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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.

3 DAYS AGO

Introducing: Boycott! The fight to end apartheid

How South Africans fought to win their freedom, and the Australians who helped them fight for it. It's 1990, and the world is watching as Nelson Mandela walks free from his prison cell after 27 years. The global movement to end the racist policy of Apartheid in South Africa is finally on the brink of victory. Host Sisonke Msimang grew up in a family of South African freedom fighters, and in this series, she talks to South Africans who risked their lives in the struggle to end apartheid. She also meets Australians who used sport, culture, alongside boycotts and sanctions to bring South Africa to its knees. This is a story of hope in unsettled times, a story about the power of collective struggle to change the course of history.
3 DAYS AGO

The Drug Grannies - Too Old to Run | 02

In the summer of 1978, Australian narcotics agents intercepted a campervan being unloaded on the Melbourne docks. What they discovered inside the van turned out to be the largest haul of an illicit substance, black hashish, to land on Australian soil at the time. The campervan belonged to two elderly American women tourists, whose overseas holiday odyssey quickly spiralled into a hellish nightmare.
6 DAYS AGO

The Drug Grannies - Too Old to Run | 01

In the summer of 1978, narcotics agents discovered the largest ever haul of illicit drugs to land in Australia, stashed inside a campervan belonging to two elderly American women tourists. But were these women truly drug smugglers or naive puppets in an elaborate plot masterminded by someone else?
27 JAN

PRESENTS — The Challenger Legacy

Forty years ago this January, the Space Shuttle Challenger disintegrated on its way into orbit. All seven astronauts on board were killed. In the days after the tragedy, the world wanted answers. What really caused the shuttle to explode? And should the launch have been stopped altogether? For season five of Science Friction, Dr Karl Kruszelnicki and Fiona Pepper investigate how the Challenger disaster unfolded — and what that has meant for space exploration from 1986 to now. The Challenger Legacy is a five-part series from Science Friction. Out NOW — search Science Friction and The Challenger Legacy.

20 min
13/12/2025

02 | Florence: a murder still unsolved

In a shocking and brutal end to a colourful life, Australian wallpaper designer Florence Broadhurst was murdered in her Paddington studio on the 15th of October, 1977. So who was suspected of this crime and why is the case still unsolved to this day? Please listen with care - this episode contains graphic content. Guests: Tony Russell – Former NSW Police officer Helen O’Neill – Journalist and author, Florence Broadhurst: her secret and extraordinary lives Mark Whittaker – Journalist and author, Granny killer: the story of John Glover Babette Hayes OAM – Interior designer Vincent Jones – VP Sales & Licensing, Asia-Pacific, Centa IP David Lloyd-Lewis – Grandson of Florence Broadhurst Credits: Producer – Zoe Ferguson Engineer – Simon Branthwaite Executive Producer – Michelle Rayner

29 min
06/12/2025

01 | Florence - a life papered over

She’s one of Australia’s most prolific and popular designers, and yet not many people know her name, let alone her audacious life story. Florence Broadhurst was from regional Queensland but people who met her later in life, thought she was English aristocrat. She reinvented herself many times throughout her life. Today she’s known for her wallpaper designs that cemented her in Australian design history. But a shadow lingers over her legacy; her unsolved murder in 1977. Guests: Helen O’Neill – Journalist and author, Florence Broadhurst: Her secret and extraordinary lives Dr Andrew Field – Associate Professor of Chinese History, Duke Kunshan University Babette Hayes OAM – Interior designer David Lennie – Screen printer, Signature Prints Sheridan Black – Owner, Signature Handprints Tony Russell – Former NSW Police officer David Lloyd-Lewis – Grandson of Florence Broadhurst Laura Doble – Interior design graduateCredits: Producer – Zoe Ferguson Engineer – Simon Branthwaite Executive Producer – Michelle Rayner
30/11/2025

01 | The Buried Tea Chests

When journalist Annika Blau learns of the discovery of two tea chests of highly valuable letters under the floorboards of an old Sydney home, she begins to uncover secrets, silences and shame from a chapter of Australia's history some would prefer to forget.
29/11/2025

02 | The Buried Tea Chests

When two tea chests full of letters are found under a house in Sydney, they're identified as one of the most important finds in Australia's postal history. But for journalist Annika Blau, they also expose family secrets, silences and shame, as more startling truths are revealed about who her family really is and where they come from.

28 min

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Rebecca Huntley

Host
Kevin Coombs

Guest
Daniela Di Toro

Guest
Ryley Batt

Guest
Siobhan Paton

Guest
Angie Ballard

Guest

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.