Black Sheep

Why do some historians think an NZ-born traitor was "instrumental" in the Japanese victory in Singapore during WWII? And why is there such a mystery surrounding the Reefton boy who seemingly spied for the Japanese?Why do some historians think an NZ-born traitor was "instrumental" to the Japanese victory in Singapore during WWII? In part 1 we heard how Patrick Heenan, a NZ-born captain in the British Army, came to despise his comrades and eventually decided to act as a spy for the Japanese. In this episode Black Sheep uncovers the mystery surrounding that treason, allegations of a cover-up, and the "watery grave" which ends Patrick Heenan's story.The SpyOnce he arrived in Malaya Patrick Heenan got a job as an intelligence officer, working as a liaison between the Army and the Air ForceAlmost from the moment that transfer was approved, he began to act suspiciously. His commanding officer, Major France, wrote a memoir outlining some of his dodgy behaviour."I had discovered that during my absence had done two outrageous things:Firstly he had taken a party of my troops on ground exercises and on these he had taken photographs of all the junctions and crossroads into Thailand, whilst the signposts were still in position. These would of course have been removed in event of a war.Secondly, whilst I was away he had gone to the Station Commander and persuaded him that he had my permission to see my documents - highly secret and kept in my Command safe." - Major France, Odd Man Out: The Story Of The Singapore TraitorActually, Major France said Heenan tried to get into his safe and access those secret documents not once, but twice.Professor Brian Farrell says that's totally astonishing. "You do this and you're some sort of fast-talking charmer who has the gift of the gab and you maybe get away with it once ... but twice? You have to ask what was going on here.""Why didn't as a measure of sheer prudence have this guy behind bars right away? You're not in a position to take chances, you're in the middle of a war which is going very badly!"To give Major France some credit, he did try to get to the bottom of Captain Heenan's suspicious behaviour by searching his room…Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

What drove a boy from Reefton to turn against his comrades in World War Two? How was a former boxing and swimming champion recruited as an agent of Imperial Japan? It's a story still shrouded in mystery more than 70 years later.What drove a boy from Reefton to turn against his comrades in World War Two? How was a former boxing and swimming champion recruited as an agent of Imperial Japan? Did the British military conceal the true extent of the damage he did to the Allied war effort? And how did he meet his end in what a mysterious postcard described as a "watery grave"?These questions, and many more, surround the murky mystery of Captain Patrick Heenan, one of the least understood traitors of the Second World War.The Reefton BastardWhen Heenan was born, Reefton was a dilapidated place. It was 1910 and the gold rush days were over. Patrick was illegitimate, nobody knows who his real father was. He was named after an Irish Catholic called George Heenan who his mother, Annie, married shortly after his birth.The family emigrated to Burma (Myanmar) in 1912 and shortly after arriving, George died. Annie was left to raise Patrick alone for the next ten years.Maybe it was in these years that Heenan first started to develop a hatred for the British Empire. Colonial Burma was a deeply racist and repressive place, the famous author George Orwell worked as a policeman in Burma at the same time Heenan lived there and drew on that experience for one of his books."You hear your Oriental friends called 'greasy little babus', and you admit, dutifully, that they are greasy little babus. You see louts fresh from school kicking grey-haired servants. The time comes when you burn with hatred of your own countrymen, when you long for a native rising to drown their Empire in blood." - George Orwell, Burmese DaysWhen Heenan turned 12 he and his mother relocated to England where Annie paid for her son to attend the prestigious Cheltenham College.Heenan's school years were deeply unhappy. Old school-mates said he was both a bully himself and a victim of bullying." didn't want to fall down that socio-economic ladder," explains Brian Farrell, a military historian at Singapore National University. "So there was some scrimping and saving to send him to schools that she really couldn't afford. As a result he was always the kid with the oldest, tattiest, most out of date shoes and clothes. got teased about it a lot."Racism In The RanksHeenan's social isolation continued after he left school and joined the British Indian Army as a junior office…Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Amy Bock was a criminal "supreme in her cleverness". Her most famous con saw her pose as a man for 15 weeks and marry the daughter of her landlord. Nobody has ever been able to explain what motivated her lifetime of fraud and scams.Detective Henry Hunt knocks on the door of Percy Redwood, a wealthy sheep farmer on an extended holiday at Nugget Point on the Catlins Coast.Over the last few months, Percy had made a lot of friends in town, in fact, he just recently married a local woman called Agnes Ottaway.The door opens. Percy, a very short man, told his friends he used to be a jockey in his younger days. But that was a lie, pretty much everything Percy told his friends was a lie."The game is up, Amy," said Detective Hunt.Percy's shoulders slump. "I see you know it all," he said... or rather, she said.Percy was not really a wealthy sheep farmer and former jockey. He was a persona invented by Amy Bock, the most prolific con-artist in New Zealand history."A Woman Bridegroom, Exploits Of An Adventuress, An Extraordinary Story""In Man's Attire, A Woman's Escapade""A Marvellous Masquerade, A Woman Dressed As A Man Marries A Port Molyneax Girl.""The Champion Crook of the Century"This is just a small sample of the scandalised headlines which filled the national newspapers after Amy's scam was revealed. The papers delved into her old court records, they interviewed her childhood friends and trawled through older newspaper clippings.What they uncover is a lifetime of scams, frauds and lies going all the way back to Amy's childhood in the rural Australian town of Sale, a few hundred kilometres east of Melbourne."It's In My Blood"Amy came from a respectable family in Sale, her father ran a successful photography business which helped him make connections with the movers and shakers in town.But there was a tragedy at the heart of the Bock family. Amy's mother suffered from a serious mental illness." would have very manic episodes and then episodes of melancholia. So probably what we would think of now as manic-depressive ," said Dr Jenny Coleman, author of Mad or Bad: the life and exploits of Amy Bock.When Amy was ten years old her mother was locked up in a lunatic asylum. Amy never saw her again. She died three years later.It was around this point people started to have concerns about Amy's mental health. She began telling stories and acting out in bizarre ways. One time she bought a load of books under her father's name and just gave them away to random people in town…Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

The story of Horatio Robley continues... How did a man once dubbed a "predator of culture" for his collection of preserved Māori heads become better known as a "friend of the Māori"?In Part 1 of this story, we heard how Horatio Robley came to New Zealand as a young officer in the British Army and witnessed the devastating British defeat at Gate Pā. In Part 2, we hear how the Tauranga War ended, and how Robley became famous as a collector of Mokomokai, preserved Māori heads.A few months after Gate Pā, Māori and British came to blows again at Battle of Te Ranga. This time the British caught Tauranga Māori before they could finish building their Pā, and the half-dug trenches became a mass grave for 108 warriors.Within weeks a peace was negotiated, but Robley and his fellow soldiers stayed on in Tauranga for several more months. In those months, Robley had a chance to become much more intimately involved in Māori culture ...and with one Māori woman in particular.Horatio Te RopereWith the spectre of war lifted, Robley doubled down on his artwork. He painted spectacular watercolours of Tauranga landscapes and took portraits of prominent Māori in the region, including some leaders of the Ngāi Te Rangi tribe who had participated in the Battle for Gate Pā.Tauranga Māori clearly respected Robley's skill as an artist and eventually they allowed him to sketch some incredibly intimate and sacred moments."There was a gradual building of rapport," explains Tim Walker, pointing out a painting Robley did at a tangi (Māori funeral rite). "Astonishing for a Pākeha to be sitting in that context."Somewhere in the middle of this, Robley formed a relationship with a Māori woman - and not just any woman: Herete Mauao, daughter of one of the highest ranking chiefs in the entire Bay of Plenty region."Some kaumātua have told me she was presented to Robley as an act of respect for his mana," Walker says. "It seems hard to understand in one way because he was only an itinerant soldier who's part of a colonising force."However it began, Robley and Herete's relationship became serious very quickly. Herete gave birth to a son, named Hamiora Tu Ropere after his father.But Robley didn't stay with his family for long. After just 20 months, the 68th regiment were redeployed away from New Zealand. Robley would never see Herete or Hamiora ever again.However, he maintained a deep and sometimes deeply problematic connection with Aotearoa for the rest of his life.Headhunter…Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Horatio Robley witnessed the most famous battle of the New Zealand Wars, he fathered a child with the daughter of a sworn enemy, his sketching helped end a war, his book helped save the art of Maori tattooing... But mostly he's famous for his grotesque collection of nearly 40 human heads.Horatio Robley witnessed the most famous battle of the New Zealand Wars, he fathered a child with the daughter of a sworn enemy, his sketching helped end a war and his book helped save the art of Māori tattooing.But mostly he's famous for his grotesque collection of nearly 40 human heads.A Wall of HeadsIf you type Horatio Robley's name into a search engine you'll find a seriously disturbing image (a censored version appears above).In the foreground is Robley, dressed in a fancy suit and sporting an enormous handlebar moustache. In one hand he holds a mere (Māori club) and behind him... 35 mokomokai - preserved Māori heads.The heads are in various states. Some are well preserved; you can still clearly make out their facial features and the beautiful curved lines of their tā moko (facial tattoos). Others are harder to look at; the lips are drawn back from the teeth, mummified skin clings to the shape of the skull.Most disturbingly, one head in the bottom right corner of the photo clearly belongs to a very young child, maybe even a baby.For the better part of a century this image has defined Horatio Robley. It's hard to look at a white guy sitting in front of a wall of Māori heads and see anything other than a monster."When were younger he was described as a macabre predator of culture," says Haami Piripi, a senior member of the mokomokai repatriation team for Te Papa museum.But there's a twist in this story."Over time, as we've got to know him more and understand his motivation, we see that he really became a friend of the Māori."So how do we go from a headhunting "predator of culture" to a "friend of the Māori"? That's a fascinating story in of itself. It's mostly been driven by the research of Tim Walker, a former curator at Te Papa who wrote his thesis on Robley in the 1980s."That's the image that people have of him," says Walker, gesturing to the gruesome black and white photo of Robley posing with his collection. "I think what we see generally is people's projections of their own sense of what was going on onto that image."In Walker's words, Robley was a man "out of time". His motives were often misunderstood in his own day and are even more difficult to decipher from the perspective of 21st century Aotearoa.Disaster at Gate Pā…Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Pākehā settlers in Taranaki knew John Bryce as "Honest John" but Taranaki Māori called him "Bryce Kōhuru" - Bryce the Murderer. Black Sheep investigates the life of the infamous Native Affairs Minister who led the assault on Parihaka.Pākehā settlers in Taranaki knew John Bryce as "Honest John" but Taranaki Māori had another nickname. They called him "Bryce Kōhuru" - Bryce the Murderer. In this episode of Black Sheep William Ray investigates the life of the infamous Native Affairs Minister.John Bryce has gone down in history as an arrogant sometimes brutal man, with harsh attitudes towards Māori, even for his time.But nobody is born racist, so where did it come from? The earliest hint comes when Bryce was just six years old, living in Glasgow in 1839.John Bryce's mother had recently died from tuberculosis and his father decided to take the family from their home in Scotland to New Zealand. While they were waiting to depart on their ship this poem by Poet Laureate, Robert Southey was read:On Zealand's hills, where tigers steal along,And the dread Indian chants a dismal song,Where human fiends on midnight errands walk,And bathe in brains the murderous tomahawk.Along with that slightly bloodcurdling poem, six-year old John Bryce would have heard the passengers and crew telling stories of the Boyd massacre, where around 60 Europeans were killed and eaten by Māori at Whangaroa.Bryce and his fellow passengers were among the very first colonists to settle in the Wellington region at Pito-one (now called Petone) under the protection of a local rangatira, Puakawa. But, just three weeks after the settlers arrived in Petone, Puakawa was killed in a raid by followers of Te Rauparaha from the Kapiti Coast.When he turned 13 John Bryce had another foundation experience of Māori. 1846 saw the outbreak of the Hutt War, between Māori and Pākehā in the Wellington region. 50 years later John Bryce related the story of Bugler William Allen a young man who, according to popular legend, spotted a raid and continued to sound the alarm despite axe wounds to both arms. The story goes that he held the bugle between his knees and kept blowing until he was struck in the head and killed.This incident "made a lasting impression on Bryce," says historian Moyra Cooke, who researched John Bryce for her masters thesis.A few years after the end of the Hutt War John and his older brother went to Australia to become diggers in the Victorian gold rush. They must have struck a good lode because when they returned they were rich enough to buy land for farming at Brunswick, near Whanganui…Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Roy Courlander was a New Zealand soldier who joined Nazi Germany's infamous SS during WWII. He participated in propaganda efforts trying to turn more allied soldiers to the Nazi cause. So why did he decide to turn traitor?On ANZAC day New Zealanders remember the heroism and sacrifice of those killed in war, but not all soldiers have legacies worth celebrating. Case in point: Roy Courlander, a NZ Army Private who volunteered to join Nazi Germany's infamous Waffen SS.Roy Courlander's early years are hard to trace. He was born in London in 1914 and was raised by his mother, Edith Carter and his stepfather, Leonard Courlander. He never knew his biological father.In his late teens Courlander went to work on his stepfather's plantations in Vanuatu. He then came to New Zealand in 1938 and got a job with the Inland Revenue Department."Then in mid-1939 he's in trouble because in Napier he's arrested after a burglary," says New Zealand Defence Force Historian John Crawford.This burglary was quite a serious incident. A young woman came home to find three men, including Courlander, inside her house. They assaulted her but she screamed and neighbours came to her rescue. The men were all caught and prosecuted."Courlander and two other men were eventually caught and prosecuted for their parts in this crime," John says.Roy Courlander was still on probation for the robbery on September 3rd, 1939 when war was declared by Britain and by extension New Zealand, on Nazi Germany.He signed up with the Second NZ Expeditionary Force and was assigned to 18th Infantry Battalion. He was deployed to Egypt where he volunteered to serve with battalion intelligence and began teaching himself German.In 1941 Roy Courlander was one of thousands of British and Commonwealth troops swept up in the disastrous Greek campaign.He was separated from his unit and eventually captured in Kalamata. When on a train bound for a prisoner of war camp in Yugoslavia, he and a fellow soldier saw a chance for escape. After the war ended he wrote this account of what happened:"On the night of June 1941, I and Private Kedsell succeeded in escaping through the window of the cattle truck that was taking us to Germany. The train stopped and the Germans started firing at us as we ran amongst the bushes along the railway track. Private Kedsell was hit and I was recaptured early the next morning. I received a beating up, was trussed up with barbed wire and taken to Germany." - Roy CourlanderThis account is backed up by witnesses and is generally considered reliable. But John Crawford doubts Courlander really was "trussed up with barbed wire"…Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Kimble Bent was one of a tiny handful of Europeans who switched sides during the New Zealand Wars, who deserted the British army to join Māori "rebels" in Taranaki and reportedly witnessed a famous incident of kai tangata (cannibalism) in the wake of a battle against colonial forces.It's reasonably common knowledge that large numbers of Māori fought on the side of the government during the New Zealand Wars. We even have a name for them, kūpapa Māori.A less well-known story is the handful of Europeans who went in the other direction - Pākehā soldiers who deserted the British army and joined the cause of Māori "rebels".Most of these people are poorly documented, but there is one exception: Kimble Bent.June, 1865. A Ngāti Ruanui chief, Tito Hanataua, was riding his horse along a track near the bank of the Tangahoe river. He was there to scout a nearby British army fort.To his astonishment he came face-to-face with a soldier wearing a dripping wet scarlet uniform. That soldier was a 25-year-old American, Kimble Bent.Decades later, Bent recalled the conversation that followed to historian James Cowan, who published it in a book, The Adventures of Kimble Bent.Tito Hanataua: "Here you Pākehā! Go back quick! Haere atu, haere atu! Go away back to the soldiers. I shoot you suppose you no go! Hoki atu!Kimble Bent: Shoot away, I won't go back. I'm running away from the soldiers. I want to go to the Māoris. Take me with you!Tito Hanataua: You tangata kuware! You Pākehā fool, go back! The Māori kill you, my word! You look out!Kimble Bent: I don't care if they do, I tell you I want to live with the hauhaus.Tito Hanataua: E pai ana (it is well). All right, you come along. But you look out for my tribe - they kill you.- The Adventures of Kimble BentThe events which led Kimble Bent to that life-changing meeting with Tito Hanataua began five years earlier, when he travelled from his home in Eastport, Maine, to the United Kingdom.He quickly burned through the money which had been given to him by his father for the trip, and was left stranded with no way to return to the United States.While he was drowning his sorrows at a pub, Bent's eye was drawn to the smart uniform of a British Army recruiting sergeant. Bent had formerly served in the United States Navy as a teen, and he decided to sign up.It was the worst decision of his life."The discipline and parade ground drilling was a far cry from the rather more relaxed US Navy way of doing things. Floggings were common," said Chris Grosz, who wrote a graphic novel on Bent's story: Kimble Bent Malcontent…Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

A cottage burns down, three mutilated bodies are found inside and there are fears the whole city of Auckland could be at risk. In this episode of Black Sheep, William Ray investigates the story of the first European to be judicially executed in New Zealand history. October 10th, 1847. The brutal murder of a Devonport family leaves Auckland fearing an invasion of vengeful Māori. But when that threat fails to materialise the police are left trying to solve New Zealand's first ever whodunnit...It began just after midnight, when lookouts on the HMS Dido spot flames rising from the house of Lieutenant Robert Snow.The sailors rush ashore and extinguish the blaze but after, find the badly mutilated bodies of Lt. Robert Snow, his wife Hannah and their four year old daughter, Mary.Pieces of flesh had been cut from all three bodies. The sailors know what that means... Cannibalism.The New Zealander (one of Aotearoa's very first newspapers) is quick to lay blame for the murder of the Snow family:"There can be no doubt that the natives were perpetrators of this foul deed. Our native police pronounced the wounds to be Maori handiwork at once. The mutilation of the bodies, from all three of which large pieces of flesh had been cut by knives, and the parts from whence they were cut, is conclusive evidence."The only controversy is whether the Māori killers were motivated by personal revenge against Snow, or if this is a precursor to a wider attack on Auckland itself.As The New Zealander put it: "If the matter be political, this act, according to Maori custom, is a declaration of war."Most of the prominent Māori chiefs who live near Auckland are equally convinced the murders were committed by Māori and are even more anxious than the European colonists to find the perpetrators."Chief Patuone over on the North Shore was very friendly towards Pakeha and chief Te Whero Whero in the Northern Waikato was also" says Terry Carson, author of The Axeman's Accomplice - a book about the Snow family murders. "They were quite keen that nothing interfere with the relationship" he explains.Māori leaders assure the colonists that they will track down the person responsible and at first they have some success. A few weeks after the murders a group of prominent chiefs from Ngāti Maru and Waikato-Tainui arrive in Auckland with a prisoner; a man called Mamuku, who they say killed the Snows.Mamuku is publicly interrogated on the veranda of Government House, but the questioning quickly reveals he knows nothing about the murders.Police and Māori are stumped. But then, a break; the killers give themselves away…Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

In 1981 Dunedin teenager Chris Lewis tried to shoot Queen Elizabeth. Then, at least according to some, authorities tried to cover it up. In this collaboration with Stuff.co.nz journalist Hamish McNeilly, Black Sheep looks into Chris Lewis's bizarre life story. On October 14th, 1981 Dunedin teenager Chris Lewis tried to shoot Queen Elizabeth. Then (at least according to some) the authorities tried to cover it up. In this collaboration with Stuff.co.nz journalist Hamish McNeilly, RNZ's Black Sheep podcast looks into Lewis's bizarre life story.For more on Chris Lewis you can read Hamish McNeilly's series The Snowman and the Queen.Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

It's 1871 and the city of Auckland is being terrorised by a string of major fires. Fears are raised that a gang of anarchist fanatics could be responsible but the real culprit turns out to be a well known businessman with an axe to grind against Auckland high society.Cyrus Haley burned down several of the most famous buildings in 19th century Auckland and tried to kill the family of a prominent businessman. To this day we still don't know why...Music in this episode courtesy of Chris Priestly.THE CHASEJanuary 27th, 1872. Auckland's chief of police, Inspector Broham, is hot on the trail of a fugitive who'd been terrorising the city.Over the previous year, this mysterious figure had burned down five major buildings and sent threatening letters to newspapers. He claimed to be the leader of a group that had vowed to "destroy £100,000 worth of property and to take 5 of the lives of the most obnoxious persons."Things got even more serious on January 22nd, 1872. The mystery man fired eight shots into the home of New Zealand's most prominent businessman, Thomas Russell (who featured in a previous Black Sheep episode).But then the criminal slipped up. Returning to Russell's home a few days after the shooting, he set two haystacks on fire. The police were quickly alerted and Inspector Broham spotted a man trying to leave the scene. The New Zealand Herald described the chase:"In the pursuit Mr. Broham had to leap a massive stone wall, cross through an orchard, and again over an hawthorn fence, following up the chase over some very rough ground, across ditches, and through thick scrub. The man was still considerably ahead, as he also proved a swift runner: yet the pace of Mr. Broham told at last, and every minute the distance between the two lessened."Finally, the shadowy figure realised there was no escaping Inspector Broham who the Herald described as "remarkably swift of foot".The man turned on Inspector Broham, raised a gun, and pointed it directly at the police chief."But before he can fire he trips and falls," says historian Mark Derby. " subdues the man... and by the moonlight he recognises him."To everyone's shock the man who'd been terrorising the city was a well known figure in Auckland's commercial scene - an investor and engineer called Cyrus Haley. BAD BEGINNINGSCyrus Haley was 28 when he arrived in New Zealand in 1870 with his wife Emily and their two children.The couple came from relatively wealthy backgrounds and were determined to rise in Auckland's elite social circles. At first, they tried to make a splash in the art scene…Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Charlotte Badger was one of the first European women to live in New Zealand. She was also a pirate... or at least that's the traditional story. This special episode of Black Sheep, recorded live at Charlotte's Kitchen restaurant in Paihia, investigates Charlotte's pirate mystery.Charlotte Badger was one of the very first European women to live in New Zealand. She was also a pirate... or at least that's the traditional story.In a special episode of Black Sheep recorded live at Charlotte's Kitchen restaurant in Paihia, William Ray and his guests, historians Jennifer Ashton and Kate Martin, investigate Charlotte's pirate mystery.Charlotte Badger was born in 1778 in Bromsgrove, a small village outside Worcester in England. Her father was a labourer and the family probably struggled to make ends meet. In desperation, 18 year old Charlotte committed what would be considered a fairly minor crime today - she stole a number of small items, including a silver coin, from her employer.In 17th century England however, housebreaking was a hanging offence and Charlotte was sentenced to death. Luckily, her sentence was commuted and she was instead given seven years transportation to the New South Wales penal colony at Port Dalrymple, now known as Sydney."She arrived in Sydney in 1801 and then she disappears until 1806," says Jennifer Ashton, a historian who's been investigating the supposed pirate's story.Charlotte's reappearance came in the form of a wanted notice posted in the Sydney Gazette in 1806:"The persons under-mentioned and described did, on the 16th day of June 1806, by force of arms and violently and piratically take away from His Majesty's settlement of Port Dalrymple, a Colonial Brig or Vessel called the Venus."The notice went on to name and describe about a dozen mutineers. Last on the list were two women:"Catherine Hagerty, convict. Middle sized, fresh complexion. Much inclined to smile. Hoarse voice.Charlotte Badger, convict. Very corpulent, full face, thick lips, infant child."Later, the Gazette published official depositions from people who witnessed the mutiny, including the ship's captain who said the leaders of the mutiny were the first mate, the pilot of the ship and a soldier. The two women convicts are hardly discussed at all aside from a mention that Catherine Hagerty was "cohabiting" with the first mate, Benjamin Kelly, and had thrown some papers overboard.It seems strange that the captain didn't say much about the two women given that a 1895 newspaper article depicts both Catherine Hagerty and Charlotte Badger taking an active part in the mutiny, armed with swords and pistols…Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Richard Burgess may be New Zealand's most prolific serial killer. In the 1860s he and his outlaw gang roved the West Coast, robbing and murdering dozens of people. The full number of victims is still unknown."Potentially he was New Zealand's worst serial killer..."Richard Burgess may be the most prolific murderer New Zealand has ever seen.It's estimated the death toll his gang of outlaws inflicted while roving the goldfields of the South Island in the 1860s ranged anywhere up to 35 people.The Burgess gang are best known for the so-called Maungatapu murders, crimes which saw all but one of the gang hanged. The lone survivor was Joseph Sullivan, who turned traitor to save his own skin.Burgess' story has inspired several books and magazine features. Currently, a play about his gang's exploits is touring the Marlborough Region.He sealed his place in New Zealand history with a 46-page confession described as "without peer in the literature of murder" by the famous American author Mark Twain."It certainly does make for amazing reading," says Wayne Martin, author of Murder on the Maungatapu. "Right the way through he's quoting anecdotes from classic texts and scripture."Burgess had a love of literature instilled by his mother while growing up in London's Hatton Garden in the 1840s. But although she passed this interest on to her son, she wasn't able to curb his violent, criminal streak ."He followed your classic Victorian street criminal way of life," says Wayne Martin. " from pick-pocketing to crimes of violence eventually caught up with him and saw him transported to Australia."Martin describes Burgess as "hopelessly addicted to crime". And with more than 80 percent of the police force having resigned to seek their fortune in the gold rush in the 1850s, Australia wasn't the best place to kick a criminal addiction.From his late teens and into his twenties Burgess roved the goldfields of Melbourne as part of a gang, robbing miners. Eventually those crimes caught up with him and he was introduced to the horrifically brutal colonial justice system - in particular, the floating prison hulks anchored off the coast of Melbourne where he spent eight years of his sentence.Wayne Martin believes the brutality of those prison ships is what turned Burgess from a relatively normal criminal into a monster."The prisoners on those hulks swore that if they got out they were not coming back to a place like this. They were not going to leave witnesses to testify against them," he says. "That was the seed of the monster he became and also this policy of killing not to leave witnesses."…Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

In 1877 Chief Justice James Prendergast ruled the Treaty of Waitangi was "a simple nullity", in part because it was signed by "simple barbarians" and "savages". Those words have seen him condemned as an arch-villain of NZ history, but was he really? He really is as close as we have to a legal villain"A simple nullity" - three words which damned the man who uttered them to become the most reviled judge in New Zealand history.The quote referred to the Treaty of Waitangi and were part of a ruling which helped justify the separation of Māori from their lands for more than a century. Other words in that ruling include "simple barbarians" and "savages".James Prendergast arrived in New Zealand during the Otago gold-rush in 1862.The son of a judge, he trained as a lawyer at Cambridge University and rose rapidly through the ranks of the New Zealand legal profession. He was appointed Attorney General just three years after arriving in the country."That is just a classic colonial ," says Grant Morris, Victoria University legal historian and author of Prendergast: Legal Villain? "They just don't have the people with enough experience to fill these roles, or at least they only have a few so there is not a lot of competition."In the role of Attorney General, Prendergast provided legal justification for horrific acts of the New Zealand Wars, including the use of 'dead or alive' bounties for Māori leaders.In one legal opinion he wrote that "the revolt has now been carried out in defiance of all the laws of nature, and there can be no doubt that all who have taken part in it have forfeited all claim for mercy."He also dismissed the legitimacy of Māori grievances against the Crown saying:"The Māoris now in arms have put forward no grievance for which they seek redress. Their objective, so far as can be collected from their acts, is murder, cannibalism and rape. They form themselves into bands and roam the country seeking prey"- James Prendergast"There were definitely people in the colony at the time who saw his opinions as being overly harsh," says Grant Morris. "Some would have seen them as not even abiding by the law of the time."Prendergast served as Attorney General until 1875 when he was appointed Chief Justice.In that role, alongside a fellow judge - William Richmond, he presided over the Wi Parata case. As part of his ruling he declared the Treaty of Waitangi was a "simple nullity" insofar as it purported to cede sovereignty to the Crown because the Crown's sovereignty came from 'discovery and occupation' rather than the Treaty…Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

"The most vile criminal ever to be tried in New Zealand" Thomas Hall's crimes scandalised New Zealand when it was revealed he had attempted to murder his wife in order to steal her family fortune."You have achieved in the annals of crime the position of being the vilest criminal ever tried in New Zealand."That's what the judge said to Thomas Hall as he sentenced him to life in prison in 1886.Tom Hall was part of a rich and influential family in Timaru. His uncle, Sir John Hall, was a former Premier of New Zealand. You can imagine the scandal when news broke that a member of that family had attempted to poison his wife in an effort to steal her family fortune.But while the initial reaction was a sort of morbid glee, it quickly turned to horror when the full extent of Tom's crimes were revealed.The son of a rich sheep farmer, Tom Hall was born during a gigantic wool boom in the 20 years from 1850 to 1870. That boom saw Timaru grow from a few shacks on the beach to one of the wealthiest places in the country.Tom initially went into the family business working a sheep run in the Mackenzie Country but quickly abandoned that line of work, due to harsh conditions as revealed in his diary."July 20: stayed a night with Parkerson on the way up. Lots of snow and severe frost. My horse had icicles three inches long on his nostrils. Twenty inches of snow fallen. Twelve inches still lying."Instead, Tom Hall became a businessman... and a con-artist."People thought he was good at what he did," says Peter Graham, author of Vile Crimes: the Timaru Poisonings. "No one had any reason to suspect there was anything wrong with company."Tom's business was in finance, property and insurance, which he used as a cover to steal clients' money and forge documents to get loans from banks."He was shuffling money around left, right and centre," Peter Graham says. "He was trying to stave off the day when he was going to be exposed."A worldwide credit crisis in the 1880s proved disastrous for Tom's scam. With credit drying up he was forced to look elsewhere for money."His way out was to marry a wife with money," Peter says. "He picked upon Kitty Cain. She was one of two stepdaughters of Captain Cain really a founding father of Timaru."But it wasn't enough to simply marry a rich woman, Tom wanted Kitty's money all to himself. Even before they were wed, he was planning on killing her."Tom Hall travelled to Christchurch to get legal advice before he married Kitty," says Peter…Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Meet the New Zealand author of a book beloved by Neo-Nazi's, Satanists and White Supremacists. Bizarrely Arthur Desmond started off as a hard-core labour activist and supporter of Maori rights, but he then went "so far to the left that dropped off the edge." Arthur Desmond is possibly the most widely read and influential political writer New Zealand has ever produced.Unfortunately, the book he's best known for is - in the words of one reviewer on Goodreads.com - "sexist, racist, classist and more violent than any Tarantino movie". And the people his book is influencing these days are mostly neo-Nazis, white supremacists and misogynists.But in his early days as a farm worker in Hawke's Bay, Desmond was a champion of workers' rights and the rights of Māori. So, what happened?In the words of one historian, he went "so far to the left that dropped off the edge.""It's a very disturbing, very unpleasant political philosophy, but it led to the rise of Hitler and Mussolini"Arthur Desmond has mysterious origins. Nobody knows where he was born or who his parents were."I'm not certain Arthur Desmond is his real given name. It probably isn't," says historian Mark Derby, who's recently written a book titled Ragnar Redbeard: the Antipodean Origins of Radical Fabulist Arthur Desmond.The first time Desmond appears in the historical record is in 1883. He was about 25 years old and running to become the Member of Parliament for Hawke's Bay. Desmond ran a populist campaign, rallying crowds of fellow farm workers who were fed up with the rich sheep barons who dominated the political establishment of the time.One of his political speeches read like this:"I have seen men living in a hut where no fire was allowed. Going to bed on a wet, cold day to keep themselves warm. I have seen the wind and the rain coming in through the cracked roof - and the winter storm whistling through the rafters, as it does through the rigging of a ship. And I have also known of the owners of these colonial gallivanting in some London ballroom upon the profits of these slaves' labour."Desmond split the vote with another left-wing candidate on his first run for parliament and performed even better during his second run in 1887 - but failed to win a seat.However, he alienated the settler community with his support for the former Māori guerrilla leader and founder of the Ringatu church, Te Kooti. When public meetings were held to protest a planned trip by Te Kooti to Gisborne, Desmond was the only Pākehā who raised his voice in support…Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Annie Aves was a famous abortionist from the 1930s. She was tried four times but each time the jury failed to reach a verdict. Her career finally came to an end when she was shot and killed by the boyfriend of a woman who'd sought her services.Content Warning: This podcast deals with abortion and infanticide. Some may find it distressing.On October 3, 1938 the city of Napier was in an uproar. That night, a 51 year old woman in the upmarket suburb of Westshore had been gunned down in her front doorway after she opened the door to a stranger.The funeral for the woman drew a big crowd. It followed the hearse through the street and covered her coffin in flowers, but when the man who shot this woman was sentenced the judge all but said the victim had brought her death on herself.That's because Chief Justice Sir Michael Myers knew this woman very well - she was Annie Aves, the famous abortionist who had been tried four times for "using an instrument with intent to procure a miscarriage".All four juries failed to reach a verdict.Annie was orphaned at an early age. Her father committed suicide while she was still in the womb and her mother died when she was three years old.After school she went into domestic service and married Hawke's Bay grape grower, John Craike. The pair had two children but separated after 12 years of marriage. After John's death in 1931 Annie remarried. This time to a music teacher called Charles Aves.Otago University historian Barbara Brookes says it was probably around this time that Annie began her illegal trade in abortion. It was the middle of the Great Depression - Annie would have needed the money and women needed her services."Many women said they just couldn't afford another mouth to feed," Barbara says. "Young women were often very vulnerable. If you were a domestic servant in a house and you got pregnant you lose your job."So-called 'back-street' abortionists could make a lot of money as long as they weren't caught. Annie's records suggest that over an 18 month period she dealt with 183 clients and what would have translated into more than $200 thousand.She used a method called the "sea tangle tent" where a stick of seaweed is inserted into the mouth of the uterus to induce a miscarriage. It was a relatively safe technique which is still sometimes used today by obstetricians to help bring on labour.But the law caught up with Annie Aves in June 1936. "There is a tip-off to the police and the police raid her premises. They find 22 sets of foetal remains," Barbara says…Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Nazi "assassins", mischievous con-artists and power hungry spies... Black Sheep investigates how a pair of hoaxers convinced the government that New Zealand had been infiltrated by Nazi agents. In 1942 the head of New Zealand's first spy agency, the Security Intelligence Bureau (SIB), sent a shocking letter to the Prime Minister.Major Kenneth Folkes told Peter Fraser that Nazi agents had infiltrated New Zealand. He said the Germans had established a network of saboteurs and were planning on blowing up critical infrastructure and assassinating top level politicians.But... the Nazi conspiracy was a hoax, and some historians think Major Folkes deliberately expanded that hoax in an effort to get more power for the SIB.The hoax was dreamed up by two criminals Alfred Remmers and Sydney Ross, who were serving time together in Waikeria prison."Remmers was a policeman," says Sherwood Young, a retired police historian. "He was dismissed because he committed a crime - burgling houses while he was on the beat."Young says Remmers was the mastermind of the hoax but needed a partner in crime to pull it off. " was a man who is sadly dying. Within a very short time he's dead of leukemia and he's in need of some conman to do the legwork."That conman was Sydney Ross, a fraudster and safebreaker."He saw himself as a clever guy who could get away with things," says Beverly Price, who helped her late husband Hugh Price write a book on the Syd Ross hoax, The Plot to Subvert Wartime New Zealand.After being released from prison in March 1942, Ross rang the Minister for Public Works and told him he'd been approached by Nazi conspirators who wanted to use his experience in safebreaking to blow up critical infrastructure to weaken New Zealand ahead of a German invasion."Ross started off with utter honesty," says Beverly Price. "His way of handling his hoax all along was a mixture of what was true and verifiable; and the fantasy - that there were conspirators trying to get in touch with him."The government might have dismissed his story if not for a remarkable coincidence. The Prime Minister had just been told that a plot very similar to the fake conspiracy Ross was describing had just been uncovered in Australia. Just days after Ross came forward, the headline of the Evening Post looked like this:It turned out a proto-fascist group called "Australia First" (no relation to the current Australia First political party) were planning on blowing up infrastructure and distributing propaganda to smooth the way for a Japanese invasion…Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Can you imagine if 20 per cent of the people you know suddenly died? How would you feel if the people in charge blocked doctors from helping them? For Samoans in 1918 this wasn't a hypothetical question. Imagine if one fifth of all the people you know suddenly died.Let's say you closely know about 200 people. Friends, coworkers, family - maybe a few local shopkeepers. Within a few weeks 40 of them are dead. Imagine how you would feel burying 40 people who were close to you.Now, how would you feel if the people in charge stopped doctors from trying to save your loved ones?For Samoans living in the early 20th century this wasn't a hypothetical question.On 7 November 1918 a ship called the Talune brought a virulent strain influenza to Samoa from New Zealand. Over the next few months at least 8500 people died.In most countries the death toll from that disease, often called Spanish Flu, was around 2-5 percent. In Samoa the death rate was more than 20 percent."We can barely understand what that does to a society", says Damon Salesa, Associate Professor of Pacific Studies at Auckland University. "There are not enough people to bury the dead. There are not enough people to feed and care for the living."The suffering of the Samoans was exacerbated by Lieutenant Colonel Robert Logan, the 51-year-old military administrator who was in charge of Samoa at the time of the outbreak."He seemed completely lost in how to cope with this sort of thing," says Mike Field, author of Black Saturday: NZ's Tragic Blunders in Samoa. "The New Zealand medical officer and his wife tried to set up aid stations and Logan insisted they be closed down."There was no cure for the 1918 influenza so it's debatable if medical help would actually have prevented many deaths, but Damon Salesa says Robert Logan's response to the outbreak still deeply affected Samoans."It would have made an enormous difference to how Samoans saw New Zealanders... what they saw from Logan was simply that he appeared not to care."Logan was even hostile toward Samoans suffering from the disease. He's reported to have said this to a school principal after being asked to deliver food to sick children at the boarding school."Send them food! I would rather see them burning in hell! There is a dead horse at your gate, let them eat that. Great fat, lazy loafing creatures." - Robert LoganMike Field thinks Logan's actions hardened Samoan opposition to New Zealand rule."They petitioned London to say 'these New Zealanders don't seem to know what they're doing'... they asked for direct rule from London," he says…Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

In the 1880s Austrian naturalist and ethnographer Andreas Reischek stole four mummified Māori corpses and smuggled them out of the country so they could be displayed at a museum in Vienna. He also shot hundreds of native New Zealand birds to preserve them "for science".In the 1880s Andreas Reischek stole four mummified corpses from an urupa near Kawhia so he could sell them to a museum in his native Austria.The bodies made up just a fraction of a gigantic collection of preserved birds, lizards and Māori artifacts which Andreas collected while travelling around New Zealand.Unsurprisingly the theft of the bodies has seen Reischek branded an arch-villain of history, but researcher and translator Dr Sascha Nolden has uncovered new information about Reischek which, while not excusing his actions, does shed some light on his motivations.Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

The worst kind of villain in New Zealand history was... an Auckland property speculator. In this week's episode, we learn about the worst kind of villain in New Zealand history... an Auckland property speculator.Historian and author Vincent O'Malley tells the story of Thomas Russell and his victims, both Māori and Pakeha.Today these baby boomer 'bastards' are accused of driving house prices through the roof but in the past they helped start and push along the Waikato War, one of the most unjust conflicts in our history.Chief among this cabal was Russell, the founder of BNZ and many other important Auckland businesses.Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Did you know that after WWI New Zealand established an official eugenics board? We tend to think of eugenics as being something the Nazis invented but really it was embraced all around the world in the 19th and early 20th centuries. In this episode of Black Sheep historian and disability researcher Hilary Stace traces the history of New Zealand's eugenicists.CORRECTION: The elderly Chinese man murdered by Lionel Terry was named Joe Kum Yung. He was killed in Haining Street, Wellington, on 24 September 1905, not in Auckland in 1907 as stated in this podcast.Did you know that after the First World War New Zealand established an official eugenics board? We tend to think of eugenics as being something the Nazis invented but really it was embraced all around the world in the 19th and early 20th centuries.It was particularly popular among the intellectual classes. Some of our most progressive institutions, the National Council of Women, Federated Farmers and the Plunket Society all either promoted some form of eugenics or had members who did.In this episode of Black Sheep historian and disability researcher Hilary Stace traces the history of New Zealand's eugenicists.Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Hongi Hika is a man with a difficult legacy. He's one of the greatest figures in New Zealand history, but he's also often held responsible for starting the Musket Wars. Hongi Hika is a man with a difficult legacy. He's one of the greatest figures in New Zealand history, but he's also often held responsible for starting the Musket Wars - an outpouring of inter-tribal violence which may have claimed the lives of as many as 20,000 Maori.History Professor Paul Moon tells how Hongi's skill as a political, economic and military leader allowed him to accomplish things no other chief ever has.We also get Ngapuhi's perspective on Hongi Hika's legacy from one of his descendants, Haami Piripi.Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Arthur Worthington was a con artist who travelled the USA, marrying rich women then abandoning them and stealing all their money. With private detectives hot on his tail, he jumped on a ship bound for Christchurch where he set up his own religion and his own church. Arthur Worthington was a con artist who travelled the USA, marrying rich women then abandoning them and stealing all their money.With private detectives hot on his tail in 1890, he jumped on a ship bound for Christchurch where he set up his own religion and his own church, the famous Temple of Truth.But when his history in the United States caught up with him Worthington had to face the music in an angry confrontation.It got so out of hand that for the first time ever time in New Zealand the Riot Act had to be read to disperse the crowds.In a new Black Sheep podcast, William Ray speaks to religious history professor Peter Lineham, who asks why Worthington did it. Was he a common crook? Was he psychopathic? Was he a true believer? "He's taken the Christian beliefs and turned them into abstract principals that are intended to elevate humanity to the point where they don't need traditional and conventional forms of religion" Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

In 1916 John Cullen led a small army of police deep into the forests of Te Urewera to arrest the Tuhoe prophet Rua Kenana - his crime? Preaching that his followers shouldn't sign up to fight in the First World War. But the raid is a complete disaster. Cullen oversees the shooting of two men in cold blood and the whole case against Rua unravels due to a huge legal blunder. In 1916 John Cullen led a small army of police deep into the misty forests of Te Urewera to arrest the Tuhoe prophet Rua Kenana - his crime? Preaching that his followers shouldn't sign up to fight in the First World War.But the raid is a complete disaster. Cullen oversees the shooting of two men in cold blood and the whole case against Rua unravels due to a huge legal blunder.Historian Mark Derby explains how the son of an Irish turnip farmer rose to the very top of the New Zealand police - and how he didn't pay too much attention to whose neck he stepped on along the way.Music:Artist: SurvivalSong: Rua KenanaComposer: SurvivalAlbum: Tribal StompLabel: Tangata 790613Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

"Four shots, and then another one" - that's how the story of Alice Parkinson begins as the 25 year old waitress gunned down her fiancé, Bert West, in the middle of a street in Napier. So why did thousands of New Zealanders sign a petition demanding her release?"Four shots, and then another one." That's how the story of Alice Parkinson begins, as the 25 year old waitress guns down her fiancé, Bert West, in the middle of Nelson Street in Napier in 1915.The first four shots hit Bert in the face, head, neck and chest. The final shot is fired point blank into Alice's own temple.She had planned it this way, a murder-suicide to get vengeance on the man who promised to marry her when she got pregnant and then deserted her when that child was stillborn.But Alice doesn't die, and when she's locked in prison for manslaughter, something even stranger happens... Historian Carol Markwell tells the story of Alice Parkinson - the killer who a hundred thousand New Zealanders said should be set free.Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details