Forgotten Australia

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 colonial gentlemen usually didn’t take ‘lady...

30 Dec 20251h 5min

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 Place. In this episode, originally released in ...

26 Dec 20251h 4min

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 the best and most popular artworks to be ...

21 Dec 20251h 3min

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 Melbourne larrikin, hapless crook and serial...

15 Dec 202532min

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 after her death, detectives announced a s...

8 Dec 202541min

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 her Sydney home. The vivacious 21-year-ol...

7 Dec 202538min

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 fearless flier was a man of many adventures...

28 Nov 202520min

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 suspect was biologically female. The Eugene Fa...

26 Nov 202516min