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A rescue cat walks into a historian’s life and suddenly the archive looks different. That’s the spark behind this wide-ranging conversation with cat historian Jodie Stewart, who explores how felines traveled with colonists, curled up in family photos, comforted soldiers, and later became flashpoints in conservation and culture wars. If you’ve ever wondered why cats provoke such strong feelings — or why they’re often missing from national stories — this is a tour through the ships, letters, laws, and myths that shaped Australia’s relationship with its most polarizing companion animal.
We dig into the big questions: competing theories of how cats reached Australia and the DNA that points to European origins; the Victorian-era “cult of the cat” and how British tastes crossed oceans; and the moment Federation recast native fauna as national symbols while introduced animals fell down a perceived hierarchy. Jodie unpacks the 1990s Great Cat Debate — cat curfews, containment, registration, household caps — and the warlike language that still colors public policy. Along the way, we meet Trim, the seafaring cat immortalized by Matthew Flinders, and discover archival glimpses of veterans holding their cats as they recover, proof that emotion belongs in the historical record.
This episode invites you to see cats as historical agents — observers and participants whose presence reveals how identity, ecology, and policy intertwine. We talk evidence vs. rhetoric, why lethal control keeps failing, and how better language and community-centered strategies could improve both conservation outcomes and public trust. Whether you’re a cat lover, cat skeptical, or simply curious about Australian history, you’ll leave with a richer sense of how private affections shape public narratives and why love itself has a history.
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