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 AustraliaThe Boys of Death Row – Part Six: Lives Hanging in the Balance
A new murder committed by a 17-year-old brings the tally of boys on Death Row to ten. From April 1936 onwards, the NSW government has to decide who’ll live and…
Forgotten AustraliaThe Boys of Death Row – Part Five: The Defence of Consent
In March 1936, a young Italian woman testifies against her seven rapists in open court, speaking bravely against their claims she’d consented to their violent…
Forgotten AustraliaThe Boys of Death Row – Part Four: A Murderer About Town
In the lazy days between Christmas and New Year in Wagga Wagga in 1935, a 17-year-old boy spends the festive season indulging in romantic fakery, prepared to…
Forgotten AustraliaThe Boys of Death Row – Part Three: The Hooded Bandit
Another young criminal faces the ultimate penalty after being convicted of shooting a man during a Sydney railway robbery. But is the Hooded Bandit about to be…
Forgotten AustraliaThe Boys of Death Row – Part Two: The Calmest Killer
With Monty Henwood’s 17-year-old alleged killer in custody, police are amazed by the youth’s calm confessions… even though they might see him sentenced to…
Forgotten AustraliaThe Boys of Death Row – Part One: A Body on the Line
On a Monday morning in November 1935, a battered man is found dead beside railway tracks in the Blue Mountains. The victim is revered and his death is a…
Forgotten AustraliaThe Masked Murderer
Originally released in 2019, this episode tells the story of a Saturday night stick-up in Sydney that went very, very wrong – leaving a mystery that has…
Forgotten AustraliaThe Forgotten Man – Part Four: The Truth
One of Australia’s most respected journalists tells us about his early career on Sydney tabloid The Sun and how he got an exclusive interview with The…
Forgotten AustraliaThe Forgotten Man – Part Three: The Trial
The man accused of John Smillie’s murder finally has his day in court. But the verdict won’t settle the haunting question of his guilt or innocence. To support…
Forgotten AustraliaThe Forgotten Man – Part Two: The Accused
Following new information, received six months after the murder of John Smillie, detectives from Sydney’s CIB swoop on their suspect. What happens next is…
Forgotten AustraliaThe Forgotten Man – Part One: The Murder
In September 1935, John Smillie was shot dead in his taxi in western Sydney. Who had murdered this war veteran, loving husband and doting father? Was it a…
Forgotten AustraliaThe Comic Book Killer
From 1946, Sydney’s Leonard Lawson was a hero to kids for creating the comic book The Lone Avenger. But in reality the young artist was a psychopathic villain…
Forgotten AustraliaWeachurch: Werewolf of Pentridge – Part Three
A year after he's 'disappeared' into a solitary cage at Pentridge, Weachurch makes a last stab at freedom... and leaves behind a haunting legacy of resistance…
Forgotten AustraliaWeachurch: Werewolf of Pentridge – Part Two
With Weachurch’s pleas for justice ignored and obstructed as he has punishments piled upon him illegally, he takes desperate action against him enemies…
Forgotten AustraliaWeachurch: Werewolf of Pentridge – Part Two
With Weachurch’s pleas for justice ignored and obstructed as he has punishments piled upon him illegally, he takes desperate action against him enemies…
Forgotten AustraliaWeachurch: Werewolf of Pentridge – Part One
A century before Mark ‘Chopper’ Read became infamous in Pentridge, a convict named Weachurch struck terror into that prison’s warders and from behind its…
Forgotten AustraliaThe Murder of Mary Edson
The 1931 murder of young Adelaide wife and mother Mary Edson shocked Australia. But despite this crime’s gruesome details, it was even then a depressingly…
Forgotten AustraliaThe Meticulous Maniac – Part Two: We Have All Got To Die Sometime
With Kingsgrove people reeling from the outrage committed on Paterson Avenue, Sydney detectives swarm the streets to piece together what happened, who was…
Forgotten AustraliaThe Meticulous Maniac – Part One: The Good Doctor
In 1956, Sydney’s usually sedate southern suburbs were stalked by not one but two bloodthirsty men. While the Kingsgrove Slasher’s reign of terror would last…
Forgotten AustraliaThe Deadwood Dick Murders – Part Three
Jack Brown — murderer of three people, supposedly inspired by reading Deadwood Dick pulp novels — went to trial in October 1906. But could a boy who reckoned…
Forgotten AustraliaThe Deadwood Dick Murders – Part Two
Following the supposedly Deadwood Dick-inspired murders committed by Jimmy and Joe Governor, Jack Underwood and Thomas Quinlan, in July 1906 Australia was…
Forgotten AustraliaThe Deadwood Dick Murders – Part One
Deadwood Dick was the first pop culture superhero – 50 years before Batman — and he was the first such character to spark widespread moral condemnation as a…
Forgotten AustraliaThe Nature of the Scorpion – Part Three
Having escaped prison, fled interstate and joined the army under yet another new name, George Blunderfield seeks reinvention and redemption on the Western…
Forgotten AustraliaThe Nature of the Scorpion – Part Two
After committing a sickening outrage in the first weeks of 1900, George Blunderfield serves a relatively short jail sentence. When he's set free he sheds his…
Forgotten AustraliaThe Nature of the Scorpion – Part One
Forgotten fiend George Blunderfield left a trail of violence and murder across Australia from the late 19th century until near the end of the First World War…
Forgotten AustraliaNightmare on the Night Train – Part Three
Trapped in Melbourne in bizarre circumstances, Herbert Kopit's last chance is to talk his way out of an arrest and flee the country. First released in 2022…
Forgotten AustraliaNightmare on the Night Train – Part Two
How did Herbert Kopit become the most wanted man in Australia, trying to escape a massive tri-state murder manhunt while dressed as a woman? Part 3 will be…
Forgotten AustraliaNightmare on the Night Train – Part One
It's just after dawn on 2 April 1936 at Brisbane's Central Railway Station and as a porter enters a sleeping car on the overnight train from Bundaberg he…
Forgotten AustraliaYour Stories: ‘My Great-Great Grandfather was a Serial Killer!’
In Victoria in September 1883, moments before he was hanged for murder, Robert Burns made a startling confession, claiming he’d killed not one but eight…
Forgotten AustraliaThe Human Glove Mystery – Part Two
With ‘The Human Glove’ murder trial just about over, gunshot rings out in Wagga Wagga and another person falls dead. This victim? A witness. Support Forgotten…
Forgotten AustraliaThe Human Glove Mystery – Part One
On release for the first time since 2021, this classic true crime tale is up there with the Shark Arm and Pyjama Girl cases as a Depression-era shocker. On…
Forgotten AustraliaMurder in the Treasury Gardens – Part Four: The Gallows of Gay Hate
With the survivor of the tragedy tried for murder, the only hope is an insanity defence and mercy from Melbourne’s most powerful men. To get in touch with…
Forgotten AustraliaMurder in the Treasury Gardens – Part Three: Posing With Pistols
After having their photos taken holding hands and pointing pistols at each other, Ned and Charlie head for the Treasury Gardens. Only one will emerge alive –…
Forgotten AustraliaMurder in the Treasury Gardens – Part Two: Romeo & Romeo
In 1871-1872, Ned Feeney and Charlie Marks were more than friends in a Melbourne where acting on homosexual desire might get you hanged. Using their letters to…
Forgotten AustraliaMurder in the Treasury Gardens – Part One: We Die Together
In 1872, Australia was shocked by a shooting in Melbourne’s Treasury Gardens. One man lay dead, the other lay nearby smoking a cigar. What had led these best…
- Forgotten Australia
The City Bank Axe Murders – Part Two
With the survivors of the bank massacre identifying the axe-wielding maniac, a frantic search is undertaken in western NSW. But if he’s caught, will he escape…
- Forgotten Australia
The City Bank Axe Murders – Part One
In this first episode of the new season devoted to Crimes That Shocked Australia, we look at the 1893 horror that became known across the colonies as ‘The…
- Forgotten Australia
The Battle For Rothbury – Part Two
After police opened fire on miners at Rothbury on 16 December 1929, killing one man and seriously wounding several more, the battle for the hearts and minds of…
- Forgotten Australia
The Battle For Rothbury – Part One
On 16 December 1929, at the Rothbury colliery near Newcastle, thousands of miners protesting against an illegal wage cut were fired on by police with tragic…
- Forgotten Australia
Australia’s First Serial Killer Manhunt – Part Three
In San Francisco in February 1897 a trio of Australian police officers await the arrival of Frank Butler, wanted for the murder of three men in the Blue…
- Forgotten Australia
Australia’s First Serial Killer Manhunt – Part Two
With the alarm raised about three missing miners, Sydney police begin a massive search of the Blue Mountains. It’s a hunt that draws large crowds of ghoulish…
- Forgotten Australia
Australia’s First Serial Killer Manhunt – Part One
In 1896 a cold-blooded serial killer calling himself Frank Butler advertised for mining partners in Sydney newspapers. Those who went west with him to the Blue…
- Forgotten Australia
Free Beer For All!
Nearly a century before cocaine bundles started washing up on the Sydney coast, the city’s citizens clamoured to recover a different sort of illicit bounty…
- Forgotten Australia
When Santa Broke Into Pentridge
It was the criminal Christmas miracle to warm the hardest heart. During the festive season in 1951, Pentridge prisoners got a surprise visit from Santa, aka…
- Forgotten Australia
The Birth of the Bodgies
In December 1950, Australia was under threat from a new menace to society: sex-crazed Bodgies and Widgies. This youth ‘cult’ indulged in wild orgies and…
- Forgotten Australia
How The Bikini Conquered Bondi Beach
Once upon a time not too long ago, wearing a bikini on Australia’s most famous stretch of sand meant you risked the wrath of veteran Bondi Beach inspector Aub…
- Forgotten Australia
In the Execution of Their Duty
On the 3rd of January 1931, Sydney suffered one of the worst days in Australian police history — the result of a trauma that had festered since a "White…
- Forgotten Australia
Murder at Devils River - Part Three: Australia’s First Femme Fatale
To colonial Australia, Betsy Scott had become a ‘female monster’ – all the more dangerous and diabolical for being alluring and attractive. But how much did…
- Forgotten Australia
Murder at Devils River - Part Two: I’m Innocent But I’ll Know I’ll Hang
With Mansfield police arresting Bob Scott’s murderer, the case looks like it’ll be closed quickly. But revelations before the cops reach Devil’s River will…
- Forgotten Australia
Murder at Devils River - Part One: Bob Scott is Shot!
On 11 November 1863 – 160 years ago this month – history was made in Victoria when the murder of drunkard Bob Scott was avenged on the gallows in Melbourne…
- Forgotten Australia
RAAF Hero Len Fuller - Part Three: Blood Moon and the Setting of the Sun
Len’s arrival to RAF Bomber Command makes for morale-boosting news. But more than half the men who serve as air crew will not live to see the end of the war…
Forgotten AustraliaRAAF Hero Len Fuller - Part Two: The Mid-Air Miracle
Faced with almost certain death during a mid-air collision between two planes, RAAF trainee pilot Len Fuller takes advantage of million-to-one odds by keeping…
- Forgotten Australia
RAAF Hero Len Fuller - Part One: Born to Fly and Fight
In September 1940, young RAAF trainee pilot Len Fuller pulled off a mid-air miracle that made front-page news around Australia and around the world. In this…
- Forgotten Australia
Your Stories: ‘I Was Hunter S. Thompson’s “Fear and Loathing in Australia” Tour Manager’
In September 1976, Dr Hunter S. Thompson, then at the height of his infamy as the drink-and-drug-soaked Dean of Gonzo Journalism, came Down Under to give a…
- Forgotten Australia
Our First Cop Killer, the Luckiest Man Unhung and the Birth of Australia True Crime Reporting - Part Two
In 1803 Sydney Gazette publisher George Howe got a gallows story beyond imagination – and one that would be retold forever after. To support Forgotten…
- Forgotten Australia
Our First Cop Killer, the Luckiest Man Unhung and the Birth of Australian True Crime Reporting - Part One
In 1803 in Sydney, Constable Joseph Luker became the first Australian policeman murdered in the line of the duty. Who was responsible for this crime that…
- Forgotten Australia
Bolts From The Blue
In October 1919, South Grafton, on the NSW North Coast, was the site of the one of the strangest and deadliest coincidences in Australian history. Later, the…
Forgotten AustraliaThe Garden Palace Fire Mystery
Raised in mere months for the 1879 International Exhibition, the Garden Palace was colonial Sydney's most spectacular building. But its fiery demise was even…
- Forgotten Australia
The Birdman of Adelaide Gaol – Part Three: Not Dead But Gone
The jury hands down its verdict in the William Burns murder trial, newspapers discover the existence of his sparrow, a poet is stirred to write verses about…
- Forgotten Australia
The Birdman of Adelaide Gaol – Part Two: Dark Threats & Darker Secrets
At his December 1882 murder trial William Burns pleads self-defence, even as fellow shipmates testify he’d committed cold-blooded murder. But what can his past…