Where are your letters from during the next 12 Months

From the Kelly Gang, gold rushes, First Fleet and convict days. Seeking out Australia's early establishment, the good, bad and downright ugly. We go "on the Wallaby" and get to the truth and bring back copies of letters, court records and newspapers. Learn of the establishment of towns and cities, railroads and wharves and some truly strange monuments. Bush Ballads and nursery rhymes may have "other" meanings. 

Without maritime exploration, Australia and the South Seas would not be what they are today. Our league of extraordinary explorers get on board with Captain Cook, join his Tahitian Navigator, Tupia, even earlier with Spanish, French, Portuguese and Japanese explorers. From ship building, carving canoes and of course shipwrecks, lost treasure, phantom sightings, cyclones, maritime disasters and unexplained mysteries.

The Last Great Human Expansion is the history of the peopling of the Pacific, from Asia, to Papua, Aboriginal Australia, the push east to Rapa Nui, Hawaii, Tahiti and South to New Zealand. The voyaging and way finding of the original people was second to none other, and clashes with the Colonial explorers, traders and resource raiders of the time continued. Learn of a voyaging culture that is connected by sea.

Unfortunately Colonisation, Slavery and the Church seemed to have been intertwined since before time throughout the entire South Pacific. Many things about modern Countries and even Religions are so far removed from their origins, that it is "maddening the unhelpful" knowing the truth. From the ill-advised intent of Missionaries to outright slavery and Blackbirding, there are stories untold.

Of course Captain Cook did not "discover" Australia. Thousands of Aboriginal Tribes and Nations covered the Australian mainland and coastal Islands. Melanesian villages and Islands to the North, now known as Torres Strait Islanders, lie between the mainland of Australia and Papua New Guinea. We could write a letter a day for the next 100 years and still not catch up on the true history.

The natural world has changed dramatically over the last 40,000 years. Our Time Travellers witness the extinction of Australian mega fauna and the Tasmanian Tiger, (although some believe still exists today). Also introduced species such as the Camel, Boar, Deer and other pests like cats, rabbits and cane toads and who, how and why these animals were introduced. Expect sketches, specimens, fossils and more.

Did you know the early Pirates were actually sanctioned Privateers of the Church and early Monarchs of England. Well actually the Church were the rulers until the Catholics and the Protestants, on behalf of the Monarchs starting hating each other. Many early wars were the result of religion. Our explorers travel to World Wars in the Pacific, early Australian Frontier Wars and the New Zealand Wars, all fought between Colonists and Indigenous people on their own lands.

Australia and the South Pacific is a result of the early Colonial days and Pacific migration, and the collective cultures that came by sea to populate the great South Seas. Over the centuries, this melting pot mixed cultures, languages, food, art and music, providing our current day cultural connections. We explore "Canoe Plants" like taro, kava, yam, banana, sweet potato & coconut and became a constant before time as it is today.

Our explorers search the myths, legends and folklore stories like Maui, Black Magic, Bunyips, Yowies, Creation Stories and Deities. We investigate Supernatural Beings, Sea Gods and Goddesses and even strange Cults stemming from World War II in the Pacific. Our letters will uncover some of these myths and legends, cults and beliefs and provide greater detail on their origins, meanings, relevance and purpose.