History Lab
History Lab || exploring the gaps between us and the past || This series is made in collaboration by the Australian Centre for Public History and Impact Studios at the University of Technology, Sydney.
S6 E3 · Wed, March 26, 2025
S6 E3 Faces Today: Indigenous Artists Return the Gaze
Colonial portraits have long dictated how Indigenous people were seen. But Indigenous artists continue to challenge that power. Through satire, reinterpretation, and resistance, they’re using art to question history—and reshape the future. In this episode, historians Kate Fullagar and Mike McDonnell speak with contemporary Indigenous artists who are confronting the legacy of empire. Michel Tuffery , a New Zealand-based artist of Samoan, Tahitian, and Cook Islander heritage, reimagines Captain Cook through the eyes of those he encountered. Daniel Boyd , one of Australia’s most celebrated contemporary artists, subverts colonial iconography, turning figures like Cook into symbols of piracy and exploitation. Daniel Browning , an Aboriginal journalist and art critic, reflects on the power—and the lies—embedded in colonial paintings. Can art break the cycle of representation, or does it always carry the weight of its past? Join us on this final episode of Unsettling Portraits to find out. Episode images Cookie in the Islands This representation of Captain James Cook belongs to a narrative series titled ‘First Contact’. The series retells the story of James Cook’s Pacific voyages from a Polynesian perspective, focusing on the profound way in which Cook himself was altered through his experiences in the Pacific. His identity is altered, as marked by hibiscus flowers, hei-tiki around his neck and his Polynesian features. The name Cookie is not only a more familiar name for Captain Cook but it is also a nickname for a Cook Islander. (Curator's comments) By Michel Tuffery. 2009. British Museum. Portrait of Captain James Cook RN By John Webber, 1782. National Portrait Gallery Australia Captain No Beard By Daniel Boyd, Kudjla/Gangalu/Kuku Yalanji/Jagara/Wangerriburra/Bandjalung peoples, 2005. National Gallery of Australia. Nannultera, a young Poonindie cricketer By J.M. Crossland, 1854. National Gallery of Australia. Portrait - Eva Johnson, writer By Destiny Deacon, 1994. Queensland Art Gallery. Guests Michel Tuffery , a New Zealand-based artist of Samoan, Rarotongan, and Ma’ohi Tahitian herita
S6 E2 · Wed, March 26, 2025
S6 E2 Facing Off: From Botany Bay to Aotearoa
In this episode, historians Kate Fullagar and Mike McDonnell revisit Bennelong’s portraits to examine how colonial art encountered Indigenous identity. Indigenous scholar Jo Rey , a Dharug woman, challenges these depictions, questioning their accuracy and impact. The conversation then expands to the Pacific, where Māori scholar Alice Te Punga Somerville discusses the story of Tupaia, a Polynesian navigator and artist who traveled with Captain Cook. His illustrations of first contact tell a different story—one of Indigenous agency, not just European discovery. What do we see when we look at these portraits today? And more importantly, what do they obscure? Join us on Unsettling Portraits to find out. Episode images Ben-nel-long By the Port Jackson Painter, c. 1790. Watling, Thomas. Courtesy of the Natural History Museum, London. Ben-nil-long By James Neagle, 1798. Courtesy National Library of Australia. Australian Aborigines paddling bark canoes and spear fishing DRAWINGS, in Indian ink, illustrative of Capt. Cook's first voyage, 1768 -1770. This may record the fishing party observed by Joseph Banks at Botany Bay on 26 April 1770. By A. Buchan, John F. Miller, and others. Courtesy British Library. A Maori bartering a crayfish with an English naval officer DRAWINGS, in Indian ink, illustrative of Capt. Cook's first voyage, 1768 -1770, chiefly relating to Otaheite and New Zealand. By A. Buchan, John F. Miller, and others. Courtesy British Library. Guests Jo Rey is a Dharug scholar and Macquarie University Fellow for Indigenous Researchers in the Department of Indigenous Studies. Her research focuses on Dharug Ngurra/Country, which spans much of the Sydney metropolitan area, examining key cultural sites, including Shaw’s Creek Aboriginal Place and the Blacktown Native Institution. Building on her doctoral research on Dharug cultural continuity, her post-doctoral work explores Indigenous cultural agency through the concept of ‘Living Law’—a framework of sustainable relationality based on Recognition, Respect, Rights, Responsibility, and Reciprocity. Alice Te Punga Somerville (Māori – Te Āti Awa, Taranaki) , professor of English Language and Literatures at the University of British Columbia, is a poet, scholar, and irredentist whose work explores Indigenous connections, colonial histories, and the power of language. She is the author of Once Were Pacific: Māori Connections to Oceania , 250 Ways to Write an Essay about Captain Cook</e
S6 E1 · Wed, March 26, 2025
S6 E1 Facing Empire: A Long History of Representing Others
Bennelong, a Wangal man of the Eora nation, was among the first Aboriginal people to travel to Europe and return. As a crucial interlocutor between his people and the British colonists, he navigated two worlds but the way he was depicted in colonial portraits raises complex questions. In one, he appears in traditional body paint. In another, years later, he is dressed in European clothing, his identity seemingly reshaped for a colonial gaze. Do these portraits tell us more about Bennelong or the people who painted him? Portraiture has long been a tool of empire, used to categorize, control, and mythologize. But can these images also reveal Indigenous agency? In this first episode, historians Kate Fullagar and Michael McDonnell visit the National Portrait Gallery to examine Bennelong’s likeness and trace a broader history of representation. They are joined by Anishinaabe writer Gordon Henry , who reflects on 17th-century depictions of Indigenous North Americans, and Cherokee scholar Joseph Pierce , who challenges the sanitized portrait of Cherokee diplomat Ostenaco. Who really controls the stories that portraits tell? And how do these images continue to shape our understanding of Indigenous identity today? Join us on Unsettling Portraits to find out. Episode Images Bennelong Drawing 41 from the Watling Collection titled 'Native name Ben-nel-long, as painted when angry after Botany Bay Colebee was wounded.’ By Thomas Watling c 1790. Courtesy Natural History Museum London. Portrait of a Famous One-eyed Man By Louis Nicolas, 1675. Codex Canadensis, page 14. Courtesy Gilcrease Museum, Tulsa, Oklahoma USA. Portrait of Syacust Ukah, Cherokee Chief By Joshua Reynolds, 1762. Courtesy Gilcrease Museum, Tulsa, Oklahoma USA. Hosts Kate Fullagar , professor of history at the Australian Catholic University and Vice President of the Australian Historical Association, specializes in eighteenth-century world history, particularly the British Empire and Indigenous resistance. In her role at the AHA, she advocates for truth-telling in Australian historiography, working to integrate Indigenous perspectives and confront colonial legacies. Through works like Bennelong & Phillip , she engages both academic and general audiences, challenging traditional narratives. Michael McDonnell , professor of Early American History at the University of Sydney, is currently working
Trailer · Sun, March 23, 2025
S6 Introducing: Unsettling Portraits
Can colonial depictions of Indigenous people tell us anything useful about the past? How do Indigenous people today feel about these enduring images? Unsettling Portraits is a three-part series exploring the history of portraiture and colonialism, alongside contemporary First Nations responses. Indigenous artists and historians in Australia, the Pacific and North America discuss the practice of colonial portraiture, including Daniel Browning, Jo Rey, Alice Te Punga Somerville, Gordon Henry and Joseph Pierce. And you'll hear about the ways in which contemporary artists like Daniel Boyd, Michel Tuffery and the late Destiny Deacon have turned back the gaze on settlers with their art. Join acclaimed historians Kate Fullagar and Mike McDonnell as they and their collaborators wrestle with the portraits of our colonial past in History Lab Season 6: Unsettling Portraits. Credits History Lab is a UTS Impact Studios production. Producers: Catherine Freyne and Helene Thomas. Story Consultant: Siobhan McHugh Sound Engineer: Martin Peralta Production support: Jane Curtis, Britta Jorgensen and Celine Teo-Blockey Additional tile design and podcast artwork: Alexandra Morris Executive Producer: Sarah Gilbert
Bonus · Fri, March 21, 2025
What's coming in 2025? History Lab update and previews with Tamson Pietsch
If you're an old friend, hello and thank you for hitting play. If you're a new listener, welcome. History Lab, as many of you will know, was Australia’s first investigative history podcast. We've made five seasons so far, and our tagline is exploring the gaps between us and the past . And while you notice that from season to season our storytelling style changes, we're still always asking questions that provoke curiosity, that are attentive to sources and their limits, and that challenge us to think about how we live in the present. Things have been a bit quiet on the History Lab feed lately, so we want share two bits of exciting news, and preview what's coming up in 2025! History Lab season 5 won an international Signal award for the Red Light Green Light episode of Listen to Darlinghurst. And, History Lab had a baby! It’s called Hey History! , and it’s an Australian history podcast for kids and their adults. Each episode explores a different topic, from first meetings at Kamay Botany Bay, to the Gold Rush. This year, there’s three new seasons of History Lab coming your way. First up is Unsettling Portraits, a series that looks closely at the history of portraiture, colonialism, and First Nations responses. You’ll hear historians Kate Fullagar and Mike McDonnell speaking with Indigenous scholars, critics and artists about what these pictures mean today. Ancestral Echoes is a second History Lab season hosted by researcher, producer and historical novelist Sienna Brown. Brown hails from Jamaica, and across three episodes, she explores the stories of some significant but little-known Caribbean Australians. In unearthing these stories, she’s looking for a connection with the past that will help her feel more at home here. And in a third History Lab series, historian Leigh Boucher explores the untold histories of the HIV epidemic in Sydney in the 80s and 90s. The series tells the story from a new perspective, focusing in on the very tight but by no means homogenous 'gaybourhood' of Darlinghurst. History isn’t the only thing we do here at Impact Studios, of course. You can hit play on the three-part narrative podcast Sink or Swim , where host Angelica Ojinnaka Psillakis learns to swim as an adult and works out how to survive in our ever hotter suburbs. And for lovers of books and as well as history, check out Fully Lit - a new podcast about Australian books. The trailer's out and episodes release soon.
Thu, January 16, 2025
On the Edge: a layered history of Sydney's South Head
A special History Lab episode with a soundwork that explores the history of Sydney's South Head, followed by an interview with the maker Sinead Roarty and Director of the Australian Centre for Public History at UTS, Tamson Pietsch. About the soundwork: On the Edge The Gap at South Head in Sydney's eastern suburbs is a place of extreme beauty. It is also famous for being Australia's most well-known suicide destination. On the Edge is a long-form binaural/VR soundwork exploring South Head’s spatial history and its varied conflicting narratives. The work addresses multiple levels of ‘silencing’ from the time of colonial contact and uses sound to give a voice to the unheard. South Head's ruptured history has shaped the perception of it in the past and this soundwork suggests a way to reanimate it in the present. The thirteen-minute soundwork is best experienced at the Don Ritchie Grove , located a few minutes’ walk from The Gap lookout and can be accessed on a mobile phone from the website https://www.ontheedge.space/ On the Edge was created as part of a non-traditional PhD at the University of Technology Sydney. The PhD was subsequently recognised as the best doctoral thesis from the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences in 2023 and was included on The Chancellor's List, which recognises ‘exceptional scholarly achievement in PhD research’. On the Edge transcript Word doc transcript PDF transcript On the Edge Credits Writer/Director: Dr Sinead Roarty Primary Supervisor: Dr Delia Falconer Alternate Supervisor: Assoc Professor Debra Adelaide Sound Studio: MassiveMusic For all credits see https://www.ontheedge.space/ Episode credits Sound engineering: Simon Branthwaite Episode image photo by Sinead Roarty. History Lab is a production of UTS Impact Studios.
Trailer · Tue, June 18, 2024
Introducing... Hey History!
We've got a new history podcast for you and the kids in your life, called Hey History! With immersive, sound rich storytelling and Australia's top historians and experts, dive into key events in our history. Find out... How did First Nations people learn on Country? How does learning happen today? What really when Captain Cook and First Nations people met at Kamay Botany Bay? What was life like as a convict kid? How did you remember your loved ones? How did everyone get along in the Gold Rush? In each episode, kids from around Australia share questions, ideas and reflections on our history. Hey History! aligns with the upper primary curriculum, so teachers can use it in class. The Bonus episode answers your questions on how to talk with kids about Australian history, and answer curly questions. Hey History! is made by Professor Anna Clark, a previous guest on the History Lab, Professor Clare Wright OAM, and the team at UTS Impact Studios. Subscribe, get Learning Materials and more on the Hey History website http://heyhistory.net or in your podcast app.
S5 E6 · Mon, September 04, 2023
6. Last Drinks
In 1887 there were no less than 22 hotels in Darlinghurst. Over the next century and a half, the character, culture and clientele of Darlinghurst pubs evolved. This story explores the impact on Darlinghurst of two episodes of liquor licensing restrictions in NSW: six o’clock closing and the Sydney lockout laws. Image: Royal Sovereign Hotel, corner Darlinghurst Rd and Liverpool St, 1921 (City of Sydney Archives) Credits This audio story is a production of the Australian Centre for Public History in partnership with the Paul Ramsay Foundation. Producer: Catherine Freyne Sound engineer: Judy Rapley Music: Blue Dot Sessions When Paris is Singing by Dazie Mae licensed under CC by NC-SA 3.0 US Archival: ABC Content Sales Featuring: Paul Solomon, publican’s son and grandson Max Burns-McRuvie, owner of Journeywalks Tyson Koh, founder of Keep Sydney Open
S5 E5 · Mon, September 04, 2023
5. Room With A View
Terraces, flats, squats, bedsits, mansions, towers, camps and hostels: in Darlinghurst, housing is a mixed bag. This audio story explores the range of lifestyles afforded by Darlinghurst’s dense diversity of dwellings. Image: Pad with a View, Kings Cross 1970-71 (Photographer: Rennie Ellis © Rennie Ellis Photographic Archive) Credits This audio story is a production of the Australian Centre for Public History in partnership with the Paul Ramsay Foundation. Producer: Catherine Freyne Sound engineer: Judy Rapley Music: Blue Dot Sessions Sum of My Fears , When Paris is Singing and A New Love Affair by Dazie Mae licensed under CC by NC-SA 3.0 US Garage by Monplaisir licensed under CC by CC0 1.0 <a href="https://freemusicarchive.org/music/The_Rosen_Sisters/Live_at_the_2017_Golden_Festival_1136/Rosen_Sisters_1_Korobushka/
S5 E4 · Mon, September 04, 2023
4. Pandemic Times
At St Vincent's Hospital, the Sisters of Charity have been delivering care to the people of Darlinghurst since 1857. This audio story visits St Vincent’s during three historic public health emergencies: the Spanish Flu, the HIV/AIDS crisis and COVID-19. Image: Sister and nurse with home visitation car, St Vincent’s Hospital, Sydney (Courtesy of the Congregational Archives of the Sisters of Charity of Australia) Credits This audio story is a production of the Australian Centre for Public History in partnership with the Paul Ramsay Foundation. Producer: Catherine Freyne Sound engineer: Judy Rapley Music: Blue Dot Sessions; The Tudor Consort licensed under CC by 3.0 Archival: ABC Content Sales Featuring: David Polson, former patient at Ward 17 South at St Vincent’s Hospital, Sydney. Erin Longbottom, Nursing Unit Manager, Homeless Health Outreach Service, St Vincent’s Hospital, Sydney. An excerpt from St Vincent’s Hospital Annual Report 1919 read by Marie Freyne.
S5 E3 · Mon, September 04, 2023
3. Red Light Green Light
In the rapidly gentrifying Darlinghurst of the 1980s, a turf war raged over one of its earliest trades. In this story, we visit the street corners and safe houses where sex workers competed for customers, looked out for each other and stood their ground. Along the way, veterans of the street-based trade describe a changing industry, sharing stories from the frontline of the fight for law reform and workers’ rights. If you would like to sign the petition to bring the statue of Joy back to Darlinghurst, visit http://tiny.cc/dfhavz Image: Woods Lane 1968 (Tribune negative; Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales courtesy SEARCH Foundation) Credits This audio story is a production of the Australian Centre for Public History in partnership with the Paul Ramsay Foundation. Producer: Catherine Freyne Sound engineer: Judy Rapley Music: Blue Dot Sessions Archival: ABC Library Sales Featuring: Julie Bates, veteran sex worker activist; Principal of Urban Realists Planning and Health Consultants. Chantell Martin, veteran sex worker; Co-CEO of Sex Workers Outreach Project.
S5 E2 · Mon, September 04, 2023
2. Eccentrics
Darlinghurst has always been a magnet and a haven for exiles and misfits. With writer and Darlo-phile Sunil Badami as guide, this audio story celebrates a handful of local characters and eccentrics, reflecting on the material conditions that enable unconventional people to thrive. Image: Hare Krishna, Kings Cross 1970-71 (Photographer: Rennie Ellis © Rennie Ellis Photographic Archive) Credits This audio story is a production of the Australian Centre for Public History in partnership with the Paul Ramsay Foundation. Producer: Catherine Freyne Sound engineer: Judy Rapley Music: Blue Dot Sessions I Love Her, She Loves Me by Atlantic City Orchestra licensed under a Public Domain / Sound Recording Common Law Protection License Eyes Getting Louder and Hope Its Today by Mod Fun licensed under CC by NC 4.0 Featuring: Sunil Badami, writer and raconteur
S5 E1 · Mon, September 04, 2023
1. Lost Waterways
If you listen after rain, you can still hear the rush of water that used to flow from the sandstone ridge at the apex of Darlinghurst down to the harbour. This audio story goes in search of the creeks and cascades that sustained life and industry for Gadigal people, colonists and Chinese market gardeners, before being covered over by the concrete and tarmac of the modern city. Image: Rushcutters Creek, 1870-75 (Mitchell Library, State Library of NSW - ON 4 Box 56 No 253) Credits This audio story is a production of the Australian Centre for Public History in partnership with the Paul Ramsay Foundation. Producer: Catherine Freyne Sound engineer: Judy Rapley Music: Blue Dot Sessions Featuring: Saskia Schut, Landscape architect Ray Ingrey, Chair, Gujaga Foundation Mark Dunn, Historian Daphne Lowe-Kelly, Co-deputy Chair, Museum of Chinese in Australia Phil Bennett, Lead Heritage Advisor, Sydney Water <li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="1" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559683":0,"335559684":-2,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" aria-setsize="-1" data-aria-posinset="6" data-ar
Trailer · Mon, September 04, 2023
Introducing: Listen to Darlinghurst
Welcome to a special History Lab series, Listen to Darlinghurst . In this mini episode, History Lab host Anna Clark and Listen to Darlinghurst producer Catherine Freyne introduce the series. Image: Darlinghurst Rd 1954 by Mark Strizic (State Library of Victoria) Credits Producer: Catherine Freyne Sound engineer: Judy Rapley Music: Blue Dot Sessions
S4 E3 · Tue, October 05, 2021
What remains of Joe Governor?
After Jimmy’s trial, what happened to his brother Joe? Joe has mostly been forgotten by history, and his presence in the archives is little more than a whisper. From coronial records, family tales and a visit to a country pub, it becomes clear that Joe fell foul of the frontier, in life and death. And yet, more questions remain: Was Joe Governor, an outlaw, killed lawfully? How do his ancestral remains become another transactional asset in the murky world of race science? And why is western knowledge still entangled in its colonial past?
S4 E2 · Tue, September 28, 2021
Death Row Diary
How does the law deal with an outlaw? Jimmy Governor is captured and his legal case becomes a lightning rod for justice in the new federation. But how did Australia’s most-wanted murderer get one of the best lawyers in the colony? A prison experiment begins with a diary and we find out how the present mimics the past.
S4 E1 · Tue, September 21, 2021
The Last Outlaws
This is the tale of a prison colony trying to become a country and the murder case that stood in its way, but this is not a true crime podcast. Jimmy and Joe Governor, two brothers from Wiradjuri and Wonnarua country, were the last proclaimed outlaws in Australia - wanted dead or alive. 120 years later we examine what has survived and what we can still learn from the Governor brothers' story. To find out more visit: https://thelastoutlaws.com.au
Trailer · Thu, September 16, 2021
Introducing History Lab Season Four - The Last Outlaws
The Last Outlaws is the latest audio series to be released by Impact Studios, an audio production house embedded in the University of Technology Sydney. The trilogy podcast is based on UTS Law Professor Katherine Biber’s tenacious and careful research of Jimmy and Joe Governor, Australia’s last proclaimed outlaws. The Governor brothers' story has been told in books and film before, but never like this. For the Governor family descendants this is a difficult story to tell, but one that demands to be heard. Coming September 22nd.
S3 E5 · Tue, May 05, 2020
Introducing 'The New Social Contract' - a new podcast by the makers of History Lab
How will Australian universities fare in a post-pandemic world? It depends on an influential but rarely talked about relationship between the state, its institutions, and the public. Discover more in the first podcast episode of The New Social Contract. Brought to you by the makers of History Lab.
S3 E4 · Wed, March 11, 2020
A close match
Three days before Spain’s general elections in 2004 a series of bombs exploded on crowded Madrid commuter trains, killing almost 200 people. The Spanish authorities found a plastic bag a few blocks away from one of the bomb sites with a single, incomplete fingerprint. This was the trace linked to a man living 9000 kms away, a US Attorney in Oregon by the name of Brandon Mayfield. We’ve been told that every fingerprint is unique to every finger, but what if this is the wrong question to ask? Forensic Science was founded on the principle that ‘every contact leaves a trace’ but history shows we can’t always rely on one trace alone.
S3 E3 · Mon, February 17, 2020
Reading the signs
When was the last time you were asked to sign something and did you stop to think how the strange squiggly mark you make on a page could be used? The signature is a performative act, crucial to the law’s way of knowing, but it’s also been used as an instrument of power and control. In this episode of History Lab we hear from a boy who was stolen, the man who took him away and the Judge who was asked to decide if a mother's thumbprint was a sign of consent. The presence or absence of a signature on a legal document can speak volumes and throughout history Aboriginal people have been reclaiming this marker of individual identity to represent the many and speak back to an empire. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people should be aware that this episode contains the voices and names of deceased persons.
S3 E2 · Mon, February 03, 2020
Making a fortune
'Making a Fortune' looks at the popularity and persecution of two of the most formidable fortune tellers of Federation Australia. In the first decade of the 20th century, Australians were focused on the future. It was the dawn of a new century, and a newly-formed nation. But during this time, police were cracking down on a booming industry dominated by women—it was a service that society deemed superstitious, archaic and fraudulent and one that is unlawful to this day in some parts of Australia. This is a story of entrepreneurship, independence and the force of the law. Why were these female fortune tellers so aggressively pursued by the police and how did they use the law to fight back?
Bonus · Wed, December 18, 2019
Bonus Cast - The Law's Way of Knowing?
History Lab host Dr Tamson Pietsch hands over the mic to Dr Alecia Simmonds, an interdisciplinary scholar of law and history at the University of Technology Sydney. In this bonus episode they dissect how it is the law ‘knows’ and discuss how both history and the law rely on traces from the past to draw conclusions in the present. If truth is uncertain in historical archives - is it even harder to find in the courtroom? Season 3 of History Lab will be taking a short break returning February 4 2020. Episode two 'Making a fortune' is dropping in the new year with Dr Alana Piper from the Australian Centre for Public History.
S3 E1 · Thu, December 12, 2019
In case I die in this mess
Death, money and family are the key ingredients in any last will and testament. They also make a killer cocktail that unleashes a special force not present in any other part of the law. In this episode of History Lab, we’re looking at how the law determines your last wishes through some truly unusual cases. Whether it's for reasons of urgency, eccentricity or expediency, courts around the world regularly have to make calls on the wishes of the dead. But how does the law know it’s getting it right and what does it mean for those left behind.
Trailer · Tue, December 10, 2019
Introducing Season Three of History Lab - The Law's Way of Knowing
History Lab is back for a third season, fresh from wins at the New York Radio Festival Awards and the Community Broadcasting Association of Australia. In this special four-part series we’ll be exploring the ‘law’s way of knowing’, looking at histories that intersect with the law. From fortune telling to fingerprints, unusual wills and the forensic theory that something is always left behind, join us as we delve into the traces left by the law. Episode One drops December 12.
S2 E5 · Thu, May 09, 2019
Introducing Uniform- A new season of All Things Equal
Missing your History Lab fix? We’ve got something else for you in the meantime. Introducing a new season of All Things Equal. This series will take you into the school yard and beyond, where kids learn that things aren't always fair. Through the stories of real students and staff, Uniform will change the way you think about education; because when it comes to learning, one size does not fit all. Subscribe to All Things Equal in your favourite podcast app, or listen to the show here: https://www.whooshkaa.com/shows/after-metoo-stories-of-social-change
Bonus · Tue, December 18, 2018
Making history in audio
History Lab audio makers explore how we've tried to understand the past through sound in season two
S2 E3 · Tue, December 11, 2018
Skeletons of Empire
In the aftermath of World War One, nations came together in an attempt to ensure war on the same devastating scale could never occur again. The result? The League of Nations: a revolutionary idea to form the world’s first international organisation. But clearly it did not stop the world from going to war. A century later we are still questioning our ability to come together. In this episode, Glenda Sluga and Ninah Kopel search for the ephemeral traces of a unified past. They find stories of hope, ambition but also skeletons lurking in the closet. Many say the League failed. But did the spirit live on?
S2 E2 · Tue, December 04, 2018
Invisible hands
Where do jelly babies come from? Mass-produced things are all around us. But they all start with a single object. In this episode, Olivia goes looking for the patternmakers, whose invisible hands are the original creators of much of the stuff we use every day. They see a world no-one else can see. So why are they disappearing? And what will we lose when they are gone? Producer: Olivia Rosenman Collaborating historian: Jesse Adams Stein Host: Tamson Pietsch Executive Producer: Tom Allinson
S2 E1 · Tue, November 27, 2018
The Bank, the Sergeant and his bonus
In 1817, the Bank of New South Wales opened as the first financial institution in the Australian colonies. But when the first customers arrived for the grand opening, they found someone had already made a deposit. Where did the money come from? Our producers, Jason and Nicole, follow the record trail and discover the uncertain foundations of Australia’s first bank.
S1 E5 · Tue, July 24, 2018
Fishing for answers
Sydney's iconic Opera House plays host to musicians and dancers, actors and singers. But beneath the notes of their voices, another song echoes across the city’s waters. Indigenous Eora fisherwomen passed down their knowledge through their songs while paddling their canoes, a cooking fire at one end and their kids on their shoulders. Anna Clark and Tamson go looking for the fisherwomen’s world, and discover that, if you listen closely, the past of Sydney Harbour still sings.
Bonus · Tue, July 10, 2018
Bonus episode | The making of History Lab |
What does it take to make History Lab? This bonus interlude episode lifts the curtain on all that goes into making history for your ears! Executive Producer Emma Lancaster steps out from behind the headphones and asks you to listen hard as she and host Tamson Pietsch discover that in the gap between historians and journalists, great things can happen. The History Lab final episode for Season One 'Fishing for Answers' will be available 25 July 2018. To find out more about the History Lab pitching process head to https://historylab.net/pitch/
S1 E3 · Wed, June 27, 2018
When the Titanic sank in the desert
In the middle of a mining town in outback Australia, over 400 kilometres from the closest ocean, stands a monument dedicated to the memory of the Titanic . On the surface the story of Broken Hill’s Titanic Memorial can be seen as a simple tale of memory and humanity, one community expressing their sympathy for another. But on closer inspection, the politics of memory starts to unravel and raises questions about the power of remembering and why we do it in the first place.
S1 E2 · Tue, June 12, 2018
Damages for a broken heart
Quietly buried away in Western Sydney’s state archives is a secret history of love. Lists of lingerie, love letters and lockets of hair, are stapled to writs from over 200 years ago. In the 19th century a broken engagement could damn a woman for life. But scorned women had an unexpected way to get square. A now somewhat forgotten law known as ‘breach of promise to marry’ saw women awarded massive damages after being left jilted at the altar. But why would the courts be interested in the failed love lives of working class people? And what does a convict’s daughter, a barrister and a former Prime Minister have to do with it? In this episode of History Lab we sift through the historical remains to discover litigious lovers, colonial love triangles and the emergence of medicalised heartbreak on a quest to understand the history of love.
S1 E1 · Mon, May 28, 2018
Lindy Chamberlain and the afterlife of evidence
What happens to evidence after a criminal trial? Tamson goes looking for answers and finds them in the shadow of one of the worst miscarriages of justice in Australian history - the Chamberlain trials. Credits Producer: Olivia Rosenman Collaborating historian: Katherine Biber Host: Tamson Pietsch Executive Producer: Emma Lancaster History Lab is a production of UTS Impact Studios.
Trailer · Tue, November 28, 2017
Episode Zero - Where the past isn't past
This season on History Lab we are exploring the gaps between us and the past Join us.
loading...