The Natural World
Episode 5: Teeth and Scales
Australia has its own share of man-eating animals, but these two take the leg cake. How big was Australia’s largest crocodile? When was the first recording shark attack? And what are some of the most outstanding shark attacks that occurred on Australian soil in Australian waters?
Episode 6: The Great Emu War
The Australian Army has only been defeated on its own soil once, in the late spring of 1932, when tasked with the mission of defending farmlands in Western Australia from the native menace ravaging the wheat fields. Why did they lose? And why does the Australian Army not like to talk about it?
Episode 12: The Kickboxing Kangaroo
There’s a lot to be said for the humble kangaroo: it’s big, it’s badass, and it takes no one’s crap from no man (or dog). So it shouldn’t be surprising that Australia has the only official national sporting flag in the world, the Boxing Kangaroo…
Episode 16: The Phantom Cats of Australia
For more than a hundred years, reports of large cats being seen along the east coast of Australia – from Melbourne to the Sunshine Coast – have both interested and frustrated zoologists and locals alike. With only a few blurry photos to prove their existence, these Phantom Cats are both myth and reality at the same time…
Episode 33: The Ancient Australian Monsters
When Indigenous Australians crossed from the Indonesian peninsula to the Australia/Papua New Guinea continent ~50,000 years ago, they were confronted with a sight to behold: carnivorous kangaroos, birds taller than a man, and a 6m-long snake that regularly took on marsupial lions in combat. Over the millennia, however, circumstances led to the deaths of hundreds of species across the Australian continent, leaving only the ones we know today.
Episode 41: Australian Outlaws: Fauna Edition
Australia’s ecosystem is a delicate balance, and a single small shift can cause catastrophic damage. We have strong customs for a reason, but they didn’t come in until the 1900s.
Join Holly and Matthew as they examine 5 of the most destructive invasive species currently inhabiting Australian shores, where they came from, and who’re to blame.
Episode 63: The Thylacine
The poster child for extinction in Australia, the thylacine was declared extinct in 1982, 50 years after the last known specimen died in a Hobart zoo. But there’s a lot more to the Tasmanian Tiger than a set of stripes and a wide bite. Join Holly and Matthew as they examine the downfall of the thylacine, its role in the wider world of Australian conservation, and the continuing assertion that the Tassie Tiger lives on…
Episode 72: The Tasmanian Devil
The Tasmanian devil was named by early European settlers who heard the creature’s unearthly screams, coughs and growls, and went to investigate They found a small canine-looking animal with black fur and white patches, red ears and sharp teeth. Its howls screeches and snarls haunted the nights, driving some man to the brink of insanity.
Some say the devil haunts Tasmania. Here on the podcast, we believe the whole island is possessed….
Episode 74: Phar Lap
The Melbourne Cup is known as the “Race that Stops the nation”. But the value of these horses sometimes exceed their status. This is a story about a special horse, one that Australia claims as its own, and still mourns the loss, 87 years after he died.
Episode 97: The Australian Dinosaurs
With the craziness of the modern world, we decided to go back farther into the past than we have yet. Join Holly and Matthew as they look into 7 of Australia’s most interesting native dinosaurs (and marine reptiles). From the Great Inland Sea to the great land of Gondwana, come along for a ride back in time!
Episode 99: The Nullarbor Plains
In the south-west of this continent lies a stretch of land like no other. Made of limestone formed during the Age of Dinosaurs, the Nullarbor Plains attracts all kinds of strange phenomena, from ufo sightings to a magnetic field measurable by science and strong enough to attract meteorites. Join Holly and Matthew as they look into the strange occurrences on the Nullarbor…
