September - October 2020

Australian Geographic

The journal of the Australian Geographic Society

Australian Geographic3 min read
Resilience Required
IT’S SPRING. And despite our mild winters, there’s always something invigorating about the time of year when the days grow longer and the temperature rises. This time around, however, it’s considerably harder to invoke the sense of anticipation and h
Australian Geographic1 min read
AG Subscriber Benefits
IF YOU ARE a subscriber to AUSTRALIAN GEOGRAPHIC you are automatically a member and supporter of the Australian Geographic Society. A portion of each subscription goes towards supporting scientific and environmental research, conservation, community
Australian Geographic2 min read
Roads Less Travelled
Photographer Dave Laslett (above) has converted an ex-military six-wheel-drive Land Rover Perentie 110 series into a functional self-contained mobile art space. He travels widely throughout his home state of South Australia, the APY Lands and surroun
Australian Geographic1 min read
Australian Geographic
MANAGING DIRECTOR Jo Runciman EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Chrissie Goldrick CREATIVE DIRECTORMike Ellott SCIENCE AND ENVIRONMENT EDITOR Karen McGhee ASSISTANT EDITOR Jess Teideman SUB-EDITORS Elizabeth Ginis, Rebecca Cotton DIRECTOR OF CARTOGRAPHY Will Pringle P
Australian Geographic2 min read
Your Say
First, let me congratulate you on a magnificent magazine. You have a wide range of excellently researched articles, and every issue is eagerly awaited and avidly devoured! However, in AG 156, you featured coins celebrating the Ghan. I know the genera
Australian Geographic2 min read
Featured Letter
During these COVID-19 lockdown days, it was great to receive AG 155 and discover an article that helps me with my family story writing for my grandchildren. I was delighted to see Phil Jarratt’s story about Agnes Water and The Town of 1770, contrasti
Australian Geographic1 min readBotany
Phoenix Trees
BUSHFIRES ARE A natural consequence of the Aussie climate, and eucalypts have evolved superb adaptations to survive, even thrive, through frequent trials by flame. All but a few species form a knobbly mass called a lignotuber, most of which is hidden
Australian Geographic3 min readNature
Paradise For Wanderers
Conservation status: critically endangered nationally Total population: fewer than 1000 Scientific name: Pedionomus torquatus Habitat: arid grasslands of south-eastern Australia Threats: loss of habitat due to conversion of native grasslands for crop
Australian Geographic2 min read
War Relief
BY LATE JULY 1945, after almost six years of war, Australians were eagerly anticipating the formal surrender of Japan that would mean Victory in the Pacific (VP) and the end of World War II. The Allies’ Victory in Europe (VE) Day had been commemorate
Australian Geographic2 min read
Return Of The Gouldians
“WE WERE gobsmacked!” says Dr Ray Pierce, from the Queensland Gouldian Finch Study (QGFS), of his first encounter with a large flock of Queensland Gouldians. Ray, a conservation scientist, and wildlife guide Patrick De Geest lead the QGFS, whose smal
Australian Geographic2 min readMystery
Saucer Serial Hysteria
ON A FOGGY morning in January 1966, George Pedley, a banana farmer from Euramo, near Tully in far north Queensland, was driving his tractor past a lagoon on his property when he suddenly heard “a loud ear-piercing hissing above the noise of the engin
Australian Geographic1 min readEarth Sciences
Big Weather (and How To Survive It)
FROM THE frontlines of Australia’s Black Summer of 2019–20 comes BIG WEATHER (and how to survive it), a new ABC TV three-part series. Presenter Craig Reucassel charts the season as oppressive heatwaves set temperature records and lead to Australia’s
Australian Geographic3 min read
Assisted Migration
THE NUMBER OF CONVICTS sent to Australia increased sharply in the 1820s, lifting the proportion in New South Wales in 1828 to 46 per cent of the population – up from 30 per cent two decades earlier. At the same time, Australia was becoming attractive
Australian Geographic2 min readNature
Big Building Birds
MEGAPODES are medium-sized birds with large feet (mega = large; podos = foot), which they use to dig burrows or construct large mounds of rotting vegetation and soil. The purpose of these constructions is to incubate their eggs. This type of nesting
Australian Geographic1 min read
Parrtjima – A Festival In Light
This unique Aboriginal light festival will go ahead in September with 10 days of events around the theme “Lifting Our Spirits”. It will feature breathtaking light installations, live music, workshops and talks that will proudly showcase the oldest co
Australian Geographic1 min readEarth Sciences
Lakes Entrance, Vic
THE PICTURESQUE WATERFRONT town of Lakes Entrance is both an important fishing port and a popular holiday destination. It’s located at the entrance to Gippsland Lakes, a vast inland waterway in eastern Victoria, and at the north-eastern end of Ninety
Australian Geographic3 min read
Places Of Interest
At Jemmys Point, 2km west of the town on the Princes Highway, several impressive lookouts offer excellent views of the lakes, Bullock Island and the entrance to Bass Strait. It’s certainly the best place to get a panoramic overview of the entrance to
Australian Geographic2 min read
Counting Spiders
JUMPING SPIDERS in the genus Portia can remember, plan and count. And they attack other spiders up to twice their size! In a revealing series of lab experiments, scientists put one of these Portia spiders on a tower on a tiny island in a tiny ‘lake’
Australian Geographic1 min read
Public Servant
WHAT PICTURE DOES the title “public servant” paint for you? Is it of a pen-pusher inside the Canberra bubble living off taxpayer dollars? Well, the next time you’re caught in a web of red tape, and feel like cursing all public servants, it might give
Australian Geographic3 min read
The Australian Geographic Book Club
By Neil Montagnana-Wallace IN CELEBRATION of our national airline’s centenary, this remarkable new book features never-beforeseen photographs and previously untold histories from the Qantas archives. The Flying Kangaroo is a richly illustrated timeli
Australian Geographic2 min read
A ‘Time-tree’ Of Earth’s Flowering Plants
There are now more than 400 families of flowering plants on Earth, encompassing at least 13,000 genera and 300,000 species. These form the basis of most land-based food webs, which support most of Earth’s terrestrial animals, including, of course, hu
Australian Geographic3 min readEarth Sciences
Protecting Earth’s Ecology Makes Financial Sense
EARLIER THIS YEAR I highlighted the push, championed by renowned American biologist E.O. Wilson, to reserve half Earth’s surface for nature to curtail a sixth mass extinction of species (see AG 154). Now a major new report reveals that including 30 p
Australian Geographic1 min read
Wild Australia Diary Entries
Go bushwalking in the Blue Mountains The Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area, west of Sydney, was badly hit by last summer’s bushfires. But with flushes of new foliage and flowers in abundance, environments are bouncing back. Spring is a great
Australian Geographic2 min readAstronomy & Space Sciences
One Space Mystery Solves Another
ONE OF THE biggest puzzles for astronomers during the past decade or so has been the origin of fast radio bursts (FRBs) – intense pulses of radio waves from space that last only thousandths of a second. Compounding the mystery, they can occur anywher
Australian Geographic2 min read
Talking Australia
This zoologist, educator, conservationist and author has worked with traditional owners in Arnhem Land, NT, for decades and speaks local languages Djambarrpuynu, Warramirri and Gupapuynu. Today, he works as an environmental consultant and teaches chi
Australian Geographic1 min readAstronomy & Space Sciences
Looking Up
The evening sky is a delight for bird lovers! Low in the north you’ll find the constellations Aquila the Eagle being chased by Cygnus the Swan (looking like an inverted crucifix). In the south the brightest ‘bird’ is Grus the Crane, with fainter Phoe
Australian Geographic1 min read
Your Society
YOUR AUSTRALIAN GEOGRAPHIC Society has consistently provided essential funding to thousands of small-scale projects for more than 30 years. As we enter our fourth decade, we are responding to the dire situation of Australia’s crashing biodiversity, i
Australian Geographic1 min read
Ag Society Fundraiser
Act now to help stop the extinction of the critically endangered plains-wanderer (see page 18 for full story). Habitat loss and land cultivation have led to there being fewer than 1000 plains-wanderers left in the wild. Help the AG Society to help Tr
Australian Geographic1 min read
Your Subscription Is Essential To The Australian Geographic Society
EVERY SUBSCRIBER to this journal automatically becomes a member of the not-for-profit AG Society. Your subscription helps us fund Australia’s scientists, conservationists, adventurers and explorers. To subscribe, call 1300 555 176 Who are the Austral
Australian Geographic6 min read
Conservation Canine-style
IN 2004, THERE WAS no way David Williams, then an environmental science student at Deakin University, in Victoria, could have predicted the chain reaction a last-minute assignment submission would create. A paper he’d written outlined an environmenta
Australian Geographic2 min read
The Canine Potential To Fight Extinction
Sarcophilus harrisii A facial tumour disease may have reduced the devil population by as much as 80 per cent, although the exact number surviving in the wild is unknown. Healesville Sanctuary aims to breed and manage an insurance population of up to
Australian Geographic7 min readIntelligence (AI) & Semantics
Lines Of Defence
“I HAD MY LITTLE GRANDSON out in the garden with me the other day,” says Ian Cane, a beekeeper whose family has been in the industry for more than 100 years. “I’d planted some carrots, and I was showing him how the bees go from one carrot flower to t
Australian Geographic1 min readNature
Enemy Number One In The Beehive
DEAF AND BLIND, the varroa mite smells and feels its way through the beehive. Its goal is the brood cell, where it can reproduce and infect the next generation of bees with diseases, thus weakening the entire colony. Beekeepers have very few options
Australian Geographic11 min read
Celebrating Our Native Pantry
Warrilyu seed, from thick-leaved mallee, is magnesium-rich and has long been ground into a delicious nutty paste. But its exceptional nutritional value was only recognised by modern ethnobotanists last year after Pintupi elders shared their knowledge
Australian Geographic2 min read
Pipi-harvesting On The Coorong
DIG YOUR FEET into the sand along the wild, windy Coorong coast, south of Adelaide, and you’ll step into history. “For us there is no better feeling than getting back on country in the fishery that our ancestors have fished for thousands of years,” s
Australian Geographic1 min read
Nature’s Fury Captured
OVERALL WINNER BORDER FIRE MT BARNEY Ben Blanche, Queensland Extremely dry Mount Barney National Park burned uncontrollably for several weeks. The fire slowly marched over the peak of Mt Barney as it moved around the border area of Queensland and New
Australian Geographic11 min read
East Gippsland Grit
IT WAS A SUMMER no-one in East Gippsland will ever forget. The recent bushfire crisis was the Victorian region’s largest natural disaster and no community was left unaffected. The fires were first reported on 21 November last year and not finally dec
Australian Geographic9 min read
Australian Geographic
AS THE SECOND HALF OF of this extraordinary year unfolds, it’s worth noting that our annual celebration of the natural world is now in its third decade, and has clearly established itself as the most prestigious nature photography competition in our
Australian Geographic1 min read
East Gippsland
Located in south-eastern Victoria, East Gippsland stretches north from the Mitchell River to beyond the Great Alpine Road and east to the Croajingolong Coast, at the state’s most eastern reach. Bairnsdale, Paynesville, Lakes Entrance (see page 26), O
Australian Geographic13 min read
What Happened On Whakaari?
THE ERUPTION BEGAN at 9.35pm with big heaves inside the crater. By 10.03pm it was pelting the nearby walking track with projectiles, but withheld its final energy until 10.11pm, when with a whoomph it sent a plume sky-high. A scalding current of stea
Australian Geographic1 min read
Reconstructing A Hydrothermal Eruption
WHEN SUPERHEATED water is trapped in the pores of rocks, a number of triggers – heat, rising gas, tremors, changes in crater lake levels – can cause it to blow. Water flashes to steam, expanding up to 1700 times its original volume, with enough energ
Australian Geographic1 min readEarth Sciences
Anatomy Of A Volcano
Whakaari/White Island is one of several volcanoes in NZ that can produce sudden, explosive eruptions at any time. In this case, magma is shallow, and the heat and gases affect surface and groundwater to form vigorous hydrothermal systems. In these, w
Australian Geographic2 min read
Daytrip To Tragedy
WHEN THE Whakaari volcano erupted at 2.11pm on Monday 9 December last year, 47 people were on the island, including 38 passengers from the cruise ship Ovation of the Seas, 21 of whom would lose their lives that day and in the hours, days and weeks th
Australian Geographic13 min read
The EGG MAN OF CHANGI
WHEN WE MET in Wollongong, New South Wales, in 2007, Guy Baker had just a few days to live. He was a big man, but his 86-year-old, once-powerful rugby forward’s frame was by then a useless burden. His breathing was fitful, and, tethered to an oxygen
Australian Geographic8 min read
Where The Wild Things Are
The Northern Territory’s Gulf Country is one of this country’s most rugged and remote regions, but one that is surprisingly accessible to adventurous vehicle-borne families and explorers. Here, visitors have the chance to immerse themselves in a rich
Australian Geographic1 min readEarth Sciences
The Northern Territory’s Gulf Country
The NT Gulf region sits between the wet tropics and the arid zone. Summer temps exceed 40oC and rainfall 800mm. ■
Australian Geographic1 min readAutomotive
The Essentials
When to go: May to September is the best time to visit the Top End and Gulf Country. The weather is more settled, and the wet season has (usually) finished so most roadways will be clear of floodwaters. What to drive: We’d recommend a 4WD for this ro
Australian Geographic2 min readTechnology & Engineering
Good Prep Equals Good Times
TRAVELLING in remote regions of Australia means you need to ensure you are fully prepared and self-sufficient. As much as the wonders of technology (mobile phones, etc.) have brought humanity ‘closer’ together than ever, a lot of Australia is still s
Australian Geographic6 min read
The Colours Of Tumby Bay
The air is brisk with a savage bite here in South Australia, perhaps reaching 10oC if I stand on tippy-toes, as the warmest air rises. Still, it doesn’t stop two skimpily clad bodies rushing over the foreshore’s fluorescent greencoloured grass and pl
Australian Geographic1 min read
The famous BioSub
Underwater man lives his dream, AG 87, Jul–Sep 2008 THE PLAN OF marine biologist Lloyd Godson to live under water in a dam near Albury, New South Wales, netted him the $50,000 first prize in AUSTRALIAN GEOGRAPHIC’s 2005 Live Your Dream competition. F

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