Shows / Dead Bunyip Society

Dead Bunyip Society
Hosted by Liam and Jesse, Dead Bunyip Society is a popular history podcast about the people who made Australia.
Episodes
Dead Bunyip SocietyEpisode 46 - The Ferals Part 2
Today is the second part in our history of feral animals. We are talking about cane toads, cats and compassionate conservation. Please see Bluesky for a full…
Dead Bunyip SocietyEpisode 45 - The Ferals Part 1
Today we are talking about the history of feral animals in Australia. Liam tells Jesse about the unique nature of Australian ecology, tells the story of the…
Dead Bunyip SocietyEpisode 44 - The Conservative Ouroboros - Menzies to Hanson
Today is the second and final part on our history of the Australian right's tendency to tear itself apart every so often and be reborn anew, like the world's…
Dead Bunyip SocietyEpisode 43 - The Conservative Ouroboros - Deakin to Hughes
Today we are talking about the tendency of the Australia Right to tear itself apart every so often and be reborn anew, like the world's most boring phoenix…
Dead Bunyip SocietyEpisode 42 - A History of Wanking II
Content warning: Sexually explicit content and genital mutilation. Today is the second in a two part series on the history of masturbation in Australia. We are…
Dead Bunyip SocietyEpisode 41 - A History of Wanking I
Content warning: Sexually explicit content and genital mutilation. Today is the first in a two part series on the history of masturbation in Australia. We are…
Dead Bunyip SocietyEpisode 40 - Paul "Pal" Dozsa - The Chess Master who paid for no meals
Today we are talking about Paul “Pal” Dozsa, a Hungarian-Australian Chess master who became known for his tendency to eat expensive meals without paying…
Dead Bunyip SocietyEpisode 39 - Baryugil The Town James Hardie Killed ft Josh Boerman
Today we are talking about Baryugil, a former asbestos mine in NSW where hundreds of Aboriginal people were exposed to lethal quantities of asbestos and the…
Dead Bunyip SocietyEpisode 38 - 192 Years of Blackface - Part 2
Today we are talking about the Blackface and Minstrelsy in Australia and our country’s love affair with racist performance. This is part 2, which covers the…
Dead Bunyip SocietyEpisode 37 - 192 Years of Blackface - Part 1
Today we are talking about the Blackface and Minstrelsy in Australia and our country’s love affair with racist performance. This is part 1, which covers the…
Dead Bunyip SocietyEpisode 36 - Pine Gap - Outpost of American Empire ft Jesse Black
Today we are talking about Pine Gap, an outpost of the American Empire and the history of US bases in Australia. We also cover the big questions: did the CIA…
Dead Bunyip SocietyEpisode 35 - Ansett and the Patriarchy ft Lucy Valentine
Today we are talking about Reg Ansett, the founder of Ansett Airlines and why he was such a dickhead. We also discuss Deborah Lawrie, Australia’s first female…
Dead Bunyip SocietyEpisode 34 - 1971 Springbok Tour and the Fight Against Apartheid ft Giacomo Bianchino
Today we are talking about the 1971 Springbok Tour, the campaign in Australia against apartheid and the strange history of Australians using blackface to fight…
Dead Bunyip SocietyEpisode 33 - The Mt Kembla Disaster ft. Jesse Black
Today we are talking about the Mt Kembla Mining Disaster of 1902 which claimed 96 lives. Thanks to our carry-over guest Jesse Black! Please see Bluesky for a…
Dead Bunyip SocietyEpisode 32 - Breaker Morant: War Criminal
Today we are talking about Australia’s second most famous war criminal: Harry “Breaker” Morant. Please see Bluesky for a full bibliography @deadbunyipsociety…
Dead Bunyip SocietyEpisode 31 - Jack Karlson Democracy Manifest ft James Hennessy
Today we are talking about Australia’s finest meme “Democracy Manifest” and the fascinating life of the man behind the meme “Jack Karlson”. Thank you to James…
Dead Bunyip SocietyEpisode 30 - Maralinga - Australia's Nuclear Shame, ft. Jesse Black
Today we are talking about Maralinga and the sad history of Australia’s nuclear shame. Many thanks to Jesse Black for coming on the podcast, you can hear more…
Dead Bunyip SocietyEpisode 29 - Duelling and Fragile Masculinity
Today we are talking about duelling in Australia, AKA silly rich dudes pretending to shoot at each other and what it tells us about masculinity in the past and…
Dead Bunyip SocietyEpisode 28 - Killing the Kimberley (ft. Patrick Marlborough) - The Australian Genocide IV
Today is the fourth part of our series on the genocide of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Today we are talking about WA. Thanks to Patrick…
Dead Bunyip SocietyEpisode 27 - Grieving Gippsland - The Australian Genocide III
Today is the third part of our series on the genocide of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Today we are talking about Victoria and focussing on…
Dead Bunyip SocietyEpisode 26 - The First Mardi Gras
Today we are discussing the First Mardi Gras, the persecution of LGBT people in Australia and how we should think about protests more generally. Please see…
Dead Bunyip SocietyEpisode 25 - Skinny Dipping
Today we are discussing the history of swimming in the buff in Australia, both because I needed a lighter topic after the last episode and also because I am…
Dead Bunyip SocietyEpisode 24 - The 2019 Christchurch Terror attack
Today we are covering Brenton Tarrant, the Australian perpetrator of the worst act of terrorism in New Zealand and Australian history. Content warning: this…
Dead Bunyip SocietyEpisode 23 - Graham Richardson Part 3 - Kingmaker
Today is the third and final part in our series on Graham Richardson titled Kingmaker. Please see Bluesky for a full bibliography @deadbunyipsociety Credit…
Dead Bunyip SocietyEpisode 22 - Graham Richardson Part 2 - Minister for Mates
Today is the second part in our series on Graham Richardson titled Minister for Mates. There will be a third part coming soon. Please see Bluesky for a full…
Dead Bunyip SocietyEpisode 21 - Graham Richardson Part 1 - Senator for Kneecaps
Today we’re talking about Graham Richardson. This is the first part in a two part series on a unique figure who shaped Australia’s political landscape, for…
Dead Bunyip SocietyEpisode 20 - Stafford Bullen and his 360 lions
Content Warning: Suicide and a *lot* of lion maulings. Today we’re talking about Stafford Bullen, a man who owned 360 lions and whose Safari Parks were…
Dead Bunyip SocietyEpisode 19 - Eric Campbell a Half Arsed Fascist
Today’s episode is about Eric Campbell arguably Australia’s most successful fascist and what we can learn about the recent wave of far-right activism in…
Dead Bunyip SocietyEpisode 18 - Terror in Tasmania - The Australian Genocide II
Today is the second part of our series on the genocide of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Today we are talking about Tasmania, starting from…
Dead Bunyip SocietyEpisode 17 - Horror on the Hawkesbury - The Australian Genocide I
Today we're talking about the genocide of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. This is intended as the first in a multi-part series. To learn more…
Dead Bunyip SocietyEpisode 16 - How seven million dead seals built Aussie capitalism
Today we're talking about how a group of plucky eighteenth century colonists including emancipist trader Simeon Lord built Australian capitalism…but clubbing…
Dead Bunyip SocietyEpisode 15 - Wittenoom: Australia's Chernobyl
Today we're talking about Wittenoom in Western Australia, the largest exclusion zone in Australia and the site of Australia’s largest industrial disaster. Buy…
Dead Bunyip SocietyEpisode 14 - The Japanese Invasion Myth
Today we're doing some Australian History Mythbusting. The first myth we’re tackling is the idea that the Japanese ever planned to invade Australia in 1942…
Dead Bunyip SocietyEpisode 13 - The second time Australia went to war in Iraq
Today we're talking about the Iraq War, Iraqi history and Australian foreign policy. I also go down a bit of a rabbit hole talking about the fascinating…
Dead Bunyip SocietyEpisode 12 - Bill Leak - Twilight of the Boomers
Today we're talking about Bill Leak, a controversial artist and political cartoonist who died in 2017 and generated a national controversy with his reactionary…
Dead Bunyip SocietyEpisode 11 - The Children of God & the History of Child Protection in Australia
Today we're talking about the Children of God, an evangelical Christian group from which 140 children were removed in 1992 in the largest ever single children…
Dead Bunyip SocietyEpisode 10 - The Rum Rebellion & The Landlord Ascendancy
Today we're talking about the “Rum Rebellion” of 1808, also talking about Australia’s drinking culture and the ascendency of the landlord. Please see Bluesky…
Dead Bunyip SocietyEpisode 9 - Magdalene Homes in Australia
Today we're talking about Magdelene Homes in Australia, the historical mistreatment of children in out of home care, popular history and how the ABC sucks…
Dead Bunyip SocietyEpisode 8 - Dr Harry Bailey - Australia's Worst Psychiatrist
Today we're talking about Dr Harry Bailey a man who loved cutting up gay and lesbian brains and trapping people in nightmare comas for weeks at a time. Please…
Dead Bunyip SocietyEpisode 7 - Edward De Lacy Evans - Australia's First (Documented) Trans Man
Today we're talking about Edward De Lacy Evans, a perfectly ordinary nineteenth century working class fella, who had a pretty big secret. Please see Bluesky…
Dead Bunyip SocietyEpisode 6 - John Mackay - Explorer and Blackbirder
Today we're talking about John Mackay, the man who "discovered" Mackay in Queensland and also trafficked in human beings. Please see Bluesky for a full…
Dead Bunyip SocietyEpisode 5 - Sex Work in Colonial Australia
Today we're talking about the history of sex work in eighteenth and nineteenth Australia. Please see Bluesky for a full bibliography @deadbunyipsociety Credit…
Dead Bunyip SocietyEpisode 4 - The time WA tried to form its own country
Today we're talking about the 1933 WA Referendum, AKA that time that WA tried to set up its own country Please see Bluesky for a full bibliography…
Dead Bunyip SocietyEpisode 3 - Robert Towns & Slavery in Australia
Today we're talking about Robert Towns, the man who founded Townsville and also owned fellow human beings. Please see Bluesky for a full bibliography…
Dead Bunyip SocietyEpisode 2 - Anne Hamilton Byrne and the Family
CONTENT WARNING: This podcast discusses issues relating to child abuse. Listener discretion is encouraged. The Family is arguably Australia's most famous cult…
Dead Bunyip SocietyEpisode 1 - Mullah Abdullah and the Battle of Broken Hill
On 1 January 1915 six people died in the events popularly known as "The Battle of Broken Hill", but why did this happen? Who was Mullah Abdullah and why did he…