In this, our first episode, we delve into the late 1800s fad for mediums, seances and contacting the dead; all part of social movement known as Spiritualism. Spiritualism was a weird cat, with ties to progressive social causes such as women's suffrage, an alternative version of heaven called Summerland, a fascination with cutting-edge technology of the day, and a lot of pseudo-science.

Tales from Rat City

Affairs of the Spirit

In collaboration with the Ballarat African Association, this episode of Tales from Rat City hopes to shed light on the oft-forgotten experiences of African immigrants during Victoria’s gold rush; especially that of John Josephs, the first man to be tried (and exonerated) for treason after the Eureka rebellion of 1854. Credits Research and script: Dr. […]

Africa on the Goldfields

The final episode in our three part series on the dashing and doomed Captain Moonlight.

Moonlight At Dawn – Part III

Tales from Rat City presents the second instalment in the story of notorious Australian bushranger; Captain Moonlight. Join us, as our actors bring to life the tale of his escape from the Ballarat Gaol, his second trial for the Egerton bank robbery, and the beginning of his famous relationship with James Nesbitt. Research by David […]

Moonlight In Prison – Part II

Tales from Rat City presents a three-part dramatisation of the bizarre life of the notorious Australia bushranger Captain Moonlight. Hear our actors bring every twist of his weird story to life, and decide for youself what really happened on that stormy night in the rough mining town of Egerton.

Moonlight in Egerton – Part I

Matilda Cutler escapes Ararat Asylum with a terrible story she is desperate to share. Can one woman change the system? Join David and Tom as they explore the grim history of the Ararat Asylum. N.B. this episode contains direct examples of abuse in care occurring across the last 100 years in Victoria. Listeners may find […]

Matilda and the Asylum

Join Tom, David and their guest, historic reenactor Chase Day, as they uncover the story of Jac Jorgenson, and discuss the rich tradition of women in the military. See below for our gallery of remarkable female fighters, courtesy of Chase’s Facebook group Bob the Reenactor. John ‘Jac’ Jorgenson (or Jorgensen) moved to country Victoria in […]

Jac Jorgenson

In an era when doctors were dangerous hacks, what alternatives did you have? This episode explores the story of Mary Barrel, Australia’s first identified ‘cunning person’. A woman who practiced an ancient traditional craft of folk medicine. We’ll also explore the world of concealed marks and ritual hidden in historic homes. If you find something […]

The Cunning Woman

Over the last two hundred years, we’ve changed Victoria’s ecology beyond recognition. Each generation since White arrival has continued this rapid transformation, irreversibly altering the world once known intimately by Indigenous Australians. But this relationship has not been one-way. Each time we’ve driven change into the ecology, it has responded with unpredictable effects. It has […]

A Time of Change

Emerging from the Victorian bush in 1835 after thirty-two years with the Wadawurrung people, William Buckley has never ceased surprising Australians. In this episode, hear how an illiterate escaped convict became a rare link between alien cultures. Buckley changed Victorian history forever, and even today his story can still offer us rare insight into pre-colonial […]

Buckley’s Chance

Edward’s unnoticed and perfectly ordinary life comes completely unravelled after a dramatic public unmasking. Cast Benjamin Marshall – Pamphlet Writer Jamie Gleeson – Mr Gundry, Mr Brennan Collin Van Uden – Justice Strickland, Journalist, Fellow Miner, Dr Poland Lisa Trelor – Edward de Lacy Evans, Neighbour Ellen Barkla – Nurse Holt, Julia Marquand Elise Dowdell […]

Edward de Lacy Evans

Despite the wide familiarity, few Australians would know the bizarre and wonderful Indigenous tale that lies behind our Bunyip. Paul Donovan joins us to explain how his compelling and fascinating research may have shed light on this ancient legend, and provide a pretty good case for just what exactly the original Bunyip was.

The Call of the Bunyip

In this our fourth episode, we're looking into David's speciality - ghost hoaxing in Australia. Ghost hoaxing or 'playing the ghost' was an oddly popular 1800s prank for dressing up as a ghost and terrifying strangers.

Ghost Hoaxing in the Goldfields

In this episode we find out why 1800’s medicine was more likely to kill than cure and meet the various quacks, crooks & kooks that made up the landscape of Goldfields medicine.

Quacks, Opiates, Fake Cures

In which we look at life for the Chinese on the Goldfields

‘All the mischief Ah Coon is capable of doing’

Sinister true stories from the dark history of Ballarat.