The Dead Can't Sue

Eddie Koiki Mabo brings the black-robed and bewigged barristers of the High Court to the remote island paradise of Mer, showing them his claim to... half the island. Back on the mainland, Koiki faces days of gruelling cross-examination and questions that challenge his very sense of self.Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised this episode mentions the name of an Indigenous person who has passed.Special thanks to ABC's senior cultural advisor Miriam Corowa. SOURCES Mabo: Life of an Island Man, 1997, directed by Trevor GrahamNoel Loos and Eddie Mabo, Edward Koiki Mabo: His Life and Struggle for land rights, UQP, 1996. https://www.mabonativetitle.com/info/eMbMLetter2.htmhttps://www.mabonativetitle.com/info/eMBCS.htmHosted by Alecia Simmonds and Leigh BoucherSupervising Producer: Hannah ReichProducer: Hannah JoseVideo producer: Christian HarimanowExecutive Producers: Clare Rawlinson and Eric GeorgeHead of ABC Audio on Demand: Jessica RadburnTheme: Martin PeraltaArtwork: Gabriel Virata-Alves

The name Mabo is almost synonymous with the phrase 'native title' in the Australian consciousness. But behind his fight for native title, who was Eddie Koiki Mabo? And why was he exiled from the island he went on to make a land claim over? Alecia retraces Eddie Koiki Mabo's life of adventure, heartbreak and determination. From the small island of Mer to the 1950s pearling boats to the segregated streets of Townsville, in part 1 of his story. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised this episode mentions the name of an Indigenous person who has passed.Special thanks to ABC's senior cultural advisor Miriam Corowa.  SOURCES Mabo: Life of an Island Man, 1997, directed by Trevor GrahamNoel Loos and Eddie Mabo, Edward Koiki Mabo: His Life and Struggle for land rights, UQP, 1996. Japanese divers in Broome | National Museum of Australiahttps://www.mabonativetitle.com/info/eMbMLetter2.htmhttps://www.mabonativetitle.com/info/eMBCS.htmHosted by Alecia Simmonds and Leigh BoucherSupervising Producer: Hannah ReichProducer: Hannah JoseVideo producer: Christian HarimanowExecutive Producers: Clare Rawlinson and Eric GeorgeHead of ABC Audio on Demand: Jessica RadburnTheme: Martin PeraltaArtwork: Gabriel Virata-Alves

HELP! We are doing a listener survey and we want to hear from you. It's your turn to tell us what you really think - click here and complete the short survey.The White Australia Policy seems to be the spectre haunting many episodes of our podcast/Australian history. This week we meet Daisy Kwok, just one Chinese Australian whose life was changed by one of the world's worst immigration policies.  Born in Sydney in 1909 in the lap of luxury, Daisy and her family leave Australia, fleeing racism but also chasing further riches in Shanghai in the 1920s, the ‘Paris of the East’. There Daisy becomes an it-girl of the bustling cosmopolitan boom town before things come crashing down (can you hear the clap of thunder of the communist revolution in the distance?). SOURCES Kwok, Daisy. Shanghai Daisy: The Autobiography of Daisy Kwok. Edited by Tess Johnston and Graham Earnshaw. Hong Kong: Earnshaw Books, 2019. Brown, Jeremy, and Paul G. Pickowicz, eds. Dilemmas of Victory: The Early Years of the People’s Republic of China. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2007. Chen, Danyan. Shanghai Princess: Her Survival with Pride & Dignity. New York: Better Link Press, 2010. Fitzgerald, Shirley. Red Tape, Gold Scissors: The Story of Sydney’s Chinese. Sydney: Halstead Press, 2008 Henriot, Christian, and Wen-hsin Yeh  In the Shadow of the Rising Sun: Shanghai under Japanese Occupation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004. Loy-Wilson, Sophie. “Daisy Kwok’s Shanghai: Life in China before and after 1949.” In Locating Chinese Women: Historical Mobility between China and Australia, edited by Kate Bagnall and Julia T. Martínez. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2021. Loy-Wilson, Sophie. Australians in Shanghai: Race, Rights and Nation in Treaty Port China. London: Routledge, 2017. Listen to the RN Earshot episode about DaisyHosted by Alecia Simmonds and Leigh BoucherSupervising Producer: Hannah ReichProducer: Hannah JoseVideo producer: Christian HarimanowExecutive Producers: Clare Rawlinson and Eric GeorgeHead of ABC Audio on Demand: Jessica RadburnTheme: Martin PeraltaArtwork: Gabriel Virata-Alves

HELP! We are doing a listener survey and we want to hear from you. It's your turn to tell us what you really think - click here and complete the short survey.Sharpen your knives and joins us as we dissect the recipe for Joh Bjelke-Petersen's political magic and figure out how he held onto the premiership for decades, despite his truly staggering corruption. Then we dine out on Joh’s downfall (could the Fitzgerald Inquiry report be the read of 1987?!), before asking whether Joh really deserves his reputation as Australia's number one political villain. Plus, Leigh comes for the fourth estate (hey, that's us!). SOURCES Bjelke-Petersen, Joh. The Joh Tapes on Leadership. Interviews produced by Richard Lancaster and Barry Martin. Seven-part video oral-history collection. Accession 720849. John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland, Brisbane. Bjelke-Petersen, Joh. Don’t You Worry about That! The Joh Bjelke-Petersen Memoirs. North Ryde, NSW: Angus & Robertson, 1990. Queensland. Commission of Inquiry into Possible Illegal Activities and Associated Police Misconduct. Report of a Commission of Inquiry Pursuant to Orders in Council. Chaired by G. E. Fitzgerald. Brisbane: Queensland Government Printer, 1989.  Megarrity, Lyndon. “The Lion and the Fox: Whitlam, Bjelke-Petersen and the Queensland Electorate, 1961–1975.” ANU Historical Journal II, no. 3 (2022): 23–52 Robinson, Shirleene. “Homophobia as Party Politics: The Construction of the ‘Homosexual Deviant’ in Joh Bjelke-Petersen’s Queensland.” Queensland Review 17, no. 1 (2010): 29–45 Walter, James. “Johannes Bjelke-Petersen: ‘The Populist Autocrat.’” In The Premiers of Queensland, edited by Denis Murphy, Roger Joyce, Margaret Cribb, and Rae Wear, St Lucia, QLD: University of Queensland Press, 2003. Wear, Rae. “‘Never-Ending Story’: Public Accountability and Public Administration Reform in Queensland since 1989.” Queensland Review 18, no. 2 (2011): 175–89 Wear, Rae. Johannes Bjelke-Petersen: The Lord’s Premier. St Lucia, QLD: University of Queensland Press, 2002. Whitton, Evan. The Hillbilly Dictator: Australia’s Police State. Crows Nest, NSW: ABC Enterprises, 1989. Williams, Paul D. “Leaders and Political Culture: The Development of the Queensland Premiership, 1859–2009.” Queensland Review 16, no. 1 (2009): 15–34 Hosted by Alecia Simmonds and Leigh BoucherSupervising Producer: Hannah ReichProducer: Hannah JoseVideo producer: Christian HarimanowExecutive Producers: Clare Rawlinson and Eric GeorgeHead of ABC Audio on Demand: Jessica RadburnTheme: Martin PeraltaArtwork: Gabriel Virata-Alves

Queensland's longest-serving premier is basically the bogeyman of Australian politics, a police-loving proto-Trump 'hillbilly dictator' the Sunshine State is still recovering from. This week we retrace Joh’s rise from fail son to peanut farmer, and finally to the highest office in Queensland.  Plus... Joh marries a woman named Flo and then begins calling her ‘mum’ (not weird at all). Also, while you’re here, please do our listener survey.SOURCES Bjelke-Petersen, Joh. The Joh Tapes on Leadership. Interviews produced by Richard Lancaster and Barry Martin. Seven-part video oral-history collection. Accession 720849. John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland, Brisbane. Bjelke-Petersen, Joh. Don’t You Worry about That! The Joh Bjelke-Petersen Memoirs. North Ryde, NSW: Angus & Robertson, 1990. Queensland. Commission of Inquiry into Possible Illegal Activities and Associated Police Misconduct. Report of a Commission of Inquiry Pursuant to Orders in Council. Chaired by G. E. Fitzgerald. Brisbane: Queensland Government Printer, 1989.  Megarrity, Lyndon. “The Lion and the Fox: Whitlam, Bjelke-Petersen and the Queensland Electorate, 1961–1975.” ANU Historical Journal II, no. 3 (2022): 23–52 Robinson, Shirleene. “Homophobia as Party Politics: The Construction of the ‘Homosexual Deviant’ in Joh Bjelke-Petersen’s Queensland.” Queensland Review 17, no. 1 (2010): 29–45 Walter, James. “Johannes Bjelke-Petersen: ‘The Populist Autocrat.’” In The Premiers of Queensland, edited by Denis Murphy, Roger Joyce, Margaret Cribb, and Rae Wear, St Lucia, QLD: University of Queensland Press, 2003. Wear, Rae. “‘Never-Ending Story’: Public Accountability and Public Administration Reform in Queensland since 1989.” Queensland Review 18, no. 2 (2011): 175–89 Wear, Rae. Johannes Bjelke-Petersen: The Lord’s Premier. St Lucia, QLD: University of Queensland Press, 2002. Whitton, Evan. The Hillbilly Dictator: Australia’s Police State. Crows Nest, NSW: ABC Enterprises, 1989. Williams, Paul D. “Leaders and Political Culture: The Development of the Queensland Premiership, 1859–2009.” Queensland Review 16, no. 1 (2009): 15–34 Hosted by Alecia Simmonds and Leigh BoucherSupervising Producer: Hannah ReichProducer: Hannah JoseVideo producer: Christian HarimanowExecutive Producers: Clare Rawlinson and Eric GeorgeHead of ABC Audio on Demand: Jessica RadburnTheme: Martin PeraltaArtwork: Gabriel Virata-Alves