Bungaree played in Matthew Flinders circumnavigation of Australia. Oh, and Flinders's undying love for his cat, Trim.

Matthew Flinders: Erotic letter writer (part 1) 29.06.2026

Matthew Flinders (1774-1814) is best known as the first white guy to circumnavigate (and name!) Australia. But could he perhaps also have been circumnavigating the towering physique of ship surgeon George Bass? Alecia and Leigh do a literal reading of a seemingly steamy letter, written by Flinders to Bass in 1800, and a (potentially) queer reading of the relationship between these chaps with maps....

INTRODUCING — The Dead Can't Sue 16.06.2026

Alecia Simmonds and Leigh Boucher are historians, which means they are uniquely qualified to gossip about the dead. They're asking big, nosy questions about the lives of the people who shaped or misshaped Australia, like … Who really chopped off Chopper's ears? Why did they name a swimming pool after the Prime Minister who drowned? And, did our very own Dame Nellie Melba have a mean streak? While...

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