Australian Histories Podcast

Brilliant stories from Australia’s past!

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Ep 26 Convicts and Cascades Pt 1: Australian History Aug 30, 2019

Show notes

We’re going to look at the female convicts who passed through the Cascades Female Factory, in Hobart, Tasmania, and reflect on the different experience the women convicts may have had, to those of the male convicts.

There are both harrowing and hilarious stories to be told about the institution and it’s inmates. So we’ll focus on the women in that institution in particular, as an example of experiences that might have been familiar to most convict women who were sent out to Australia.

(54 mins)

Brilliant stories from Australia’s past!

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Help support the show with

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Ep 25 Mawson: Antarctic Explorers Pt 5: Australian History Jul 26, 2019

Show notes

Douglas Mawson’s Australasian Antarctic Expedition concluded, and the last of the expeditioners arrived back in Adelaide in February, 1914. A lot had happened, both on the frozen continent and across the world, in the years they had been away. We wrap up the “Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration” in this episode, by reflecting on the AAE, on Mawson’s ongoing relationship with the Antarctic, and Australia’s connection to Antarctica.

We’ll also just touch on the outcome of Scott and Amundsen’s attempts on the pole, which took place while Mawson was in the Antarctic, and just for interest, also discuss Shackleton’s return journey, which pretty much brought the Age to a close.

(54 Mins)

Brilliant stories from Australia’s past!

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Ep 24 Mawson: Antarctic Explorers Pt 4: Australian History Jun 28, 2019

Show notes

Douglas Mawson’s expedition was well underway, and the teams from the Cape Denison base had returned, after completing their various research programs.

All except Mawson and his team. They had undertaken the most ambitious and distant trek, and were now overdue.

We turn our attention to the trek Mawson, Ninnis & Mertz undertook for the AAE.

(48 mins)

Brilliant stories from Australia’s past!

Ep 23 Mawson: Antarctic Explorers Pt 3: Australian History May 31, 2019

Show notes

After returning from Shackleton’s Nimrod Expedition and despite rejecting any idea of returning to Antarctica, the trauma of his polar trekking faded and Douglas Mawson began to consider all the exploration & discovery that still lay waiting there.

He set about planning the “Australasian Antarctic Expedition”, to undertake an ambitious scientific & survey program for Australia & the Empire. This time though, the harsh elements would extract a greater cost for giving up it’s secrets.

(51 Mins)

Brilliant stories from Australia’s past!

Ep 22 Mawson: Antarctic Explorers Part 2: Australian History Apr 26, 2019

Show notes

Douglas Mawson, who would later become the leader of Australia’s first Antarctic expedition, undertook his first trip to Antarctica as part of Ernest Shackleton’s “Nimrod Expedition”, 1908. Though he was young and this was his first foray in to the icy territory, his obvious intelligence, robust constitution and leadership skills, marked him out early for momentous work, and he was tasked with joining teams to explore Mt Erebus and to locate the Magnetic South Pole.

The following episode will then focus on Mawson’s leadership of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition itself.

(52 Mins)

Brilliant stories from Australia’s past!

Ep 21 Mawson: Antarctic Explorers Part 1: Australian History Mar 22, 2019

Show notes

Australia’s first formal expedition to Antarctica in 1911, the Australasian Antarctic Expedition, was led by Douglas Mawson, a geologist from Adelaide University. This episode we’ll look at what brought Mawson to the Antarctic, and at the earlier British expeditions that helped scaffold Mawson’s later venture.

The following episodes will focus on Mawson’s first trip South with Shackleton and then look in detail at the Australasian Antarctic Expedition itself.

(50 Mins)

Brilliant stories from Australia’s past!

Ep 20 Building the Sydney Harbour Bridge: Australian History Feb 22, 2019

Show notes

The iconic Sydney Harbour Bridge: After a surprisingly long gestation, it’s path to construction threads through the history, of growth & colonial settlement in Sydney, including the political machinations at state, federal and even international levels.

And that’s before we even consider the working of more than 6 million rivets into the impressive steel structure, now recognisable as a beautiful work of engineering, which Crocodile Dundee spent his early life painting!

(60 mins)

Brilliant stories from Australia’s past!

Ep 19 Platypus Controversy: Australian History Jan 25, 2019

Show notes

We're retelling the story of the first encounters of the new British arrivals, in Australia in the 1780s onwards, with our wonderful Platypus, the kerfuffle caused when Platypus specimens were sent back to Europe, and we’ll be reminded of the Platypuses’ place in the development of Darwin’s theory, and of our World War 2 relations with the England.

(45 mins)

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Brilliant stories from Australia’s past!

Ep 18 Kellys: Kellys End: Australian History Dec 24, 2018

Show notes

Ned Kelly, the only surviving member of the Kelly Gang, was tried and found guilty of murdering the police at Stringybark Creek. His young life draws to a close and we look at the aftermath of the Kelly Outbreak for the people of Victoria, the Kellys and some of the other families involved.

We wrap up the Kelly saga by looking at the ongoing cultural influence of Ned, the Gang, and their place in the Australian story.

(54 mins)

Brilliant stories from Australia’s past!