Tasmania is renowned world-over for its breathtaking beauty.

The bushland on the island is a Mecca for bushwalkers, and considered a safe haven for those wanting to start a new life, or to get away from something — or someone.

But over the years, Tasmania has become known as much for its secrets as it is for its beauty.

Out of the 169 people who’ve gone missing on the island since the mid 20th century, dozens of those have entered the Tasmanian wilderness — never to be seen again.

But why do people seem to fall off the edge of the world here?

The Lost Ones, an eight-part podcast, looks into the stories of those who have disappeared without a trace and those who have fallen victim to foul play.

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Geoffrey Rallings was a devoutly religious man who moved from England to Cooranbong, NSW, in the 1960s before relocating his family to regional Tasmania. The piano accordion player went missing around Christmas, 1995, with a number of people suspected of murdering him. A man who more recently moved to Geoffrey’s township is convinced he’s buried on his property, claiming he’s “haunted” by him.

“Bushman” John Norrish, who always wore an Akubra-style hat, went missing from the tranquil East Coast Tasmanian township of St Helens in 2018. His family said they had to do all of the investigative work into his disappearance and are sure he was murdered over a $200 debt. John’s family are infuriated by police, saying they didn’t take John’s case seriously and just “fobbed us off”.

The year was 1989 and Vietnam War veteran Ian Nichols went to a campground in central Tasmania to build a retreat shack for vets called the Red Rooster. The others helping him returned home, but Ian was never seen again. A land and sea search of the area was called off on advice from outside Tasmania Police. To this day, Ian’s daughter continues to receive messages that her father was killed – and that his body remains on-site.

Billy Steffan was a Brisbane man besieged with troubles after his divorce, and losing custody of his two children. He kept returning to Tasmania, even “kidnapping” his kids and escaping with them to the island on the ferry at one point. Then one day in 1985, after visiting a Zen Buddhist retreat, he disappeared in Tasmania altogether.

Tasmania has a unique geology because of its karst landscape, meaning its surface is pockmarked by caves. The openings to these caves are often obscured by vegetation, with hikers, cavers, bushwalkers and adventurers sometimes plummeting to their deaths – never to be seen again. The island is also beset by other dangers, including the freezing cold. And the Tasmanian devils can quickly dispose of human remains.

Could a serial killer have been active in Tasmania during the 1990s? It’s a possibility that has often been debated following two cold cases on the idyllic East Coast. Now an anonymous woman has come forward to describe the man she thinks could be behind at least five – but potentially 25 – Tasmanian disappearances.

High-profile lawyer Greg Barns SC discusses the pathological reasons why people commit violent crimes in places like Tasmania, why the dense wilderness makes investigations problematic, issues of corruption, and why so many missing persons cases in Tasmania remain unsolved.

Paul Byrne disappeared from the remote Tasmanian township of Rossarden in 1996. A friend realised he was missing when she visited his home and found his dog inside, hungry and thirsty. Not long after he vanished, Mr Byrne’s home and the house he was last seen at were burned to the ground. It’s believed he was sexually tortured before he was murdered, and thrown down a disused mine shaft.