Forgotten Australia

Terribly wounded on 25 April 1915 at Gallipoli, AIF Private Frank Downes would be celebrated as The Blind Digger. After returning home on the first hospital ship from Egypt, he was an Anzac hero, a patriotic public speaker, a radio personality and a good husband and father. But Frank’s image was to be tainted by scandal and then shattered by a mysterious death that left Aussies wondering whether this war hero was a cold-blooded murderer.For free trial access to early ad-free episodes and exclusive bonus episodes:Apple.co/ForgottenAustralia or https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/forgotten-australia/id1442763878Patreon.com/ForgottenAustraliaCheck out my books:They’ll Never Hold Me:https://www.booktopia.com.au/they-ll-never-hold-me-michael-adams/book/9781923046474.htmlThe Murder Squad:https://www.booktopia.com.au/the-murder-squad-michael-adams/book/9781923046504.htmlHanging Ned Kelly:https://www.booktopia.com.au/hanging-ned-kelly-michael-adams/book/9781922992185.htmlAustralia’s Sweetheart:https://www.booktopia.com.au/australia-s-sweetheart-michael-adams/book/9780733640292.htmlEmail: forgottenaustraliapodcast@gmail.com

Did you have to be crazy to take on 10 cops at once? Was Percy Ramage 'perfectly insane'? The question was key but Melbourne’s best and brightest just couldn’t agree. Percy cashed in on his notoriety with a memoir and tried to go straight. But trouble was never far away – and a surprising tragedy loomed in a stormy future.For free trial access to early ad-free episodes and exclusive bonus episodes:Apple.co/ForgottenAustralia or https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/forgotten-australia/id1442763878Patreon.com/ForgottenAustraliaCheck out my books:They’ll Never Hold Me:https://www.booktopia.com.au/they-ll-never-hold-me-michael-adams/book/9781923046474.htmlThe Murder Squad:https://www.booktopia.com.au/the-murder-squad-michael-adams/book/9781923046504.htmlHanging Ned Kelly:https://www.booktopia.com.au/hanging-ned-kelly-michael-adams/book/9781922992185.htmlAustralia’s Sweetheart:https://www.booktopia.com.au/australia-s-sweetheart-michael-adams/book/9780733640292.htmlEmail: forgottenaustraliapodcast@gmail.com

In Melbourne and Geelong from the 1890s, Percy Ramage saw red whenever he saw the cops. Known as 'The Policeman Puncher', he was such a 'human tiger' that no-one knew where his badness ended and his madness began. But in trying to contain him, authorities would throw Percy into a gaol where prisoners were dropping like flies – with the ‘Prince of Rioters’ looking like he’d be the next to die.For free trial access to early ad-free episodes and exclusive bonus episodes:Apple.co/ForgottenAustralia or https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/forgotten-australia/id1442763878Patreon.com/ForgottenAustraliaThe Notorious Lady Munro starts here:https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-notorious-lady-munro-part-one-the-woman-in-the-waterhole/id1442763878?i=1000608171649Weachurch: Werewolf of Pentridge starts here:https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/weachurch-werewolf-of-pentridge-part-one/id1442763878?i=1000660026921Murder in the Treasury Gardens starts here:https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/murder-in-the-treasury-gardens-part-one-we-die-together/id1442763878?i=1000645005060Check out my books:They’ll Never Hold Me:https://www.booktopia.com.au/they-ll-never-hold-me-michael-adams/book/9781923046474.htmlThe Murder Squad:https://www.booktopia.com.au/the-murder-squad-michael-adams/book/9781923046504.htmlHanging Ned Kelly:https://www.booktopia.com.au/hanging-ned-kelly-michael-adams/book/9781922992185.htmlAustralia’s Sweetheart:https://www.booktopia.com.au/australia-s-sweetheart-michael-adams/book/9780733640292.htmlEmail: forgottenaustraliapodcast@gmail.com

This German-born thug's misadventures included shooting his dad in the butt, taking to the bush as an escapee, doing time in a POW camp, selling cocaine in Sydney and dicing with the Razor Gangs. But his life would have an unexpected final act.Check out my books:They’ll Never Hold Me:https://www.booktopia.com.au/they-ll-never-hold-me-michael-adams/book/9781923046474.htmlThe Murder Squad:https://www.booktopia.com.au/the-murder-squad-michael-adams/book/9781923046504.htmlHanging Ned Kelly:https://www.booktopia.com.au/hanging-ned-kelly-michael-adams/book/9781922992185.htmlAustralia’s Sweetheart:https://www.booktopia.com.au/australia-s-sweetheart-michael-adams/book/9780733640292.htmlEmail: forgottenaustraliapodcast@gmail.com

A Brisbane armed robber had hit three banks in twelve months. In the second week of April 1978, the cops had laid a trap he couldn’t escape. Until he did. What followed was an extraordinary car chase and gun battle, all caught by news cameras. But after the smoke cleared, big questions remained.For a free trial that will give you access to ad-free, early and bonus episodes:Patreon: patreon.com/forgottenaustraliaApple: apple.co/forgottenaustraliaCheck out my books:They’ll Never Hold Me:https://www.booktopia.com.au/they-ll-never-hold-me-michael-adams/book/9781923046474.htmlThe Murder Squad:https://www.booktopia.com.au/the-murder-squad-michael-adams/book/9781923046504.htmlHanging Ned Kelly:https://www.booktopia.com.au/hanging-ned-kelly-michael-adams/book/9781922992185.htmlAustralia’s Sweetheart:https://www.booktopia.com.au/australia-s-sweetheart-michael-adams/book/9780733640292.htmlEmail: forgottenaustraliapodcast@gmail.com

It was a big week for true crime and the Red Scare. In Sydney, Roger Rogerson’s future hero, Detective-Sergeant Ray ‘the Gunner’ Kelly, was in court and explaining how and why he’d shot another criminal dead. In London, the cops caught serial killer John Christie, which meant they’d sent an innocent man to the gallows for two murders. In a weird coincidence, a similar failure of justice was about to play out in Adelaide, where serial monster John Balaban had already been set free by the courts to kill again. Meanwhile, the Red Scare was at fever pitch, with leftist Aussies protesting against the imminent execution in the US of convicted Soviet spies Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. Also in the US under McCarthyism, academic freedom was under attack at Columbia University. But this wasn’t nearly as racy as what McCarthy’s attack dog Roy Cohn was doing, with President Trump’s future hero making Australian headlines for his rabid anti-Commie tactics.For a free trial that will give you access to ad-free, early and bonus episodes:Patreon: patreon.com/forgottenaustraliaApple: apple.co/forgottenaustraliaCheck out my books:They’ll Never Hold Me:https://www.booktopia.com.au/they-ll-never-hold-me-michael-adams/book/9781923046474.htmlThe Murder Squad:https://www.booktopia.com.au/the-murder-squad-michael-adams/book/9781923046504.htmlHanging Ned Kelly:https://www.booktopia.com.au/hanging-ned-kelly-michael-adams/book/9781922992185.htmlAustralia’s Sweetheart:https://www.booktopia.com.au/australia-s-sweetheart-michael-adams/book/9780733640292.htmlEmail: forgottenaustraliapodcast@gmail.com

In a bumper episode brought to you by the newfangled "Electric Newspaper" of 1928, Sydney and Melbourne cops carry out spectacular public raids to save white women from the evils of cocaine and African-American jazz men – and, more broadly, to amp up the war on drugs and expand the White Australia Policy. Plus: a Sydney girl makes good in the British movie Moulin Rouge; English women get the vote for a "Flapper Election"; and the "Sex War" is predicted to leave girl bosses in total control of a world of man-worms.To book Manly Writers' Festival: https://www.manlywritersfestival.org.au/program/true-crime%3A-tales-of-betrayal%2C-escape%2C-and-justiceFor Harlem Nights, Deidre O'Connell's book: https://www.mup.com.au/books/harlem-nights-paperback-softbackFor a free trial that will give you access to ad-free, early and bonus episodes:Patreon: patreon.com/forgottenaustraliaApple: apple.co/forgottenaustraliaCheck out my books:They’ll Never Hold Me:https://www.booktopia.com.au/they-ll-never-hold-me-michael-adams/book/9781923046474.htmlThe Murder Squad:https://www.booktopia.com.au/the-murder-squad-michael-adams/book/9781923046504.htmlHanging Ned Kelly:https://www.booktopia.com.au/hanging-ned-kelly-michael-adams/book/9781922992185.htmlAustralia’s Sweetheart:https://www.booktopia.com.au/australia-s-sweetheart-michael-adams/book/9780733640292.htmlEmail: forgottenaustraliapodcast@gmail.com

In 1906, when a young bookie tried to cheat his customers, he died as the very public victim of a bloodthirsty mob of Melburnians. His murder left the city searching for his killers – and for answers about a state government that continued to allow dangerous unregulated gambling.This episode updates a previous Australia On This Day episode.Check out the Manly Writers’ Festival: https://www.manlywritersfestival.org.au/program/true-crime%3A-tales-of-betrayal%2C-escape%2C-and-justiceFor a free trial that will give you access to ad-free, early and bonus episodes:Patreon: patreon.com/forgottenaustraliaApple: apple.co/forgottenaustraliaMy books: They’ll Never Hold Me:https://www.booktopia.com.au/they-ll-never-hold-me-michael-adams/book/9781923046474.htmlThe Murder Squad:https://www.booktopia.com.au/the-murder-squad-michael-adams/book/9781923046504.htmlHanging Ned Kelly:https://www.booktopia.com.au/hanging-ned-kelly-michael-adams/book/9781922992185.htmlAustralia’s Sweetheart:https://www.booktopia.com.au/australia-s-sweetheart-michael-adams/book/9780733640292.htmlEmail: forgottenaustraliapodcast@gmail.com

In the third week of 1903, Perth was transfixed by one of the most sensational libel cases in Australian history. The legal action had been brought by a popular clergyman, who claimed a newspaper had falsely accused him of being a vile predator, who'd serially raped his young maid, gotten her pregnant, forced her into an abortion, and then conspired to commit her to a lunatic asylum to keep her from spilling her secrets.Check out the Manly Writers’ Festival:https://www.manlywritersfestival.org.au/program/true-crime%3A-tales-of-betrayal%2C-escape%2C-and-justiceCheck out my books:They’ll Never Hold Me:https://www.booktopia.com.au/they-ll-never-hold-me-michael-adams/book/9781923046474.htmlThe Murder Squad:https://www.booktopia.com.au/the-murder-squad-michael-adams/book/9781923046504.htmlHanging Ned Kelly:https://www.booktopia.com.au/hanging-ned-kelly-michael-adams/book/9781922992185.htmlAustralia’s Sweetheart:https://www.booktopia.com.au/australia-s-sweetheart-michael-adams/book/9780733640292.htmlEmail: forgottenaustraliapodcast@gmail.com