The Mysteries of Mystery Island — Part One

The Mysteries of Mystery Island — Part One

In 2018 I found and reunited with my biological family, discovering that my people go back to 1842 on Lord Howe Island. On my first visit that Christmas, I became fascinated by the mystery surrounding the early talkie Mystery Island, which was shot on Lord Howe in 1936. Why did its leading man Brian Abbot — who had everything to live for — try to sail to Sydney across the treacherous Tasman Sea in a tiny motor launch? Was he mad, like they said, or was there something else at play?


In the past few months, my investigations have unearthed dozens of startling stranger-than-fiction stories that each shine a different light on this question. So, strap in for an eight-part epic series. You're going to meet Hollywood hopefuls, surf rescuers, plucky canoeists, turf tricksters, war heroes, daredevil aviators, shipwreck survivors and a handful of accused killers. Then there’s one chap who wrestled an octopus, rode sharks, hunted a humpback whale in Sydney Harbour, tried to reel in an Olympic swimming champion and led an expedition to catch a mysterious sea serpent — twice. Underlying all of these dramatic, tragic and comic tales is a haunting question: what role does “the element of luck” play in who lives and who dies?


In Part One, we meet young George Rikard-Bell, who rejected his privileged upbringing to become an adventurer and a conman in the Great Depression — before reinventing himself as the actor Brian Abbot. Part Two will be released on Thursday. Instalments will be out on Mondays after that. But you can binge all eight parts now by becoming a Forgotten Australia supporter for just a few bucks per month — go to: patreon.com/forgottenaustralia

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Episoder(321)

Australia's Slave Ship Massacre — Part Three (Season Finale)

Australia's Slave Ship Massacre — Part Three (Season Finale)

In the wake of the massacre, Dr James Patrick Murray makes a series of surprising moves that further his infamy in Australia and across the British Empire.Listener Desiree Pettit-Keating, of Bendigo R...

8 Okt 20211h 6min

Australia's Slave Ship Massacre — Part Two

Australia's Slave Ship Massacre — Part Two

Dr James Patrick Murray takes the brig Carl to the sunny South Seas and into a heart of darkness beyond the imagination of even Joseph Conrad. In this nightmare of his creation shooting dozens of defe...

27 Sep 202153min

Australia's Slave Ship Massacre — Part One

Australia's Slave Ship Massacre — Part One

150 years ago today — 13 September 1871 — Australian slavers — aka 'blackbirders' — fired their guns into the hold of the brig Carl, where they had imprisoned 160 South Pacific Islanders they had rece...

13 Sep 20211h 1min

Australia's First UFO Wave — In 1909

Australia's First UFO Wave — In 1909

Months before Australia's first heavier-than-air flights, people from Sydney to Hobart, Goulburn to Kalgoorlie, Melbourne to Perth reported seeing strange lights in the night skies. These mystery airs...

6 Sep 202147min

The Mysteries of Mystery Island — Part Eight: Finale

The Mysteries of Mystery Island — Part Eight: Finale

George O'Brien's life hangs in the balance as his DIY yacht is smashed by a gale and heavy seas. Gower Wilson's son Roy grows up to become the hero of a Lord Howe Island aviation disaster. Plus: the l...

29 Aug 202148min

The Mysteries of Mystery Island — Part Seven

The Mysteries of Mystery Island — Part Seven

Despite the recent double tragedies of the Mystery Star and Viking, taxi driver and nautical newbie George O’Brien decides he’s going to build a yacht so he and wife and their two young sons can sail ...

22 Aug 202139min

The Mysteries of Mystery Island — Part Six

The Mysteries of Mystery Island — Part Six

While Brian Abbott and Leslie Hay Simpson are feared lost with Mystery Star, a macabre discovery on the coastline raises new questions, new hopes and new fears. Meanwhile Gower Wilson sets sail for Lo...

15 Aug 202144min

The Mysteries of Mystery Island — Part Five

The Mysteries of Mystery Island — Part Five

Fears mount for the Mystery Island movie stars aboard the little launch Mystery Star. Brian Abbot’s wife Grace and Leslie Hay Simpson’s brother-in-law Arthur Titterton do everything in their power to ...

8 Aug 202139min

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