History Lab
Episodes
48. Looking back: Drusilla Modjeska on women artists and what they saw
30 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
What happens to women's art when the world stops looking?That's the question at the heart of A Woman's Eye: Her Art, Drusilla Modjeska's book about a ...
47. The Last Tour: Ann Curthoys on Paul and Eslanda Robeson
16 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of History Lab Live, we revisit a remarkable moment in Australian history: the 1960 visit of Paul Robeson and his wife, Eslanda Robeso...
46. Red Light, Green Light
01 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode from History Lab's archive, we stay in Darlinghurst with the award winning Red Light Green Light story from our Listen to Darlinghurst...
45. Darlinghurst's AIDS Crisis: Bonus episode with Leigh Boucher and Tamson Pietsch
18 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In this bonus episode, History Lab's Tamson Pietsch speaks with historian Leigh Boucher about the making of Darlinghurst's AIDS Crisis — our three-p...
44. Darlinghurst's AIDS Crisis Ep 3: Faultlines and farewells
05 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
By the early 1990s, AIDS had reached its devastating peak in Darlinghurst. Obituaries filled the pages of the Star Observer, funerals became routine. ...
43. Darlinghurst's AIDS Crisis Ep 2: Dancing as fast as we can
25 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
By the mid-1980s, the epidemic had taken hold in Darlinghurst. Fear was rising, homophobia was intensifying, and uncertainty shaped everyday life. Who...
42. Darlinghurst's AIDS Crisis Ep 1: Under the mirror ball
19 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In the late 1970s and early 80s, Sydney’s Darlinghurst was the place to be for queer fun, sex and joy – all bubbling alongside a measure of danger...
0. Welcome to Darlinghurst's AIDS Crisis - a new History Lab Original
13 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Australia’s response to HIV and AIDS is often remembered as a national success story — one shaped by public health policy, activism and community ...
41. Vale Emeritus Professor Heather Goodall – Reflecting on a Life in History
05 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Professor Heather Goodall was a pioneering historian whose research transformed understandings of Indigenous history, both in her field and in the bro...
40. Making history: the 2025 federal election
23 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of History Lab Live, historians and political analysts step back from the daily churn to review the May 2025 Australian federal electi...
39. From page to screen: the Idea of Australia
07 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of History Lab Live, we bring you a conversation about the joys and challenges of translating Australian history to television.Writer ...
38. HL Live: Memory, Institutions and Freedom
17 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of History Lab Live, we present the 2025 David Scott Mitchell Oration, delivered by Kim Williams at the State Library of New Sou...
37. [Caribbean Echoes 6] Caribbean Convicts
03 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Caribbean Convicts weaves together the story of the Caribbean men who arrived in Sydney onboard the convict ship the Moffatt on August 30, 1836. ...
36. [Caribbean Echoes 5]: Live from the Abercrombie with Zahra Newman and Alana Valentine
19 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this special episode of Caribbean Echoes, series producers Ben Etherington and Sienna Brown are in conversation with star Jamaican-Australian&...
35. History Lab Live: The Last Outlaws
06 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Hear author and historian Katherine Biber tell the story of Jimmy and Joe Governor, Wiradjuri and Wonnarua brothers, who in 1900 went on a murder spre...
34. [Caribbean Echoes 4] Susannah Andrews: Jamaican Matriarch to Footy Legends and Mining Startups
17 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What connects a VFL “Champion of the Colony” to a woman born enslaved in Jamaica?In 1919, Richmond footballer Vic Thorp won the league’s highest...
33. [Caribbean Echoes 3] Nellie Small: Queer Black Caribbean-Australian Icon
10 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Who was the Caribbean-Australian cabaret star who could bring down the house — and come back at racism with a joke? "Come sit by me, we don’t...
32. [Caribbean Echoes 2] From slavery to anticolonialism: John Maynard and Tony Birch on Black and Indigenous boxing
24 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What does boxing have to do with anticolonial politics? How did the sport become a space where Black and Indigenous fighters in Australia pushed back ...
31. [Caribbean Echoes 1] Peter Jackson: Boxing Champion and Innovator in Black Self-Representation
24 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Did you know that the most famous Australian in the world in 1890 was from the Caribbean?Peter Jackson was born in St Croix in the Caribbean in the ye...
30. History Lab is changing
23 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
History Lab is back—refreshed and reimagined. From now on, you’ll hear us in regular seasonal runs, dropping new episodes once or twice a fortnigh...
29. Truth-telling: From Country to Classroom
07 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What is the work of truth-telling? How is evidence collected? What happens next?What role should schools play in teaching Australia’s full history? ...
28. Fishing for Answers
06 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This special episode from our archives speaks to this year’s NAIDOC Week themes of strength, vision and legacy.Fishing for Answers explores the soph...
27. Faces Today: Indigenous Artists Return the Gaze
25 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Colonial portraits have long dictated how Indigenous people were seen. But Indigenous artists continue to challenge that power. Through satire, reinte...
26. Facing Off: From Botany Bay to Aotearoa
25 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, historians Kate Fullagar and Mike McDonnell revisit Bennelong’s portraits to examine how colonial art encountered Indigenous identi...
25. Facing Empire: A Long History of Representing Others
25 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Bennelong, a Wangal man of the Eora nation, was among the first Aboriginal people to travel to Europe and return. As a crucial interlocutor between hi...
Introducing: Unsettling Portraits
22 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Can colonial depictions of Indigenous people tell us anything useful about the past? How do Indigenous people today feel about these endur...
What's coming in 2025? History Lab update and previews with Tamson Pietsch
20 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
If you're an old friend, hello and thank you for hitting play. If you're a new listener, welcome. History Lab, as many of you will know, was Australia...
24. On the Edge: a layered history of Sydney's South Head
15 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
A special History Lab episode with a soundwork that explores the history of Sydney's South Head, followed by an interview with the maker Sinead Roarty...
Introducing... Hey History!
17 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We've got a new history podcast for you and the kids in your life, called Hey History! With immersive, sound rich storytelling and Australia's to...
23. Listen to Darlinghurst: Last Drinks
04 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In 1887 there were no less than 22 hotels in Darlinghurst. Over the next century and a half, the character, culture and clientele of Darlinghurst pubs...
22. Listen to Darlinghurst: Room With A View
04 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Terraces, flats, squats, bedsits, mansions, towers, camps and hostels: in Darlinghurst, housing is a mixed bag. This audio story explores the range of...
21. Listen to Darlinghurst: Pandemic Times
04 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
At St Vincent's Hospital, the Sisters of Charity have been delivering care to the people of Darlinghurst since 1857. This audio story visits St Vincen...
20. Listen to Darlinghurst: Red Light Green Light
04 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In the rapidly gentrifying Darlinghurst of the 1980s, a turf war raged over one of its earliest trades. In this story, we visit the street corners and...
19. Listen to Darlinghurst: Eccentrics
04 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Darlinghurst has always been a magnet and a haven for exiles and misfits. With writer and Darlo-phile Sunil Badami as guide, this audio story celebrat...
18. Listen to Darlinghurst: Lost Waterways
04 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
If you listen after rain, you can still hear the rush of water that used to flow from the sandstone ridge at the apex of Darlinghurst down to the harb...
Introducing: Listen to Darlinghurst
03 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome to a special History Lab series, Listen to Darlinghurst. In this mini episode, History Lab host Anna Clark and Listen to Darlinghurst producer...
17. What remains of Joe Governor?
05 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
After Jimmy’s trial, what happened to his brother Joe?Joe has mostly been forgotten by history, and his presence in the archives is little more than...
16. Death Row Diary
28 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
How does the law deal with an outlaw?Jimmy Governor is captured and his legal case becomes a lightning rod for justice in the new federation. But how ...
15. The Last Outlaws
21 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This is the tale of a prison colony trying to become a country and the murder case that stood in its way, but this is not a true crime podcast.Jimmy a...
Introducing History Lab Season Four - The Last Outlaws
15 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Last Outlaws is the latest audio series to be released by Impact Studios, an audio production house embedded in the University of Technology Sydne...
Introducing 'The New Social Contract' - a new podcast by the makers of History Lab
04 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
How will Australian universities fare in a post-pandemic world? It depends on an influential but rarely talked about relationship between the state, i...
14. A close match
10 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Three days before Spain’s general elections in 2004 a series of bombs exploded on crowded Madrid commuter trains, killing almost 200 people.The Span...
13. Reading the signs
17 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
When was the last time you were asked to sign something and did you stop to think how the strange squiggly mark you make on a page could be used?The s...
12. Making a fortune
02 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
'Making a Fortune' looks at the popularity and persecution of two of the most formidable fortune tellers of Federation Australia.In the first decade o...
11. Bonus Cast - The Law's Way of Knowing?
17 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
History Lab host Dr Tamson Pietsch hands over the mic to Dr Alecia Simmonds, an interdisciplinary scholar of law and history at the University of Tech...
10. In case I die in this mess
11 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Death, money and family are the key ingredients in any last will and testament. They also make a killer cocktail that unleashes a special force not pr...
Introducing Season Three of History Lab - The Law's Way of Knowing
09 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
History Lab is back for a third season, fresh from wins at the New York Radio Festival Awards and the Community Broadcasting Association of Australia....
9. Making history in audio
18 Dec 2018
Contributed by Lukas
History Lab audio makers explore how we've tried to understand the past through sound in season two
8. Skeletons of Empire
11 Dec 2018
Contributed by Lukas
In the aftermath of World War One, nations came together in an attempt to ensure war on the same devastating scale could never occur again. The result...
7. Invisible hands
04 Dec 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Where do jelly babies come from?Mass-produced things are all around us. But they all start with a single object. In this episode, Olivia goes looking ...
6. The Bank, the Sergeant and his bonus
27 Nov 2018
Contributed by Lukas
In 1817, the Bank of New South Wales opened as the first financial institution in the Australian colonies. But when the first customers arrived for th...
5. Fishing for answers
24 Jul 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Sydney's iconic Opera House plays host to musicians and dancers, actors and singers. But beneath the notes of their voices, another song echoes across...
4. Bonus episode | The making of History Lab |
10 Jul 2018
Contributed by Lukas
What does it take to make History Lab?This bonus interlude episode lifts the curtain on all that goes into making history for your ears!Executive Prod...
3. When the Titanic sank in the desert
27 Jun 2018
Contributed by Lukas
In the middle of a mining town in outback Australia, over 400 kilometres from the closest ocean, stands a monument dedicated to the memory of the Tita...
2. Damages for a broken heart
12 Jun 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Quietly buried away in Western Sydney’s state archives is a secret history of love.Lists of lingerie, love letters and lockets of hair, are stapled ...
1. Lindy Chamberlain and the afterlife of evidence
28 May 2018
Contributed by Lukas
What happens to evidence after a criminal trial?Tamson goes looking for answers and finds them in the shadow of one of the worst miscarriages of justi...
0. Where the past isn't past
27 Nov 2017
Contributed by Lukas
History Lab explores the gaps between us and the past.Join us.