Created by Michael Adams, author of The Murder Squad and Hanging Ned Kelly, Forgotten Australia delves deep into bloody crimes, dark histories, unsolved mysteries, eccentric personalities and bizarre happenings that are almost always stranger than fiction. Each episode brings to life people and events that were once known to everyone but are now barely remembered by anyone. Based on intensive original research, Forgotten Australia is crafted with a novelist’s eye for character and detail to ...
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This week was a busy one – a royal visit from the Queen, the Centenary Test and mad bulls running through the streets of Melbourne. But no story was more dramatic than the horrific shark attack off Brisbane, which seemed straight out of that recent horror blockbuster: Jaws. In this episode, we look at the men who died that day on Moreton Bay – and …
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This Week in 1952: Miss Kangaroo & the Great Koala Heist
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43:28Long before Crocodile Dundee put Australia on the map for American moviegoers, Miss Kangaroo was sent to the USA on a similar mission. But this young polio survivor wouldn’t be alone on her whirlwind 30-city tour – Miss Kangaroo was to chaperone a couple of baby kangaroos. What could possibly go wrong? At the very same time, a separate film stunt s…
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In 1978, the first Mardi Gras was met with police intimidation, violence and mass arrests that were followed by custodial abuse, bashings and malicious prosecutions. Though the cops, courts, Labor premier Neville Wran and even the Sydney Morning Herald were against the LGBTQ+ community, they wouldn’t back down in their fight for their right to part…
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This Week In… 1927: The First Miss Australia & the Newspaper Stunt that Launched a Media Empire
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46:38In the last week of February 1927, Sydneysiders could go to the Crystal Palace Theatre to see Australia’s very own ‘Queen’ – the winner of the first Miss Australia pageant. Not only would she appear in her costumes, she’d tell of her adventures going to Atlantic City to ‘challenge’ Miss America. Soon she'd take her show all across Australia. In the…
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This Week in 1902: Bubonic Plague, the Crutchy Push, Breaker Morant, Boer War barbarities & the first choice for an Aussie capital
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50:34In the third week of February 1902: the first Australian senators select a sweet site for our national capital and the first Australian commonwealth soldiers embark for overseas service... right as Australia's first prime minister and first opposition leader act as bipartisan boosters for Britain’s conduct in the Boer War... unaware the Poms are ab…
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Your Stories: ‘My Father was Count Copernicus!'
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47:25As an adoptee, Pam Korreng always wondered about her biological parents. In 2021, hoping for some answers, she used Ancestry DNA. What Pam discovered was that her dad, Dave Clark, was an immensely talented singer, musician, actor, comedian, karate expert, stripper and cosmic seeker, who, after pioneering Australian rock ’n’ roll in the 1950s with B…
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This Week in… 1976: Ned Kelly lives, Apocalypse Now dies, sex sells cinema tix but Australia’s star stripper quits
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40:09In this special movie episode: the same week that we rediscover the first filmic Ned Kelly, we lose the chance to have Apocalypse Now made in Australia – and while sexy times sell ‘sinema’ tickets, singer-stripper-philosopher-turned-soft core star Count Copernicus hangs up his G-string. Plus, the new trend to sci-fi flicks that includes ‘The Star W…
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This Week In… 1951: Melbourne’s Retro “Teacher’s Pet” Case
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42:34This week in 1951, Melbourne’s detectives and a police diver were searching the waters off Frankston for the body of Caroline Scully, a wife and mother who’d been missing for eight months. The chief suspect in her suspected murder? Her husband Edward, hailed as an Australian military Masterchef. For a free trial that will give you access to ad-free…
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This Week in... 1926: Ugly Men, Tesla's Predictions, a Fascist ‘Footloose’ and a Mysterious Masked Dancer
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39:46As a sensuous Catwoman seduces Sydney society and Perth’s Ugly Men stage their annual carnival at Uglieland, ugly meanie Mussolini uses his new executive powers to protect fascist Italy from having fun while Elon Musk's original man crush Nikola Tesla predicts a wireless world where you can watch an American presidential inauguration on your pocket…
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This Week in... 1901: the first election, a federal erection and the dying queen
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54:04Australia talks about the first federal election campaign, weeps about the death of beloved Queen Victoria and laughs at a visionary’s plan for a giant statue that’ll rise over Sydney Harbour. Plus: our most famous astronomer mocks Nikola Tesla's "messages from Mars", our most famous meteorologist makes like Elon Musk by firing rockets into the hea…
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This Week in… 1975: Sex, Speed, Strippers & Skyhooks!
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36:43In the third week of January 1975, the ‘The Sensual Seventies’ live up to the label when 2JJ plays a banned song about bonking as its first-ever broadcast while sex documentary The Love Epidemic erupts in cinemas and causes a 'porn' controversy. Plus: a shocking road toll, weird Darwin fundraisers, power blackouts threaten Number 96, Gough brings h…
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Summer Shorts - The Murdochs and the Child Murders
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23:48On New Year’s Eve 1921, Australia was shocked by a Melbourne child murder. Desperate to boost the Herald’s stagnant circulation, newly appointed editor Keith Murdoch ran sensational coverage that helped to send an innocent man to the gallows. Forty years later, when Australia was shocked by a Sydney child murder, Rupert Murdoch, new editor and owne…
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Forgotten Australia This Week… In 1950
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39:49Will the Chinese invade Taiwan? Is nuclear war with Russia inevitable? While it sounds like these questions are ripped from today's headlines, these were actually the biggest issues in the world in the second week of 1950. Plus, closer to home: the RSL’s purges Commies but embraces Pokies; a female playwright tackles white Australian attitudes to A…
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Summer Shorts: TAA Flight 408 – Australia’s First Skyjacking
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17:55In July 1960, Australia was shocked by a new breed of criminal desperado – a gun-wielding and bomb-toting skyjacker. For a free trial that will give you access to ad-free, early and bonus episodes: Patreon: patreon.com/forgottenaustralia Apple: apple.co/forgottenaustralia To buy They’ll Never Hold Me: https://www.booktopia.com.au/they-ll-never-hold…
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Forgotten Australia This Week … in 1925
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33:15Happy New Year! We kick off 2025 by adding a new format in which we look at a different week from each year in the 20th Century. And what better place to start than 100 years ago? In the first week of January 1925, Australia was wowed not only by a world record test cricket attendance at the MCG but also by a giant leap forwards in live radio cover…
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Summer Shorts: Archibald McCafferty – Australia's Charles Manson
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25:17In 1973 in Sydney, a delusional young criminal and his band of disciples set out to ‘Kill Seven’ as a way to resurrect a dead child. For a free trial that will give you access to ad-free, early and bonus episodes: Patreon: patreon.com/forgottenaustralia Apple: apple.co/forgottenaustralia To buy They’ll Never Hold Me: https://www.booktopia.com.au/th…
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Summer Shorts: Curtains for the Magician
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16:17In the first of the Summer Shorts series, we step back to the day in 1974 that underworld serial killer Stewart John Regan, known as ‘The Magician’ for his trick of making people disappear, met his own bloody fate on a Sydney street. To support Forgotten Australia: Patreon: patreon.com/forgottenaustralia Apple: apple.co/forgottenaustralia Email: fo…
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Recently, Nine radio network host Simon Owens interviewed me for his Saturday night show, which is broadcast on Australian east coast stations, including 2GB, 3AW and 4BC. With Simon’s kind permission, here’s the interview, which covers my books They’ll Never Hold Me, The Murder Squad and Hanging Ned Kelly, as well as delving a little into the evol…
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The Model & The Murder Case – Part Two
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55:38In 1954 popular Sydney model Shirley Beiger went on trial for the shooting murder of her boyfriend, with the already sensational proceedings made wilder by her outbursts, a media frenzy, the appearance of a crazed mystic, the accused's unruly cheer squad and a confused verdict. Next month, the Sydney Festival premieres The Model Murder, based on th…
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The Model & The Murder Case – Part One
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36:23Seventy years ago – in 1954 – glamorous Sydney model Shirley Beiger shot her lover dead outside a city nightclub. But why did she kill him — and what punishment would she face? Next month, the Sydney Festival premieres The Model Murder, based on this scandalous case. In the meantime, here's a reprise of the 2019 Forgotten Australia episode that fir…
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Vanishing Cousins – Part Two: The Suspects
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30:02In April 1974, teenage cousins Yvonne Waters and Raelene Eaton went to a surfside pub in Perth to enjoy a Sunday session. They were never seen again, victims of an unknown killer or killers. In recent years, veteran journalist and television producer Melenie Ambrose has investigated this haunting cold case. In part two of this two-part interview ep…
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Vanishing Cousins – Part One: The Disappearance
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46:38In April 1974, teenage cousins Yvonne Waters and Raelene Eaton went to a surfside pub in Perth to enjoy a Sunday session. They were never seen again, victims of an unknown killer or killers. In recent years, veteran journalist and television producer Melenie Ambrose has investigated this haunting cold case. In part one of this two-part interview ep…
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Michael Adams talks They’ll Never Hold Me with Australian True Crime – Part Two
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32:39They’ll Never Hold Me is in bookstores now. Michael sat down with Meshel Laurie of the Australian True Crime podcast to talk all things Kevin John Simmonds. Part Two covers Simmo’s 1959 crime spree and the first few weeks of what was the largest manhunt in Australian history. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.…
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Michael Adams talks They’ll Never Hold Me with Australian True Crime – Part One
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28:36They’ll Never Hold Me is in bookstores now. Michael sat down with Meshel Laurie of the Australian True Crime podcast to talk all things Kevin John Simmonds. Part One covers Simmo from his birth during the Great Depression to his 1959 decision to become an armed robber. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.…
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They’ll Never Hold Me – The Next Few Audiobook Chapters
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38:59Please enjoy a second audiobook extract that continues the story of young Kevin John Simmonds, as he grows up in Griffith, grapples with the lure of criminality and gets a preview of his life in the saga of legendary Sydney characters Darcy Dugan and Ray ‘the Gunner’ Kelly. Buy the full audiobook here: https://rbmediaglobal.com/audiobook/9781004181…
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They'll Never Hold Me – Exclusive Audiobook Excerpt
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35:28My new book, They'll Never Hold Me, which chronicles the life, times and crimes of Long Bay Gaol escapee Kevin John Simmonds, has just been released as an audio book. I'm pleased to present this exclusive excerpt, which comprises the prologue and first two chapters. The full version is available right now via this product page, which offers all the…
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Arizona Ryan and the Sydney Shootout – Part Two
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37:53Who was this good guy with a gun? We delve into life of American cowboy Albert “Arizona” Ryan, who became a celebrity in 1919 in Australia after killing a man to end a Sydney siege. Hear how Arizona, like Dirty Harry, had a history of trigger-happy vigilantism, and how, like Dirty John, his creepy marriage to a wealthy woman came to a violent end. …
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Arizona Ryan and the Sydney Shootout – Part One
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32:31In 1919, in the Sydney slum of Surry Hills, a Chinese gunman shot more than a dozen people, triggering a dramatic police siege that was only ended by the violent intervention of a lone American vigilante. But who was this self-styled cowboy with the six-shooter? Check out my new book, They’ll Never Hold Me https://affirmpress.com.au/author/61917 Su…
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To Live & Die in D.C. – Part Five: A Forensic Furore
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52:30With their suspect in custody, D.C. detectives still can’t celebrate because in Washington in 1972 seven out of every ten murderers go free. Forty years after the verdicts in these murder trials, the FBI will make a bombshell forensic revelation to cast doubt on whether justice was done. Check out my new book, They’ll Never Hold Me https://affirmpr…
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To Live & Die in D.C. – Part Four: A Killer Named Goliath
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39:13With another Washington woman murdered in identical circumstances to Sherry and Sharan, D.C. detectives finally have a suspect – but can they find the disturbed man who stalks the D.C. streets, hides in apartments and calls himself ‘Goliath’? Check out my new book, They’ll Never Hold Me https://affirmpress.com.au/author/61917 Support Forgotten Aust…
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To Live & Die in D.C. – Part Three: Dead Ends and Another Dead Woman
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56:33Despite the best efforts of D.C. detectives and Sydney cops – including Senior Constable Roger Rogerson – Sherry and Sharan’s killer remains at large. When a breakthrough comes, it’ll be in the worst possible circumstances. To pre-order They'll Never Hold Me: https://affirmpress.com.au/browse/book/Michael-Adams-They%27ll-Never-Hold-Me-9781923046474…
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To Live & Die in D.C. – Part Two: A Race Against Time
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58:49Sherry Frahm and Sharan Tapp settle into living and working in Washington. But it’s dangerous being a counter girl in a McDonald’s during D.C.’s ever-bloodier wave of senseless murders. The five-part miniseries is based on information unearthed in Australian government archives, US court transcripts, American and Australian historic newspaper artic…
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To Live & Die in D.C. – Part One: Two Aussie Girls
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51:58In November 1971, at the exact moment that Prime Minister Billy McMahon’s wife Sonia stepped out in her infamously revealing dress at a White House dinner, Australian embassy officials in Washington were thrust into the first crucial hours of a serial killer investigation. Two young women had just been found murdered in a nearby apartment and D.C. …
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The Rise of Roger Rogerson – Part Two: Men Died Because of What He Did
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39:27How was the 1976 case of armed robber Phillip Western a prototype for the “Green Light” that’d soon be given to Neddy Smith? Continuing our in-depth interview, veteran journalist Neil Mercer explains how Roger Rogerson perverting the legal system for profit resulted in a forgotten murder and set the scene for future bloodbaths. Be sure to read Neil…
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The Rise of Roger Rogerson – Part One: All Hell Broke Loose
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41:09How did a hero detective become Australia’s most notoriously corrupt killer cop? In an in-depth conversation, veteran journalist Neil Mercer talks about the Rogerson he interviewed and investigated, starting with their first meeting in 1982. Be sure to read Neil Mercer’s new book, The Kingpin and the Crooked Cop: The Definitive Inside Story of Nedd…
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The Boys of Death Row – Part Six: Lives Hanging in the Balance
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58:33A new murder committed by a 17-year-old brings the tally of boys on Death Row to ten. From April 1936 onwards, the NSW government has to decide who’ll live and who’ll die. With time running out in one case, they rush towards a ‘ghastly mistake’, while in another what they decide will lead to another murder more than 50 years later in Queensland. To…
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The Boys of Death Row – Part Five: The Defence of Consent
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32:10In March 1936, a young Italian woman testifies against her seven rapists in open court, speaking bravely against their claims she’d consented to their violent group assault. To support the show: Apple - http://apple.co/forgottenaustralia Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/ForgottenAustralia Check out my books: (there’s a new one…) They’ll Never Hold…
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The Boys of Death Row – Part Four: A Murderer About Town
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39:45In the lazy days between Christmas and New Year in Wagga Wagga in 1935, a 17-year-old boy spends the festive season indulging in romantic fakery, prepared to defend his deception with cold-blooded murder. To support the show: Apple - http://apple.co/forgottenaustralia Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/ForgottenAustralia Check out my books: (there’s…
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The Boys of Death Row – Part Three: The Hooded Bandit
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46:33Another young criminal faces the ultimate penalty after being convicted of shooting a man during a Sydney railway robbery. But is the Hooded Bandit about to be hanged because the government is making a ghastly legal mistake? To support the show: Apple - http://apple.co/forgottenaustralia Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/ForgottenAustralia Check ou…
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The Boys of Death Row – Part Two: The Calmest Killer
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37:46With Monty Henwood’s 17-year-old alleged killer in custody, police are amazed by the youth’s calm confessions… even though they might see him sentenced to death. *Part two of The Boys of Death Row. The whole miniseries is available ad-free and early to supporters. Parts three to six on general release over the next three weeks.* To support the show…
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The Boys of Death Row – Part One: A Body on the Line
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50:18On a Monday morning in November 1935, a battered man is found dead beside railway tracks in the Blue Mountains. The victim is revered and his death is a mystery. But Sydney police, led by murder expert Detective-Sergeant Tom McRae, are soon on the trail of a young killer. *Part one of The Boys of Death Row. The whole miniseries is available ad-free…
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Originally released in 2019, this episode tells the story of a Saturday night stick-up in Sydney that went very, very wrong – leaving a mystery that has endured for nearly a century. My upcoming miniseries will include the similar case of “The Hooded Bandit”, along with other crimes that shocked Australia in 1935-1936. It'll be with you very soon! …
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The Forgotten Man – Part Four: The Truth
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41:05One of Australia’s most respected journalists tells us about his early career on Sydney tabloid The Sun and how he got an exclusive interview with The Forgotten Man to ask the question: ‘Did you do it?’ To support the show: Apple - http://apple.co/forgottenaustralia Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/ForgottenAustralia Email: forgottenaustraliapodca…
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The Forgotten Man – Part Three: The Trial
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58:09The man accused of John Smillie’s murder finally has his day in court. But the verdict won’t settle the haunting question of his guilt or innocence. To support the show: Apple - http://apple.co/forgottenaustralia Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/ForgottenAustralia Email: [email protected] Check out my books: Hanging Ned Kelly @ D…
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The Forgotten Man – Part Two: The Accused
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59:19Following new information, received six months after the murder of John Smillie, detectives from Sydney’s CIB swoop on their suspect. What happens next is decried as a travesty of justice. To support the show: Apple - http://apple.co/forgottenaustralia Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/ForgottenAustralia Email: [email protected] C…
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The Forgotten Man – Part One: The Murder
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48:11In September 1935, John Smillie was shot dead in his taxi in western Sydney. Who had murdered this war veteran, loving husband and doting father? Was it a robbery gone wrong? A maniac with a grudge against cabbies? Or was he the victim of mistaken identity in a vicious gangland war? The Forgotten Man is an incredible tale of murder and mystery, fac…
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From 1946, Sydney’s Leonard Lawson was a hero to kids for creating the comic book The Lone Avenger. But in reality the young artist was a psychopathic villain responsible for crimes far more terrible than anything in his stories. For five decades, Lawson would outrage the nation by destroying innocent lives and making a mockery of the law’s ability…
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Weachurch: Werewolf of Pentridge – Part Three
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45:37A year after he's 'disappeared' into a solitary cage at Pentridge, Weachurch makes a last stab at freedom... and leaves behind a haunting legacy of resistance to injustice. Email: [email protected] Check out my books: Hanging Ned Kelly @ Dymocks https://www.dymocks.com.au/book/hanging-ned-kelly-by-michael-adams-9781922992185 The M…
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Weachurch: Werewolf of Pentridge – Part Two
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44:15With Weachurch’s pleas for justice ignored and obstructed as he has punishments piled upon him illegally, he takes desperate action against him enemies again... and again... and again. This never-before-told story is based on extensive research in archival files. It’s made possible by Ancestry’s sponsorship and by supporter contributions. Apple - h…
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