The History Listen

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The History Listen

New and compelling stories from Australia and around the world. Step inside a time machine for an immersive journey into the past.

  1. 6 DAYS AGO

    Florence: A life papered over – Part 1

    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 graduate   Credits: Producer – Zoe Ferguson  Engineer – Simon Branthwaite  Executive Producer – Michelle Rayner

  2. 2 NOV

    The Mavis Files

    When superannuation pioneer Mavis Robertson was in her seventies, she was showered with awards and honours. But something was missing from the life story shared with the public at this time: the more than 30 years she spent as a leading member of the Communist Party of Australia. Historian Alice Garner and Mavis's son Peter Robertson delve into this part of his mother's life, including her extensive ASIO security file.

    30 min

  3. 26 OCT

    Day 9 at Wooreen: the school that was kidnapped

    An entire school is kidnapped at gunpoint. 9 students and their teacher are taken hostage by a prison escapee who demands a ransom of 7 million dollars, the release of 17 prisoners, 100 kilos of cocaine, automatic weapons, and an escape vehicle.

    30 min

  4. 19 OCT

    My Grandmother is a Japanese war bride

    After World War Two, around 650 Japanese war brides crossed once enemy lines to make a home in Australia, at a time when the  White Australia Policy still held sway. But 50 years on, how do the grandchildren of the Japanese war brides understand their family story?

    29 min

  5. 12 OCT

    The Martha Plan

    The Martha Plan was a secret scheme created  in the early 1960's to bring unmarried Spanish women to Australia, in the hope that they'd stay and populate the country. Did it work?

    29 min

  6. 5 OCT

    Ep 2: The buried tea chest

    Hidden for nearly a century, two chests of mail found under a Sydney home was declared to be one of the most important hauls in Australia’s postal history. Why the secrecy? And why has a Sydney family been so shocked by their revelations?

    29 min

  7. 28 SEPT

    Ep 1: The buried tea chests

    When journalist Annika Blau learnt of the discovery of two tea chests of very valuable mail under the floorboards of an old Sydney home, she uncovered secrets, silences and shame from a chapter of Australia's history some would prefer to forget.

    29 min

  8. 21 SEPT

    A succulent Chinese meal - Part 2

    Where did Jack Karlson learn the lines he delivers in his famous viral video? This moving story of the prison playwright and the performer unravels why Jack uttered those now infamous words “This is democracy manifest.”

    31 min
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About

New and compelling stories from Australia and around the world. Step inside a time machine for an immersive journey into the past.

Information

  • Creator
    ABC listen
  • Years Active
    2018 - 2024
  • Episodes
    298
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2024, Australian Broadcasting Corporation. All right reserved.
  • Show Website
    The History Listen

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