Grave Tales Australia: the series

The Black Death comes to town

Nothing strikes fear into the heart like the words 'black death' – a plague that can wipe out a whole town and can be passed on by a sneeze! When five children from one family died from Pneumonic Plague in 1905, the city of Maryborough feared the worst, but two nurses helped save the city!

The Mystery of Mollie

Mollie Thompson went missing early one morning – no-one knew where she was until her body was found 10 days later in an impossible to get to water tower that had been searched three times.

Missing person Juanita Nielsen

Thirty-eight-year-old journalist Juanita Nielsen remains on the Australian Missing Persons Register. What happened to the feisty Sydney journalist who stood up for the residents of her area when developers wanted their inner-city homes?

Grace and Harry's death on the Pearl Ferry

Heading home from work in 1896, Grace, 27, was seen walking slowly towards the river... she missed the first ferry and decided to wait for the next one. Harry, 21, ran his father's business in the city... he and his aunty boarded the very same ferry. Grace and Harry were both on a ferry named the Pearl.

Is the role model for Miss Havisham buried in a Sydney Cemetery?

Could deserted bride, Eliza Donnithorne, be the role model for Charles Dickens' Miss Havisham from Great Expectations? Five years before Miss Havisham was created, Eliza, a Sydney woman, became a recluse after she was left at the alter; the wedding feast was left to rot and the clocks were stopped.

Is Jack the Ripper buried in a Brisbane cemetery?

Could a serial killer who so cold-bloodily murdered five women now rest on a leafy hillside in a Brisbane cemetery? That may well be the case. Was Walter Porriott Jack the Ripper or just Australia’s greatest fraudster?

A shipwreck love story - Eva and Tom

A love that was meant to be? It was a maritime tragedy when the Loch Ard was shipwrecked near Port Campbell in 1878 with 54 passengers onboard. Only one young man and one young woman survived. Everyone hoped they would get together…

The Shark Arm Murder

Who was the owner of the human arm that a shark spat up in front of a crowd at a Coogee Aquarium? The twisted tale of the Sydney’s strangest murder hunt.