A dastardly bandit responsible for incredibly heinous crimes, or a runaway in search of his freedom? Meg Foster unravels the myth of “Black Douglas”, whose life of crime across 19th-century Australia made him a target of lynch mobs and the popular press. Speaking to Emily Briffett, she explains how Douglas was branded a shadowy bogeyman, and delves into his experiences as a hard-drinking prize-fighter and phrenologist.

(Ad) Meg Foster is the author of Boundary Crossers: The hidden history of Australia's other bushrangers (NewSouth, 2022). Buy it now from Amazon:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Boundary-Crossers-history-Australias-bushrangers/dp/1742237525/?tag=bbchistory045-21&ascsubtag=historyextra-social-histboty
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices