Australian Story: Season 18
Season 18 Lore Primer
Key plot threads, lore context, and character stakes you need to remember before diving into this season.
- Directly follows the overarching narrative developments of Australian Story Season 17.
- Faction dynamics and core character alliances shift under escalating external stakes.
- Crucial mysteries introduced previously reach key turning points and narrative reckonings.
- Sets up serialized story arcs that build directly toward the climactic season finale.
Episode Guide
Season 18 Progress Shield
The Light of Day
Feb 4, 2013 · 30 min
In 2004 Sam Cullen and his wife Janet bought a rare collection of photographs at a London auction. They were captivated by the haunting faces in the photos. The couple began piecin
On the Precipice
Feb 11, 2013 · 30 min
Scott Johnson was a young man with everything going for him - a maths genius with a bright future. But on a trip to a Sydney beach one sunny day in 1988, everything changed. The se
So Much to Say
Feb 18, 2013 · 30 min
Stevie Wright became a superstar at the age of sixteen, with the iconic 1960s rock band The Easybeats - the first Australian group to achieve chart success in the UK, US and Europe
The First Word
Feb 25, 2013 · 30 min
This week's program is about a man who's become an international pioneer in a significant but unlikely field. A failed medical school student turned journalist, Peter Ford hit the
The Chosen One
Mar 4, 2013 · 30 min
This week, the story of three young Australians and their mission to rescue an orphaned elephant calf on the Indonesian Island of Sumatra. Sumatran elephants are officially listed
Suddenly Last Summer (1)
Mar 11, 2013 · 30 min
This week's program has the untold personal story of an Australian cricket captain through the eyes of those closest to him. The cricket captaincy occupies a unique place in the na
Suddenly Last Summer (2)
Mar 18, 2013 · 30 min
Monday night's program has the emotional conclusion to our story about former Australian cricket captain Ricky Ponting and his family. This episode has the inside story of a series
On the Warpath
Mar 25, 2013 · 30 min
We first profiled official war artist Ben Quilty last September as he worked on portraits of Australian soldiers who'd served in Afghanistan. Quilty spoke then of the strong bonds
Letters to the Editor
Apr 1, 2013 · 30 min
This week we're returning to Cunnamulla in outback Queensland and the story of a newspaper, an unlikely romance and a grazing property. James Clark left the bush and found success
Down by the Sea (1)
Apr 8, 2013 · 30 min
If you are a certain age chances are you remember exactly where you were in the early hours of September 27 thirty years ago. It was the day an Australian yacht ended the longest w
Down by the Sea (2)
Apr 15, 2013 · 30 min
This week's program concludes the story of Australia II's epic quest to win the America's Cup and end the longest winning streak in sporting history. This year marks the thirtieth
Fade to Black
Apr 22, 2013 · 30 min
Monday's Australian Story provides new insights into a saga that's captured the imaginations of all kinds of people all around the world. On Saturday, Melbourne staged a final fare
Call of Duty
Apr 29, 2013 · 30 min
In a 35-year career, Detective Chief Inspector Peter Fox has forged a reputation as an officer who goes out of his way to look after victims. He rose to national prominence late la
Know Thy Enemy (1)
May 6, 2013 · 30 min
This week's program is about a woman who provided some of Australia's most memorable moments at the last Olympics. Anna Meares, the unflinching 'coalminer's daughter' from Central
Know Thy Enemy (2)
May 13, 2013 · 30 min
This week's program concludes the dramatic story of Olympic cyclist Anna Meares. Meares has dominated women's cycling for nearly a decade. Her first big rival was her own sister an
Listen to Me
May 20, 2013 · 30 min
This week's program is about a man recently named by The Australian newspaper as the most influential broadcaster in Australia. He's Radio 2GB 'shock jock' Ray Hadley and his top r
The Hazel Effect
May 27, 2013 · 30 min
Australian Story on May 27 will feature an updated edition of the Logie awarding winning episode on former First Lady Hazel Hawke, first aired ten years ago. There will be new inte
A Life Laid Bare
Jun 3, 2013 · 30 min
When Lisa Poulos stepped into a Melbourne taxi six years ago, she had no idea how her life was about to turn upside down. To that point she appeared to her friends to be the woman
Northam Exposure
Jun 10, 2013 · 30 min
Sami Shah has been in Australia for less than one year but he's already making a name for himself on the stand up comedy circuit in Western Australia. Shah was fronting his own gro
When Blood Runs Cold
Jun 17, 2013 · 30 min
Monday's Australian Story centres on a crime that has been described as one of the 'top five' unsolved murder mysteries in Australian history. Twenty years after the heyday of the
The Men Who Fell to Earth
Jun 24, 2013 · 30 min
This week's program is about a fatal plane crash and the disturbing facts that emerged in the aftermath. It started when a young woman called Samantha Hare surprised her partner wi
No More Than a Ghost
Jul 1, 2013 · 30 min
This week, the story of a young Adelaide student and the obsession that's made her an international publishing sensation. She's 28 year old Hannah Kent and her novel on an Icelandi
The Music Lesson
Jul 8, 2013 · 30 min
Singer Jessica Mauboy introduces this updated program on the life of Yothu Yindi frontman Mr Yunupingu. "Growing up in Darwin, everyone looked up to him, and it made me want to do
Irons in the Fire
Jul 15, 2013 · 30 min
It's said there’s nothing more powerful than an idea whose time has come... This week's program is about a psychology student and a brainwave that became a phenomenon. As Tasmania'
There but for Fortune
Jul 22, 2013 · 30 min
This week's program is about a man who's made a big name in London but is little known back in Australia. Richard Farleigh amassed an early fortune as a young gun in the financial
Too Good to Refuse
Jul 29, 2013 · 30 min
August marks the 50th anniversary of one of Britain's most infamous crimes – the Great Train Robbery. Ronald Biggs was sentenced to 30 years gaol for his part in the crime that he
Corridors of Power
Aug 5, 2013 · 30 min
This week we visit a scenic valley where best selling author Di Morrissey and a determined group of rural residents have stared down a corporate giant. The setting is the spectacul
A Place for Us
Aug 12, 2013 · 30 min
Award winning television journalist Sara James was living the dream as an anchor and foreign correspondent for American network NBC. She'd lived in New York for fifteen years and
Long Walk Back
Aug 19, 2013 · 30 min
Chloe Palmer-Simpson was just 18 when she was involved in a head-on car crash near her home in Bargo in New South Wales. The accident left her fighting for her life and dealing wit
A Voice in the Wilderness
Aug 26, 2013 · 30 min
Retiring independent MP Tony Windsor offers a unique insider's account on Australian Story of the last three years of political tumult. After two decades in politics, both state an
Driving Greg Norman (1)
Sep 2, 2013 · 30 min
Includes interviews with President Bill Clinton, Jack Nicklaus, Peter FitzSimons, Morgan-Leigh Norman (daughter), and Gregory Norman Junior (son) and third wife Kirsten in her firs
Driving Greg Norman (2)
Sep 9, 2013 · 30 min
Australian Story concludes the epic tale of Greg Norman, recognised as one of Australia's best and most flamboyant sports stars. Norman dominated international golf for nearly two
In Your Face
Sep 16, 2013 · 30 min
In a world obsessed with physical beauty, Robert Hoge is a man embracing 'ugly'. Hoge was born 41 years ago with a massive tumour in the middle of his face. At first his own mother
Turning the Gaze
Sep 23, 2013 · 30 min
Melbourne schoolgirl Olympia Nelson is only sixteen, but she's no stranger to controversy. She's grown up in an unusual but talented household as the daughter of an art critic and
Count On Clive
Sep 30, 2013 · 30 min
Much has changed since Australian Story first explored the private and professional worlds of Clive Palmer sixteen months ago. At the time former Qld Premier Peter Beattie conclud
A Sapper's Lullaby
Oct 7, 2013 · 30 min
Fred Smith has been described as 'Australia's secret weapon' in international diplomacy. As a career diplomat, he's represented Australia in Bougainville and more recently in Afgh
On Maggies Farm
Oct 14, 2013 · 30 min
Three years ago Maggie MacKellar, daughter of a former Federal Cabinet Minister, was living on the family farm in NSW trying to reassemble the pieces of her life. A writer and Syd
Cracking the Code
Oct 21, 2013 · 30 min
The Damiani family's story has been described as a breathtaking example of how medicine can be transformed by the determination of ordinary people. Four years ago, Stephen and Sal
Letters From Elizabeth
Oct 28, 2013 · 30 min
They say every family has its secrets, but in Susan Swingler's case those secrets were buried more deeply than most. Abandoned by her father at the age of 4, Susan Swingler spent
Think Big
Nov 4, 2013 · 30 min
As a fatherless child, Johnson Maker-Adeng fled from war-ravaged Sudan with the remnants of his family. For four years they trekked through the African wilderness. Then they spent
A Feeling for the Water (1)
Nov 11, 2013 · 30 min
Murray Rose was an inspiration for generations of Australians, in and out of the swimming pool where he won six Olympic medals. Yet despite his role building up the 'golden era' o
A Feeling for the Water (2)
Nov 18, 2013 · 30 min
Part two of the top rating 'A Feeling For The Water' opens with Murray Rose's move to California to begin a university scholarship. America in the later 1950s was an attractive fi
Taking Flight
Nov 25, 2013 · 30 min
Annabel Blake grew up with a mother who, as a young athlete, had hoped to represent Australia in the 1988 Winter Olympics. Janine Shepherd's nickname, 'Janine the Machine' reflect