Our First Cop Killer, the Luckiest Man Unhung and the Birth of Australian True Crime Reporting - 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

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

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

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

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

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

Despite warnings from Lord Howe Island’s unofficial chief Gower Wilson, Brian Abbot and his co-star Leslie Hay Simpson set sail for Sydney in the tiny motor launch Mystery Star. To hear all eight part...

1 Aug 202132min

As Mystery Island's cast and crew descend on Lord Howe Island, Brian Abbot has a secret plan to return to Sydney in his little motor launch Mystery Star. Why did he feel confident about making this da...

26 Jul 202143min