Past Programs
Law, Crime and Justice - 2008
Radio Treason
22/11/2008
For copyright reasons this program is not available as a podcast
Was Charles Cousens a traitor? There's no doubt he made radio propaganda broadcasts from Tokyo during World War II. The Japanese captured him along with thousands of other Australian soldiers at Singapore, but when they discovered he was a talented radio broadcaster, obliged him to get behind the microphone for their own purposes. Did he have to do it? Did he work for the enemy? Cousens maintained he tried to subvert the process by the way he used his voice.
An intriguing documentary reconstruction by Lachlan Colquoun and Simon Robb
Sound: Russell Stapleton
The Convict Streak
05/04/2008
Bernie Matthews was a 'serial escapee' - the thought of incarceration too much to bear. Yet every time he escaped, his sentence (for armed robbery) was extended, and the punishment made more severe. Until he escaped through the pen.
Bernie likens himself to the convict George Howe - one of the thousands of criminals transported to New South Wales between 1819 and 1848. The life of a convict in early 19th century Australia was gruelling and desperate, as it is for those incarcerated today. Punishment for escaping included solitary confinement and being sent to the harshest of prison environments - Van Diemen's Land then and the supermax prisons now. Yet some still managed to get away...
The first in a series of the 'Global Perspectives' exchange on the theme of escape
