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Forgotten Australia — History
Forgotten Australia

Bloody crimes, unsolved mysteries, eccentric celebrities, dark events and bizarre happenings: it’s all here – the stuff you wish they’d taught you in school!

Dive into our strange-but-true history via never-before-told stories, author interviews, weekly flashbacks and the weekly trivia quiz.

Forgotten Australia is created and hosted by Michael Adams, author of the acclaimed true crime books The Murder Squad, Hanging Ned Kelly and They’ll Never Hold Me.

He’s also a regular history and true crime commentator on ABC Nightlife and the podcast Australian True Crime.

Support Forgotten Australia for a few bucks per month to get ad-free early episodes, exclusive bonus episodes, a show shout-out and the chance to win prizes in the special edition trivia quiz episodes.

Get a week’s free trial here:

Patreon: patreon.com/forgottenaustralia

Apple: apple.co/forgottenaustralia

Email: forgottenaustraliapodcast@gmail.com

Check out my books!

They’ll Never Hold Me:

https://www.booktopia.com.au/they-ll-never-hold-me-michael-adams/book/9781923046474.html

The Murder Squad:

https://www.booktopia.com.au/the-murder-squad-michael-adams/book/9781923046504.html

Hanging Ned Kelly:

https://www.booktopia.com.au/hanging-ned-kelly-michael-adams/book/9781922992185.html

Australia’s Sweetheart:

https://www.booktopia.com.au/australia-s-sweetheart-michael-adams/book/9780733640292.html

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Latest Episodes:

The Mayor Of Tiny Town vs Australia's Shiftiest Showman – Part One Dec 01, 2022

Show notes

From a digitised formerly secret Australian military intelligence file comes one of Forgotten Australia’s strangest stories.

In 1911-1912, from Sydney to Brisbane, Perth to Melbourne, and all points in between, Australia was enthralled by the little people entertainment troupe known as Tiny Town.

Everyone was especially fond its undisputed star, 'The Mayor of Tiny Town', aka 'The Turkish Tom Thumb', the incomparable small-man performer Hayati Hassid.

Yet how did this beloved celebrity - who also acted as editor of 'The Tiny Town Times' - become designated an enemy alien after the Great War broke out?

What did this dark twist have to do with showman and self-professed father of Australian aviation Frederick Hooper Jones?

And just where do genocidal Turkish sultan Abdul The Damned, legendary escapologist Harry Houdini and Aussie rock band The Angels fit into this picture?

Join me for a four-part deep dive that takes us from the harems of the dying Ottoman Empire to the roller-skating-mad London vaudeville scene, from a forgotten antipodean box office blockbuster to the controversial very earliest days of Australia aviation.

You won't believe your ears.

Apple - http://apple.co/forgottenaustralia

Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/ForgottenAustralia

My new book Hanging Ned Kelly is out now and will make a cracker of a Christmas present.

You can read a free excerpt here - and get 26% off the RRP: https://affirmpress.com.au/publishing/hanging-ned-kelly/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Cairns Grenade Murders Part 3 Oct 19, 2022

Show notes

With the accused murderer of Holly Murphy and Kathleen Brown set to go to trial in April 1946, there's a series of shocking secret developments, including a bombshell letter that makes disturbing claims against Queensland's boys in blue. Via the original police murder file - and from information from a descendant of one of the men involved - we explore what might've really happened.

To hear me talk about my new book Hanging Ned Kelly - and for excellent true crime and history episodes, check out these podcasts:

Australian True Crime - https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/australian-true-crime/id1217681421

In Black & White - https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/in-black-and-white/id1466009446

To read an excerpt of Hanging Ned Kelly - https://affirmpress.com.au/publishing/hanging-ned-kelly/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Cairns Grenade Murders Part 2 Oct 16, 2022

Show notes

With Detective Senior-Sergeant Frank Bischof in Cairns, Bob Davis soon identifies the murderer. But how far can Bob be trusted? And what is Bischof offering?

Part 3 will be available later this week via regular podcast platforms. But as an Apple subscriber or Patreon supporter, you can hear it right now ad-free.

Apple - http://apple.co/forgottenaustralia

Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/ForgottenAustralia

To hear me talk about my new book Hanging Ned Kelly - and for excellent true crime and history episodes, check out these podcasts:

Australian True Crime - https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/australian-true-crime/id1217681421

In Black & White - https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/in-black-and-white/id1466009446

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Cairns Grenade Murders Part 1 Oct 10, 2022

Show notes

On a hot night in January 1946, two women were cold-bloodedly murdered with a grenade in the centre of Cairns. In this three-part special episode - based on the original police murder file - we take a deep dive into this callous crime, whose solution was frustrated not only by the underworld’s code of silence but also by the conduct of Queensland’s most infamously corrupt cop.

Parts Two & Three will be available next week via regular podcast platforms. But as an Apple subscriber or Patreon supporter, you can hear them right now ad-free.

Apple - http://apple.co/forgottenaustralia

Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/ForgottenAustralia

To hear me talk about my new book Hanging Ned Kelly - and for excellent true crime and history episodes, check out these podcasts:

Australian True Crime - https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/australian-true-crime/id1217681421

In Black & White - https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/in-black-and-white/id1466009446

To read an excerpt of Hanging Ned Kelly - https://affirmpress.com.au/publishing/hanging-ned-kelly/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hanging Ned Kelly – A Special Audio Preview Sep 25, 2022

Show notes

Note: This episode - like all old and new regular episodes - is free for everyone to listen to.

I'm very pleased to present an exclusive audio version of the first 20 pages of my new book Hanging Ned Kelly, which is published this week by Affirm Press. Here's what it's about:

HANGING NED KELLY

When it came time to hang Ned Kelly, the deed fell to the nightman-turned-quack-doctor-turned-drunken-chicken-thief Elijah Upjohn. Such is life indeed.

Upjohn was the latest in a long line of 19th century flogging hangmen who were allowed to run amok because they did the dirty work of the establishment that allowed officials to keep their hands clean. Despite being duly appointed ‘finishers of the law’, Upjohn and his fellow boozing bunglers were so hated they were often hunted by angry mobs.

In Hanging Ned Kelly, the tale of Elijah Upjohn becomes the rusty scalpel that slices open the underbelly of colonial Victoria – an underworld seething with serial killers, clueless cops, larrikin vigilantes, renegade reporters, racist settlers, furious fallen women and cunning waxwork showmen. Looming over them all: the depraved hangmen... and Australia's most infamous outlaw.

Hanging Ned Kelly is available on 27 September at all good bookstores and online retailers.

To support Forgotten Australia and access early ad-free and bonus episodes:

Apple: http://apple.co/forgottenaustralia

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ForgottenAustralia

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sydney's Wildest Woman Sep 12, 2022

Show notes

While 1950s eccentrics Bea Miles and Rosaleen Norton are well remembered, Luba Shishova was twice as wild yet she's all but forgotten. Dubbed a ‘one-woman Russian Revolution’, this chaotic beauty cut a swathe through Kings Cross, earning adoring fans among the city’s reporters and outraging the cops and the judges. Now, for the first time, Luba’s story is told in detail – from her background in a war zone and her bikini court sensation to her flesh-ripping assaults and stints in jail and psych hospitals.

To support Forgotten Australia, subscribe via Forgotten Australia +Plus at Apple Podcasts or via Patreon at patreon.com/forgottenaustralia

My book, Hanging Ned Kelly, is out on 27 September. You can read an except for free at the link below.

https://affirmpress.com.au/publishing/hanging-ned-kelly/

Buy Hanging Ned Kelly via this very same link – or at any good bookstore or online retailer.

Back catalogue Forgotten Australia +Plus bonus episodes will be released in the coming weeks.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Farewell, Henry Lawson... World's First Screenwriter? Sep 01, 2022

Show notes

On this day in 1922, Henry Lawson died at the age of 55. In this episode, we revisit his death and the pomp, circumstance and furore of his funeral, while also weighing the claim the Aussie bard of the bush was actually the world’s first screenwriter.

Bonus episodes available as soon as you support the show via patreon.com/forgottenaustralia

* The Mad Bomber of Boulder: in February 1942 the goldfields of WA were rocked by one of the worst mass murders in modern Australian history.

* Sydney, Spanish Flu and Covid-19: a live talk at MEDfest, held at the State Library of NSW in July 2022.

* Hanging Ned Kelly: an audio preview of my upcoming book, comprising the prologue, author’s note and first chapter. Note: this will be released on regular platforms in late September. You can pre-order Hanging Ned Kelly and read a chapter sampler for free here: https://affirmpress.com.au/publishing/hanging-ned-kelly/

* All Hail, Megaethon: the bizarre story of Australia’s first road trips - in the mid-1850s!

* Last of the Bushrangers: an addition to the regular episode Young Ned Kelly, this tells the story of another young outlaw in country Victoria in 1922.

* The Rats Must Die: a live talk about Bubonic Plague, delivered at the Sydney Festival in January 2022.

* Black Thursday: the tale of the 1851 bushfires that burned out one-quarter of Victoria.

* To Sir, With Hate: who murdered a teacher in 1928 in the tiny town of Wolumla on the NSW south coast?

* The Body in the Barwon: in 1953, Australia was shocked by the discovery of a headless body, with the crime committed by a truly bizarre crook.

* Revolvers & Razors: a three-part episode about a grisly 1927 murder in the Blue Mountains that had links to the infamous razor gangs.

* The Wreck of the Errol: an addition to the Mysteries of Mystery Island episode, this is the tale of a 1909 shipwreck and the horrors that followed.

* Detective McRae vs the Lady in Grey: a two-part real-life noir that pits Sydney’s top homicide cop against a drop-dead gorgeous femme fatale.

* Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Spiritualist Tour Down Under: the creator of Sherlock Holmes came to Australia in 1920-21 to chase ghosts. Best heard in tandem with The Guyra Ghost.

* The Bones & The Beast: the case that made Det-Sgt McRae a homicide investigation hero… and the ghastly case that confronted his sometime partner in crime-solving, Det-Sgt Joe Ramus, who were met in The Human Glove Mystery.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Vampire Murder – Part Five: A Life & Death Trial Aug 13, 2022

Show notes

After the discovery of new evidence, the police and the crown prosecutor are determined to see Dot's killer swing from the gallows at Long Bay Gaol.

To support Forgotten Australia: patreon.com/forgottenaustralia

To read an extract of Hanging Ned Kelly for free: https://affirmpress.com.au/publishing/hanging-ned-kelly/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Vampire Murder – Part Four: 'Miss X' Spills Her Secrets Aug 10, 2022

Show notes

With the coronial inquest used to build a case against the chief suspect in the murder of Dot Everett, witness 'Miss X' tells the court sordid stories about the man she's sure is a brutal sex maniac.

You can hear the finale now as a supporter - www.patreon.com/forgottenaustralia

Check out my new book, Hanging Ned Kelly, including a free extract - https://affirmpress.com.au/publishing/hanging-ned-kelly/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Vampire Murder – Part Three: A Surprise Suspect Aug 07, 2022

Show notes

While the newspapers reported detectives investigating Dot's murder had reached a dead end, the opening of the coronial inquest revealed the cops believed they had the maniac responsible dead to rights. With so much evidence, he'd surely be committed to trial – where a guilty verdict would see him swing.

Parts 4 & 5 will be released soon.

But they're available ad-free now to supporters: www.patreon.com/forgottenaustralia

If you'd like to read the first chapter of my new book, it's here: https://affirmpress.com.au/publishing/hanging-ned-kelly/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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