Ratbags & Roustabouts Marion Langford

To mark Anzac Day, we hear the story of Hobart teacher Captain Ivor Margetts, who led his men into battle at Gallipoli during WWI, surviving the whole campaign in the Dardanelles Strait, only to be killed at the very start of the Battle of Pozieres. Known as Margo to his mates and Captain Ivor to his descendants, Ivor Margetts was a teacher and AFL player living in Hobart when Australia joined the war in 1914. Eager to do his bit for his country, Ivor set sail, first for training in...

In 1832, when a group of indentured servants ran off from their jobs with the Van Diemen’s Land Company in northwest Tasmania, the ramifications would be severe — both for them and for their former master, Edward Curr.At the fledgling settlement of Circular Head in March 1832, the Forth ship brought a group of indentured servants from England, ready to get to work for a set number of years in the service of the Van Diemen’s Land Company. But when they set foot on land, the cold, leaky te...

In 1883, Kelly Gang wannabes James Sutherland and James Ogden carried out their brief but bloody bushranging careers near Epping Forest, Tasmania. But they never achieved the same infamy as their hero Ned Kelly.In the middle of the night, William Wilson and his wife Theresa were woken by the sound of stones hitting the roof of their small house in the north midlands of Tasmaina. But when William went outside to see what it was, he was shot. And so began a night of terror for the family as bus...

In 1925, Audrey Jacob walked through the crowded ballroom of Perth’s Government House, tapped Cyril Gidley on the shoulder and shot him point blank in the chest. But after a sensational trial, she was cleared of murder. So just how was she found not guilty?Audrey Jacob was just 20 years old when she was out with a friend at the annual St John of God ball in Perth and she saw her fiance, 25-year-old Cyril Gidley, dancing with another woman. Cyril, a ship’s engineer, was meant to be on his...

SUMMER SPECIAL: There’s a reason women always exclaim in delight when they realise a garment has pockets, and it is a story that is woven through hundreds of years of history — and firmly entrenched in the suffragette movement.In this special summer edition of Ratbags & Roustabouts, we unravel the history of the pocket, learning about how fashion for both men and women changed over the centuries and the close link between our clothes and the evolution of politics. Hosted by Marion La...

SUMMER SPECIAL: In 1930, the elusive Planet X — later named Pluto — was introduced to the world to much fanfare as the solar system’s ninth planet. So why was it rejected again, just 76 years later?When US astronomer Clyde Tombaugh first found Pluto on the edge of the solar system, he joined the small and exclusive club of planet discoverers. The world was, frankly, over the moon about the newest, littlest planet. They loved it so much, even Mickey Mouse named his dog after it.Then along came...