The History Listen

Oct 25 2024 243 ep. 29 mins 1.5k
The History Listen Podcast artwork

New and compelling stories from Australia and around the world. Step inside a time machine for an immersive journey into the past.

  History  Society & Culture
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Day 9 at Wooreen: the school that was kidnapped

Oct 25 2024 30 mins  
An entire school is kidnapped at gunpoint. 9 students and their teacher are taken hostage by a prison escapee who demands a ransom of 7 million dollars, the release of 17 prisoners, 100 kilos of cocaine, automatic weapons, and an escape vehicle.

My Grandmother is a Japanese war bride

Oct 18 2024 28 mins  
After World War Two, around 650 Japanese war brides crossed once enemy lines to make a home in Australia, at a time when the White Australia Policy still held sway. But 50 years on, how do the grandchildren of the Japanese war brides understand their family story?

The Martha Plan

Oct 11 2024 28 mins  
The Martha Plan was a secret scheme created in the early 1960's to bring unmarried Spanish women to Australia, in the hope that they'd stay and populate the country. Did it work?

Ep 2: The buried tea chest

Oct 04 2024 28 mins  
Hidden for nearly a century, two chests of mail found under a Sydney home was declared to be one of the most important hauls in Australia’s postal history. Why the secrecy? And why has a Sydney family been so shocked by their revelations?

Ep 1: The buried tea chests

Sep 27 2024 28 mins  
When journalist Annika Blau learnt of the discovery of two tea chests of very valuable mail under the floorboards of an old Sydney home, she uncovered secrets, silences and shame from a chapter of Australia's history some would prefer to forget.

A succulent Chinese meal - Part 2

Sep 20 2024 31 mins  
Where did Jack Karlson learn the lines he delivers in his famous viral video? This moving story of the prison playwright and the performer unravels why Jack uttered those now infamous words “This is democracy manifest.”

A succulent Chinese meal - Part 1

Sep 13 2024 28 mins  
Who is the man behind Australia’s most iconic internet meme, who famously said “This is democracy manifest”?

The strange life of Ingrid von Oelhafen - Part 2

Sep 06 2024 33 mins  
59-year-old Ingrid was in her office one day when her phone rang. It was the German Red Cross. They asked if she was Ingrid von Oelhafen? Also known as Erika Matko? It was the call she’d waited for her whole life and it opened the door to a terrible secret from one of Nazi Germany’s sickest experiments. Who was she? And where was she from?

The strange life of Ingrid von Oelhafen - Part 1

Aug 30 2024 32 mins  
Ingrid von Oelhafen’s childhood in post-WW2 Germany was full of strange events - her mother inexplicably left her in a children’s home for five years, her doctor called her by another name. It took her decades to discover the horrific truth - a secret that led straight back to the highest powers of the Nazi regime.

Kangaroo dog

Aug 23 2024 33 mins  
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.