ABC Rewind

We''ve got news! The History Listen has been given a makeover. Our new show,  ABC Rewind,  is still your home for gripping audio storytelling, and still the podcast where you'll hear true stories told by the people who lived through them. Come on a deep dive into the past on Rewind.

Come on a wild ride through the extraordinary story of the Big Day Out; the festival which, for over two decades, was a summertime rite of passage for music lovers around Australia

It's 1865 in remote central west NSW. A police office is fatally shot by a man he believes is a Chinese bushranger. The story of Sam Poo is a bushranging tale with a twist

At the height of the Cold War a New Zealand teenager is sent to a hospital in the Soviet Union to grow new fingers on her left hand. Sounds like fiction? This actually happened to Miranda Jakich and in this episode  she tells her tale.

Was he Australia's greatest con artist?  That was the title given to John Friedrich, the former head of the Victorian Division of National Safety Council of Australia.  Back in the 1980s, he famously made $293 million of investors’ money disappear. When his fraud was uncovered, he went missing himself for sixteen days, prompting a nationwide manhunt and a media storm that reported both facts and the fictions.Guests:Barry Whitehead - former NSCA operations managerFrank Bongiorno - professor of history, ANUPeter and Ann Synan - regional historians & Sale residentsZyg Zayler - criminal lawyer, Melasecca Kelly & ZaylerCredits:Composer - Matthew CrawfordSound engineer - Tim SymondsProducer - Lyn Gallacher

When Bill Garner began exploring his family history, a puzzling gap in the family tree led him to discover a most extraordinary ancestor: Fanny Finch. Finch was a well-known and controversial figure during the Victorian gold rushes. A London-born woman of African heritage, she pushed a wheelbarrow from Melbourne to the goldfields in 1852, where she became a sly grogger and restaurateur. She actively resisted police corruption, supported women and children against domestic violence and in 1856, cast a vote in municipal elections, decades before women were granted suffrage. And yet her story was not passed down to her descendants.When Bill met historian Kacey Sinclair, who had been researching Finch’s life, a fascinating and sometimes challenging conversation began.In Finding Fanny Finch, Sinclair joins Finch’s direct descendants, Bill and his daughter Alice, in a theatrical reconstruction and reflection on the life and legacy of an unforgettable woman.CreditsWritten by Bill Garner and Sue GoreBased on research by Kacey SinclairPerformed by Kacey Sinclair, Bill Garner and Alice GarnerMusic by ‘Friends of Wendy Cotton’: Briony Phillips, Stephanie Carson, Nicole Simirenko, Christine Webb, Anthony WebbOriginal music recordings by Casey RiceSound engineering by Angie GrantAdditional music mixing by Brendan O'NeillAdapted for radio by Miyuki Jokiranta

Laya Semler was the last Jew sent to a concentration camp from Wennigsen, Germany, in 1945. Her non-Jewish husband Adolf was sent to slave labour for not denouncing her.  Both survived. Now, Wennigsen has invited their Australian family back, to commemorate Laya and Adolf’s incredible story of courage and love.  In Part 1, their great-grandchildren discovered a town perhaps finally ready to accept the extent of its role in the Nazi regime. In Part 2, they will experience that history face-to-face.They experience that history face-to-face -- when they visit the slave labour camp, only recently unearthed, where Adolf was held.  And where they must reckon with horrors that will shock even the German historians guiding them.    Michaela Kalowski, Joanna's husband John Hempton, Joanna Kalowski and Rick KalowskiGuests:Joanna Kalowski - internationally recognised mediator and granddaughter of Laya and Adolf SemlerMichael Wittich - historian for the town of WennigsenChristina Muller - city councillor in WennigsenJutta Henza - historian of the Stolen Gustav slave labour campCredits:Writers: Rick Kalowski and Michaela KalowskiPresenters: Michaela Kalowski and Rick KalowskiProducer: Claudia TarantoSound Engineer: Hamish CamilleriResearch assistance : Tadhg Kalowski

In 1945, Laya Semler became the last Jew sent to a concentration camp from Wennigsen, Germany.  Her non-Jewish husband Adolf chose slave labour rather than abandon her.  They both survived. In 2022, the village of Wennigsen invited their Australian family back to commemorate Laya and Adolf’s bravery. Told by their great-grandchildren, Laya and Adolf’s story is testament to the power love has to bridge even the greatest differences.  But it’s also the story of a town only just coming to terms with the truth of its past.  A truth that, as Laya and Adolf’s descendants discover first-hand, not everyone in the town is ready to accept...Joanna Kalowski at the opening of the new street in Wennigsen, Germany, named after her grandmother Laya SemlerGuests:Joanna Kalowski - internationally recognised mediator and granddaughter of Laya and Adolf SemlerMichael Wittich - historian for the town of WennigsenFranz Blazek - former mayor of WennigsenSilke Stremlau - resident of WennigsenCredits:Writers: Rick Kalowski and Michaela KalowskiPresenters: Michaela Kalowski and Rick KalowskiProducer: Claudia TarantoSound Engineer: Hamish CamilleriResearch assistance : Tadhg Kalowski

Fifty years ago, in the early hours of Christmas Day 1974, Cyclone Tracy killed 66 people and decimated the city of Garramilla/Darwin. Afterwards more than 30,000 residents were evacuated, many never returning to Darwin. Writing down memories of the event helped some survivors of the cyclone process the experience. Hear a handful of these stories, set in crumbling houses, airborne cars, a busy restaurant and an overcrowded hospital, all set to the terrifying real-life soundtrack of Cyclone Tracy.(image courtesy of the NT Archive : LANT LJ Adams NTRS 3129 P2, item 1 Caption "Chris Adams looking at Cyclone Tracy destruction, 26 December 1974")

It’s the early 1900s and a gang of men moves through the gritty streets of inner-city North Melbourne: they dress sharp and inspire fear wherever they go. This gang, the Crutchy Push ruled the streets of North Melbourne over a ten year period, from late 1890s. And the reason for their curious name? All the members of this gang were amputees: mostly one-legged, and they used a crutch - and not just for walking!To mark the International Day for People With Disability, Melbourne-based writer and disability advocate  Kaitlyn Blythe digs up the little-known story of the gang and its’ charismatic leader Valentine Keating, and explores how it busts a lot of myths about disabled people in Australian history.Guests:Brendan GleesonTansy BradshawReadings  -  Toby Truslove Credits:Producer -  Kaitlyn BlytheSound design and production -  Matthew CrawfordSupervising Producer -  Michelle Rayner