Outlaws, Maniacs and Murderers
Episode 7: The True Stories of Wolf Creek Part 1: The Backpacker Murders
When a body was found sitting against a tree in Belangalo State Forest, the police were quick to assure the public that there were no more victims to be found in the forest. Only a year later, the police would again be called to Belangalo State Forest to recover another body…
An examination of the influences behind the Australian horror film Wolf Creek. Part 1 of 5
Episode 8: The True Stories of Wolf Creek Part 2: The Falconio Disappearance
Travelling down an long and lonely road in the dark, a pair of British backpackers are pulled over by a man claiming to see sparks coming from their undercarriage. What happened next spread around the world and built on the myth of the Outback Killer…
An examination of the influences behind the Australian horror film Wolf Creek. Part 2 of 5
Episode 9: The True Stories of Wolf Creek Part 3: The Snowtown Murders
When the police entered the vault of a disused bank in the town of Snowtown, SA, in 1999, they didn’t expect to find the seven plastic barrels hidden in a corner. They definitely didn’t expect to find what they did when they opened the barrels…
An examination of the influences behind the Australian horror film Wolf Creek. Part 3 of 5
Episode 10: The True Stories of Wolf Creek Part 4: The Kimberly Killer
In the Top End of Australia, fishing and camping are ideal holiday activities. Along the Victoria River, NT, and Pentecost River, WA, in the dry season of 1987, tourists and locals alike fished, camped and hunted the days away. What they didn’t know, however, was that one of the hunters wasn’t out there tracking wild pigs…
An examination of the influences behind the Australian horror film Wolf Creek. Part 4 of 5
Episode 11: The True Stories of Wolf Creek Part 5: Behind the Title Cards
30,000 people are reported missing in Australia every year.
90% are found within a month.
Some are never seen again.
The title cards of the Wolf Creek film are terrifying in their portrayal of missing people in Australia paint a grim portrait of our country. But is that portrait true?
An examination of the influences behind the Australian horror film Wolf Creek. Part 5 of 5
Episode 18: Banjawarn Station and Aum Shinrikyo
In 1995, sarin gas, a nerve agent that causes severe muscle seizures and brain damage, was released on the Tokyo subway lines, killing 13 people and injuring at least a thousand more. A Japanese cult called Aum Shinrikiyo took responsibility for the attack, and attempted similar attacks through 1995. In outback Western Australia, a small group of sheep farmers on one of Australia’s biggest stations suddenly left. What investigators of the 1995 attack found when they examined the bodies of sheep found on Banjawarn Station brought Australia into the spotlight of international terrorism, six years before 9/11…
Episode 20: Australian Outlaws Part 1: Black Caesar (1793-1796)
What does Australia’s bushranging past have to do with the American War for Independence? What drove men from their homes to take up life in the unforgiving, unfamiliar Australian bush? Who started it all?
Julius Caesar.
Episode 21: Australian Outlaws Part 2: The Cannibal Bushrangers (1824-1825)
The Australian bush can house a delightful bounty, if you know where to look. The Aboriginal peoples of the Australian landscape ate well for 40,000 years before white man settled its shores, after all.
But when those white man did settle and found themselves without supplies or farms, some of them found it very hard to cope. A few of them, fleeing authorities and trying out outrun death, turned on each other in the most intimate way…
Episode 22: Australian Outlaws Part 3: The Bathurst Rebellion (1830)
In 1830, a pair of convicts tasked with the driving of some sheep pelts to Sydney stopped off in the November Australian heat to go for a quick dip in a local creek. A few visiting dignitaries saw them, and had them hauled before the governor. Less than 12 months later, six men would hang, including Ralph Entwhistle, one of the bathers on that fateful November day, leaving his bushranger army leaderless…
Episode 23: Australian Outlaws Part 4: Captain Moonlight/Moonlite (1842-1879)
In May 1869, a priest was hauled before the court, accused of robbing a bank. Andrew Scott – Captain Moonlight to his friends-in-arms – denied the accusations, even when a note was waved in front of him. Affronted at the inappropriate use of his nickname, Scott pointed the police towards two suspects, including the man named in the note. As the police closed in on them, Captain Moonlight took his chance and bolted for Sydney…
Episode 24: Australian Outlaws Part 5: The Female Bushrangers (1861-1936)
Well, a challenge was issued, and had to be answered. After a bit of research, Holly managed to find two female ‘bushrangers’, presented here for your delight and amusement. Both rustled cattle, one enjoyed the company of more than a couple of men – one a bushranger in his own right – and both were arrested more than once for their craft. Who are these society-snubbing ladies who took up the male-dominated art of bushranging?
Episode 26: Australian Outlaws: The Kelly Gang Part 1
Episode 27: Australian Outlaws: The Kelly Gang Part 2
Episode 28: Australian Outlaws: The Kelly Gang Part 3
Ned Kelly is a figure that divides the views of a lot of Australians. Was he a villain, killing cops left and right for some perceived vendetta against his family? Was he a hero, standing up for the downtrodden every-man of the last 1800s? Or has his legend taken over, wiping the slate clean and leaving only his final, police-defying last stand at Glenrowan, VIC, to grace the pages of our collective history?
Episode 32: The Highway of Death
An 800km stretch of highway runs almost directly west from Townsville, Queensland, before heading through Charters Towers and straight on to Mt Isa. This stretch of road, known as the Flinders and Barkly Highways, has seen more than its fair share of disappearances and deaths over the last 30 years. Locals call it the Townsville Killing Fields. We call it the Highway of Death…
Episode 36: Port Arthur Part 2 – The Massacre A (1996)
Episode 37: Port Arthur Part 3 – The Massacre B (1996)
Episode 38: Port Arthur Part 4 – The Aftermath
On April 28, 1996, a man intent on blood entered the Port Arthur Historical Site, which was filled with tourists. He parked his car, ate lunch at the cafe…
And committed the biggest post-Federation massacre on Australian soil within the space of about 15 minutes, before taking his guns on the road.
Join Holly and Matthew as they look into the massacre that shaped Australia’s relation to guns, tourism, conspiracy theories and mental health.
**WARNING: Contains deaths of children and graphic content, listen at own risk**
Episode 44: The Family Murders Part 1
Episode 45: The Family Murders Part 2
Episode 46: The Family Murders Part 3
In the City of Churches, no one expects horrible things to happen.
But in the 1970s, Adelaide – and Australia in general – was an intolerant town, hosting an element that enjoyed the kidnapping, torture and murder of gay men and teenagers almost every week. Some of the murderers were convicted – most were not.
Join Matthew and Holly as they explore what has become one of Australia’s most infamous murderous conspiracy theories, and the people involved in the (alleged) cover up…
Episode 50: The Rack Man
In 1994, fishermen along the Hawkesbury River north of Sydney were trawling for squid. Net snags are not unusual in the industry, especially when trawling rivers. However, what these fishermen dragged up from the depths would kick-start a mystery that would last 25 years…
Episode 57: Katherine Knight
In early 2000, while the country was still reeling from the horrific acts of the Bodies in the Barrels (episode 9), another crime hit the headlines that scarred the psyches of everyone who read about it.
A man’s body was found skinned, decapitated and butchered. Who did it, and why?
Episode 59: The Crystal Highway Murders Part 1
Episode 60: The Crystal Highway Murders Part 2
Just off the well-beaten track of eastern central Queensland lies the remains of an old highway, one that stretches from the towns of Mackay to Rockhampton. The Old Bruce Highway, as it’s officially known, is an easy sightseeing route for families looking to relive the old 1950s and 60s road trips, or for people who prefer not to walk the road less traveled by.
But the Crystal Highway guards a secret: since the 1960s, people have been found dead or gone missing along that road. Not only have those travelling alone been targeted, but whole families.
Join Holly and Matthew as they examine Queensland’s second murder road, the Crystal Highway.
Episode 65: The Russell Street Bombing Part 1
Episode 66: The Russell Street Bombing Part 2
This episode contains a story that hinges on a simple twist of fate: one woman’s life ended because she lost a coin toss.
There’s a lot of terror in the world today, to people stabbing, shooting or running people down in cars. However, this phenomenon of violence stemming from hatred of the ‘other’ is not unique to modern times. In the 1990s, a series of attacks on innocent and unsuspecting people changed the way that people currently react to terrorist threats.
Join Holly and Matthew as they travel through the Melbourne Massacres, and the people who slaughtered right in the heart of one of our biggest cities…
Episode 69: The Hoddle St Massacre
On a quiet Sunday night in August, 1987, a man sat in a pub, trying desperately to get the bartender to talk to him. Rejected by his ideal career, his girlfriend, his friends and even his mother, this young man turned what was once a boring night on an inner-north Melbourne street into one his victims would never forget. If they survive.
Episode 70: The Beaumont Children Part 1
Episode 71: The Beaumont Children Part 2
Australia in the 1960s was a safe, wholesome place to grow up. Ask any Boomer or Gen Xer what their childhood was like, they’ll be happy to tell you how great it was, going down to the beach with your siblings, spending time in the sand, surf and sun.
In reality, the world was just as dangerous as it is today, we were just less aware of it. Join Holly and Matthew as they examine the case that changed Australia, and the dark world that opened up to the public because of it…
Episode 73: The Queen Street Massacre
In 1987, a madman went on a shooting rampage through a main street of Melbourne (see episode 69).
Three months later, another man, influenced by that massacre and suffering from severe mental illness, entered the Australia Post building on Queen St, Melbourne – three blocks from the Russell St Police Headquarters (see episode 66) – and killed eight people, including himself.
Episode 76: The Walsh St Shooting Part 1
Episode 77: The Walsh St Shooting Part 2
The cold war between the police and the criminals of Melbourne grew hotter with every “accidental” shooting of those accused of crimes. Eventually, it culminated in the shootings of two police officers, and the longest-running investigation in Victorian history.
Episode 89: The Moorehouse Murders Part 1
Episode 90: The Moorehouse Murders Part 2
In 1986, a young woman ran into a vacuum store in the suburb of Willagee, WA, crying that she’d been raped. What she had to tell the police didn’t just bust a serial rapist – it cast light on a pair of serial killers and their hunting ground in Claremont, ten years before the area became famous …
Episode 98: The Woolworths Christmas Bombings
In the 1980s, a series of bombings threatened the Christmas stabilities of New South Wales. In a series of escalating attacks, 4 Woolworths stores were attacked, culminating in an explosion on Christmas Eve at the Town Hall store. What followed was an epic of ransom demands and chasing police, and ended in a midnight dive…
