ABC Rewind

Bondy’s been secretly, and illegally, stashing away money that isn’t his to keep as his empire crumbles, and while Alan Bond’s beating away the creditors trying to bankrupt him, he’s also building a back-up plan.  As decades of dirty deals and backroom manoeuvres begin to surface Bondy isn’t just being chased for the billions he owes, criminal investigators are also on his tail and this time he has nowhere to run. This is episode 5 of a 6-part history podcast series from ABC Rewind for Radio National and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

With his hands deep in the West Australian government ‘s coffers, a chance meeting with a man named Tiny could spell the beginning of the end for Alan ‘Bondy’ Bond.  The Black Monday stock market crash sends shock waves through the world economy, threatening to turn Bondy’s business empire upside down.  With everything on the line, Bond needs to act fast but his recklessness catches the attention of his enemies, who seize the opportunity to bring him down. This is episode 4 of a 6-part history podcast series for ABC Rewind from Radio National and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

Diamonds, mansions and mistresses, Bondy has been living the high life, but his ruthless pursuit of success begins to have devastating consequences for his marriage to Eileen. After his win in the America’s Cup banks lend Bond billions and he’s doing deals with the likes of Donald Trump. But his true character is revealed when he becomes a beer baron and ruins the lives of people on the edge of his empire. This is episode 3 of a 6-part history podcast series from ABC Rewind for Radio National and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

As his yacht crosses the finish line of The America’s Cup and sails into history, the world holds its breath, but does Alan Bond have an ulterior motive when he enters this race? Bondy infuriates the Yanks with his radical boat design and brazen attitude. But combined with a crack crew and heaps of underdog energy, the Aussies' are in Newport Rhode Island to win.  This is episode 2 of a 6-part history podcast series from ABC Rewind for Radio National and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

Determined to make his first million before his 21st birthday, Alan Bond's questionable business ethics ruffle feathers in small-town Fremantle and earn him a reputation as an audacious English upstart. Shaped by his deprived childhood in post-war Britain, Bondy develops the gift of being able to sell anything to anyone. In his new home of Perth WA his rapid rise from juvenile delinquent to property developer is astonishing. This is episode 1 of a 6-part history podcast series from ABC Rewind for Radio National and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

In 1904, William Ah Ket became Australia’s first Chinese barrister. He went on to fight racist laws and social prejudice in and out of court.

Nah Doongh's story tells of a life that was lost and found; a life that spanned the entire 19th century and bore witness to the colonisation of Australia. It is also a story of love, loss and one woman’s tenacity to die on the land on which she was born.

Forty years ago Australian women weren't fighting for equal pay, they were fighting for an equal right to work. This is the story of our nation's largest class action claim, instigated by a group of blue-collar women against the company known as The Big Australian.

The uplifting story of the Baby Memorial at Adelaide's West Terrace cemetery.

Comedian David Rose digs into the archives and discovers a very personal story: about a life lived on stage, the parallels of history, and a surprising family legacy which dates all the way back to the music hall era

In an unprecedented political move, the Western Australian state government will end logging of native forest. Meet the people who have dedicated their lives to saving these incredible forests.

A journey back to the mean streets of Brisbane in the 1920’s with feisty private detective – Mrs Kate Condon.

The continuation of the amazing story of the first woman to sail around the world.

The amazing story of the first woman to sail around the world.

Ngarrindjeri elder Major Sumner tells the tale of two men from the opposite ends of Adelaide society at the turn of the twentieth century. The fates of fringe-dweller Tommy Walker and State Coroner William Ramsay Smith entwined and ultimately exposed what was really going on in the mortuaries, gaols, medical schools and graveyards of South Australia at that time.

In the early 1950s Adelaide housewife Anne Neill made a life-changing decision: she joined the Communist Party of Australia, and ended up travelling behind the Iron Curtain and befriending KGB spy Vladimir Petrov. But what did this extraordinary woman truly believe in?

Dyarubbin, the mighty Hawkesbury River, winds its way along the foot of the Blue Mountains, around the north western rim of Sydney’s Cumberland Plain. Settlement along the river, like much of Australia’s history, has been told from a colonial perspective. We hear from Darug knowledge holders about their long and enduring relationship with this country, and the river they know as Dyarubbin

A wild ride involving a Russian flying ace, an escape from Java in World War 2, and a missing package of diamonds.

On a clear cold Sunday morning in June 1867, three little boys wandered away from their home near the town of Daylesford, on Dja Dja Wurrung country in central Victoria. Over the next six weeks the boys’ story gripped the colony.

Where does the life of Australian poet and writer Eve Langley end and her fiction begin?

The statue of Western Australia's first governor, Captain James Stirling, in central Perth is hard to miss; there's also a mountain range, a suburban municipality and even a school named after him. But as the state looks towards its bicentenary in 2029, new questions are being asked about James Stirling, including his involvement in frontier violence and in the British slave trade. How should he be remembered?

In 1836, the convict ship the Moffatt left Portsmouth harbour in England to travel halfway around the world to the colony of NSW. On board were eighteen convicts from the West Indies, including former slaves William Buchanan and Richard Holt. Jamaica born, Sydney based author Sienna Brown goes on a deep dive into the archives to uncover the little known history of these men, and their lives in Australia.

In the lead up to Christmas 1986, a battle was fought on the streets, in the hospital wards, and on the tram lines around Melbourne. Nurses, trained to care for the sick with no complaint or question, had had enough. Tired of overcrowded wards, poor pay and lack of career opportunity, they decided to take matters into their own hands.

For most of its life, the Art Gallery of NSW was dank and dingy. In the 1970s, there was no air conditioning or electric lights in its exhibition spaces. A short history of this institutions' amazing transformation.

Nazi collaborator is a label that still resonates in Belgium 75 years after the end of the Second World War.  Peter Lenaerts grew up listening to his grandmother’s stories, about her brother Paul and how, one night in September 1944, he was dragged out of bed and nearly killed by an angry mob, about her brother Bert, who volunteered and fought in the horrors of the Eastern Front.  Peter’s intrigued and goes digging in the archives to understand why his family took one side in the war and what happened to them because of that decision.  He discovers that in war it’s never a simple story of winners and losers.

In 1899 two thousand people attended the funeral of an African-American banjo player in Sydney.  Who was he? How did he come to be in Australia and why was he so loved? Stéphanie Kabanyana Kanyandekwe tells the story of Hosea Easton, along with the history of minstrel music and the banjo, in Australia and the United States.

History, tragedy, and triumph. Marrickville’s Henson Park is an icon of Sydney's inner west. But before the unshakable Newtown Jets footy fans called it home, the community oval was a giant hole in the ground supplying Sydney's building boom. When at least nine children drowned at the site, council took charge and began to dream big. It paid off for them when their hidden suburban park wound up on the world stage.

'I can do things no woman ever did before in the history of the circus business.' May Wirth

There's a brutal history behind the imposing walls of Melbourne's Pentridge prison, stretching from 1851 right up until its closure in 1997. Today there's a playground, supermarket, cinema and apartments on site – but not everyone's happy about it. Those who know Pentridge best offer their answers to a difficult question: how should you treat a site with such a violent past?

With nothing to lose, Raymond Denning escapes Grafton prison in a rubbish bin. He has help from prisoner rights groups and an agenda to raise awareness about police corruption. The man-hunt for Denning turns farcical when he uses the media to make the police look foolish.

The story of one of Australia's most misunderstood criminals. After a traumatic childhood, Raymond Denning jumps from juvenile detention to jail. When an escape attempt goes wrong, a prison warder is critically injured and the finger is pointed at Denning. As his treatment within the correctional system deteriorates Denning begins to find his voice.

Have writers been imprisoned in Australia for their work?  Most definitely and PEN has worked to have them freed.  In this history of PEN in Australia Arnold Zable tells the story of Cheikh Kone, a journalist from the Ivory Coast who was detained in Port Hedland and writer Behrouz Boochani detained on Manus Island. As well as the letters members of PEN have written to imprisoned writers around the world, like those in Myanmar, to tell them that they are not alone. I am a stranger to you but please know that you are no stranger to me – Maria Tumarkin in a letter to Kylie Moore-Gilbert, an Australian writer detained in Iran until recently.

Writers go to prison for the courageous pursuit of their craft and PEN has been working to get them out.  Melbourne writer Arnold Zable tells the story of PEN International - from its creation out of the scars of World War 1 to bring societies together through their literature, to its growing human rights work across the globe, protecting freedom of speech and supporting imprisoned writers. If you don’t know the truth you can’t act – Jennifer Clements - President of PEN International

How a South Australian geologist named Reg Sprigg helped solve Charles Darwin's dilemma

When a Norwegian container ship - the MV Tampa – rescued 438 asylum seekers from a sinking boat on August 26, 2001 who was to know the political fallout it would leave in its wake?

We travel to the west coast of Tasmania, to meet the mining communities who carry on a rich cultural tradition of storytelling in poetry and song.

On the 100th anniversary of Sydney's Archibald portrait prize, artist Wendy Sharpe takes a look at some its most controversial moments.

The music of Johann Sebastian Bach is a lifetime companion for many violinists. And in our time of Covid-19 isolation, his Six Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin have taken on a new resonance. These pieces are spiritual, virtuosic, joyful - and enigmatic.

In the Cold War winter of July 1971 ALP leader Gough Whitlam made an audacious trip to Beijing. This is the story of the events, 50 years ago, that turned Australia towards communist China.

Early in 2020, a vegetarian version of the iconic Four’N Twenty meat pie hit service stations around the country. For lifelong vego Carly Godden, this re-imagining of an Aussie classic was a sign - vegetarianism had finally gone mainstream.

One soldier's incredible World War II escape story through southern Europe. Why haven't Australian's heard more about the heroic ANZAC campaign in Greece? ON the 80th anniversary of the Battle of Tempe Gorge, the story is revealed.

Dyarubbin, the mighty Hawkesbury River, winds its way along the foot of the Blue Mountains, around the north western rim of Sydney’s Cumberland Plain. Settlement along the river, like much of Australia’s history, has been told from a colonial perspective. We hear from Darug knowledge holders about their long and enduring relationship with this country, and the river they know as Dyarubbin

Martin Orne was one of the leading psychologists of the 20th century, his specialty was the science of hypnosis. In the 1960s, his scientific method brought him to the University of Sydney, and it's world respected psychology faculty. Unbeknownst to his Australian researchers, however, Professor Orne was being secretly funded by the CIA, in their Cold War quest to control the human mind.

The whip played a central role in the development of Australia. What can it tell us about our society today?

The refreshing beverage that revolutionised the law.

An envelope is a humdrum communications device – except when it’s full of misinformation, tucked into the pocket of a dead man, and dropped by a submarine off the coast of wartime Spain.

The story of how the humble cup of tea came to represent a ruthless British Empire.

How did one long, skinny strip of paper plunge the world into the worst global economic downturn history had ever seen?

The story of the train carriage which propelled the globe from WWI, straight into WWII.

This special podcast extra episode tells the story of the world's most powerful, imaginary telephone.

This pistol lies at the centre of one of history's most famous duels - Hamilton Vs. Burr.

Umbrellas aren't known for being dangerous, but this one is famous for being deadly.

The clove and nutmeg trade not only lead to colonisation, but long before the Europeans arrived, it helped define the language, culture, religion and geographic spread of Indonesia.

What's the story behind your favourite wine? This fermented beverage has long been an important part of Australia's social and cultural history, used for ceremonial, medicinal and celebratory purposes.

Behind your humble shaker of table salt lies a curious and industrious history

By the turn of the twentieth century Australians were the world’s most obsessive tea drinkers. Four cups with a meal wasn’t uncommon. Where did this insatiable thirst start? and did it ever really stop? A story about Australia's tea drinking history, and the beverage that keeps us brewing

In the early 1950s Adelaide housewife Anne Neill made a life-changing decision: she joined the Communist Party of Australia, and ended up travelling behind the Iron Curtain and befriending KGB spy Vladimir Petrov. But what did this extraordinary woman truly believe in?

The story of 1960s surfing legend Kevin Brennan charts a young man's path to fame and to premature obscurity set against the backdrop of Sydney's Bondi Beach.

On a clear cold Sunday morning in June 1867, three little boys wandered away from their home near the town of Daylesford, on Dja Dja Wurrung country in central Victoria. Over the next six weeks the boys’ story gripped the colony.

Immerse yourself in the sounds and histories of the old growth forests; from logging to woodchipping, protesting and preserving.

The Overland is a train whose tracks were once plagued by both squabbling and pandemic. But it is back, although both the plague and the squabbling still exist.

There’s a mystery surrounding the elegant and ingenious Jimmy Possum chairs that were made 130 years ago in Tasmania. Did their maker live in a tree trunk?  Did he even exist?  Claudia Taranto goes in search of the real Jimmy Possum and learns about the enduring power of a good story.

In 1824, the British waged war against the Wiradjuri people of western NSW. It was known as the Bathurst War and it shook the new colony. But many Australians have never heard of it, or of the heroic Wiradjuri warrior, Windradyne. The town is now remembering this history.

In 1979 a man named Vico Virkez gave a surprise tip off that would lead to one of the longest criminal trials, and some say, the greatest miscarriage of justice, in Australian history.

The story of six Croatian Australian men who were incarcerated for 15 years for crimes they say they never committed. 40 years later, new evidence has been found in their favour.

A wild ride involving a Russian flying ace, an escape from Java in World War 2, and a missing package of diamonds.

In the 1950s a romantic proposition by a Russian diplomat transformed Kay Marshall from an admin worker into one of Australia’s most important double agents. It was the beginning of a four-year intelligence operation which revealed that there was more going on at the Soviet Embassy than met the eye.

Russian writer Mikhail Bulgakov’s most famous novel, The Master and Margarita, was written during the brutal 1930s Stalinist purges. It's become a cult classic, inspiring artists like Patti Smith and the Rolling Stones. Find out why.

Find out why, in its relatively short history, one instrument has offended ideologues, drawn the ire of dictators, and been reviled and outlawed.

A little known assassination attempt against Hitler cast its shadow over a family in Sweden. Johan Gabrielsson digs deep into the family vault and discovers the complicated truth about one of his distant relatives.

In 1768 when James Cook sailed from Tahiti looking for the great southern land, Tupaia, a traditional Polynesia navigator was on board. His knowledge proved invaluable to Cook and his sailing skills astounded the crew. What role did Tupaia actually play in the voyage and why haven't we heard heard about him?

It's the early 1900's in Sydney. Fictional Pyrmont resident and neighbourhood gossip Lizzie Absalom tells what really went on in those back lanes.

Every family has a secret, the saying goes. But the Ninnes family had a big one. It wasn't until eldest daughter Mae was 80 years old that she began to talk. And the skeletons came out of the cupboard. In this program Mae's daughter Lesley searches for answers to the silence and the secrecy of her mother's childhood.

A huge coal project by a foreign company. Environmentalists concerned about the impacts. A government talking about jobs. Sound familiar? But this battle happened 50 years ago, when a small group waged a David–and-Goliath campaign against a coal terminal planned for the coast south of Sydney.

The September 11th attacks in the United States by Al Qaeda changed the way western countries perceived the threat of terrorism. Before the events of 2001, Australia had no national terrorism laws. But fifteen years later it would have more terror-related laws in place than any other comparable nation.

A radio journey into John Glover's 1835 painting A view of the artist's house and garden, in Mills Plains, Van Diemen's Land.

In 1881, an extraordinary teacher arrived at Maloga Aboriginal mission. His students changed Australian history. Great great grandson and Yorta Yorta man Daniel James tells the story of Thomas Shadrach James.

When Michelle Payne won the Melbourne Cup in 2015 there were three female jockeys who were with her in spirit. They all challenged the male-dominated racing industry, pushed on by the air of heaven.

In January 1868, the last convict ship to Australia, The Hougoumont, docked in Fremantle, Western Australia, off-loading its' human cargo, including a group of Irish political prisoners. This is the story of the long sea journey told through the diaries kept by some of the Irishmen and the songs and music they played on board.

Ngarrindjeri elder Major Sumner tells the tale of two men from the opposite ends of Adelaide society at the turn of the twentieth century. The fates of fringe-dweller Tommy Walker and State Coroner William Ramsay Smith entwined and ultimately exposed what was really going on in the mortuaries, gaols, medical schools and graveyards of South Australia at that time.

Australia's state borders have taken on new significance in this pandemic year. The history of the border between NSW and Victoria is full of strange twists and turns, a murder and some very messy politics.

Comedian David Rose digs into the archives and discovers a very personal story; one about a life lived on stage, the parallels of history, and a surprising family legacy which dates all the way back to the music hall era

Malaysian poet and writer Salleh Ben Joned is an incendiary critic with satirical wit, and at nearly 80 he’s become a bit of an underground ‘legend’. Eldest daughter Anna charts the highs and lows of her father’s return to Malaysia after an influential decade in Hobart, Tasmania.

Salleh Ben Joned is a witty, fearless and charismatic poet and writer that some have called the ‘bad boy of Malaysian literature’. Come on a wild ride through his life and times with his eldest daughter Anna, starting with the influential decade he spent in Australia as a young Colombo Plan scholar.

It's 20 years since Sydney hosted the Olympics, and one of the most memorable parts of the 2000 games was the torch relay. This story follows the journey of the flame, from the red dirt country of Uluru to the suburbs of Sydney, hearing the tales and memories that it fuelled along the way.

The music of Johann Sebastian Bach is a lifetime companion for many violinists. And in our time of Covid-19 isolation, his Six Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin have taken on a new resonance. These pieces are spiritual, virtuosic, joyful - and enigmatic.

There’s a number going around audio-visual archivist circles, that has many of them worried: 2025. Magnetic tape — from reel-to-reel, to cassettes and VHS — that is not digitised by 2025 might be lost forever.

Through the chance finding of an old German book in an antiquarian bookshop we discover the life and work of Elisabeth Krämer-Bannow, an artist and ethnographer who explored New Ireland in 1908.

A cavalcade of Japanese Prisoners of War, in makeshift 'cages' on the back of utes and small trucks, makes its way across dusty western NSW. Tension in Hay ramps up, peaking on one long night of drama when it appears the POWs are making another escape attempt.

The mysterious war-time drowning of a young woman in the Murrumbidgee River leads Ann Arnold on a trail of drama and suspense, from the Torres Strait to the outback.

In the 1950s a romantic proposition from a Russian diplomat transformed Kay Marshall from an admin worker into one of Australia’s most important double agents. It was the beginning of a four-year intelligence operation which revealed that there was more going on at the Soviet Embassy than met the eye.

A little known assassination attempt against Hitler cast its shadow over a family in Sweden. Johan Gabrielsson digs deep into the family vault and discovers the complicated truth about one of his distant relatives.

Nah Doongh's story tells of a life that was lost and found; a life that spanned the entire 19th century and bore witness to the colonisation of Australia. It is also a story of love, loss and one woman’s tenacity to die on the land on which she was born.

In 1977, the New Zealand government passed the Contraception, Sterilisation, and Abortion Act which made it virtually impossible for a woman to legally terminate an unwanted pregnancy. Enter the group known as the Sisters Overseas Service (SOS); this is their little known story.

What happens when a small town puts the word "massacre" on an historical monument?

Russian writer Mikhail Bulgakov’s most famous novel, The Master and Margarita, was written during the brutal 1930s Stalinist purges. It has become a cult classic; inspiring artists like Patti Smith and the Rolling Stones we ask why.

Cold war Australia 1949. The enemy was everywhere, and according to many the country was in extreme danger. Enter Diver Dobson, and a drama that entertained and enthralled Australians as they navigated an uncertain decade.

What would it take to bring home the 43 Australian servicemen still missing from the Korean War?

A soap opera about soap starring the Hungarian doctor Ignaz Semmelweis.