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Private Notes
In the pristine Kimberley of Western Australia, Tim Flannery walks in primeval tracks along the legendary Dinosaur Coast. Neil wrestles the southern hemisphere's biggest tides at the surging Horizontal Falls, and Xanthe Mallett explores a unique maritime war grave. Neil also discovers Broome's dark pearling history and the delicate science of pearl cultivation. Brendan Moar learns the art of indigenous raft making and Emma Johnston investigates the lush, protected habitat of migratory shorebirds. Finally, Neil experiences the indigenous 'dreaming' stories through a little sacred maintenance on some ancient rock art at Freshwater Cove.
Across the glittering waters of Sydney, Neil Oliver explores the network of fortification to protect 'Fortress Sydney', and discovers how close the city came to being taken in the Second World War. Xanthe Mallett discovers some ingenious colonial DIY, as she learns how to make building mortar out of oyster shells. Tim Flannery reveals the geological secrets of the city's vast and sprawling harbour, and unlocks the riddle of the rivers that had Captain Phillip baffled in 1788. Brendan Moar examines the Sydney Harbour Bridge, an international icon in engineering and design, while Emma Johnston hunts for tropical fish in Sydney's temperate and diverse harbour.
Neil Oliver begins a stunning journey through the world's largest coral reef in the hands of the Australian Navy, sailing in the wake of James Cook. Brendan Moar uncovers the living history of Australia's hidden slave trade. Xanthe Mallett dives a spectacular wreck in search of answers about its calamitous sinking. And Tim Flannery is granted rare access to a scientific research zone to examine coral history. On idyllic Lizard Isand, Neil Oliver uncovers a bloody tale of cultural misunderstanding. Finally, at the southern end of the Great Barrier Reef, Emma Johnston heads underwater with Google to take the reef into homes around the world.
In the tranquil south east of Tasmania, Neil Oliver probes Port Arthur's harsh penal history. Brendan Moar examines the dramatic grip of lighthouse life on a remote island. Emma Johnston dives into an underwater battleground to see how science and industry are saving the marine neighbourhood. Neil joins the southern hemisphere's largest wooden boat festival, and Tim Flannery investigates Hobart's long and illustrious role in Antarctic exploration. Finally, Xanthe Mallett delves into the violent history of whaling, and a legacy that helped build a colony.
On Australia's shiny holiday coast, Miriam Corowa investigates the engineering behind the 1970s Florida-style canal system of the Gold Coast. Brendan Moar dives headlong into a dangerous current to investigate first-hand the science of rips. Xanthe Mallett scours a World War II fortification at what could have been Australia's front line, and discovers what life was like waiting for the war to arrive. Neil Oliver heads to see the remains of a bleak chapter in history - an outpost for outcasts. Emma Johnston joins a scientific hunt for sea cows, in the hope of saving them. Finally, Tim Flannery travels to Fraser Island to investigate what's at the end of the line for the longest sand drift system in the world.
Neil Oliver meets the residents of Melbourne's historic beach huts, and explores the beacon that helped birth a nation at Cape Otway. Xanthe Mallett dives for clues to solve the mystery behind a tragic shipwreck that marked the end of an era. Meanwhile, Brendan Moar uncovers the history of the Great Ocean Road, and, armed with his pick, grasps the challenges of building this now world-famous coastal road in the 1920s. Emma Johnston dives in to hunt for a delicate seadragon, and discovers the tragic tale of an artist captivated by its vivid beauty. Tim Flannery scours the water for evidence of a marine mega fauna that roamed the ancestral Port Philip Bay, while Miriam Corowa discovers why the coast at Bells Beach keeps pumping out perfect surfing waves.
Tim Flannery begins this Top End adventure at Victoria Settlement and learns of its tragic history in the struggle to colonise Australia's northern frontier. Neil Oliver examines the ferocious bombing of Darwin and a remarkable story of reconciliation between former enemies. Miriam Corowa confirms that not all Hollywood dreams come true, especially along this unforgiving coast. Plus, Xanthe Mallett goes on patrol with Australian Customs Fisheries to hunt for killer ghost nets. And no Top End story would be complete without a crocodile - Emma Johnston draws blood in the name of science.
On Australia's windswept coast, Neil Oliver investigates why no one survived the attack on HMAS Sydney in its dramatic battle with a German raider in 1941. Xanthe Mallett heads to the Houtman Abrolhos islands and unearths the gruesome tale of the Dutch Batavia murders of 1629. In Shark Bay, Tim Flannery finds 3 billion-year-old life, while Neil Oliver finds out why Carnarvon's extraordinary jetty was once the lifeblood of the Gascoyne region. Emma Johnston witnesses why the world's largest fish keeps returning to the crystal waters of Ningaloo Reef, and Brendan Moar catches up with coastal nomads off the grid, on the edge of the continent.
Neil Oliver becomes one of only five people known to have set foot on the isolated island known as Skull Rock. At Eagle's Nest, explorer Professor Tim Flannery delves into prehistory, revealing his own role in discovering Australia's polar dinosaurs. Historian Dr Alice Garner visits Victoria's notorious Cheviot Beach, reliving the fateful day Australia lost its prime minister to these waters. Neil travels to Phillip Island, and reveals how an entire town was removed to save the penguins. Landscape architect Brendan Moar tackles the tricky sport of Blo-Karting along the flat sands of Waratah Bay. On the Gippsland Lakes, marine ecologist Professor Emma Johnston hunts for a brand new species of dolphin, and finally Neil takes to the skies with aviatrix Judy Pay for an unforgettable tour of the Bass Strait coast in a fully-restored warbird.
Neil takes to the air on an RAAF training mission to seek and destroy submarine invaders. Palaeontologist and explorer Professor Tim Flannery has a close encounter with history as he uncovers an unlikely meeting between two French and English navigators at Encounter Bay. Landscape architect Brendan Moar visits the moody Coorong to remember the ground-breaking Australian film Storm Boy. Neil investigates the quest to preserve Adelaide's mother-ship, freshly saved from Scottish ruin. Marine ecologist Professor Emma Johnston dives deep into the stunning underwater caverns of the Limestone Coast. In Robe, historian Dr Alice Garner gets a taste of how Victoria's gold rush was the making of this coastal town across the border, and Neil examines new archaeological evidence of a wild fur trade that sprung up on remote Kangaroo Island, and its lasting impact on the endangered sea lions of Seal Bay.
Neil Oliver unearths the surprisingly dirty history of much-loved Byron Bay. Professor Tim Flannery uncovers the world's longest recorded unbroken raft journey. Neil investigates a war that the authorities were determined to cover up at great personal cost.
Neil Oliver travels from Perth to Augusta. He begins in the rigging of the Duyfken, a replica 16th Century Dutch ship, the first known European vessel to visit Australia.
Neil travels to Horn Island in Australia's extreme north to uncover the role of Australia's only indigenous battalion, a Second World War fighting force of Torres Strait Islanders. On Possession Island Tim Flannery stands where James Cook finally claimed Australia for Great Britain, and discovers the riches that he missed. Xanthe Mallett ventures into the treacherous Adolphus Channel, the scene of Queensland's worst peacetime maritime disaster. Neil Oliver visits Mer Island to tell the story of its most famous son, Eddie Mabo, who spearheaded Australia's land rights' revolution. On Yam and Tudu Islands Tim Flannery is on the trail of fearsome headhunters to unearth the significance of their historic practice. Alice Garner joins an unusual border patrol on Saibai Island, less than four kilometres from Papua New Guinea, and finally Neil Oliver meets the Torres Strait's most prominent musician, who started recording at the age of 70.
On this lush-green island, 1500kms from the mainland. Neil Oliver wanders amidst penal ruins, as he discovers the legacies of two historic figures; an audacious convict, and the second a reforming commandant.
Neil Oliver discovers the fatal engineering errors behind Cape St George Lighthouse that cursed Wreck Bay for four decades. In Callala Bay, Tim Flannery uncovers the life-saving properties of seaweeds.
Neil Oliver boards an iron ore carrier to discover only a tiny margin of error allowed in docking and loading these enormous vessels.
In the opening episode of the third season of Coast Australia, Neil Oliver heads offshore and ticks a big one off his bucket list. He’s on the trail of that most majestic marine creature – the mighty Orca. Neil also examines the notion that the ANZAC spirit was forged – not on the beaches of Gallipoli – but in the port of Albany where Australian and New Zealand troops gathered for their departure to World War One. Brendan Moar reimagines the night Skylab fell to earth in Esperance in 1979. Marine Ecologist Dr Emma Johnston investigates the now politically incorrect industry of whaling in the Western Australian town of Albany. Dr Alice Garner travels to Lucky Bay to test whether it can legitimately claim the title of ‘whitest sand in Australia’. And Professor Tim Flannery makes the journey offshore to Bald Island in search of an endangered marsupial with a taste for truffles.
A journey through the meandering waterways of Sydney’s Hawkesbury River system to the sublime wilderness of Lord Howe Island. Neil travels to the Heritage-listed treasure of Lord Howe Island in search for the world’s rarest insect before meeting some curious sea birds endemic to the island. Back on the mainland – he digs deep to find the true history of coal in Newcastle. Distinguished scientist Tim Flannery unleashes his inner fly-boy in the plane that was to Australia what the Spitfire was to England. Marine Scientist Dr Dean Miller puts his body on the line at Merewether Surf Lifesaving Club. Brendan Moar cruises the Hawkesbury River on the wartime boat that became a leisure-time icon. And Marine Ecologist Emma Johnston tattoos a seahorse for science near Nelson Bay
Neil and the team reveal fascinating tales from the inspiring and remote North Kimberley. Neil visits Australia’s secret wartime airbase on the remote Anjo Peninsula before joining the traditional owners there to fight fire with fire. Tim Flannery travels to the iron islands of the Buccaneer Archipelago and back into deep geological time. Marine Ecologist Emma Johnston examines how tidal pull is pivotal in the Kimberley’s biggest aquaculture venture. Landscape Architect, Brendan Moar visits the most enchanted corner of the Dampier Peninsula – where oysters grow on trees and mud crabs are served for lunch. And marine scientist, Dean Miller discovers how local fauna are adapting to survive the inevitable march of the dreaded cane toad across the Kimberley.
A journey along Victoria’s fabled shipwreck coast to discover a diverse collection of stories from the deep – and shallow. Neil Oliver joins the Port Phillip Pilots to navigate the bay’s treacherous entrance – ominously known as ‘The Rip’. Emma Jonshton discovers a mirrored coastline – under the sea. Brendan Moar meets the Penguin Protectors of Warrnambool while Dean Miller learns a heartbreaking personal history associated with one of the coast’s worst shipwrecks. And Tim Flannery finds evidence of giant, native marsupials in the cliffs at Portland.
Neil Oliver examines James Cook’s run of luck on the Great Barrier Reef. In this episode, Neil Oliver finds out how Captain James Cook resolved the crisis for which Cape Tribulation is named. And then, the indigenous story of his ‘lucky landing’ on sacred ground. Emma Johnston dives for a natural treasure beneath the Great Barrier Reef – while Brendan Moar simulates a cyclone – to test how this coast withstands the ferocious tropical storms that frequent it. And Dean Miller storms the beaches with an elite army unit that’s the eyes and ears over 640,000km2 of Northern Australia.
This episode documents the industry, ingenuity and beauty of the coastline south of Sydney to the Shoalhaven. From the engineering wonder of Seacliff Bridge to pivotal moments in the aviation history, this episode charts a densely populated coastline with stories that brim with new insights and captivating natural beauty. Neil Oliver examines a 18th Century close encounter in Botany Bay – before following the footsteps of legendary Australian aviator, Charles Kingsford Smith at Seven Mile Beach. Brendan Moar hits the sandhills at Kurnell to reimagine a seminal Australian film from the 1940s. Alice Garner visits an isolated – but innovative coastal community in Sydney’s Royal National Park and Dean Miller learns the art of survival in a naval rescue exercise.
Neil and the team examine creativity and the art of reinvention along Tasmania’s northern coast and offshore islands. Neil collects some of the cleanest air in the world in the name of science. On King Island, he examines the worst maritime disaster in the history of Australia before swinging back onto the mainland for a round of golf on a legendary links course. Emma Johnston joins a scientific team on Albatross Island to track the magnificent bird for which the island is named. Alice Garner examines the changing fortunes of industrial Burnie. And Tim Flannery follows in the footsteps of a legendary scientist at Fossil Bluff.
Neil and the team embrace the rich colours and stories from where the desert meets the sea. Neil Oliver tries fishing with a pole and a line – and meets the pioneers who began the industry that made Port Lincoln rich. On the Spencer Gulf, distinguished scientist Professor Tim Flannery finds food to feed the world in a horticultural experiment powered by the sun and the sea. Brendan Moar champions the camel’s role in Australian exploration at Port Augusta. Historian Alice Garner travels to the Copper Triangle to unearth the intriguing Cornish history associated with the precious metal mined there. Dean Miller joins the tuna Cowboys on a wet-ranch. And Marine Ecologist, Professor Emma Johnston has an intriguing visit to a whale-sized morgue.
With locations like the Bunda Cliffs giving insights into life, and Earth's movements dating back to the super continent Gondwanaland, the Great Australian Bight is captivating.
Neil uncovers the story of some of Australia's bravest soldiers, while Tim reflects on the plight of thousands of convicts banished to the end of the Earth.
While Neil visits the sight of the birth of the RAAF, Emma discovers how science and fine dining are coming together to aid Port Phillip Bay with its sea urchin problem.
The history of east Arnhem Land is as old as the population of Australia, Aboriginal culture soaked in music and story, but also of living with the land.
This episode of Coast Australia explores how one of the most picturesque waterways in the world: Sydney, became one of history's most impressive working harbors.
Queensland, Cape York, the largest unspoiled wilderness in northern Australia, a complex mosaic of rainforest, wetlands, beaches and forests, the beauty of the landscape is almost beyond compare.
Neil investigates the desalination process in Perth, and discovers the unique marine life that have developed as a result of it. Emma explores the sustainable fishing practices of the Western Rock Lobster.
There set of islands of the most far flung territories of Australis, but they possess captivating natural beauty and surprisingly rich and diverse past, with a multicultural heritage like no other.
