Rum, Rebels & Ratbags

ABC

4.8 (30)
SOCIETY & CULTURE

Rum, Rebels & Ratbags is history not for the faint-hearted. Historian and author of 'Girt' David Hunt and ABC Radio Sydney's Dom Knight uncover the characters and events left out of your high school history class.

06/24/2015

Mothers of a nation

Women in the convict colony initially had a hard life, but for many New South Wales presented undreamed of opportunities. They had a greater say in relationships, property, business and government policy than back in Britain, so it is no surprise Australia was a world leader in women’s suffrage.

36 min
06/23/2015

Let's call it Macquarie

Lachlan Macquarie was a hard drinking, penny pinching Scottish army officer with syphilis and an impressive history of financial fraud. Yet he became the colony’s most successful governor, erecting new towns and buildings, integrating ex-convicts into society, and naming just about everything Macquarie.

40 min
06/22/2015

The Bounty bastard

William Bligh was an incredible navigator, breadfruit fancier, coconut hoarder, reforming governor and utter bastard. The mutiny prone swear-bear was brought down in Australia’s only military coup by John Macarthur and the Rum Corps, who finished off what Fletcher Christian started.

28 min
06/21/2015

The man who bought Australia

John Macarthur, a.k.a. Bodice Jack, had two favourite things: alcohol and money, both of which came in brown paper bags. Macarthur and the New South Wales Rum Corps ran dodgy land deals, intimidated government officials, stole from the public purse and introduced 'corruption on a scale probably unexceeded until the days of Eddie Obeid'.

47 min
06/20/2015

Bass Straight?

There are more statues of Matthew Flinders in Australia than of any other man. And there are more statues of his cat, Trim, than of any other cat. Flinders circumnavigated and named Australia, discovered that Tasmania was an island, and spent a lot of time in a very small boat with his 'good sailing buddy', George Bass.

33 min
06/19/2015

The Eora ambassador and the rainbow warrior

Australia's Indigenous people dealt with the white ghosts from across the sea in different ways. Bennelong pursued a path of accommodation and was the first Indigenous man to visit England, whilst the warrior Pemulwuy, dressed in his Amazing Technicolor Dreamingcoat, fought a bloody 12-year guerrilla war.

38 min
06/18/2015

Naked and starving

New South Wales' first governor, Arthur Phillip, dreamed of an antipodean utopia. Instead he founded Sydney, a town full of drunk, starving and naked criminals.

35 min
06/17/2015

Tea, taxation, criminals and cannabis

Did you know the colony of Australia only came about because of tea, taxation, criminals ... and cannabis?! And, find out how a cockney hypochondriac whaler ended up as the first Governor of NSW.

34 min
06/16/2015

Australia's worst serial killer

More than 140 years before Captain Cook sighted the Australian coast, Dutch merchant Jeronimus Cornelisz murdered over 120 shipwreck survivors off the coast of WA in a killing spree that makes Lord of the Flies look like Mary Poppins.

31 min
06/15/2015

Sir Joseph Banks, the playboy botanist

Australians might know Banks as 'that plant guy’ but he was actually a wealthy playboy who inspired Star Trek and discovered surfing. Captain Cook just steered the ship for Banks and his groupies.

30 min

See All (13)

4.8

out of 5

30 Ratings

Come back!

06/02/2022

clairebounds

I have only just found this show and am sad that it was so short-lived. An amusing way to listen to history.
History, Humor & Accents.

06/14/2017

Wifemother

Love this show. I hope these guys do every country. My only critique is the background music volume should be lowered a bit. Love the show. I have recommended it to anyone who has ears. Colene Kane
Hilarious

08/04/2016

Tinyqueenie

Aside from the fantastic title, the facts discussed are - as stated by other reviewers - fascinating. The history of Australia is darker than I ever could have imagined, and I only wish there were more episodes!!
Close to perfect

08/22/2016

Jimmy Two Bears

I really like this podcast. It's well organized, the information is interesting, and the hosts are entertaining. My only two gripes are that the background music is sometimes too loud, and I wish they wouldn't do voices when quoting sources. It can be hard to understand.

Rum, Rebels & Ratbags is history not for the faint-hearted. Historian and author of 'Girt' David Hunt and ABC Radio Sydney's Dom Knight uncover the characters and events left out of your high school history class.