Episodes

  • Nellie's Baby: the story of New Zealand's Mental Institutions

    Nellie's Baby: the story of New Zealand's Mental Institutions
    Mar 31 2024
    The last of the so-called ‘lunatic asylums’ closed only 20 years ago. They were founded on ideas of paternalism and social progress and survived on the basis they offered safety. In this special crossover with the Nellie's Baby Podcast, William Ray and Kirsty Johnston look into their origins.
    Show more Show less
    41 mins
  • Double Life: the story of Judge Frederick Maning - Part 2

    Double Life: the story of Judge Frederick Maning - Part 2
    Jul 6 2023
    From the 1840s onward, Frederick Maning would become an increasingly bitter and angry man who demonised Māori who opposed colonisation. So what explains this radical transition from a romantic early Pākehā settler? RNZ's Black Sheep podcast investigates.
    Show more Show less
    54 mins
  • Double Life: the story of Judge Frederick Maning - Part 1

    Double Life: the story of Judge Frederick Maning - Part 1
    Jun 29 2023
    Frederick Maning was one of the first Europeans to settle in Aotearoa, he married a high-ranking Ngāpuhi woman, and wrote two books filled with romantic anecdotes of his time living alongside Māori. So why did so many of his private letters express such violent, racist attitudes towards Māori? RNZ's Black Sheep podcast investigates.
    Show more Show less
    38 mins
  • Gender Bender: the story of Hjelmar Dannevill

    Gender Bender: the story of Hjelmar Dannevill
    Jun 22 2023
    In the 1910s, Hjelmar Dannevill wowed high society with gripping tales of adventure as a medical researcher and journalist. But suspicions over her fantastical stories and insistence on wearing men's clothing saw her locked up as a German spy during WWI. RNZ's Black Sheep podcast investgates the mystery of "Dr" Dannevill.
    Show more Show less
    44 mins
  • Death Ray: the story of Victor Penny

    Death Ray: the story of Victor Penny
    Jun 15 2023
    In 1935, a series of extraordinary newspaper articles claimed a backyard inventor called Victor Penny was trying to build a Death Ray for the New Zealand government. But were these claims true? RNZ’s Black Sheep podcast investigates the mystery.
    Show more Show less
    52 mins
  • Scientific Racist: the story of Alfred Newman

    Scientific Racist: the story of Alfred Newman
    Jun 8 2023
    Dr Alfred Newman may be the most notorious scientific racist in New Zealand history. His 1882 paper "A study of the causes leading to the extinction of the Māori" was so extreme that it scandalised not just Māori, but also New Zealand's wider scientific community. So what can Newman's story tell us about the history of scientific racism in Aotearoa?
    Show more Show less
    52 mins
  • Erased: the story of Charles Mackay - Part 2

    Erased: the story of Charles Mackay - Part 2
    Jun 2 2023
    In the second of a two-part episode on Charles Mackay Black Sheep investigates the mysteries surrounding the Whanganui Mayor's attempted murder of D'Arcy Cresswell - a former soldier who threatened to out the Mackay as homosexual if he didn't resign the mayoralty. 
    Show more Show less
    50 mins
  • Erased: the story of Charles Mackay - Part 1

    Erased: the story of Charles Mackay - Part 1
    May 25 2023
    For more than 50 years the name of Mayor Charles Mackay was all but forbidden in Whanganui. In 1920 Mackay shot a man through the chest after he threated to expose the mayor's homosexuality. RNZ's Black Sheep podcast investigates the downfall of Charles Mackay, and how his story is being reevaluated in modern New Zealand.
    Show more Show less
    40 mins