Expanse

Hoards of people descend on the Pennisi property to take a look at this ‘saucer nest’, sending the family running for cover. Turns out, in the years to come that would be the least of their worries. Rumours of covert surveillance and odd happenings leave the people at the heart of this mystery looking over their shoulders.  

On a hot morning under blue skies, a young banana farmer saw something he couldn’t explain that sent his pulse racing. It looked like a flying saucer and it left behind a mysterious mark. The chain of events it set off would change everything.  

In 1966 a Queensland farmer thought he saw a UFO that left behind a real physical mark in some reeds. That sighting set off a chain of events that would haunt him for decades and leave a lot of unanswered questions.  

Danielle O’Neal delves into what happens when people say seemingly unbelievable things.

On a scratchy recording made in a Melbourne hotel room, a man admits to committing murder. But as journalist Alicia Bridges investigates the man on the tape known as Mr Big, she finds herself in a world of lies and subterfuge, where very few things are as they seem. The recording leads her deep inside an international controversy, to a world of secrets that powerful institutions don't want revealed.

Mr Big is the latest season of Unravel, the ABC's award-winning true crime podcast.

You can listen to the entire season now by searching for Unravel.

More information

Host and Reporter: Alicia Bridges

Supervising Producers: Yasmin Parry and Alex Mann

Producer and Researcher: Ayla Darling

Theme: Martin Peralta and Ashley Cadell

Sound Design: Hamish Camilleri

Executive Producer: Tim Roxburgh

Manager of Podcasts at ABC Audio Studios: Monique Bowley.

Host Alex Barwick hears just how far Pine Gap’s reach is today, uncovers the secrets of stolen land and explores what it means for Australia to have a spy base hidden in the heart of the country. Host: Alex Barwick Supervising producer: Piia Wirsu Sound engineer and producer: Grant Wolter Executive producer: Blythe Moore Additional production and research: Elsa Silberstein Special thanks: Eric George, Robert Mailer, Tim Roxburgh, Jane Connors, Mark Maley, Elizabeth Beal, ABC Alice Springs, and everyone who agreed to speak with us  Further reading: David Rosenberg - Inside Pine Gap Brian Toohey - Secret Kieran Finnane - Peace Crimes Desmond Ball - A Suitable Piece of Real Estate

The Cold War has finally ended but Pine Gap, or ‘The Base’ as it’s become known, is expanding and it’s getting involved in conflicts across the world. Host Alex Barwick finally goes inside Pine Gap and meets a spy who has spent years working within the perimeter.  

Nuclear fear prompts thousands to flood to Alice Springs in the 1980s to try and close Pine Gap and reveal its secrets. This time the woman are in charge and they don't want Australia involved in nuclear war.

As the Cold War enters the 70s, it becomes clear that Pine Gap is really a spy base with eyes on the Soviets – and it's putting Alice Springs in the nuclear crosshairs.  

In the grip of a crippling drought in the 1960s, Alice Springs sees an economic lifeline when America promises to build a 'space base' on the edge of town. But once Pine Gap's bizarre, oversized golf ball-like structures are finally built, mysterious things start happening - the 'space base' isn't quite what it seems.

When America promised to build a space base in outback Australia in the middle of the 1960s space race, few suspected it would put Australia in the nuclear cross-hairs in decades to come. 

That space base, just 18ks from Alice Springs, would come to be known as Pine Gap - possibly the most secretive place in Australia.