White Silence

On November 28, 1979, an Air New Zealand jet took off from Auckland Airport on a sightseeing trip to Antarctica. There were 257 people on board. Hours later everyone was dead. Somehow, the plane had flown directly into the Erebus volcano. This was a disaster that shattered a country’s psyche. In the decades since, grief gave way to blame, anger and recrimination. Who was responsible for so many deaths? Was there a cover-up? How could a plane just fly into a mountain? To mark the 40th anniversary of the disaster, Michael Wright and Katy Gosset explore why New Zealand’s deadliest disaster was also its most controversial; why a nation was incapable of moving on; and how it was captured by one famous phrase: ‘an orchestrated litany of lies’. White Silence will be released daily from November 8, 2019.

Episodes

White Silence - Trailer

November 6, 2019 • 2 mins

On November 28, 1979, an Air New Zealand airliner took off from Auckland Airport on a sightseeing trip to Antarctica. There were 257 people on board. Hours later everyone was dead. Somehow, the plane had flown directly into the Erebus volcano. This was a disaster that shattered a country’s psyche. In White Silence, Michael Wright and Katy Gosset explore why New Zealand’s deadliest disaster was also its most controversial; why a n...

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Episode One - The break-in

November 6, 2019 • 38 mins

On November 28, 1979, an Air New Zealand DC10 took off from Auckland Airport on a sightseeing trip to Antarctica. It never returned. What do the families remember of that fateful day? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Episode Two - The caravan

November 8, 2019 • 55 mins

Whose fault was it? Investigators sift through the evidence and reach a shocking conclusion. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Episode Three - All hell

November 9, 2019 • 54 mins

With the pilots’ reputations in tatters, a second investigation into the crash unearths appalling mistakes and a sensational new theory for what caused the crash. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Episode Four - The Lovesong of J Alfred Prufrock

November 10, 2019 • 48 mins

‘An orchestrated litany of lies’ is ingrained into New Zealand’s collective consciousness. Justice Peter Mahon didn’t have to say that, but he did. It would prove the making of him, and the ruin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Episode Five - New World Order

November 11, 2019 • 46 mins

In 1981, New Zealand was changing. The baby boomers had come of age, and the South African rugby tour was about to tear the country apart. When the Mahon report landed right in the middle of this, the country was ready for its first big conspiracy theory. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Episode Six - White Silence

November 12, 2019 • 55 mins

40 years after the Erebus disaster, there is still no national memorial to the victims and no consensus on exactly what happened that day in 1979. Why has New Zealand been so hopelessly unable to deal with its worst-ever disaster? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Episode Seven - Playing Through

November 27, 2019 • 40 mins

A special bonus episode of White Silence for November 28 - the anniversary of the Erebus disaster. Bringing together stories from listeners like Air NZ staff who had to work through the tragedy, a teenager's 40-year trauma finally brought to a close and an unlikely golf tournament played in the shadow of Erebus. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Episode Eight - The Apology

December 19, 2019 • 33 mins

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern speaks to White Silence about her decision to say sorry to the families of the Erebus victims: “It all built a picture for me of unfinished business, and that wasn't right.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Introducing: The Trial - Philip Polkinghorne

August 1, 2024 • 28 mins

On Easter Monday 2021, police were called to the home of a successful professional couple in the affluent Auckland suburb of Remuera. They found the body of Pauline Hanna. In his emergency call, her husband, Philip Polkinghorne, said she killed herself. Sixteen months later he was charged with her murder. As this podcast is released, he's currently on trial at the High Court in Auckland. Stuff's groundbreaking series returns to tak...

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