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
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55:10
Bird Bandit: the story of Freddie Angell
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
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43:27
Musket Missionary: the story of Thomas Kendall (Part 2)
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
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51:02
Musket Missionary: the story of Thomas Kendall (Part 1)
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
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43:52
Beastly Truth: the story of George Howe
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.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
The shady, controversial and sometimes downright villainous characters of NZ history. Join William Ray as he explores history through the lens of Kiwi dirtbags in NZ's most awarded podcast.
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