Stories from the Archibald
On the 100th anniversary of Sydney's Archibald portrait prize, artist Wendy Sharpe takes a look at some its most controversial moments.
Aug 10, 2021•29 min
ABC Rewind
The History Listen is now ABC Rewind, the home of gripping narrative history series. Dive into true stories told by the people who lived through them.
Episodes
Alone with J.S. Bach
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.
Aug 03, 2021•32 min
Whitlam's China chance: the origins of the Australia-China relationship
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.
Jul 27, 2021•33 min
Those Bloody Vegos - a short history of vegetarianism in Australia
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.
Jul 20, 2021•30 min
Escape from Greece 1941
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.
Jul 13, 2021•29 min
Yarramundi and the people of Dyarubbin
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
Jul 06, 2021•31 min
How hypnosis brought the CIA to Australia
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.
Jun 29, 2021•29 min
An Object in Time - The Whip
The whip played a central role in the development of Australia. What can it tell us about our society today?
Jun 22, 2021•29 min
An Object in Time - The Ginger Beer
The refreshing beverage that revolutionised the law.
Jun 15, 2021•29 min
An Object in Time - The Envelope
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.
Jun 08, 2021•29 min
An Object in Time - The Cup of Tea
The story of how the humble cup of tea came to represent a ruthless British Empire.
Jun 01, 2021•29 min
An Object in Time - The Ticker Tape
How did one long, skinny strip of paper plunge the world into the worst global economic downturn history had ever seen?
May 25, 2021•29 min
An Object in Time - The Train Carriage
The story of the train carriage which propelled the globe from WWI, straight into WWII.
May 18, 2021•29 min
An Object in Time - The Telephone
This special podcast extra episode tells the story of the world's most powerful, imaginary telephone.
May 13, 2021•17 min
An Object in Time - The Pistol
This pistol lies at the centre of one of history's most famous duels - Hamilton Vs. Burr.
May 11, 2021•29 min
An Object in Time - The Umbrella
Umbrellas aren't known for being dangerous, but this one is famous for being deadly.
May 04, 2021•29 min
The Kitchen Table — Spice
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.
Apr 27, 2021•33 min
The Kitchen Table - Wine
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.
Apr 20, 2021•29 min
The Kitchen Table — Salt
Behind your humble shaker of table salt lies a curious and industrious history
Apr 13, 2021•29 min
The Kitchen Table - Tea
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
Apr 06, 2021•29 min
The Little Sparrow - the ASIO spy inside the Communist Party
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?
Mar 30, 2021•29 min
The story of Kevin 'the Head' Brennan: Bondi surfing legend
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.
Mar 23, 2021•29 min
The Lost Boys of Daylesford
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.
Mar 16, 2021•29 min
The harder they fall - stories of life and death in the South East Forests of NSW
Immerse yourself in the sounds and histories of the old growth forests; from logging to woodchipping, protesting and preserving.
Mar 09, 2021•35 min
The Train is Back
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.
Mar 02, 2021•29 min
Who was Jimmy Possum?
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.
Feb 23, 2021•29 min
Windradyne's forgotten war
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.
Feb 16, 2021•29 min
Australia's greatest miscarriage of justice? The Croatian Six - part two
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.
Feb 09, 2021•29 min
Australia's greatest miscarriage of justice? The Croatian Six - part one
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.
Feb 02, 2021•29 min
Diamond Jack, Smirnov and the Pelikaan
A wild ride involving a Russian flying ace, an escape from Java in World War 2, and a missing package of diamonds.
Jan 26, 2021•31 min
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