Send us a text

Rewind to 11 December 2005 to 17 December 2005

🏖️ Cronulla hits boiling point

This week in 2005, Australia watches in shock as long-simmering tensions in Cronulla erupt into one of the country’s most confronting racial flashpoints. Years of beachside friction, talkback radio fury and mass-forwarded SMS hype collide on a scorching December Sunday as thousands gather at North Cronulla. What begins as a “community protest” flips into an alcohol-fuelled mob draped in flags, chanting slogans and attacking anyone who “looked wrong.” Police are overwhelmed, media crews are swarmed and by nightfall Sydney braces for retaliatory violence across multiple suburbs. Australia wakes up the next morning shaken, ashamed and suddenly questioning the myth of the laid-back, sun-kissed, everyone-gets-along Aussie beach culture.

❄️ Narnia brings the winter blockbuster magic

Amid the chaos of real life, cinemas deliver the exact opposite: snow, whimsy and one very dramatic lion. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe continues its global domination, giving mid-2000s kids their own fantasy franchise to obsess over. Tilda Swinton reigns icy and ethereal, Mr Tumnus becomes an unexpected Tumblr boyfriend before Tumblr even exists and everyone leaves the cinema wanting to open every wardrobe in the house just in case. It’s the cosy, snowy escapism 2005 didn’t know it needed.

🎤 Bert Newton signs off and Australia loses its 9am dad

After 13 years of cooking chaos, advertorial mayhem and the nation’s most joyful backstage banter, Good Morning Australia wraps for the final time. Bert Newton farewells his TV kingdom with Belvedere by his side, Karen Moregold reading the stars and a studio full of people who absolutely know they’re witnessing the end of an era. It’s peak Aussie comfort TV — messy, warm and utterly unrepeatable — and its departure leaves a beige 9am-shaped hole in the national routine.

Hang with us on socials to chat more noughties nostalgia - Facebook (@tminus20) or Instagram (tminus20podcast). You can also contact us there if you want to be a part of the show.