Black Sheep

The founding father of West Auckland - Don Buck was notorious in the early 20th century for his hard drinking, hard living gum digging camp in the foothills of the Waitakere ranges. Black Sheep investigates the legend of this enigmatic and feared folk hero - the original Westie.Watch the video of Marianne Simpkins reading her poem The Ballad of Don Buck's HillGo to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

“Oh Mummy save me from Dr Gray, because teacher says he’s coming today, and if I’m stupid he’ll take me away”. William Ray looks at the life and legacy of Dr Theodore Gray, a staunch eugenicists who was head of New Zealand's Mental Hospitals Department for 20 years.Further reading:Statement of Hilary Stace to the Royal Commission on Abuse in Care A Brief History of Disability in Aotearoa by Dr Hilary Stace DBNZ Biography of Dr Theodore Gray by Dr Warwick Brunton The Fertility of the Unfit by Dr William ChappleMental Defectives Amendment Act 1928Statement of Tony Ryder to the Royal Commission on Abuse in CareGo to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

In part two, we look at the years Elsdon Best spent living in Te Urewera, attempting to preserve knowledge he believed was on the brink of being lost forever, the remarkable relatioship he built with Tūhoe leaders, and how that relationship fell apart.Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Described in his own time as "the white Tōhunga of Tuhoeland" and by some today as a "structural rascist" who "stole" knowledge, it's fair to say Elsdon Best is a controvesial character. In the first of a two part episode, Black Sheep traces the early life of this self-taught ethnologist.Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

New Zealand's most awarded podcast is RNZ's own Black Sheep, and it's back with its 9th season. Hosted and produced by William Ray - he explores New Zealand history through the lens of real life, shady, controversial and sometimes downright villainous characters. Saturday Morning's own Susie Ferguson has even been typecast as a murderous Scottish villain in it. Susie and William discuss how the seasons come to be, and wonder why William is so obsessed with the sketchy side of life.Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

In the second of Black Sheep's two-part episode on Elspeth Kerr, detectives unravel the mystery of 9-year old Betty Kerr's poisoning and uncover more potential victims of a beloved nurse, turned serial poisoner. The Trials of Nurse Kerr: The anatomy of a secret poisoner by Scott BainbridgeGo to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Elspeth Kerr was a beloved local nurse in 1930s Devonport, but when her husband died suddenly and her foster daughter fell into an inexplicable coma, locals discovered the shocking truth: Nurse Kerr was a serial poisoner. But more than 90 years later, elements of her crimes remain a mystery. In the first of a two part episode, Black Sheep investigates the chilling story.The Trials of Nurse Kerr: The anatomy of a secret poisoner by Scott BainbridgeGo to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Black Sheep returns on Friday 30 January for its 9th season with a new cast of rogues, villains and controversial characters. Murderous nurses, foul-mouthed goldfield barkeepers, sly grogging kāuri gum dealers and more! Join William Ray as he looks at the darker side of New Zealand history.Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

We're ducking into your feed to bring you an episode of a new RNZ podcast: Kelly Tartlon's Final Treasure Hunt. This story has everything! Kidnapping, smuggling, scurvy, and imaginary islands full of Jewish gold... Make sure to follow Kelly Tarlton's Final Treasure Hunt wherever you get your podcasts.To see more of Kelly Tarlton's Final Treasure Hunt, visit the RNZ website here.Special thanks to the Tarlton family for their support and trust in making this podcast.For more about Kelly Tarlton we recommend:Watch: Lost and Found: The Story of Cook's AnchorThrow Me the Wreck, Johnny: memories of Kelly Tarlton by Steve Locker-LampsonKelly: the Adventurous Life of Kelly Tarlton by E. V. SaleNavigators and Naturalists, By Michael LeeThe Fateful Voyage of the St Jean Baptiste, By John DunmoreThe Expedition of the St Jean Baptiste to the Pacific 1769 - 1770, Translated and edited by John DunmoreGo to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

On 27 September 1974 New Zealanders woke to the news Dr Bill Sutch, a famous economist, historian, and former senior government official had been arrested and accused of spying for Soviet Russia. He was later found not guilty, but over the last 50 years, suspicion has swirled, and new evidence has been revealed. Check our RNZ's award Winning Podcast The Service for more about the history of the SIS in New Zealand.Check our RNZ's award Winning Podcast The Service for more about the history of the SIS in New ZealandFurther reading:Spy by Kit BennetsShirley Smith: An Examined Life by Sarah GaitanosTrying to Understand Dr Bill Sutch by Brian EastonBill Sutch - Dictionary of NZ Biography by Brian EastonGo to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Freddie Angell was New Zealand's most notorious wildlife smuggler. His repeated attempts at stealing and exporting native wildlife in the 1990s, including Kea and Tuatara, made him all but a household name. Black Sheep speaks to documentary-maker Andy MacDonald about his extraordinary story.Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Early NZ missionary Thomas Kendall arrived in London in 1820 with the Ngāpuhi Rangatira Hongi Hika. He would return to Aotearoa a year later with the first ever written dictionary of Te Reo Māori, a newly won clerical collar ...and more than 300 muskets.Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Early Missionary Thomas Kendall facilitated the sale of hundreds of muskets to Ngāpuhi Māori, helping to enable the bloodiest wars in New Zealand history. But there's more to Kendall's story. He was instrumental in the transformation of Te Reo Māori into a written language, and became so fascinated by Māori spirituality that he (in his own words) "almost completely turned from a Christian to a Heathen".Thomas Kendall was among the very first missionaries to arrive in Aotearoa. In 1814 the devoted Calvinist and former schoolteacher threw caution to the wind, taking himself, his wife and five children to live alongside Māori at Rangihoua in the Bay of Islands.Kendall had dreams of founding a school, teaching Māori to read and write - and eventually converting them to the Christian faith.It all went wrong almost immediately. The school failed, Kendall fought bitterly with his fellow missionaries, his wife gave birth to another man's child, and he swiftly discovered the only way for the mission to survive in the Bay of Islands was by trading muskets to Māori - particularly the famous Ngāpuhi Rangatira Hongi Hika.Over the next decade, Thomas Kendall facilitated the sale of hundreds of muskets to Māori, helping to enable the bloodiest wars in New Zealand history: The Musket Wars. However, Kendall's most important legacy was formed during a trip to England in 1820 alongside Hongi Hika and another Ngāpuhi chief, Waikato. Together with an academic at Cambridge University, Kendall, Hongi and Waikato would create the first dictionary and grammar of Te Reo Māori.In the first of a two part series of Black Sheep, William Ray speaks to religious historian Peter Lineham Professor Emeritus at Massey University and Ngāti Rarawa kaumatua Haami Piripi about the complex, fraught story of Thomas Kendall.Further reading:The Legacy of Guilt: a life of Thomas Kendall by Judith BinneyThomas Kendall - Dictionary of New Zealand BiographyHongi Hika - Dictionary of New Zealand BiographyGo to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

In the 1900s a series of lurid headlines were published in the New Zealand Truth about George Howe, a "Beastly Brothel-keeper" who pimped out underage girls from his shop on Wellington's Adelaide Road. But what Truth found most "beastly" about Howe, is that he was Chinese. Black Sheep looks at the case of George Howe, and the "editorial hate-crimes" of what was once NZ's most influential newspaper.Content warning: contains discussion of underage prostitution and quotes racist slurs which featured in the NZ Truth Newspaper i.e. "slimy slit-eyes" and "concupiscent chows"Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

In 1892 a masked figure in a bizarre uniform began a 15 month crime spree, robbing people at gunpoint in and around New Plymouth. When he was finally arrested and unmasked, residents were dumbfounded to discovered the perpetrator was mild-mannered Robert Wallath - the teenage son of a local farmer and carpenter.Wallath, it turned out, had a deep fascination for highway criminals and at trial his lawyers claimed his mind had been "polluted" by trashy novels about Dick Turpin and Ned Kelly.But later in life, Wallath claimed his crimes had divine inspiration. So what really drove this Taranaki teenager to commit such a brazen string of robberies and thefts?Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

"As morning dawned we stood and watched / That devastated scene / Where but a single yesterday / Had flourished Surafeen." In the final episode of a three-part series, RNZ's Black Sheep investigates the Surafend massacre of December 1918.Read more about the story of Surafend on the RNZ website here.T’was a never to be forgotten nightThe village was soon in flamesThe wallads knocked when sightedBut protected were the dames.Although we are fighting AnzacsOur honour we upholdAnd treat the women fairlyAs did our ancestors of old.As morning dawned we stood and watchedThat devastated sceneWhere but a single yesterdayHad flourished SurafeenWe turned away in silenceBut feeling justifiedThat for our murdered comradeWe would gladly have died.- RSA Review, August 1938These lines are extracted from a longer poem published in RSA Review, the official magazine for New Zealand War veterans. They were credited to an unnamed New Zealand soldier who participated in the 1918 Surafend massacre.In the final episode of our three part series RNZ's Black Sheep we look at the unanswered questions surrounding these killings, and especially the question of what motivated them.Host William Ray speaks to military historian Terry Kinloch, author of Devils on Horses, Paul Daley, author of Beersheba and New Zealand Defence Force Historian John CrawfordFurther sources:Interview with former Anzac Mounted Division soldier Edward O'BrienWhat Happened at Surafend by Terry Kinloch - WW100Australian Light Horse Studies CentreTranscript of John Crawford's lecture on the Senussi CampaignGo to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

"They ​went ​out ​to ​this ​village, ​and ​they ​went ​through ​it ​with ​the ​bayonet.” In the second of a three-part series, RNZ's Black Sheep investigates the Surafend massacre of December 1918.Read more about the story of Surafend on the RNZ website here.“They ​got ​their ​heads ​together, ​the ​New ​Zealand and ​Australians, and they ​went ​out ​to ​this ​village ​and ​they ​went ​through ​it ​with ​the ​bayonet.”- Edward O'Brien, Veteran of the Anzac Mounted Division, 1988These are the words of Edward O’Brien - a former member of the Anzac Mounted Division. His words were recorded on tape by an oral historian and now sit in the archives of the Australian War Memorial.Edward was one of a handful of Anzac's to admit seeing the Surafend massacre first hand, but his testimony does little to explain what happened.In the second of a three part series, RNZ's Black Sheep podcast unpicks the story of the massacre, and the events which followed it - including the Anzac's little known role in suppressing the 1919 Egyptian revolution.William Ray speaks to military historian Terry Kinloch, author of Devils on Horses, Paul Daley, author of Beersheba and New Zealand Defence Force Historian John CrawfordFurther sources:Interview with former Anzac Mounted Division soldier Edward O'BrienWhat Happened at Surafend by Terry Kinloch - WW100Australian Light Horse Studies CentreTranscript of John Crawford's lecture on the Senussi CampaignGo to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

“There was a time when I was proud of you men of the Anzac Mounted Division. I am proud of you no longer.” In the first of a three-part series, RNZ's Black Sheep investigates the Surafend massacre.Read more about the story of Surafend on the RNZ website here.“There was a time when I was proud of you men of the Anzac Mounted Division. I am proud of you no longer. Today, I think you are nothing but a lot of cowards and murderers.”- General Edmund Allenby, reported speech to Anzac Mounted Division, 16 December 1918These words are attributed to General Edmund Allenby, the British Commander of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force. He was speaking to the Anzac Mounted Division in the aftermath of the Surafend massacre, where an estimated 200 members of the Division killed upwards of 40 male Arab civilians in a small village in southern Palestine in December 1918.More than a hundred years later, much of the story of the massacre remains a mystery. Basic facts around the numbers killed, the identity of the killers, and their exact motivation are unknown.In the first of a three part series, William Ray speaks with military historian Terry Kinloch, author of Devils on Horses, to unpick the story of the Anzac mounted Division's campaign through Sinai and Palestine, and how it might help explain the massacre.Further sources:Interview with former Anzac Mounted Division soldier Edward O'BrienWhat Happened at Surafend by Terry Kinloch - WW100Australian Light Horse Studies CentreGo to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Black Sheep Season 8 is just around the corner with a whole new cast of controversial, villainous, or simply misunderstood figures from New Zealand history.Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

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. Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details