Episodes
Monday Aug 24, 2020
Monday Aug 24, 2020
The Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Scheme began construction at Guthega, with a Norwegian contractor, and before too long, power was being delivered to the people.
Workers and families got used to the new environment and the working conditions as the construction projects multiplied across the project sites, while others had to get used to their relocated townships.
(60 mins)
Brilliant stories from Australia’s past! www.australianhistoriespodcast.com.au
Enjoying the podcast?
Help support the show with
Thursday Aug 06, 2020
Ep 39 Snowy Hydro Scheme - Pt 2 - Getting Land & Workers: Australian History
Thursday Aug 06, 2020
Thursday Aug 06, 2020
The Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Scheme was underway. Now they Authority had to acquire the land across the Alps, and recruit a workforce, to survey, plan and construct the many parts of the project; not an easy thing to do in booming post war Australia.
Part 2 gives an overview of the recruitment of workers, the majority coming from various worker schemes and displaced persons camps in Europe. And we learn about the arrangements for compensating and moving the existing landholders to make way for the Snowy Scheme.
(47 mins)
Brilliant stories from Australia’s past! www.australianhistoriespodcast.com.au
Enjoying the podcast?
Help support the show with
Monday Jun 29, 2020
Ep 38 Snowy Hydro Scheme - Pt 1 - Inception: Australian History
Monday Jun 29, 2020
Monday Jun 29, 2020
The Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Scheme, took nearly 30 years to complete in the post war period, and was an astounding engineering feat. It remains one of the “engineering wonders of the world”. It created thousands of jobs and drove the development of increased home-grown Engineering expertise in large civil projects.
Not without social & environmental costs of course, it brought with it some amazing practical power & water supply developments, and lead the country in embracing varied and valuable cultural influences, from it’s international, often refugee, workforce, recruited in the optimistic and welcoming post war Australia. It’s a great story, and all these drivers and outcomes deserve a bit of reflection. Today's episode will discuss the background and inception of the massive project.
Brilliant stories from Australia’s past! www.australianhistoriespodcast.com.au
Enjoying the podcast?
Help support the show with a one-off donation
Monday Jun 01, 2020
Ep 37 Lady Jane Franklin - Explorer: Australian History
Monday Jun 01, 2020
Monday Jun 01, 2020
Lady Jane Franklin was an unusual woman. In the late 1830s, as the wife of Van Diemen's Land Governor Sir John Franklin, she took the opportunity to explore the new settlements and wilds of Tasmania, undertook an overland trek from Melbourne to Sydney, astounding the public with her drive & resilience. One source suggested, her “unfeminine curiosity” lead her to investigate many places where European women had not previously ventured.
She was instrumental in setting up scientific societies and publications, and promoted the development of Hobart as the cultural hub of the colonies, at a time when it was previously only associated with it's convict history.
www.australianhistoriespodcast.com.au
Brilliant stories from Australia’s past!
Monday Apr 27, 2020
Ep 36 Jandamarra: the Bunuba Warrior Pt 2: Australian History
Monday Apr 27, 2020
Monday Apr 27, 2020
PART 2: Jandamarra was a Bunuba man, from the Kimberly region in Western Australia, who has been called both an outlaw and a hero. It’s a story of conflict between the indigenous peoples, and the new comers to Australia; a chapter in what we more lately call the Frontier Wars.
In the late 1880s Jandamarra lead his people in resisting the takeover of their lands, at a time when stockholders wished to bring sheep & cattle into the Kimberly. It is a confronting story, but one very important for both original and newer Australians to understand and consider.
www.australianhistoriespodcast.com.au
Brilliant stories from Australia’s past!
Monday Apr 27, 2020
Ep 35 Jandamarra: the Bunuba Warrior Pt 1: Australian History
Monday Apr 27, 2020
Monday Apr 27, 2020
Jandamarra was a Bunuba man, from the Kimberly region in Western Australia, who has been called both an outlaw and a hero. It’s a story of conflict between the indigenous peoples, and the new comers to Australia; a chapter in what we more lately call the Frontier Wars.
In the late 1880s Jandamarra lead his people in resisting the takeover of their lands, at a time when stockholders wished to bring sheep & cattle into the Kimberly. It is a confronting story, but one very important for both original and newer Australians to understand and consider.
Note that this Episode is has been offered as 2 parts
www.australianhistoriespodcast.com.au
Brilliant stories from Australia’s past!
Monday Mar 30, 2020
Ep 34 The Great Emu War: Australian History
Monday Mar 30, 2020
Monday Mar 30, 2020
In the early 1930s the post WW1 Soldier Settlers in Western Australia were doing it hard, trying to make a living growing wheat in a tough economic climate.
When the native Emus descended on their crops on mass, they called on the Commonwealth Minister of Defense to come to their rescue. And so began the Emu War in the west.....
(45 mins)
www.australianhistoriespodcast.com.au
Brilliant stories from Australia’s past!
Enjoying the podcast? Help support the show with a one-off donation
Friday Feb 28, 2020
Ep 33 Eureka Pt5: Eureka Trials: Australian History
Friday Feb 28, 2020
Friday Feb 28, 2020
With the rebellion at the Eureka Stockade ended, the authorities moved the main players to Melbourne to be tried for treason.
In the days immediately following, the people of Victoria were at first apprehensive that there may be further outbreaks of violence and rioting, but as more information about exactly what happened at Ballarat was known, they became more unhappy about the lead up to and the actions that took place on December 3rd, 1854.
In this final episode in the Eureka series, we talk about the trials, and the actions of the government in the aftermath. We also learn a little about the Southern Cross flag.
(60 mins)
www.australianhistoriespodcast.com.au
Enjoying the podcast?
Help support the show with
Friday Jan 31, 2020
Ep 32 Eureka Pt4: Eureka Stockade: Australian History
Friday Jan 31, 2020
Friday Jan 31, 2020
With no positive response to their delegations, pleading & petitions, the Ballarat miners determined they must boycott the corrupt system all together and physically resist when the troopers came to arrest them.
Under the leadership of Peter Lalor, the men swore under their Southern Cross flag, to stand together united in their resistance, and to protect each other from the authorities, with physical force if required.
To that end they began building a defensive Stockade. and began to organise and gather weapons for a confrontation with the Government Camp.
The Government saw this as the beginning of revolutionary rebellion, and were determined to crush the uprising.
(60 mins)
www.australianhistoriespodcast.com.au
Brilliant stories from Australia’s past!
Enjoying the podcast?
Help support the show with
Tuesday Dec 31, 2019
Ep 31 Eureka Pt3: Ballarat Reform League: Australian History
Tuesday Dec 31, 2019
Tuesday Dec 31, 2019
Relations between the authorities and the diggers on the Ballarat goldfield continued to deteriorate, and despite the reports of corruption and violent behaviour being reported to the senior government officials, no action was being taken.
Following a murder on the goldfield, the miners meeting protesting the corrupt investigation that took place afterwards, escalated into a riot, and the Eureka Hotel was burnt to the ground.
A number of influential men on the diggings formed the Ballarat Reform League, to represent and advocate for the Ballarat diggers and their families, and to make representations to the government about the causes of the riot. But with no satisfactory discussions taking place, the miners lost all patience and resolved that the only course of action open to them, was armed resistance. A flag was raised, oaths sworn and the men set about organising a defensive stockade.
(40 mins)
www.australianhistoriespodcast.com.au
Brilliant stories from Australia’s past!
Enjoying the podcast?
Help support the show with