On Saturday 19 March 1932 Captain Francis Edward de Groot, dressed in full military uniform, raced up on horseback, drew his ceremonial sword, and cut the ribbon declaring the Sydney Harbour Bridge open and proclaiming he was doing so "in the name of the decent and respectable people of New South Wales.”

Here is a YouTube clip that shows some of the footage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19R0d1VCGxM

Email me at: [email protected]

Music courtesy of Dan-O at: http://www.danosongs.com/

Thanks to Ken Dampier for post-production and Emmie the AWP Wonder Dog for security.

Warning to Indigenous Australians -this episode may refer to people who have passed away.

On Australia Day 1972, four young Aboriginal men erected a beach umbrella on the lawns outside Parliament House in Canberra and put up a sign, which read 'Aboriginal Embassy'.

Check out a short youtube documentary about this important political protest site (but ignore some of the stupid racist comments in the comments section):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlBS4GO-xJE

Kenny Dampier, Executive Producer, is down with a bug. So apologies for the low production quality. But thanks to Emmie, the wonder dog, for helping with the recording. 

Sixty years ago Melbourne hosted the Olympics. In this episode we look at two events– one in the lead up to the Olympic games and the other during the games. The first is the Olympic Torch Hoax and the second is the ‘blood in the water’ water polo match between the Soviet Union and Hungary.

Here’s a few YouTube videos of the water polo match, including one from a movie made about it all:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Ca8P65IUkM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLoA5yLZ4l4

Executive Producer Kenny Dampier is still on other projects. So apologies for lower production quality than usual.  

Email me at: [email protected]

LET THE GAMES BEGIN!!

On the 7th of July 1986, Australians Kevin Barlow and Brian Chambers were hanged in Malaysia for possession of 141.9 grams of heroin. They were the first ‘Westerners’ to be executed under new and tougher drug laws introduced in Malaysia in 1983.

Production quality is a little lower for this episode. But Ken Dampier, Executive Producer is busy on other projects.

Email me at: [email protected]

Music courtesy of Dan-O at: http://www.danosongs.com/

Thanks to Ken Dampier for post-production.

In this episode we review the cycling career of one of the greats of Australian cycling – Phil Anderson. Anderson was the first Australian to wear the maillot jueune, or the yellow leader’s jersey, at the Tour de France.

Vive la France, Vive le Tour!!!

Email me at: [email protected]

Music courtesy of Dan-O at: http://www.danosongs.com/

Thanks to Ken Dampier, Executive Producer, for post production.

In this episode we are going to look at four bushrangers you might never have heard of - John Cesar, Sam Poo, Mary Ann Bugg, and John Gilbert. John Cesar was our first bushranger, Sam Poo our only Chinese bushranger. and Mary Anne Bugg our first Indigenous female bushranger.

Some sources:

http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/First-bushrangers-trace-back-to-African-roots/2005/01/26/1106415665901.html

http://www.dailyliberal.com.au/story/2866513/australias-only-chinese-bushranger-remembered-150-years-on/

http://www.thunderboltbushranger.com.au/mary-ann-bugg.html

http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/gilbert-john-johnny-3609

The entire Dampier family has been ill with a really nasty virus. So apologies for taking this long to get this episode out.

You may never have heard of Howard Florey. But chances are you owe this Australian your life or the life of someone close to you. His work on the development of the first penicillin-based antibiotic medicines in the 1940s has probably saved millions of people worldwide.

We also revisit the Hilton Bombing. A new book by Rachel Landers called ‘Who Bombed the Hilton’ puts forward the case that it was actually the Ananda Marga that carried out the bombing. It seems I may have been wrong!!

In this episode we are looking at some strange Australian history that show just how weird a place Australia is. This includes: the Great Emu Wars, when female convicts mooned the Lieutenant-Governor of Tasmania, the woman on the $20 note, our Prime Minister who held a Guinness World record for beer drinking and how the Western Australian town of Esperance tried to fine NASA for littering when Skylab crashed.

Here’s a YouTube video on The Great Emu War, very funny:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9G6WCsfoow'

A picture of the $20 note featuring Mary Reibey:

http://www.polymernotes.com/australia20.html

Bob Hawke sculling a schooner in 10 seconds:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5mBShX9fdU

Email me at: [email protected]

Music courtesy of Dan-O at: http://www.danosongs.com/

Thanks to Ken Dampier for post-production, and for his ever lasting knowledge

It’s the ANZAC Day long weekend. And it's also family history time!!

Find out how my grandfather Company Quartermaster Sergeant Major William Cook was captured in North Africa in November 1942, was made prisoner of war, and escaped via the Vatican. An amazing story and one I did not believe until my family was recently able to retrieve official War Office documents!! I’ll post these documents on the AWP Facebook page.

I know it isn't strictly Australian history, but it is a great story.

At 12,40 am on 13 February 1978, a bomb exploded outside the Hilton Hotel in Sydney. The bomb killed two garbage collectors and a police officer. The Hilton Hotel was the site of the first Commonwealth Heads of Government Regional Meeting.

Two members of the Ananda Marga Hindu religious sect, Tim Anderson and Evan Pederick were convicted of the bombing. Anderson was subsequently acquitted. Controversy and conspiracy theories have surrounded the incident and some have claimed that ASIO was responsible.

Email me at: [email protected]

Music courtesy of Dan-O at: http://www.danosongs.com/

Thanks to Ken Dampier for post-production.