Expanse
Expanse is an award-winning podcast from ABC Australia that investigates big stories from across the continent. Season 6, 'The Nannup Four,' explores the mysterious disappearance of four people from a farmhouse in Western Australia in 2007. Host Dominique Bayens delves into the bizarre circumstances, including hidden identities and rumors of a dark online cult. The series examines the impact on those left behind and the lingering questions about what really happened.
Episodes
01 Expanse: Disappearing in the Devil's Triangle | The crash
It’s a pitch black and freezing August night in 1981 when a pilot overhears the terrifying final minutes of flight VH-MDX over radio.
INTRODUCING | Expanse: Disappearing in the Devil's Triangle
The Barrington Tops is rugged and unforgiving. With impenetrable bush and towering mountains, it eats up people and planes. It’s sometimes called the ‘Devil’s Triangle’. And it guards a mystery that hasn’t been answered in 45 years.
UPDATE | Expanse: The Nannup Four - A new search
It's been a busy few months for host Dominique Bayens, working alongside search organisers and chasing down loose ends. It all comes together with some crucial new information coming to light as a community-led search for the missing Nannup four kicks off.
UPDATE | Expanse: The Nannup Four - Hope on the horizon
Host of season 6, Expanse: The Nannup Four, Dominique Bayens has been following the developments of the case of four people who disappeared from the isolated town of Nannup.
Behind the scenes | S6 host Dominique Bayens in conversation
What goes into making a season of Expanse? What considerations are made when telling the stories of people's lives? Host of Expanse: The Nannup Four, Dominique Bayens, sits down with fellow podcast host Phil Vine to take you behind the curtain.
BONUS | Inside the Nannup Four police investigation
It has been months in the making, but police are opening up the files on the missing Nannup Four for Expanse host Dominique Bayens, and there's news on another search.
BONUS | Who was Tony Popic?
Since the podcast started rolling out, a lot of people have got in touch with information. Two people have been able to shed light on some previously unknown parts of the story.
06 Expanse: The Nannup Four | Northcliffe
A family friend and former policeman continues to search for answers for Jim and Cath McDougall decades after the Nannup four vanished. The family and friends of Chantelle McDougall try to find their own answers, as one last glimmer of hope emerges.
05 Expanse: The Nannup Four | Simon says
Jim and Cath McDougall are left reeling as the true depth of Simon Kadwill’s deception is revealed. Dominique tracks down people from his past, and hears from someone who has never spoken before who provides a startling insight into how Simon might have ended up on the path he did.
04 Expanse: The Nannup Four | A question of belief
Tony Popic is talking about an end of days, Simon is seeing spirits and Chantelle is forced into a difficult decision as increasingly troubling hints something's not right come to light.
03 Expanse: The Nannup Four | Down the rabbit hole
Dominique travels across the country to meet the two people who might be able to help her understand how Chantelle came to be living a reclusive life in a hidden corner of Western Australia, alongside a self-styled spiritual guru 18 years her senior.
02 Expanse: The Nannup Four | Selling snake oil
A chance encounter in the streets of Melbourne in 1998 leaves a friend wondering what Chantelle McDougall has been pulled into. Dominique hears about the escalating pattern of control Simon Kadwill exercises over Chantelle.If you can add to this story, or have information you think might be important, please get in touch by emailing expanse.abc@proton.me.In this episode, we cover
01 Expanse: The Nannup Four | The people in the blue house
When three adults and a child disappear without a trace from the isolated bush community of Nannup in 2007, it sparks disturbing theories about what might have happened. What was going on in the little blue house, and could understanding that hold the key to the disappearance?Host Dominique Bayens starts unpicking the rumours of cults, hidden identities and bizarre behaviour.If y
INTRODUCING — Expanse: The Nannup Four
When four people disappeared from a blue farmhouse on the outskirts of the Western Australian town of Nannup in 2007, they left behind the scatterings of a life, a note pinned to their door and a question: was the disappearance a choice... or murder? In season six of ABC’s multi-award winning Expanse podcast, host Dominique Bayens investigates how those left behind have come to t
BONUS Expanse: Nowhere Man | Gunslinger
The search for Robert Bogucki brought together a cast of colourful characters, including a cigar-toting, moustachioed American named Garrison ‘Gunslinger’ St Clair.
06 Expanse: Nowhere Man | Lost and found
A quarter of a century after he survived the Great Sandy Desert, Robert Bogucki is back for an odd-couple road trip with the Aboriginal tracker who helped search for him all those years ago.
05 Expanse: Nowhere Man | Miracle in the desert
After almost six weeks in the desert, Robert Bogucki is found alive in what quickly becomes known as ‘The miracle in the desert’. But now he has to survive the tabloid television treatment and a fierce public backlash.
04 Expanse: Nowhere Man | Alaska
After years obsessing over the case, Erin Parke has made contact with the elusive and enigmatic Robert Bogucki.
03 Expanse: Nowhere Man | The green berets
Robert Bogucki has been given up for dead, but the drama’s only just beginning.
02 Expanse: Nowhere Man | Trackers
The clock is ticking to bring Robert Bogucki out of the desert alive, and police turn to Aboriginal trackers to try to find their man.
01 Expanse: Nowhere Man | Ghost in the desert
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?
INTRODUCING — Expanse: Nowhere Man
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.
05 Uncropped | The legacy
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.
04 Uncropped | UAP in the USA
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.
03 Uncropped | The UFO files
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.
02 Uncropped | Who is visiting?
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.
01 Uncropped | The sighting
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.
INTRODUCING – Expanse S4: Uncropped
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.
05: Spies in the Outback | The secrets of Pine Gap
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 Specia
04 Spies in the Outback | The spy who loved Alice
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.
03 Spies in the Outback | The women get wild
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.
02 Spies in the Outback | Politics, pressure and protest
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.
01 Spies in the Outback | Selling a space base
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.
INTRODUCING – Expanse S3: Spies in the Outback
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.
05 From the Dead | Back From The Dead
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.
04 From the Dead | Missing: Presumed Dead
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.
03 From the Dead | The Search
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.
02 From the Dead | Lost at Sea
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.
01 From the Dead | The Blythe Star
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 t
INTRODUCING – Expanse S2: From the Dead
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.
05 Pink Diamond Heist | Roddan's Diamonds
Imagine finding a diamond in your roof? Unexplained diamonds have turned up in odd places, but the tech has come a long way since our heist and scientists can now figure out where they come from. Diamonds are the ultimate stealth wealth but tracing is making it tougher for thieves. Our Argyle diamonds went on a wild ride but in the end, some were recovered. Why have they reappear
04 Pink Diamond Heist | How to Catch a Thief
Our less than smooth criminals managed to out-fox and outlast their police pursuers for about four years, helped by suspect dealings. How did they manage it? Was it in fact the ultimate inside job? This time we dive deep into the bent security guard, the mouthy crook and the dodgy coppers as numerous investigations try to put a full stop to this crime. From the remote Argyle mine
03 Pink Diamond Heist | Lynette
What would you do if you found your husband washing diamonds in the sink? For the woman at the centre of our story this was a life changing moment. How did Lynette go from lipstick sales to diamond courier?
02 Pink Diamond Heist | A Heist is Born
How do you pull off the perfect heist? Would you believe there's actually a recipe for it? While some heists are of Mission Impossible proportions, our caper is a little more domestic. Less motion sensors, infrared beams and seismic instruments; more shampoo bottles, kitchen sieves and lipstick. But what it lacked in high tech it made up for in sheer daring. So what goes into the
01 Pink Diamond Heist | The Argyle Intrigue
In all my years of journalism, there is one story that's stuck with me. Twenty years ago I was out bush chatting to diamond explorers about a heist that happened in the remote Kimberley region of Western Australia. I couldn't believe it when some of these diamonds recently turned up in my hometown of Perth. Buckle in because it seems everyone wants to know more about what really
INTRODUCING — Expanse: Pink Diamond Heist
It's a heist of grand proportions, and a story straight out of a Hollywood blockbuster. Millions of dollars of diamonds smuggled out of the remote Kimberley, in Western Australia then around the world. But the diamonds weren't lost to the eighties when this heist happened, the stolen gems are back in circulation. On Pink Diamond Heist: how did no-one notice diamonds were being sm
