Expanse

When a bicycle is found abandoned on a remote track in the Great Sandy Desert it triggers an urgent search. Who is this mystery man and why has he walked into one of Australia’s deadliest landscapes?  

It’s 1999, and a young American man is missing in the Australian outback. Police soon realise there’s something very strange about this case – the man appears to have plunged into the desert on purpose, and seemingly doesn’t want to be found.

A bombshell is dropped in US Congress that makes a lot of people start thinking about UFOs, now called UAP, differently. Danielle O’Neal tries to understand the implications of everything she’s heard and grapples with the unanswered questions.  

Despite an alarming coincidence being uncovered in the government’s UFO files, a young intelligence officer recommends the files are closed and investigations shut down. Decades on, while the U.S. is taking a serious look at unexplained aerial phenomena (UAP) the legacy of that decision has kept UFOs in the sneered-at periphery in Australia.  

The Tully phenomena spreads, with unexplained circles starting to crop up around the country. Reports of them all are filed away by the RAAF in the secret UFO files. But, one young UFO researcher is determined to get access to those files and see just what they hold.  

Hoards of people descend on the Pennisi property to take a look at this ‘saucer nest’, sending the family running for cover. Turns out, in the years to come that would be the least of their worries. Rumours of covert surveillance and odd happenings leave the people at the heart of this mystery looking over their shoulders.  

On a hot morning under blue skies, a young banana farmer saw something he couldn’t explain that sent his pulse racing. It looked like a flying saucer and it left behind a mysterious mark. The chain of events it set off would change everything.  

In 1966 a Queensland farmer thought he saw a UFO that left behind a real physical mark in some reeds. That sighting set off a chain of events that would haunt him for decades and leave a lot of unanswered questions.  

Danielle O’Neal delves into what happens when people say seemingly unbelievable things.

Host Alex Barwick hears just how far Pine Gap’s reach is today, uncovers the secrets of stolen land and explores what it means for Australia to have a spy base hidden in the heart of the country. Host: Alex Barwick Supervising producer: Piia Wirsu Sound engineer and producer: Grant Wolter Executive producer: Blythe Moore Additional production and research: Elsa Silberstein Special thanks: Eric George, Robert Mailer, Tim Roxburgh, Jane Connors, Mark Maley, Elizabeth Beal, ABC Alice Springs, and everyone who agreed to speak with us  Further reading: David Rosenberg - Inside Pine Gap Brian Toohey - Secret Kieran Finnane - Peace Crimes Desmond Ball - A Suitable Piece of Real Estate

The Cold War has finally ended but Pine Gap, or ‘The Base’ as it’s become known, is expanding and it’s getting involved in conflicts across the world. Host Alex Barwick finally goes inside Pine Gap and meets a spy who has spent years working within the perimeter.  

Nuclear fear prompts thousands to flood to Alice Springs in the 1980s to try and close Pine Gap and reveal its secrets. This time the woman are in charge and they don't want Australia involved in nuclear war.

As the Cold War enters the 70s, it becomes clear that Pine Gap is really a spy base with eyes on the Soviets – and it's putting Alice Springs in the nuclear crosshairs.  

In the grip of a crippling drought in the 1960s, Alice Springs sees an economic lifeline when America promises to build a 'space base' on the edge of town. But once Pine Gap's bizarre, oversized golf ball-like structures are finally built, mysterious things start happening - the 'space base' isn't quite what it seems.

When America promised to build a space base in outback Australia in the middle of the 1960s space race, few suspected it would put Australia in the nuclear cross-hairs in decades to come. 

That space base, just 18ks from Alice Springs, would come to be known as Pine Gap - possibly the most secretive place in Australia.

Three of the remaining crewmen set off on a do-or die mission to find help, and fate steps in.

In this final episode of From the Dead, the impacts of the disaster are felt long after the event.

The search is called off and the men are declared dead, leaving loved ones reeling.

But on the raft, the men have one final hope for salvation.

In this episode time runs out for the men, as they have a make-or-break opportunity.

When the Blythe Star fails to turn up at port as scheduled, the authorities are left scratching their heads.

Meanwhile, the families of the crew reel at the news the ship is missing.

In this episode, bungles, bickering and birthday cards create mayhem on land.

When the Blythe Star fails to turn up at port as scheduled, the authorities are left scratching their heads. Meanwhile, the families of the crew reel at the news the ship is missing. In this episode, bungles, bickering and birthday cards create mayhem on land.

As 18-year-old Mick Doleman farewelled young love to set sail on the Blythe Star, he could never have seen what was coming.  Just 14 hours into their journey, Mick’s life – along with those of his rag tag crew of shipmates – would change forever as they scrambled to save themselves from a sinking ship. In this episode of From the Dead, host Piia Wirsu discovers the uneasy signs that all was not right when the Blythe Star set sail. 

When a ship called the Blythe Star disappeared without a trace in 1973, it kicked off the largest sea and air search Australia had ever seen.  

Ten men were left clinging to life in an emergency raft, at the mercy of the wind and currents. In the days to come they were pushed to the extremes of endurance.