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ABC Rewind

A History , Society & Culture and Documentary podcast

#18 in History · 🇦🇺 #161 in History · 🇸🇬
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About the show

A deep dive into the past told by the people who lived through it. The Rewind podcast interrogates the events and characters that have shaped our world and revisits history through archives, interviews, and compelling storytelling.

Newest episodes

06 | Bondy | The turncoat

Bondy fronts the courts, putting on the performance of a lifetime, as he’s finally called to answer for his dodgy deals. And despite being declared bankrupt, Alan Bond continues living the high life. He's spotted cruising around Perth in his Rolls-Royce and indulging in lavish lunches.  Then, a disgruntled defector in Alan Bond's camp comes forward, who threatens to send Bondy to prison for a very long time. This is the final episode of a 6-part history podcast series from ABC Rewind for Radio National and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 

05 | Bondy | A castle built on sand

Bondy’s been secretly, and illegally, stashing away money that isn’t his to keep as his empire crumbles, and while Alan Bond’s beating away the creditors trying to bankrupt him, he’s also building a back-up plan.  As decades of dirty deals and backroom manoeuvres begin to surface Bondy isn’t just being chased for the billions he owes, criminal investigators are also on his tail and this time he has nowhere to run. This is episode 5 of a 6-part history podcast series from ABC Rewind for Radio National and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 

04 | Bondy | Inside the boy's club

With his hands deep in the West Australian government ‘s coffers, a chance meeting with a man named Tiny could spell the beginning of the end for Alan ‘Bondy’ Bond.  The Black Monday stock market crash sends shock waves through the world economy, threatening to turn Bondy’s business empire upside down.  With everything on the line, Bond needs to act fast but his recklessness catches the attention of his enemies, who seize the opportunity to bring him down. This is episode 4 of a 6-part history podcast series for ABC Rewind from Radio National and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 

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The newest 50 of 431 episodes

06 | Bondy | The turncoat

Bondy fronts the courts, putting on the performance of a lifetime, as he’s finally called to answer for his dodgy deals. And despite being declared bankrupt, Alan Bond continues living the high life. He's spotted cruising around Perth in his Rolls-Royce and indulging in lavish lunches.  Then, a disgruntled defector in Alan Bond's camp comes forward, who threatens to send Bondy to prison for a very long time. This is the final episode of a 6-part history podcast series from ABC Rewind for Radio National and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 

05 | Bondy | A castle built on sand

Bondy’s been secretly, and illegally, stashing away money that isn’t his to keep as his empire crumbles, and while Alan Bond’s beating away the creditors trying to bankrupt him, he’s also building a back-up plan.  As decades of dirty deals and backroom manoeuvres begin to surface Bondy isn’t just being chased for the billions he owes, criminal investigators are also on his tail and this time he has nowhere to run. This is episode 5 of a 6-part history podcast series from ABC Rewind for Radio National and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 

04 | Bondy | Inside the boy's club

With his hands deep in the West Australian government ‘s coffers, a chance meeting with a man named Tiny could spell the beginning of the end for Alan ‘Bondy’ Bond.  The Black Monday stock market crash sends shock waves through the world economy, threatening to turn Bondy’s business empire upside down.  With everything on the line, Bond needs to act fast but his recklessness catches the attention of his enemies, who seize the opportunity to bring him down. This is episode 4 of a 6-part history podcast series for ABC Rewind from Radio National and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 

03 | Bondy | Burn the b*stards

Diamonds, mansions and mistresses, Bondy has been living the high life, but his ruthless pursuit of success begins to have devastating consequences for his marriage to Eileen. After his win in the America’s Cup banks lend Bond billions and he’s doing deals with the likes of Donald Trump. But his true character is revealed when he becomes a beer baron and ruins the lives of people on the edge of his empire. This is episode 3 of a 6-part history podcast series from ABC Rewind for Radio National and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 

02 | Bondy | An ulterior motive

40 min

As his yacht crosses the finish line of The America’s Cup and sails into history, the world holds its breath, but does Alan Bond have an ulterior motive when he enters this race? Bondy infuriates the Yanks with his radical boat design and brazen attitude. But combined with a crack crew and heaps of underdog energy, the Aussies' are in Newport Rhode Island to win.  This is episode 2 of a 6-part history podcast series from ABC Rewind for Radio National and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 

01 | Bondy | The Outsider

Determined to make his first million before his 21st birthday, Alan Bond's questionable business ethics ruffle feathers in small-town Fremantle and earn him a reputation as an audacious English upstart. Shaped by his deprived childhood in post-war Britain, Bondy develops the gift of being able to sell anything to anyone. In his new home of Perth WA his rapid rise from juvenile delinquent to property developer is astonishing. This is episode 1 of a 6-part history podcast series from ABC Rewind for Radio National and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 

Introducing: Bondy From Hero to Zero

Alan Bond was a genius, master salesman and con man. His '80s win of the America’s Cup, the sailing race of tycoons, put Australia on the global stage and the public adored Bond for it. In this series of ABC Rewind, satirist Mark Humphries tells the remarkable true story of Alan Bond; from his sporting highs, to building his global business empire and his lavish lifestyle rubbing shoulders with celebrities, to his business empire crashing and burning spectacularly and the scandal uncovered that saw Bondy pay the ultimate price.  This is a 6-part history podcast series from ABC Rewind for Radio National and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.  

04 | Shooting the Past | Alien Nation

Clare Wright explores the story behind a studio portrait of an Edwardian family, and raises some tricky questions about citizenship, the Australian constitution and the subtle art of belonging.

02 | Shooting the Past | Camp Sovereignty

A photograph of two men, one Indigenous and one non-Indigenous, holding hands leads Clare Wright to investigate the history of  First Nations resistance in Australia

01 | Shooting the Past | The Ruins of Science

29 min

Historian Clare Wright takes a deep dive into Australia's past through six intriguing photographs. In this episode Clare tries to uncover the story behind a baffling photo, and finds herself transported back to the not-so-swinging 1960s.

04 | Saga Land | The story of Egil

26 min

Broadcaster Richard Fidler and writer Kari Gislason continue their travels across Iceland to tell the ancient Viking sagas; tales of love, war and humanity. In this episode they follow the steps of Egil. He was a killer, a ruthless opportunist but also one of the greatest court poets of the Middle Ages.  He travelled far and wide through the Viking world in pursuit of fame and wealth. And yet it was back at his family farm Borg á Mýrum, in Iceland’s mid-west, that he faced his ultimate test, and where he would compose his most moving verse.  A thousand years after Egil, Kári and Richard make the return journey to Reykjavik, and receive some unexpected help in the search for Kári’s bloodline. 

03 | Saga Land | The story of Gisli

28 min

In the remote north-west of Iceland, Kári Gislason and Richard Fidler follow in the doomed footsteps of Gísli, the most uncompromising of the saga heroes – this is a tale about the complexity of family life, and the difficult choices which can come with it. Back in Reykjavik, Kári begins to unravel the knotty threads of his own Icelandic heritage and is suddenly faced with a choice. Credits: Writers - Richard Fidler and Kari Gislason Producer -  Richard Fidler Sound Engineer - Steve Fieldhouse Music composition - Richard Fidler Saga Land is written by Richard Fidler and Kari Gislason, published by Harper Collins/ABC Books, 2018

02 | Saga Land | The story of Gudrun

28 min

Richard Fidler and Kari Gislason continue their travels across Iceland to tell the ancient Viking sagas; tales of love, war and humanity. This episode tells the story of Gudrun, the most beautiful woman in Iceland and the two men who loved her. Kari and Richard also continue to try and piece together the mysterious and tantalising threads of Kari’s Icelandic family history.  Credits: Writers - Richard Fidler and Kari Gislason Producer -  Richard Fidler Sound Engineer - Steve Fieldhouse Music composition - Richard Fidler Saga Land is written by Richard Fidler and Kari Gislason, published by Harper Collins/ABC Books, 2018

01 | Saga Land | The story of Gunnar

28 min

Broadcaster and author Richard Fidler, with this friend the writer Kari Gislasen, travel across Iceland to discover the Sagas – the ancient tales of Viking love, war and humanity.  This episode tells the story a famous Viking warrior, Gunnar, and his destructive love affair with the most beautiful and dangerous woman in Iceland, Hallgerd. And Richard and Kari have another mission during their time in Iceland: to try and find out if Kari is related the one of the country’s greatest saga writers. Credits: Writers - Richard Fidler and Kari Gislason Producer -  Richard Fidler Sound Engineer - Steve Fieldhouse Music composition - Richard Fidler Saga Land is written by Richard Fidler and Kari Gislason, published by Harper Collins/ABC Books, 2018

08| Remember Me | The middle of the air

If a friend sent you a farewell text, saying she was planning to end her life, what would you do? Jennie’s response was to go and sing with Nia and promise to tell her story. Nia has scleroderma, her skin and lungs have hardened over the last 20 years, the pain and discomfort has now become unbearable. But thanks to the Voluntary Assisted Dying laws that Nia helped establish she will have the death she hopes for.  

07 | Remember Me | The Sceptic

Sunil Badami's mother loved telling him stories of his colourful uncle, India's best-known sceptic, who devoted his life to disproving fraudulent gurus' "miracles" by eating fire, bending forks and floating mid-air. But at the heart of the Sceptic's magic was a disappearing act.

06 | Remember Me | Good Spooks bad spooks

When Nell and Caitlin moved into a century-old shop in the historic suburb of Stockton in Newcastle unexplainable things started happening; a lady with a bouffant hairdo appeared in their loungeroom, books, clothes and electronic gadgets were disappearing, there was the acrid smell of unwashed old men in the kitchen. This paranormal activity went on for years, until they called in a ghostbuster. Our expert panel - sceptic Adam Spencer, psychic Kerrie Irwin and agnostic producer Greg Appel put their claims to the test.

05 | Remember Me | Mt Bowen

It was supposed to be a hiking adventure, but it ended in an unforeseeable accident that would change Warren and Geert's futures forever.   When he was sitting around a campfire on a remote island in Far North Queensland, Warren Macdonald made a life-changing decision. He’d sparked up a conversation with a Dutch hiker named Geert van Keulen, and he decided to follow Geert up a mountain the following morning. It was supposed to be a hiking adventure, but it ended in an unforeseeable accident that would change both their lives forever.  

04 | Remember Me | Half Caste Legends

Paulina always knew she had half- siblings around the world. They all shared the same Tongan father. Finding them was the best thing she ever did.

03 | Remember Me | Jim Everett

Jim Everett puralia meenamatta - born on Flinder's Island in 1942 - is a man of many selves – philosopher, fisherman, scholar, activist, poet, soldier, filmmaker. When he was sixteen years old, he discovered a hidden part of himself.

02 | Remember Me | Return of the Songbird

When her Parkinson's Disease medication stopped working musician and writer Linda Neil was in a very dark place. But a treatment called Deep Brain Stimulation has allowed her to return to playing the violin, singing, songwriting, living an independent life and riding her pink bicycle.

01 | Remember Me | The Foster Files

There’s a government file about my life. A file full of reports. The reports date from 1985 to 2003. That’s 18 years. File 105538. No, I’m not a terrorist or a spy. From two weeks old, to the day I turned 18, I was a foster child. I do not own the file about my life. It belongs to the state of Queensland.  But when I turned 18 I wanted answers.   What I found rocked me to my core. This is my story.

Fairlight CMI - the sound you've never heard of

The Australian instrument that shaped the sound of the 1980s and forever changed how popular music was made. At the start of the 1980s the Fairlight caught the eye of synthesiser pioneers likes Stevie Wonder, Herbie Hancock, Kate Bush and Peter Gabriel. By the end of the 1980s it had caught the ear of millions of people around the world, even if they didn't know it.

Blood, prejudice and nursing

It's the 1980s, and the first devastating decade of the AIDS pandemic. A young student nurse tests positive for the virus. and this information ends up on the front page of his local newspaper. A tale of fear and prejudice. but also of great courage, and love. 

The story of Sam Poo - Chinese bushranger?

It's 1865 in remote central west NSW. A police office is fatally shot by a man he believes is a Chinese bushranger. But all may not be as it seems. A bushranging tale with a twist

Finding Fanny Finch

What if the most remarkable of all your ancestors was the one left out of the family tree? Historian Kacey Sinclair and two of Fanny Finch’s direct descendants reconstruct the life and legacy of a  Victorian goldfields trailblazer, a woman of colour whose story was hidden for generations.

The Roo Dog

The Kangaroo dog is unique to Australia. It's a mystery dog with a big story. Born in the early Sydney colony, this deerhound-greyhound mongrel dog was bred to hunt and kill kangaroos. The kangaroo dog was there at key moments in Australia's colonial past - from hunting dog that fed the colony, to bushrangers best mate - to battle dog in the Frontier wars, and family member. The kangaroo dog has seen a lot. What happens when we see history through a dog's eyes?

02 | A succulent chinese meal

Where did Jack Karlson learn the lines he delivers in his famous viral video?  This episode unravels the story of a prison playwright and his muse which led Jack to utter those now infamous words “This is democracy manifest.”

01 | A succulent chinese meal

Who is the man behind Australia's most iconic internet meme, who famously said “What is the charge? Eating a meal, a succulent Chinese meal? Gentlemen, this is democracy manifest"?

07| Boycott! | Rugby, Rebels and Reconciliation

In this extra episode Sisonke Msimang tells stories of First Nations Australians, Rugby and the fight to end Apartheid. When Aboriginal Rugby player Lloyd McDermott refused to declare himself an honorary white for the Wallabies tour of South Africa in 1963 he began a tradition of First Nations Australians using the sport to get under the skin of the country’s regime. But when Glen Ella from the famous Aboriginal Rugby Union playing family joined a Rebel Rugby 7s tour of South Africa in 1985 he broke the sports boycott and almost tore his  family apart. Then Rugby brought the nation of South Africa together in a magic moment of reconciliation when Nelson Mandela wore the Springboks guernsey at the World Cup. 

06 | Boycott! | Homecoming

After 27 years in prison, Nelson Mandela is free and the anti-apartheid movement is full of hope.  But as apartheid legislation is repealed and South Africa starts transitioning to democracy, not everyone is happy. Right-wing Afrikaner groups take to the streets with guns and the Zulu Inkatha Freedom Party inflicts terrible violence within the black community. There are mass killings and peace talks that keep falling apart; will the country make it across the finish line to free and fair elections?  There's an entire system to dismantle and wounds to heal. There’s so much work to be done. What will the new South Africa look like?

05 | Boycott! | The streets are burning

The 1980s see South Africa spin out of control as defiance to apartheid and the regime’s crackdown builds. A cultural boycott of South Africa sees international musicians refuse to play there until Paul Simon controversially records his album Graceland with Ladysmith Black Mambazo. The world finally gets to hear the vibrant sounds of Zulu music but at what cost to the anti-apartheid movement?

04 | Boycott! | The Grapefruit Ladies

It's 1984, and in Dublin, Ireland, 21 year old shop assistant Mary Manning refuses to sell a South African grapefruit. Her action draws world attention to the campaign to hit Apartheid where it hurts, by crippling the South African economy. At the same time a young Australian seaman starts a global ban on shipping oil to South Africa. How South Africans won their freedom from the racist Apartheid regime, and the Australians who helped them fight for it. 

03 | Boycott! | Uprising

36 min

How South Africa won their freedom from the racist Apartheid regime and the Australians who helped them fight for it. A new leader emerges in South Africa, a young man with radical ideas. Steve Biko’s ‘black consciousness’ movement inspires a generation.  His murder at the hands of authorities is a moment of reckoning.  When the children of Soweto township are forced to study in Afrikaans, the language of their oppressor, they rebel and set the country on fire with their resistance. Hundreds of them are killed by the regime.  Steve Biko’s murder in a prison cell sparks a wave of militant activism, as the government doubles down with more violent raids and arrests. And an Australian diplomat gets swept up in the conflict. 

02 | Boycott! | Blood Sport

By the 1970s the anti-apartheid movement is growing around the world as protesters find ways to hit the South African government where it hurts most. In Australia, the action takes place in a very public way, by heading onto the sports field. Seven former Wallabies rugby players refuse to compete against the South African Springboks when they tour Australia. As mass protests divide the country, Premier Joh Bjelke Petersen declares a state of emergency in Queensland. First Nations activists join the fight, and even Aussie cricket legend Sir Donald Bradman gets caught up in the action.

01 | Boycott! | Spear of the Nation

How South Africans won their freedom from the racist Apartheid regime and the Australians who helped them fight for it. It’s 1990 and Sisonke Msimang is glued to the TV, watching Nelson Mandela, the world’s most famous political prisoner, walk free after 27 years. She’s weeping with joy for a country she knows and loves but has never seen. Since 1948 South Africans have been divided along race lines, called Apartheid. Blacks, Indians and ‘coloured’ people are separated from white people, and cannot marry them, earn the same wage, or get the same education as whites. Blacks are simply cheap labour for the mines and for rich white families. Then in 1960 police open fire on a protest in Sharpeville, killing 69 blacks. This is a turning point: world leaders condemn the massacre, and inside South Africa, the resistance movement galvanises. Sisonke’s dad Mavuso is a rebellious young man and dedicates his life to fighting for the freedom of his people. This commitment takes him all the way to Russia and an uncertain future.

INTRODUCING: Boycott! The fight to end apartheid

How South Africans fought to win their freedom, and the Australians who helped them fight for it. It's 1990, and the world is watching as Nelson Mandela walks free from his prison cell after 27 years. The global movement to end the racist policy of Apartheid in South Africa is finally on the brink of victory. Host Sisonke Msimang grew up in a family of South African freedom fighters, and in this series, she talks to South Africans who risked their lives in the struggle to end apartheid. She also meets Australians who used sport, culture, alongside boycotts and sanctions to bring South Africa to its knees. This is a story of hope in unsettled times, a story about the power of collective struggle to change the course of history.

The Drug Grannies | Too Old to Run | 02

In the summer of 1978, Australian narcotics agents intercepted a campervan being unloaded on the Melbourne docks. What they discovered inside the van turned out to be the largest haul of an illicit substance, black hashish, to land on Australian soil at the time. The campervan belonged to two elderly American women tourists, whose overseas holiday odyssey quickly spiralled into a hellish nightmare.

The Drug Grannies | Too Old to Run | 01

In the summer of 1978, narcotics agents discovered the largest ever haul of illicit drugs to land in Australia, stashed inside a campervan belonging to two elderly American women tourists. But were these women truly drug smugglers or naive puppets in an elaborate plot masterminded by someone else?

PRESENTS — The Challenger Legacy

20 min

Forty years ago this January, the Space Shuttle Challenger disintegrated on its way into orbit. All seven astronauts on board were killed. In the days after the tragedy, the world wanted answers. What really caused the shuttle to explode? And should the launch have been stopped altogether? For season five of Science Friction, Dr Karl Kruszelnicki and Fiona Pepper investigate how the Challenger disaster unfolded — and what that has meant for space exploration from 1986 to now. The Challenger Legacy is a five-part series from Science Friction. Out NOW — search Science Friction and The Challenger Legacy.

02 | Florence | A murder still unsolved

29 min

In a shocking and brutal end to a colourful life, Australian wallpaper designer Florence Broadhurst was murdered in her Paddington studio on the 15th of October, 1977.  So who was suspected of this crime and why is the case still unsolved to this day?  Please listen with care - this episode contains graphic content.  Guests: Tony Russell – Former NSW Police officer Helen O’Neill – Journalist and author, Florence Broadhurst: her secret and extraordinary lives   Mark Whittaker – Journalist and author, Granny killer: the story of John Glover Babette Hayes OAM – Interior designer Vincent Jones – VP Sales & Licensing, Asia-Pacific, Centa IP David Lloyd-Lewis – Grandson of Florence Broadhurst Credits: Producer – Zoe Ferguson Engineer – Simon Branthwaite Executive Producer – Michelle Rayner

01 | Florence | A life papered over

She’s one of Australia’s most prolific and popular designers, and yet not many people know her name, let alone her audacious life story.    Florence Broadhurst was from regional Queensland but people who met her later in life,  thought she was English aristocrat. She reinvented herself many times throughout her life.    Today she’s known for her wallpaper designs that cemented her in Australian design history.  But a shadow lingers over her legacy; her unsolved murder in 1977. Guests: Helen O’Neill – Journalist and author, Florence Broadhurst: Her secret and extraordinary lives   Dr Andrew Field – Associate Professor of Chinese History, Duke Kunshan University Babette Hayes OAM – Interior designer David Lennie – Screen printer, Signature Prints Sheridan Black – Owner, Signature Handprints Tony Russell – Former NSW Police officer David Lloyd-Lewis – Grandson of Florence Broadhurst Laura Doble – Interior design graduateCredits: Producer – Zoe Ferguson Engineer – Simon Branthwaite Executive Producer – Michelle Rayner  

01 | The Buried Tea Chests

When journalist Annika Blau learns of the discovery of two tea chests of highly valuable letters under the floorboards of an old Sydney home, she begins to uncover secrets, silences and shame from a chapter of Australia's history some would prefer to forget.

02 | The Buried Tea Chests

27 min

When two tea chests full of letters are found under a house in Sydney, they're identified as one of the most important finds in Australia's postal history. But for journalist Annika Blau, they also expose family secrets, silences and shame, as more startling truths are revealed about who her family really is and where they come from. 

The paralympic journey | From rehab to elite | Part 1

28 min

Join wheelchair racing legend Louise Sauvage for the intriguing history of The Paralympics. The games had their beginnings back in 1948 as life-saving rehabilitation for World War 2 soldiers but today have become an elite sporting event watched by millions. Along that journey Australia radically changed the way the world saw athletes with a disability by treating them equally to the Olympic competitors at the Sydney 2000 games.  Louise introduces us to some Australian sportspeople with remarkable stories. Aboriginal wheelchair basketball player Kevin Coombs who went to five Paralympic games; wheelchair table tennis star and backbone of the Australian athlete community Danni di Toro and Ryley Batt who stubbornly refused to use a wheelchair as a child but is now a rugby champion. Presenter - Louise SauvageProducer - Sarah AllelySound designer - Russell StapletonSupervising producer - Claudia Taranto For a deeper dive into the history of the Paralympics check out the podcast series Unbroken.

The paralympic journey | Money, media and ethics | Part 2

29 min

Gold medal winning Paralympian and coach Louise Sauvage tells the controversial story of classification at the Paralympics and the fallout from Spanish intellectually impaired basketballers who faked their disability at the Sydney 2000 games. We meet champion swimmer Siobhan Paton whose dreams of winning future medals were shattered when all the intellectual disability categories were cancelled. An advertising campaign at the London 2012 Paralympics portrayed competitors as superhuman and kickstarted a change in visibility and respect for all disabled people.  Today the games and some competitors attract big money and sponsorship deals but wheelchair racer Angie Ballard reminds us that it’s still a physical and financial struggle for many.

03 | Anzac Massacre | The story of Surafend

29 min

In the final episode of Anzac Massacre,  host William Ray delves into the unanswered questions surrounding the killings at Surafend, in Southern Palestine  by the Anzac Mounted Division in December 1918. What motivated this brutal act?

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