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How will Australian universities fare in a post-pandemic world? It depends on an influential but rarely talked about relationship between the state, its institutions, and the public. Discover more in the first podcast episode of The New Social Contract.Brought to you by the makers of History Lab.

Three days before Spain’s general elections in 2004 a series of bombs exploded on crowded Madrid commuter trains, killing almost 200 people.The Spanish authorities found a plastic bag a few blocks away from one of the bomb sites with a single, incomplete fingerprint.This was the trace linked to a man living 9000 kms away, a US Attorney in Oregon by the name of Brandon Mayfield.We’ve been told that every fingerprint is unique to every finger, but what if this is the wrong question to ask?Forensic Science was founded on the principle that ‘every contact leaves a trace’ but history shows we can’t always rely on one trace alone.

When was the last time you were asked to sign something and did you stop to think how the strange squiggly mark you make on a page could be used?The signature is a performative act, crucial to the law’s way of knowing, but it’s also been used as an instrument of power and control.In this episode of History Lab we hear from a boy who was stolen, the man who took him away and the Judge who was asked to decide if a mother's thumbprint was a sign of consent.The presence or absence of a signature on a legal document can speak volumes and throughout history Aboriginal people have been reclaiming this marker of individual identity to represent the many and speak back to an empire.Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people should be aware that this episode contains the voices and names of deceased persons.

'Making a Fortune' looks at the popularity and persecution of two of the most formidable fortune tellers of Federation Australia.In the first decade of the 20th century, Australians were focused on the future. It was the dawn of a new century, and a newly-formed nation. But during this time, police were cracking down on a booming industry dominated by women—it was a service that society deemed superstitious, archaic and fraudulent and one that is unlawful to this day in some parts of Australia. This is a story of entrepreneurship, independence and the force of the law.Why were these female fortune tellers so aggressively pursued by the police and how did they use the law to fight back?

History Lab host Dr Tamson Pietsch hands over the mic to Dr Alecia Simmonds, an interdisciplinary scholar of law and history at the University of Technology Sydney. In this bonus episode they dissect how it is the law ‘knows’ and discuss how both history and the law rely on traces from the past to draw conclusions in the present. If truth is uncertain in historical archives - is it even harder to find in the courtroom?Season 3 of History Lab will be taking a short break returning February 4 2020.Episode two 'Making a fortune' is dropping in the new year with Dr Alana Piper from the Australian Centre for Public History.

Death, money and family are the key ingredients in any last will and testament. They also make a killer cocktail that unleashes a special force not present in any other part of the law.In this episode of History Lab, we’re looking at how the law determines your last wishes through some truly unusual cases. Whether it's for reasons of urgency, eccentricity or expediency, courts around the world regularly have to make calls on the wishes of the dead. But how does the law know it’s getting it right and what does it mean for those left behind.

History Lab is back for a third season, fresh from wins at the New York Radio Festival Awards and the Community Broadcasting Association of Australia.In this special four-part series we’ll be exploring the ‘law’s way of knowing’, looking at histories that intersect with the law.From fortune telling to fingerprints, unusual wills and the forensic theory that something is always left behind, join us as we delve into the traces left by the law.Episode One drops December 12.

Missing your History Lab fix? We’ve got something else for you in the meantime. Introducing a new season of All Things Equal. This series will take you into the school yard and beyond, where kids learn that things aren't always fair. Through the stories of real students and staff, Uniform will change the way you think about education; because when it comes to learning, one size does not fit all.Subscribe to All Things Equal in your favourite podcast app, or listen to the show here:https://www.whooshkaa.com/shows/after-metoo-stories-of-social-change

History Lab audio makers explore how we've tried to understand the past through sound in season two

In the aftermath of World War One, nations came together in an attempt to ensure war on the same devastating scale could never occur again. The result? The League of Nations: a revolutionary idea to form the world’s first international organisation. But clearly it did not stop the world from going to war.A century later we are still questioning our ability to come together. In this episode, Glenda Sluga and Ninah Kopel search for the ephemeral traces of a unified past. They find stories of hope, ambition but also skeletons lurking in the closet. Many say the League failed. But did the spirit live on?

Where do jelly babies come from?Mass-produced things are all around us. But they all start with a single object. In this episode, Olivia goes looking for the patternmakers, whose invisible hands are the original creators of much of the stuff we use every day. They see a world no-one else can see. So why are they disappearing? And what will we lose when they are gone?Producer: Olivia RosenmanCollaborating historian: Jesse Adams SteinHost: Tamson PietschExecutive Producer: Tom Allinson

In 1817, the Bank of New South Wales opened as the first financial institution in the Australian colonies. But when the first customers arrived for the grand opening, they found someone had already made a deposit. Where did the money come from? Our producers, Jason and Nicole, follow the record trail and discover the uncertain foundations of Australia’s first bank.

Sydney's iconic Opera House plays host to musicians and dancers, actors and singers. But beneath the notes of their voices, another song echoes across the city’s waters.Indigenous Eora fisherwomen passed down their knowledge through their songs while paddling their canoes, a cooking fire at one end and their kids on their shoulders.Anna Clark and Tamson go looking for the fisherwomen’s world, and discover that, if you listen closely, the past of Sydney Harbour still sings.

What does it take to make History Lab?This bonus interlude episode lifts the curtain on all that goes into making history for your ears!Executive Producer Emma Lancaster steps out from behind the headphones and asks you to listen hard as she and host Tamson Pietsch discover that in the gap between historians and journalists, great things can happen.The History Lab final episode for Season One 'Fishing for Answers' will be available 25 July 2018.To find out more about the History Lab pitching process head to https://historylab.net/pitch/

In the middle of a mining town in outback Australia, over 400 kilometres from the closest ocean, stands a monument dedicated to the memory of the Titanic.On the surface the story of Broken Hill’s Titanic Memorial can be seen as a simple tale of memory and humanity, one community expressing their sympathy for another.But on closer inspection, the politics of memory starts to unravel and raises questions about the power of remembering and why we do it in the first place.

Quietly buried away in Western Sydney’s state archives is a secret history of love.Lists of lingerie, love letters and lockets of hair, are stapled to writs from over 200 years ago.In the 19th century a broken engagement could damn a woman for life. But scorned women had an unexpected way to get square. A now somewhat forgotten law known as ‘breach of promise to marry’ saw women awarded massive damages after being left jilted at the altar.But why would the courts be interested in the failed love lives of working class people? And what does a convict’s daughter, a barrister and a former Prime Minister have to do with it?In this episode of History Lab we sift through the historical remains to discover litigious lovers, colonial love triangles and the emergence of medicalised heartbreak on a quest to understand the history of love.

What happens to evidence after a criminal trial?Tamson goes looking for answers and finds them in the shadow of one of the worst miscarriages of justice in Australian history - the Chamberlain trialsProducer: Olivia RosenmanCollaborating historian: Katherine BiberHost: Tamson PietschExecutive Producer: Emma Lancaster

This season on History Lab we are exploring the gaps between us and the past Join us.