For a special Aussie edition of Putschcast, all four hosts come together to review some rebellious periods in Australian colonial history, hardly known even to most Aussies.
First up, the 1808 Rum Rebellion, Australia's only military coup. When Governor William Bligh (yes, that Bligh from the Mutiny on the Bounty) tried to shut down the New South Wales Corps' booze fuelled monopoly, the military marched on Government House and arrested him.
Next, the Eureka Stockade of 1854, a makeshift rebellion of gold miners sick of unfair licences and heavy handed authority. It lasted minutes, but its flag became a lasting symbol of resistance and workers' rights.
But not every rebellion is remembered with pride. The Lambing Flat riots of 1861 exposed a darker side: organised mobs of European miners driving thousands of Chinese diggers off the goldfields, fuelled by racism and resentment. That ugly moment helped shape the White Australia policy that followed.
From mutiny to martyrdom to racial violence, this episode asks: why do we celebrate some uprisings and bury others? Revolutionary, revealing, and unflinching, this is Australian history.
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