ABC Rewind

She’s one of Australia’s most prolific and popular designers, and yet not many people know her name, let alone her audacious life story.   Florence Broadhurst was from regional Queensland but people who met her later in life,  thought she was English aristocrat. She reinvented herself many times throughout her life.   Today she’s known for her wallpaper designs that cemented her in Australian design history. But a shadow lingers over her legacy; her unsolved murder in 1977.Guests:Helen O’Neill – Journalist and author, Florence Broadhurst: Her secret and extraordinary lives   Dr Andrew Field – Associate Professor of Chinese History, Duke Kunshan University Babette Hayes OAM – Interior designer David Lennie – Screen printer, Signature Prints Sheridan Black – Owner, Signature Handprints Tony Russell – Former NSW Police officer David Lloyd-Lewis – Grandson of Florence Broadhurst Laura Doble – Interior design graduateCredits:Producer – Zoe Ferguson Engineer – Simon Branthwaite Executive Producer – Michelle Rayner  

When superannuation pioneer Mavis Robertson was in her seventies, she was showered with awards and honours. But something was missing from the life story shared with the public at this time: the more than 30 years she spent as a leading member of the Communist Party of Australia. Historian Alice Garner and Mavis's son Peter Robertson delve into this part of his mother's life, including her extensive ASIO security file. 

An entire school is kidnapped at gunpoint. 9 students and their teacher are taken hostage by a prison escapee who demands a ransom of 7 million dollars, the release of 17 prisoners, 100 kilos of cocaine, automatic weapons, and an escape vehicle.

After World War Two, around 650 Japanese war brides crossed once enemy lines to make a home in Australia, at a time when the  White Australia Policy still held sway. But 50 years on, how do the grandchildren of the Japanese war brides understand their family story? 

The Martha Plan was a secret scheme created  in the early 1960's to bring unmarried Spanish women to Australia, in the hope that they'd stay and populate the country. Did it work?

Hidden for nearly a century, two chests of mail found under a Sydney home was declared to be one of the most important hauls in Australia’s postal history. Why the secrecy? And why has a Sydney family been so shocked by their revelations?

When journalist Annika Blau learnt of the discovery of two tea chests of very valuable mail under the floorboards of an old Sydney home, she uncovered secrets, silences and shame from a chapter of Australia's history some would prefer to forget.

Where did Jack Karlson learn the lines he delivers in his famous viral video? This moving story of the prison playwright and the performer unravels why Jack uttered those now infamous words “This is democracy manifest.”

The unknown man behind one of Australia’s most iconic memes explores his viral fame following his humorous police encounter. He dives into the bizarre story of Paul Dozer, whose eccentric antics galvanized the public and sparked conflicting narratives about his legacy. This quirky tale also reveals the mistaken identity of a petty criminal and the amusing fallout from his fame. Ultimately, it reflects on the absurdity of life, authority, and the unexpected paths people take in search of freedom and identity.

59-year-old Ingrid was in her office one day when her phone rang.  It was the German Red Cross. They asked if she was Ingrid von Oelhafen? Also known as Erika Matko? It was the call she’d waited for her whole life and it opened the door to a terrible secret from one of Nazi Germany’s sickest experiments. Who was she? And where was she from?