From alleyway gangsters to cold war spies to eccentric entrepreneurs, Australian history is full of colourful but forgotten characters. Host Jen Kelly talks with experts, historians and yarn spinners to uncover the untold stories of some of our most interesting and offbeat ancestors.
While she was born and raised in Sydney, “Sally” was so devoted to Stalinist Russia that she became a Soviet spy and infiltrated a US government agency. Like the show? consider becoming a Herald Sun subscriber for Jen Kelly's columns and much more. Go to heraldsun.com.au/ibaw and click on any article to begin See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
In 1918, Melbourne was celebrating the end of WWI, unaware an insidious new war on home turf had just begun. That’s when a new drug – cocaine – first came under the nose of Melbourne police, introduced by a prostitute from Sydney. And the mastermind of the cocaine trade was Charles le Marchant, a longtime opium addict who had honed his criminal skills as a teen gang member in Chinatown. Read more about Melbourne's dark past at heraldsun.com.au/ibaw See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy informa...
In the early 1900s, Chinatown's Heffernan Lane was one of the worst streets in Melbourne thanks to brothels, opium dens, gambling rooms and a tendency to attract murderous thieves. And its most notorious resident was Chinese-born gangster Harry Quong, whose upstanding parents migrated to Melbourne to give their son "a good English education". Instead, he repaid his parents’ sacrifice by becoming a bank robber, thief and all-round scoundrel - then scored himself 15 years in jail for shooting a po...
In 1919 as a gang war called the Fitzroy Vendetta raged, Squizzy Taylor and a cast of misfits were tearing apart the inner Melbourne suburb. And living amid the sly grog shops, opium dens, brothels and slums was one man, World War I veteran Arthur Skerritt, whose life of crime culminated in a shocking murder. Read more at heraldsun.com.au/ibaw See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
The Collis family caused mayhem for decades with their sly grog shops and gang violence until authorities were forced to declare their homes condemned to run them out of town. Read more at heraldsun.com.au/ibaw See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Her name is barely known today, but the formidable Ann Shiell was a powerful crime boss, slum landlord, brothel madam and controller of gangs of thieves in Melbourne in the late 1800s. For more on this story, go to heraldsun.com.au/ibaw See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Australian-born beauty Enid Lindeman disguised escaped Allied servicemen as maids to trick police when they raided the riviera mansion she used as a safe house for the French Resistance. Read more Australian tales at www.heraldsun.com.au/ibaw See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
As well as driving a cheetah with a diamond collar around London in her Bentley, scandal-plagued socialite Enid Lindeman outlived four husbands, earned the nickname “Lady Killmore”, and walked around with a pet hyrax on her shoulder. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
After building an empire of brothels in the notorious Little Lon red light district, Madame Brussels was dubbed the “worst and wickedest woman in Melbourne”. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Convict James Porter and his crewmates were viewed as mutineer scum when they escaped Australia in a leaky stolen boat, but hailed as heroes in their new home 10,000km away. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
In 1833, cockney sailor James Porter pulled off an audacious escape – stealing a leaky boat with nine other convicts and sailing all the way to South America and a life of freedom. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
After a hefty reward was offered to solve Melbourne’s Gun Alley murder, a parade of shonky witnesses with outlandish claims sent an innocent man to his death. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
When Sister Vivian Bullwinkel was shot with a machinegun in one of the worst massacres of World War II, a split-second decision to feign death saved her life. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Our grand, tree-lined boulevards are a spectacular showpiece, but our city would be a very different place if they served the suburbs beyond the city fringe. What went wrong? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
When wireless pioneer Violet McKenzie realised Australia was short of Morse code operators as WWII approached, she opened a free school and trained thousands of young women. Become a Herald Sun subscriber. Go to www.heraldsun.com.au/ibaw and click on any article to begin See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
After fleeing Nazi Germany as a child, Albert Ullin set up Australia's first bookshop specifically for children - and inspired a generation of authors and illustrators. Become a Herald Sun subscriber. Go to heraldsun.com.au/ibaw and click on any article to begin See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
From bogus doctor to counterfeit clergyman to US consul-general, Australian con artist Anthony Duerdin adopted at least 26 fake identities. But it was more about chasing thrills than the cash. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Armed with a trained monkey, a barrel of marbles and a swag of tricks, gang leader “Paddy the Pig” swindled the crowds at Melbourne racecourses with his crafty cons and sleight of hand. Subscribe to the Herald Sun. Go to heraldsun.com.au/ibaw and click on any article to begin See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
From street beggar to child prisoner to Australia’s best-known celebrity showman, “Flash Jack” Donovan packed a lot into his remarkable 57-year life, including making a fortune off Ned Kelly’s hanging. Read more here. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Ex-convict Smith Brown used a heart-shaped wooden matchbox and one simple trick to fool 1800s Melburnians into handing over their savings, making him one of old Melbourne’s craftiest conmen. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Child of a famous politician turned inveterate fraudster, Charles Jones decided to create his own religion to save on business expenses. Like the show? Become a Herald Sun subscriber. go to heraldsun.com.au/ibaw and click on any article to begin See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Eliza Batman was the wife of controversial Melbourne pioneer John Batman, but in many ways, her eventful and ultimately tragic life was even more interesting than her husband's. Jen is joined by Melbourne journalist and history buff, Jamie Duncan to discuss. Become a Herald Sun subscriber. Go to www.heraldsun.com.au/ibaw and click on any article to begin. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Journalist and history buff Jamie Duncan joins the show to talk about how a pandemic hit our shores over 100 years ago, and how Australia overcame it. Become a Herald Sun subscriber: go to https://www.heraldsun.com.au/ibaw and click on any article to begin. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
How escaped convict who lived with Aboriginal tribe became “double agent”. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Why escaped convict William Buckley was welcomed as family into Aboriginal clan and stayed 32 years. Subscribe to the Herald Sun. Go to www.heraldsun.com.au/IBAW and click on any article to begin See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
How Tasmanian Aboriginal woman Truganini became an outlaw on the run in Victoria after her companion shot and killed two men See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
In 1944 a man was jailed for the horrific murder of the “Pyjama Girl”. But startling evidence suggests police got it wildly wrong, and now the woman’s identity – and her killer – may never be known. Read more here. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Arthur Stace was a down-and-outer who was lucky to survive a horrendous, brutal childhood. But one remarkable event set him on a quest to spend the rest of his life writing one word. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
It was always believed bushranger Ned Kelly’s brother, Dan, died in the notorious 1880 police shoot-out at Glenrowan. So who was the mystery man who turned up in Brisbane 53 years later claiming he was Dan Kelly? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
It was a grim sign that conjured up images of a sinister mob wielding sledgehammers and wrecking balls. But there was a surprise twist to Whelan the Wrecker’s methods that helped create Melbourne’s beauty as it is today. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
