Episodes
![The Tragedy of Newcastle Coal](https://pbcdn1.podbean.com/imglogo/image-logo/8140470/Serif_300x300.jpg)
Monday May 09, 2022
The Tragedy of Newcastle Coal
Monday May 09, 2022
Monday May 09, 2022
In the last episode of Season 3 we briefly trace the history of Australia's first and most important export, coal, and the city with which it is inextricably linked. We trace this history from the dreaming of the Awabakal people all the way to the open cut coal mines of the Upper Hunter that frame our national narrative to this day.
One particular mystery, however, forms the focus of the episode; just why did roughly 50 merchant ships laden with Newcastle coal go missing in the Pacific Ocean bound for the West Coast of the Americas? And why were the powers that be so stubborn in their refusal to address an issue that cost over 1000 lives in the late 19th Century?
![The Theosophists and the Star of Balmoral](https://pbcdn1.podbean.com/imglogo/image-logo/8140470/Serif_300x300.jpg)
Monday Apr 25, 2022
The Theosophists and the Star of Balmoral
Monday Apr 25, 2022
Monday Apr 25, 2022
![Palaces of Consumerism](https://pbcdn1.podbean.com/imglogo/image-logo/8140470/Serif_300x300.jpg)
Monday Apr 11, 2022
Palaces of Consumerism
Monday Apr 11, 2022
Monday Apr 11, 2022
In the early years of the 20th century Sydney was the undisputed Department Store capital of the world. Retail family dynasties competed with each other to open the largest, most modern and most spectacular stores from Broadway to Wynyard.
Alas, the 1960s brought changing fortunes for these icons as the CBD started to decay and sprawling Sydneysiders begun to favour newer, more climate controlled suburban shopping centres with plenty of onsite car parking.
This episode we discuss five of the biggest names in Sydney's department store history, charting their rises and inevitable falls to find out what has become of some of these epic buildings and one-time institutions today.
![The War and the Wobblies](https://pbcdn1.podbean.com/imglogo/image-logo/8140470/Serif_300x300.jpg)
Monday Mar 28, 2022
The War and the Wobblies
Monday Mar 28, 2022
Monday Mar 28, 2022
![The Tall Tale of Captain Moonlite](https://pbcdn1.podbean.com/imglogo/image-logo/8140470/Serif_300x300.jpg)
Monday Mar 14, 2022
The Tall Tale of Captain Moonlite
Monday Mar 14, 2022
Monday Mar 14, 2022
In 1880 the bushranger era came to a dramatic end in Eastern Australia with the infamous death of Ned Kelly in Melbourne. Earlier that same year a man just as infamous at the time was hanged at Darlinghurst Gaol after engaging in his own wayward adventures across the colonies of New South Wales and Victoria and in the South Pacific.
Some 110 years later the letters Andrew George Scott, known to the 19th century public as 'Captain Moonlite' wrote,came to light in the New South Wales State Archives. These letters gave a surprising insight into the mind of a fascinating character and gave queer Sydney an erstwhile hero.
In this episode we explore just a few of Scott's misadventures and discuss his ongoing significance to Australian culture.
This episode was written based on the work of Garry Linnell is his book 'Captain Moonlite: The Tragic Love Story of Captain Moonlite and the Bloody End of the Bushrangers'.
![Red Gold and the Cedar Getters](https://pbcdn1.podbean.com/imglogo/image-logo/8140470/Serif_300x300.jpg)
Monday Feb 28, 2022
Red Gold and the Cedar Getters
Monday Feb 28, 2022
Monday Feb 28, 2022
Well before the gold rushes of the mid 1800s, there was another all but forgotten resource extraction boom which played an important role in the expansion of the early colony. After being first logged along the Hawkesbury River, red cedar soon became the third largest export from the nascent port of Sydney and was known colloquially as “red gold”. It played a vital role in the foundation of places as diverse as Kiama, Maitland, and Byron Bay, and its presence is still to be observed in many buildings throughout Sydney today.
A short video on red cedar which features the Reading Room in Canberra is available here. You can also check out the Macquarie Armchair, the oldest surviving piece of Australian red cedar furniture, or read this short article which contains many beautiful images of red cedar trees. Stories about red cedar have also featured in the Sydney Morning Herald and the Newcastle Herald.
![Sydney Cove and Her Preservation](https://pbcdn1.podbean.com/imglogo/image-logo/8140470/Serif_300x300.jpg)
Monday Feb 14, 2022
Sydney Cove and Her Preservation
Monday Feb 14, 2022
Monday Feb 14, 2022
This episode we discuss the story of the Sydney Cove, a ship that set sail from Calcutta bound for its eponymous port in 1796. The Sydney Cove never quite made it the whole way, but after countless misadventures just under half of her crew did.
Join us as we discuss a story that is not only all but unbelievable but is one of the most significant stories of first contact between First Nations people and visitors from across the British Empire. This tale was more or less lost to time for much of the 20th century but from the unearthing of the shipwreck in 1977 there was no putting this tale back in the rum bottle, as it were.
The original inspiration for this story came from reading Jock Serong's work of historical fiction: Preservation. The factual heavy lifting was largely courtesy of Mark McKenna's book: From the Edge; Australia's Lost Histories. If you'd like to read the full text of William Clark's published account of their journey you can find it, and an assortment of other relevant correspondence, here.
And if you know where we an get a carton of James Squire's Preservation Ale we'd love to hear from you!
![The Local Bowlo](https://pbcdn1.podbean.com/imglogo/image-logo/8140470/Serif_300x300.jpg)
Monday Jan 31, 2022
The Local Bowlo
Monday Jan 31, 2022
Monday Jan 31, 2022
We discuss the history and significance of the local bowlo with special guest Louis Heath. Perhaps you, like us, have always wondered where this quaint game comes from, and why so many bowling clubs dot the streets of Sydney. If so, then you're in luck! We'll dive into the royal origins of the sport, its enormous boom in popularity in the post-war era, and what the future holds for these local institutions.
If you would like to discuss bowlos or share resources with Louis, you can reach him at louisheath@hotmail.com. You can also read his thesis here, or simply reference this graph showing the steady rise and fall of bowling clubs over the last 100+ years. Here is the newspaper article about the significance of third places during the COVID pandemic that is mentioned during the episode.
You can also read Wendy Bacon's investigative stories on the proposed development of Paddington Bowling Club here, and this Herald article about the recent restoration of the land to the Aboriginal Land Council.
![Coming Up in Season 3](https://pbcdn1.podbean.com/imglogo/image-logo/8140470/Serif_300x300.jpg)
Monday Jan 17, 2022
Coming Up in Season 3
Monday Jan 17, 2022
Monday Jan 17, 2022
To celebrate both boys recording from Sydney for the first time ever, we've included some bonus material about Manly in our introductory episode to Season Three - a "vignette from Sydney" as Jed likes to call it! Plus, find out about the exciting new episode format set to feature this season, and hear about the topics that we have prepared for you (or in some cases soon will be preparing).
![The Macleays and Their Collection](https://pbcdn1.podbean.com/imglogo/image-logo/8140470/Serif_300x300.jpg)
Monday Sep 13, 2021
The Macleays and Their Collection
Monday Sep 13, 2021
Monday Sep 13, 2021
Despite their household name being all but forgotten, the Macleay family were a force to be reckoned with in Colonial Sydney society. They owned vast swaths of NSW as it was carved up in the 19th century, they represented much more of the colony in parliament, they built a most impressive sandstone mansion at Elizabeth Bay House and after 3 generations of collection famously bequeathed one of the world's vastest natural history collections to the University of Sydney. Join us this episode as we discuss one of the most important but oft overlooked colonial Sydney families; the Macleays.