Stuff The British Stole

It’s become a symbol for extinction; the dodo is a semi-mythical creature which most of us know only through Alice in Wonderland.

But one particular dodo was the victim of a crime – murder.

Its skull now sits in the Oxford University Museum of Natural History. And it holds the clues to a thrilling mystery which illustrates a little-known colonial legacy.

Season Two is co-produced with CBC Podcasts.

Sarah 'Saartjie' Baartman was taken to the UK by a British doctor. But did she know what she was signing up for?

Stage-named 'The Hottentot Venus', Sarah was paraded around freak shows in London and Paris.

During her life and even after her death, she was objectified, mistreated and abused.

More than 200 years after her death, her life story reveals confronting truths about the treatment of black female bodies and how much has, and hasn’t, changed.

Season Two is co-produced with CBC Podcasts.

In County Cork, Ireland, there’s a tree that locals call the Chalice Tree. Local lore says it’s where British Redcoats disrupted a secret Catholic mass, killed two priests and took a sacred chalice.

Now that chalice sits in London’s Victoria & Albert Museum.

But what happened in the intervening 200 years is now being pieced together by two Irish families: the O’Keeffes and the McAulliffe’s.

Season Two is co-produced with CBC Podcasts.

They’ve seen wars, the bottom of the ocean and even - bizarrely - been part of a boxing match.

The story of how the Parthenon Marbles actually ended up in London’s British Museum is a wild tale featuring bribes, court cases and some extremely dodgy deals.  

There’s been a centuries-long campaign to get them back to their homeland. Now, a team of Greek-Australians have decided that the time for diplomacy is over and a new tactic is required. 

Season Two is co-produced with CBC Podcasts.

A war. A ransom. And a stunning recovery mission.

Five elaborately carved panels were buried in a New Zealand swamp to protect it from a war.

Then 150 years later, they’re acquired by a British collector before being sold to a Swiss-Bolivian collector in Geneva.

And their long journey home began when a kidnap ransom payment had to be made.

This is the remarkable story of the Motunui Epa.

Season Two is co-produced with CBC Podcasts.

Have you ever wandered around a museum and thought “How on Earth did all of this stuff get here?” You’re not alone.

Throughout its reign, the British Empire stole a lot of stuff. Today those objects are housed in genteel institutions across the UK and the world. They usually come with polite plaques.

This podcast tells the stories about the not-so-polite history behind those looted objects.

In Season Two, Walkley award-winning host Marc Fennell will take you to a temple, a tree, a lab, a paradise island, a crime scene and a stage. You’ll uncover abductions, scandals and a murder investigation.

Episode One out October 20.

Season two of Stuff the British Stole is co-produced with CBC Podcasts.

The Gweagal shield is just one of the things James Cook and his shipmates took from the local people when they landed in Botany Bay. Why has it become the most contentious?

The arrival of Europeans in NZ kicked off a trade in Mokomokai — tattooed heads but these colonial souvenirs have their own complex history.