Shows
Dead Bunyip SocietyEpisode 22 - Graham Richardson Part 2 - Minister for MatesToday is the second part in our series on Graham Richardson titled Minister for Mates. There will be a third part coming soon.
Please see Bluesky for a full bibliography @deadbunyipsociety
Credit: Intro/Outro music "Harold Hold" by Bluebottle Kiss, (c) 2006
2025-12-291h 37Dead Bunyip SocietyEpisode 21 - Graham Richardson Part 1 - Senator for KneecapsToday we’re talking about Graham Richardson. This is the first part in a two part series on a unique figure who shaped Australia’s political landscape, for better or worse (mainly worse).
Please see Bluesky for a full bibliography @deadbunyipsociety
Credit: Intro/Outro music "Harold Hold" by Bluebottle Kiss, (c) 2006
2025-12-141h 17Dead Bunyip SocietyEpisode 20 - Stafford Bullen and his 360 lionsContent Warning: Suicide and a *lot* of lion maulings.
Today we’re talking about Stafford Bullen, a man who owned 360 lions and whose Safari Parks were associated with at least three deaths.
To hear Love Machine’s Version of the Lion Sleeps Tonights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5J9coUCjVY&t=657s. To see the ad: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZU-1bWhVo-g
Please see Bluesky for a full bibliography @deadbunyipsociety
Credit: Intro/Outro music "Harold Hold" by Bluebottle Kiss, (c) 2006
2025-11-051h 03Dead Bunyip SocietyEpisode 19 - Eric Campbell a Half Arsed FascistToday’s episode is about Eric Campbell arguably Australia’s most successful fascist and what we can learn about the recent wave of far-right activism in Australia.
Please see Bluesky for a full bibliography @deadbunyipsociety
Credit: Intro/Outro music "Harold Hold" by Bluebottle Kiss, (c) 2006
2025-10-171h 26Dead Bunyip SocietyEpisode 18 - Terror in Tasmania - The Australian Genocide - Part 2Today is the second part of our series on the genocide of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Today we are talking about Tasmania, starting from settlement and the bloody nineteenth century.
To learn more about the Aboriginal Massacres Project see here:
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/ng-interactive/2019/mar/04/massacre-map-australia-the-killing-times-frontier-wars
Please see Bluesky for a full bibliography @deadbunyipsociety
Credit: Intro/Outro music "Harold Hold" by Bluebottle Kiss, (c) 2006
2025-09-151h 33Dead Bunyip SocietyEpisode 17 - Horror on the Hawkesbury - The Australian Genocide - Part 1Today we're talking about the genocide of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. This is intended as the first in a multi-part series.
To learn more about the Aboriginal Massacres Project see here:
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/ng-interactive/2019/mar/04/massacre-map-australia-the-killing-times-frontier-wars
Please see Bluesky for a full bibliography @deadbunyipsociety
Credit: Intro/Outro music "Harold Hold" by Bluebottle Kiss, (c) 2006
2025-08-251h 36Dead Bunyip SocietyEpisode 16 - How seven million dead seals built Aussie capitalismToday we're talking about how a group of plucky eighteenth century colonists including emancipist trader Simeon Lord built Australian capitalism…but clubbing seven million seals to death.
Please see Bluesky for a full bibliography @deadbunyipsociety
Credit: Intro/Outro music "Harold Hold" by Bluebottle Kiss, (c) 2006
2025-08-0654 minDead Bunyip SocietyEpisode 15 - Wittenoom: Australia's ChernobylToday we're talking about Wittenoom in Western Australia, the largest exclusion zone in Australia and the site of Australia’s largest industrial disaster.
Buy Pissants by Brandon Jack here: https://www.simonandschuster.com.au/books/Pissants/Brandon-Jack/9781761633072. Buy Nock Loose by Patrick Marlborough here: https://fremantlepress.com.au/books/nock-loose/
Please see Bluesky for a full bibliography @deadbunyipsociety
Credit: Intro/Outro music "Harold Hold" by Bluebottle Kiss, (c) 2006
2025-07-221h 09Dead Bunyip SocietyEpisode 14 - The Japanese Invasion MythToday we're doing some Australian History Mythbusting. The first myth we’re tackling is the idea that the Japanese ever planned to invade Australia in 1942.
Please see Bluesky for a full bibliography @deadbunyipsociety
Credit: Intro/Outro music "Harold Hold" by Bluebottle Kiss, (c) 2006
2025-07-131h 08Dead Bunyip SocietyEpisode 13 - The second time Australia went to war in IraqToday we're talking about the Iraq War, Iraqi history and Australian foreign policy. I also go down a bit of a rabbit hole talking about the fascinating history of pre-Modern and modern Iraq (sorry).
Please see Bluesky for a full bibliography @deadbunyipsociety
Credit: Intro/Outro music "Harold Hold" by Bluebottle Kiss, (c) 2006
2025-07-051h 36Dead Bunyip SocietyEpisode 12 - Bill Leak - Twilight of the Boomers
Today we're talking about Bill Leak, a controversial artist and political cartoonist who died in 2017 and generated a national controversy with his reactionary cartoons. Today’s episode is also about the Baby Boomers as a generation and why they are the worst.
Please see Bluesky for a full bibliography @deadbunyipsociety
Credit: Intro/Outro music "Harold Hold" by Bluebottle Kiss, (c) 2006
2025-06-231h 43Dead Bunyip SocietyEpisode 11 - The Children of God & the History of Child Protection in AustraliaToday we're talking about the Children of God, an evangelical Christian group from which 140 children were removed in 1992 in the largest ever single children removal activity in Australian history.
Please see Bluesky for a full bibliography @deadbunyipsociety
Credit: Intro/Outro music "Harold Hold" by Bluebottle Kiss, (c) 2006
2025-06-111h 15Dead Bunyip SocietyEpisode 10 - The Rum Rebellion & The Landlord AscendancyToday we're talking about the “Rum Rebellion” of 1808, also talking about Australia’s drinking culture and the ascendency of the landlord.
Please see Bluesky for a full bibliography @deadbunyipsociety
Credit: Intro/Outro music "Harold Hold" by Bluebottle Kiss, (c) 2006
2025-05-291h 12Dead Bunyip SocietyEpisode 9 - Magdalene Homes in AustraliaToday we're talking about Magdelene Homes in Australia, the historical mistreatment of children in out of home care, popular history and how the ABC sucks.
Please see Bluesky for a full bibliography @deadbunyipsociety
Credit: Intro/Outro music "Harold Hold" by Bluebottle Kiss, (c) 2006
2025-05-1053 minDead Bunyip SocietyEpisode 8 - Dr Harry Bailey - Australia's Worst PsychiatristToday we're talking about Dr Harry Bailey a man who loved cutting up gay and lesbian brains and trapping people in nightmare comas for weeks at a time.
Please see Bluesky for a full bibliography @deadbunyipsociety
Credit: Intro/Outro music "Harold Hold" by Bluebottle Kiss, (c) 2006
2025-05-0455 minDead Bunyip SocietyEpisode 7 - Edward De Lacy Evans - Australia's First (Documented) Trans ManToday we're talking about Edward De Lacy Evans, a perfectly ordinary nineteenth century working class fella, who had a pretty big secret.
Please see Bluesky for a full bibliography @deadbunyipsociety
Credit: Intro/Outro music "Harold Hold" by Bluebottle Kiss, (c) 2006
2025-04-2546 minDead Bunyip SocietyEpisode 6 - John Mackay - Explorer and BlackbirderToday we're talking about John Mackay, the man who "discovered" Mackay in Queensland and also trafficked in human beings.
Please see Bluesky for a full bibliography @deadbunyipsociety
Credit: Intro/Outro music "Harold Hold" by Bluebottle Kiss, (c) 2006
2025-04-1743 minDead Bunyip SocietyEpisode 5 - Sex Work in Colonial AustraliaToday we're talking about the history of sex work in eighteenth and nineteenth Australia.
Please see Bluesky for a full bibliography @deadbunyipsociety
Credit: Intro/Outro music "Harold Hold" by Bluebottle Kiss, (c) 2006
2025-04-1254 minDead Bunyip SocietyEpisode 4 - The time WA tried to form its own countryToday we're talking about the 1933 WA Referendum, AKA that time that WA tried to set up its own country
Please see Bluesky for a full bibliography @deadbunyipsociety
Credit: Intro/Outro music "Harold Hold" by Bluebottle Kiss, (c) 2006
2025-04-0546 minDead Bunyip SocietyEpisode 3 - Robert Towns & Slavery in AustraliaToday we're talking about Robert Towns, the man who founded Townsville and also owned fellow human beings.
Please see Bluesky for a full bibliography @deadbunyipsociety
Credit: Intro/Outro music "Harold Hold" by Bluebottle Kiss, (c) 2006
2025-03-3059 minDead Bunyip SocietyEpisode 2 - Anne Hamilton Byrne and the FamilyCONTENT WARNING: This podcast discusses issues relating to child abuse. Listener discretion is encouraged.
The Family is arguably Australia's most famous cult. This podcast examines the conflicted scholarship on cults and discusses the history of the family as well as how we should think about cults, their victims and what they can teach us about contemporary society. Please see Bluesky for a full bibliograhy @deadbunyipsociety
Credit: Intro/Outro music "Harold Hold" by Bluebottle Kiss, (c) 2006
2025-03-2153 minDead Bunyip SocietyEpisode 1 - Mullah Abdullah and the Battle of Broken HillOn 1 January 1915 six people died in the events popularly known as "The Battle of Broken Hill", but why did this happen? Who was Mullah Abdullah and why did he participate in the murder of four innocent people? This episode examines the fascinating history of 'Afghan' Cameleers and what little we can know about Abdullah, and some thoughts on the society that created him.
2025-03-1450 min