MSing About

The Frontier Wars between British settlers and Indigenous Australians went from 1788 to 1934 and this podcast looks specifically at one horrendous massacre and two rather extraordinary Aboriginal people.

For 28 years Nosey Bob Howard was the official hangman in New South Wales. Of the 62 hangings, 19% were a bit botched leaving good marks to 81% of the executions. Somewhere between a Credit and a Distinction, I guess. But what about the poor journalists who had to witness and graphically describe the events for the newspapers? Warning. Some gruesome content.

This time of year always brings up the debate about whether January 26 is Australia Day or Invasion Day. Ian offers his thoughts and looks at some of the Indigenous people who greeted the First Fleet settlers like Bennelong, Pemulwuy, Barangaroo and Bungaree.

Two major recent discoveries... one, that there were 12 black American ex-slaves aboard the First Fleet and one of them, John Randall, sits on a distant branch of the Heydon family tree.

This week’s podcast is MSing About with writing tips and pointers on how to write sketch comedy with a few examples from my archive…

It’s 2025 and the first podcast for the year – it’s time for New Year Resolutions!

It's the final podcast for 2024. There's some general memoir tipping using a memoir I co-wrote with my mate, Dave Prior, who is a musician and comedian. You don't have to be either of those to use the tips, but getting to meet Dave should be enjoyable in itself!

My Christmas has certainly changed since I was a kid. Has yours? Christmas memories can easily find their way into a memoir.

Sometimes nature can serve up a lifetime of memories in just a few seconds, minutes or hours and there's a place in a memoir for such events... could be a cyclone, an eathquake, a green flash, an eclipse or a turtle giving birth.

This week’s memoir podcast is titled Flights of Fancy because it is mainly about crossing paths with two aviation adventurers, Bob Gannon and Dick Smith.