ABC Rewind

It’s March 25th, 1999, and Australia’s most remarkable prison escape has just taken place, after a helicopter hovers above the recreation grounds at the Silverwater maximum security prison, in Sydney. In the blink of an eye, a prisoner runs towards the chopper, climbs onboard, and is on his way to freedom.This is the story of that airborne escapee, John Killick, a man who spent much of his life leading the authorities on a merry dance. Somehow he survived his dangerous escapades and many prison stints.Today, in his early 80s, John is a writer, a public speaker. and a counsellor to ex-crims.Credits:Producer: Brian McKenzieSound Engineer: Tim Symonds

In a shocking and brutal end to a colourful life, Australian wallpaper designer Florence Broadhurst was murdered in her Paddington studio on the 15th of October, 1977. So who was suspected of this crime and why is the case still unsolved to this day? Please listen with care - this episode contains graphic content. Guests:Tony Russell – Former NSW Police officer Helen O’Neill – Journalist and author, Florence Broadhurst: her secret and extraordinary lives   Mark Whittaker – Journalist and author, Granny killer: the story of John Glover Babette Hayes OAM – Interior designer Vincent Jones – VP Sales & Licensing, Asia-Pacific, Centa IP David Lloyd-Lewis – Grandson of Florence Broadhurst Credits:Producer – Zoe Ferguson Engineer – Simon Branthwaite Executive Producer – Michelle Rayner

She’s one of Australia’s most prolific and popular designers, and yet not many people know her name, let alone her audacious life story.   Florence Broadhurst was from regional Queensland but people who met her later in life,  thought she was English aristocrat. She reinvented herself many times throughout her life.   Today she’s known for her wallpaper designs that cemented her in Australian design history. But a shadow lingers over her legacy; her unsolved murder in 1977.Guests:Helen O’Neill – Journalist and author, Florence Broadhurst: Her secret and extraordinary lives   Dr Andrew Field – Associate Professor of Chinese History, Duke Kunshan University Babette Hayes OAM – Interior designer David Lennie – Screen printer, Signature Prints Sheridan Black – Owner, Signature Handprints Tony Russell – Former NSW Police officer David Lloyd-Lewis – Grandson of Florence Broadhurst Laura Doble – Interior design graduateCredits:Producer – Zoe Ferguson Engineer – Simon Branthwaite Executive Producer – Michelle Rayner  

When superannuation pioneer Mavis Robertson was in her seventies, she was showered with awards and honours. But something was missing from the life story shared with the public at this time: the more than 30 years she spent as a leading member of the Communist Party of Australia. Historian Alice Garner and Mavis's son Peter Robertson delve into this part of his mother's life, including her extensive ASIO security file. 

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.

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 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?

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?

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.

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.”