Shows / Forgotten Australia
Forgotten Australia
Bloody crimes, unsolved mysteries, eccentric celebrities, dark events and bizarre happenings: it's all here – the stuff you wish they'd taught you in school!
Dive into our strange-but-true history via never-before-told stories, author interviews, weekly flashbacks and the weekly trivia quiz.
Forgotten Australia is created and hosted by Michael Adams, author of the acclaimed true crime books The Murder Squad, Hanging Ned Kelly and They'll Never Hold Me.
He's also a regular history and true crime…
Episodes
Forgotten AustraliaDeath-Defying Destiny Deciders – Part Eight: The Land of Better Chance
Having made her unthinkable decision, my great-grandmother Emma Murtough takes her children for a new life in Australia. But getting to the Land of Better…
Forgotten AustraliaDeath-Defying Destiny Deciders – Part Seven: All Disquiet After the Western Front
Beyond the propaganda about glory, duty and sacrifice, the aftermath of the Great War ushers in a grave new world for my great-grandmother Emma Murtough and…
Forgotten AustraliaDeath-Defying Destiny Deciders – Part Six: Somewhere in France
My great-grandfather Peter Murtough arrives on the Western Front in August 1915. He is soon plunged into some of the most horrific battles of the Great War…
Forgotten AustraliaDeath-Defying Destiny Deciders – Part Five: It’s A Long Way to Tipperary
Celebrated high diver Peter Murtough takes the plunge when he marries Emma Hanbury – my colourful great-grandmother. But being a husband and father to three…
Forgotten AustraliaDeath-Defying Destiny Deciders – Part Four: Nightmare in South Africa
After the patriotic fervour that sends Peter Murtough to South Africa, he and hundreds of thousands of soldiers discover the reality of the Boer War is hunger…
Forgotten AustraliaDeath-Defying Destiny Deciders – Part Three: Diving & Dicing With Death
In July 1898, my great-grandfather Peter Murtough competes for the title of best diver in the world. But seeking more than the thrills of the life aquatic, he…
Forgotten AustraliaDeath-Defying Destiny Deciders – Part Two: From Waterloo to the Waters of Life
Having fought the French and beaten the odds, Bernard Murtough’s family goes on to prominence in peacetime, establishing themselves and their mineral water…
Forgotten AustraliaNew miniseries: Death-Defying Destiny Deciders – Part One: War, Peace & Plague
I recently discovered that my great-grandfather was a champion diver who was active in the very same London scene as the doomed stuntmen who featured in my…
Forgotten AustraliaShort – Maestro! (feat. Goering + Hitchcock)
From a run-in with the future Nazi villain, to working with the master of movie suspense, Aussie musical genius Arthur Benjamin lived a big life, even if he’s…
Forgotten AustraliaShort – Australia's First Typewriter
A century and a half ago, the age of the typewriter dawned in Australia. Who was the first to import these new American gizmos? Would they cause the extinction…
Forgotten AustraliaShort – The Strange Story of the Australian Flag
This year marks the 125th anniversary of the Australian flag being raised for the first time – the winning design selected from a competition that attracted…
Forgotten AustraliaThis Week in 1966 – Part Three: Mr Stinky, a Rogue Cop and the Beaumont Children
Having just retired from the NSW police, infamously bent Sydney detective Ray Kelly injects himself into the Beaumont case in what is one of Australia’s most…
Forgotten AustraliaThis Week in 1966 – Part Two: H-Bomb Horror & All the Way With LBJ
In Spain, a B-52 accident has left a nuke lost at sea – while on land a fallout cover-up is in full swing. In Australia, even as more Diggers than ever are…
Forgotten AustraliaThis Week in 1966 – Part One: The Dawn of the Decimals
In the second week of February 1966, Australians are preparing for ‘Changeover Day’, when we’ll say 'G’bye' to pounds, shillings and pence and say 'G’day' to…
Forgotten AustraliaThis Week in 1986 – Part Three: The Murders of Anita Cobby, Sallie-Anne Huckstepp and Megan Kalajzich
Australia is shocked by three Sydney murders – even as a spate of brutal attacks on sex workers goes ignored by the police and tabloid media. Plus: Lindy…
Forgotten AustraliaThis Week in 1986: Part Two – A Billionaire Tyrant Terrorises His People
In the Philippines, authoritarian ‘strongman’ President Ferdinand Marcos – having once survived a sex tape scandal that should've sunk him, and having siphoned…
Forgotten AustraliaThis Week in 1986 – Part One: The Strange Death That Freed Lindy Chamberlain
After an Englishman fell to his death at Uluru on Australia Day 1986, a search of the area would find the crucial evidence that proved Lindy Chamberlain was…
Forgotten AustraliaSpotlight – History Daily – The Rum Rebellion – 26 January 1808
Welcome to the first episode of Forgotten Australia Spotlight, which is to showcase the work of other history storytellers. First up, History Daily, with their…
Forgotten AustraliaDeath-Defying Death Divers – Part Four
Having left his mark on Australia, Professor Charles Peart’s legend is to fade with the years, even as others step up to even greater heights for even more…
Forgotten AustraliaDeath-Defying Death Divers – Part Three
Arriving in Australia, Professor Charles Peart lives up the hype and wows crowds in Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane, before showing New Zealand…
Forgotten AustraliaDeath-Defying Death Divers – Part Two
After a diving tragedy shocks London, Professor Charles Peart rises to fame with his daring and dizzying head-first pool stunts. When Australian circus owners…
Forgotten AustraliaNew Season Miniseries: Death-Defying Death Divers – Part One
Welcome to Season 10! There are a lot of wild stranger-than-fiction episodes and miniseries coming your way in 2026. To start the New Year, let's splashback…
Forgotten AustraliaThe Marvellous Mary Stoddard
In 1881, plucky Mary Stoddard won the Great Australian Christmas Card Competition and launched her long and brilliant career in the Sydney art scene. While…
Forgotten AustraliaThe Garden Palace Mystery Revisited
Hope you all had a great Christmas. New episodes will be out next week. In the meantime... Australia's first Christmas cards were displayed at The Garden…
Forgotten AustraliaAustralia’s Great Christmas Card Competition
In 1881, after years of a Christmas card market dominated by wintry imports, the John Sands company launched a competition for Australian-themed designs, with…
Forgotten AustraliaWhen Santa Broke Into Pentridge
A new Christmas episode is on the way. In the meantime, let’s revisit the cheekiest Santa Claus in Australian true crime history: Dusty Sheehan – the young…
Forgotten AustraliaShirley Butler: The Christmas Murder – Part Two
In the weeks after Shirley Butler's murder, newspaper reports hinted that police weren't divulging everything they knew. Then, in June 1953, nearly six months…
Forgotten AustraliaShirley Butler: The Christmas Murder – Part One
In this re-release episode, we revisit one of Australia’s most haunting murder cases. On Christmas Day 1952, the body of Shirley Butler was found not far from…
Forgotten AustraliaShort – Stunt Pilot Percy Snell
In September 1920, Captain Percy Snell thrilled Brisbane by performing aviation stunts in a biplane right over the centre of the city. Forgotten today, this…
Forgotten AustraliaShort – The “Man-Woman” Murder Case That Shocked Australia
In 1920, Sydney police arrested a man named Harry Crawford for murder — giving Australian newspapers the story of the year when it was revealed this male…
Forgotten AustraliaShort – Sydney’s Horror Shipwreck
In 1857, Sydneysiders awoke to the nightmare vision of their harbour bobbing with bodies. The great ship Dunbar been dashed against The Gap and there seemed to…
Forgotten AustraliaShort – Australia’s First Night at the Flicks
In August 1896, Aussies went to the movies for the first time – and it happened at Melbourne’s Opera House just nine months after the French Lumiere brothers…
Forgotten AustraliaShort – Escaping Hell
In 1824, two desperate convicts escaped the penal outpost of Macquarie Harbour, risking murder and cannibalism for a fleeting chance at freedom. It’s easy to…
Forgotten AustraliaShort – The Canberra Air Disaster Mystery
In August 1940, an RAAF Hudson bomber crashed in Canberra, killing four of Australia's top wartime leaders — along with six other men. It was a tragedy that'd…
Forgotten AustraliaThis Week in 1957: Part Two – Keep Watching the Skies
Space dog Laika and Sputnik II were the green light for the Cold War missile and space races to accelerate at warp speed. With the Russians out in front, the…
Forgotten AustraliaThis Week in 1957: Part One – Dogs In Space
The world would never be the same after the Russians launched Sputnik II into space and its cosmonaut canine Laika became the first animal to orbit the Earth…
Forgotten AustraliaThis Week in 1932: 32 Rabbit Holes – Part Three
In 1932, horror movies are on the rise, reflecting fears of an uncertain age – and fair enough, too, because, in addition to the woes of the Great Depression…
Forgotten AustraliaThis Week in 1932: 32 Rabbit Holes – Part Two
While Hitler’s rise to power In Germany seems unstoppable and Mussolini celebrates ten years of fascism in Italy, Australia's homegrown New Guard numbskulls…
Forgotten AustraliaThis Week in 1932: 32 Rabbit Holes – Part One
From robots and rockets, to mad scientists, anti-democratic techbros and narcissistic fascist strongmen, a lot of what was making news this week in the Great…
Forgotten AustraliaThis Week in 1907: All Quacked Up
Doan’s Backache Kidney Pills, Freeman’s Chlorodyne, Hearn’s Bronchitis Cure, Dr Morse’s Indian Root Pills – what was in these and other patent medicines and…
Forgotten AustraliaShort – The Coastwatcher’s Lonely War
In July 1942, as Australia’s armed forces were about to begin what would become the legendary battle for the Kokoda Track, in another occupied part of New…
Forgotten AustraliaShort – The Ballad of Australia’s Forgotten Boxing Champion
In July 1919, tiny-statured but huge-hearted youngster George Mendies won the Australian Flyweight Title. This was a crown he'd defend successfully again and…
Forgotten AustraliaShort – One Man, Two Mining Disasters
Australia suffered what is still our worst industrial disaster when an explosion ripped through the Mount Kembla mine on 31 July 1902. Strikingly, lead rescuer…
Forgotten AustraliaShort: An Aussie Movie Star’s Acid Horror
At the height of the silent movie era, young Australian star Lotus Thompson set her sights on Hollywood. But she soon faced a problem: her legs were so…
Forgotten AustraliaShort: SS Waratah – Australia's Own 'Titanic' Mystery
In July 1909, the world wondered what had become of the SS Waratah, last seen off coast of South Africa with more than 200 souls aboard. This grim mystery was…
Forgotten AustraliaShort: Australia's Free Speech Martyr
William Chidley was an early 20th Century Australian eccentric with his own philosophies, which he preached and published - and for which he was relentlessly…
Forgotten AustraliaThis Week in 1981: Don't Believe the Hype
The death of stuntman Dale Buggins, the arrival of Adam Ant in Australia and new ‘evidence’ in the Azaria Chamberlain case – it was a big week for sensational…
Forgotten AustraliaThis Week in 1956: TV debuts, rock ’n’ roll riots and a dancing senior citizen takes on the world
In the third week of September 1956, a small number of Australians finally saw what all the fuss was about when regular TV broadcasts began. It was a quiet…
Forgotten AustraliaShort: The Death of Damien Parer
This week in 1944, Australia's most famous war cameraman — whose film Kokoda Front Line! had won us our first Oscar the previous year — was killed while…
Forgotten AustraliaShort: Mark Twain Down Under
One hundred and thirty years ago this month, Mark Twain, creator of Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn, and hailed as the world’s funniest man, arrived in Australia for…
Forgotten AustraliaShort: When War Came on Father's Day
As winter became spring in Australia in 1939, the world stood on the edge of the abyss. Then, on Father's Day, 3 September, everyone's worst fears were…
Forgotten AustraliaShort: Australia's Worst Shipwreck
180 years ago this month, Australia suffered what is still our worst civil maritime disaster when the emigrant ship Cataraqui struck a reef off King Island and…
Forgotten AustraliaShort: From Dead Heart to Inland Sea
With Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre now flooded, we look back on the first time this happened in white history. Seventy-five years ago, Australia’s driest and most…
Forgotten AustraliaThis Week in 1931: The Man Who Fell To Earth – Part Three
Having enjoyed a trifecta of splashy Sydney skydiving successes, Stanley makes a new start in Melbourne only to learn that disasters come in threes. It’s easy…
Forgotten AustraliaThis Week in 1931: The Man Who Fell To Earth – Part Two
After Stanley Thomas’s rapid rise to parachuting success in Sydney, his career starts to stall with a series of jumps that are erratic and dangerous. *Part…
Forgotten AustraliaThis Week in 1931: The Man Who Fell To Earth – Part One
Stanley Thomas was a young parachutist who made himself into a star in Sydney in the early years of the Great Depression. In public, he thrilled with his…
Forgotten AustraliaThis Week in 1906: The Golden Rule Axe Murder
When John Hassett was murdered in his Adelaide hotel room, Australia wasn’t faced with a whodunnit but a whydunnit. Why had his wife Ada committed this…
Forgotten AustraliaThe Curious Case of the Two-Headed Baby – Part Two
Reuben Doodeward faces court, but he’s not backing down, and neither is the NSW government, with the fight over the fate of the two-headed baby headed for the…
Forgotten AustraliaThe Curious Case of the Two-Headed Baby – Part One
In 1906, Australia was scandalised that Sydney showman Reuben Doodeward (pictured) had exhibited a two-headed baby preserved in a bottle of spirits. Yet he was…
Forgotten AustraliaBefore the Mushroom Trial – The Poisoned Footy Player: Part Three
While the evidence against Veronica Monty was damning, she was also damned by the hypocritical morality of Australia in the 1950s. Tried for attempted murder…