Rum, Rebels and Ratbags

Episodes

1. 10

   Mothers of a nation

   Women in the convict colony initially had a hard life, but for many, New South Wales presented undreamed of opportunities. They had a greater say in relationships, property, business and government policy than back in Britain, so it is no surprise Australia was a world leader in women’s suffrage.

   Jul 27, 2015

   35m
2. 9

   I think I'll call it Macquarie

   Lachlan Macquarie was a hard drinking, penny pinching Scottish army officer with syphilis and an impressive history of financial fraud. Yet he became the colony’s most successful governor, erecting new towns and buildings, integrating ex-convicts into society, and naming just about everything...

   Jul 21, 2015

   38m
3. 8

   The Bounty Bastard

   William Bligh - incredible navigator, breadfruit fancier, coconut hoarder, reforming governor, utter bastard.

   Jul 14, 2015

   28m
4. 7

   The Man Who Bought Australia

   John Macarthur, a.k.a. Bodice Jack, had two favourite things: alcohol and money, both of which came in brown paper bags. Macarthur and the New South Wales Rum Corps ran dodgy land deals, intimidated government officials, stole from the public purse and introduced “corruption on a scale probably...

   Jul 7, 2015

   43m
5. 6

   Bass Straight

   There are more statues of Matthew Flinders in Australia than of any other man. And there are more statues of his cat, Trim, than of any other cat. Flinders circumnavigated and named Australia, discovered that Tasmania was an island, and spent a lot of time in a very small boat with his “good...

   Jun 30, 2015

   32m
6. 5

   The Eora Ambassador and the Rainbow Warrior

   Australia’s Indigenous people dealt with the white ghosts from across the sea in different ways. Bennelong pursued a path of accommodation and was the first Indigenous man to visit England, whilst the warrior Pemulwuy, dressed in his Amazing Technicolor Dreamingcoat, fought a bloody 12-year...

   Jun 23, 2015

   37m
7. 4

   Naked and Starving

   New South Wales’ first governor, Arthur Phillip, dreamed of an antipodean utopia. Instead he founded Sydney, a town full of drunk, starving, naked criminals.

   Jun 15, 2015

   34m
8. 3

   Tea, Taxation, Criminals and Cannabis

   Did you know the colony of Australia only came about because of tea, taxation, criminals and... cannabis? And find out how a Cockney hypochondriac whaler ended up as the first Governor of NSW.

   Jun 9, 2015

   34m
9. 2

   Australia's Worst Serial Killer

   More than 140 years before Captain Cook sighted the Australian coast, Dutch merchant Jeronimus Cornelisz murdered over 120 shipwreck survivors off the coast of WA in a killing spree that makes Lord of the Flies look like Mary Poppins.

   Jun 2, 2015

   30m
10. 1

    Joseph Banks, the playboy botanist

    Australians might know Banks as ‘that plant guy’ but he was actually a wealthy playboy who inspired Star Trek and discovered surfing. Captain Cook just steered the ship for Banks and his groupies.

    May 27, 2015

    29m