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, writes William Ray for RNZ. If … Read more
Black Sheep is a RNZ series about the shady, controversial and sometimes downright villainous characters of New Zealand history, presented by William Ray. Here he introduces 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 … Read more
Black Sheep is a RNZ series about the shady, controversial and sometimes downright villainous characters of New Zealand history, presented by William Ray. Here he introduces Joseph Burns and Margaret Reardon, partners in murder. October 10th, 1847. The brutal murder of a Devonport family leaves Auckland fearing an invasion of vengeful Māori. But when that threat fails … Read more
In this instalment of Black Sheep, the RNZ series about the controversial characters of New Zealand history: Kimble Bent, the American soldier who fought – and switched sides – in the Taranaki Land Wars of the 1860s. It’s reasonably common knowledge that large numbers of Māori fought on the side of the government during the … Read more
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. THE CHASE January 27th, 1872. Auckland’s chief of police, Inspector Broham, is hot on the trail of a fugitive who’d been terrorising the … Read more
Black Sheep is an RNZ series about the shady, controversial and sometimes downright villainous characters of New Zealand history, presented by William Ray. Here he introduces Charlotte Badger and the pirate mystery that surrounds her. Charlotte Badger was one of the very first European women to live in New Zealand. She was also a pirate… or at … Read more
Black Sheep is an RNZ series about the shady, controversial and sometimes downright villainous characters of New Zealand history, presented by William Ray. Here he introduces Richard Burgess, ‘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 … Read more
Black Sheep is an RNZ series about the shady, controversial and sometimes downright villainous characters of New Zealand history, presented by William Ray. Here he introduces James Prendergast, the attorney general and chief justice accused of being a racist enemy of Māori. “A simple nullity” – three words which damned the man who uttered them to … Read more
Black Sheep is a RNZ series about the shady, controversial and sometimes downright villainous characters of New Zealand history, presented by William Ray. Here he introduces Thomas Hall, the Timaru man whose murder trial was an 1880s sensation. “You have achieved in the annals of crime the position of being the vilest criminal ever tried … Read more
He started life as a left-wing advocate for downtrodden workers; he ended it as a hero to proto-Nazis. William Ray looks at the life of Arthur Desmond, the New Zealand author of the book Might is Right. This is the latest episode of Black Sheep, a Radio NZ series about the shady, controversial and sometimes … Read more
Black Sheep is a Radio NZ series about the shady, controversial and sometimes downright villainous characters of New Zealand history, presented by William Ray. Here he introduces the story of Isabel “Annie’ Aves, the backstreet abortionist whose life ended in violence. Content Warning: This article deals with abortion and infanticide. Some may find it distressing. … Read more
Black Sheep is a new Radio NZ series about the shady, controversial and sometimes downright villainous characters of New Zealand history, presented by William Ray. This week, he looks at the bizarre story of the Nazi assassination plot that wasn’t. In 1942 the head of New Zealand’s first spy agency, the Security Intelligence Bureau (SIB), … Read more
Black Sheep is a new Radio NZ series about the shady, controversial and sometimes downright villainous characters of New Zealand history, presented by William Ray. Here he introduces the story of Robert Logan, the NZ administrator of Samoa in the early 20th century, whose incompetent response to the influenza pandemic has coloured NZ-Samoa relations ever … Read more