Tales from Rat City
20 episodes - English - Latest episode: 4 months ago - ★★★★★ - 2 ratingsSinister true stories from the dark history of Ballarat.
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Episodes
Mining Superstitions in Colonial Victoria
January 07, 2024 08:10 - 41.4 MBMiners, and the people of the goldfields of Victoria were often a superstitious lot. Deadly lantern flames, witches cursing cows, and gold hunting with tinder (no, not like that) are just some of the stories that can be found in the history of this region. Credits Research and script: Dr. David WaldronProduction : Shannon NichollsVoices […]
Anzacs and Airships: Australian UFO panics in the first World War
April 13, 2023 07:56 - 45.1 MBThis episode of Tales from Rat City discusses the numerous sightings of ‘Unidentified Flying Objects’ over Victoria in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and the increased sense of “airmindedness” as aviation technology took off! Credits Research and script: Dr. David WaldronProduction Assistant: Katrina HillRecording, Editing & Sound Direction: Shannon NichollsInterview snippets: Dr. Brett […]
Ballarat Avenue of Honour- Audio Tour
April 24, 2022 22:50 - 251 MBThis tour was originally released in 2021, as a series of episodes to be listened to while walking the Ballarat Avenue of Honour. The episodes can be found individually at https://honouringouranzacs.com.au/page/lucas_girls#AudioTour This audio podcast series tells the stories of the men and women who served in ‘the war to end all wars’ and the lives […]
Africa on the Goldfields
December 02, 2021 23:00 - 89.6 MBIn 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. […]
Moonlight At Dawn – Part III
March 04, 2021 19:00 - 63.9 MBThe final episode in our three part series on the dashing and doomed Captain Moonlight.
Folkapaloreza! Part II
September 08, 2020 01:40 - 20.8 MBOn the 19th of August, Tales from Rat City was invited to participate in the online event Folk-a-pa-lore-za, where folklore pod casters around the world came together to discuss their work, their research and their favourite piece of folklore. The night took the form of a competition where each podcast was asked to present their […]
Folkapaloreza! Part I
September 08, 2020 01:37 - 46.4 MBOn the 19th of August, Tales from Rat City was invited to participate in the online event Folk-a-pa-lore-za, where folklore pod casters around the world came together to discuss their work, their research and their favourite piece of folklore. The night took the form of a competition where each podcast was asked to present their […]
Moonlight In Prison – Part II
August 12, 2020 07:24 - 58.8 MBTales 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 Egerton – Part I
November 05, 2019 05:00 - 45.7 MBTales 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.
Matilda and the Asylum
May 21, 2019 04:00 - 34.9 MBMatilda 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 […]
Jac Jorgenson
December 31, 2018 02:48 - 23.9 MBJoin 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 […]
The Cunning Woman
November 09, 2018 05:36 - 20.3 MBIn 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 […]
A Time of Change
August 12, 2018 05:19 - 19.4 MBOver 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 […]
Buckley’s Chance
July 11, 2018 04:00 - 27 MBEmerging 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 […]
Edward de Lacy Evans
May 16, 2018 07:00 - 23.5 MBEdward’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 […]
The Call of the Bunyip
February 25, 2018 05:47 - 30.8 MBDespite 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.
Ghost Hoaxing in the Goldfields
September 22, 2017 22:24 - 48.2 MBIn 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.
Quacks, Opiates, Fake Cures
June 26, 2017 12:32 - 36.2 MBIn 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.
‘All the mischief Ah Coon is capable of doing’
June 26, 2017 12:00 - 60.4 MBIn which we look at life for the Chinese on the Goldfields
Affairs of the Spirit
April 27, 2017 05:00 - 39.2 MBIn 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.