0:00:03 > 0:00:07Coast is on its biggest expedition ever.
0:00:07 > 0:00:11After traversing the coastline of Britain and Europe for eight years,
0:00:11 > 0:00:14I've arrived in Australia.
0:00:16 > 0:00:17What a place!
0:00:18 > 0:00:22I'm on an epic journey, in a land so defined
0:00:22 > 0:00:25by its ancient, sculpted coastline.
0:00:27 > 0:00:29It's a coastline that's blessed
0:00:29 > 0:00:32with outrageously beautiful natural wonders.
0:00:32 > 0:00:36Unearthing stories of a people hewn from isolation,
0:00:36 > 0:00:41resourcefulness and the extremes of climate and scale.
0:00:41 > 0:00:45In all my travels, this is some of the wildest,
0:00:45 > 0:00:49most edge-of-the-world feeling coastline I think I've ever seen.
0:01:14 > 0:01:18When the first fleet rounded that headland in the January of 1788,
0:01:18 > 0:01:21life for the Aboriginal people already living here
0:01:21 > 0:01:25would never be the same again, and for the convicts aboard the ships,
0:01:25 > 0:01:28this was supposed to be a life sentence.
0:01:30 > 0:01:35Sydney is a modern city with an ancient heartbeat.
0:01:35 > 0:01:37It's been window-dressed to perfection.
0:01:40 > 0:01:42The birth of a whole nation is wrapped around
0:01:42 > 0:01:45these cliffs and coves.
0:01:45 > 0:01:47But for all her brash beauty,
0:01:47 > 0:01:51this harbour is a place of immense complexity and surprise.
0:01:54 > 0:01:57In this episode, anthropologist Dr Xanthe Mallett
0:01:57 > 0:02:01discovers some ingenious colonial DIY.
0:02:02 > 0:02:05Oh! Wahey! Look at that!
0:02:05 > 0:02:08Palaeontologist Professor Tim Flannery
0:02:08 > 0:02:12solves a 200-year-old geomorphic mystery.
0:02:12 > 0:02:14And it's flooded Sydney Harbour
0:02:14 > 0:02:17- and this is what we've got!- Yep! - This is the story!
0:02:17 > 0:02:22Marine ecologist Dr Emma Johnston tries finding Nemo.
0:02:22 > 0:02:25Brendan Moar traces the stories
0:02:25 > 0:02:28behind Australia's most iconic landmark.
0:02:28 > 0:02:31So, two halves coming together from opposite sides of the harbour,
0:02:31 > 0:02:35how close were they? Were they spot on?
0:02:35 > 0:02:39And I discover how a battle played out in this tranquil harbour.
0:02:39 > 0:02:43I thought it was incredible that a submarine would be there.
0:02:45 > 0:02:49This is Coast Australia.
0:03:08 > 0:03:11In this episode we travel from Botany Bay,
0:03:11 > 0:03:14up the coast to South Head,
0:03:14 > 0:03:18deep into the harbour at Balmain and around to North Head.
0:03:22 > 0:03:25The story of Australia as it is today
0:03:25 > 0:03:29begins right here, in Botany Bay.
0:03:29 > 0:03:33I'm about to go on one of the most significant coastal journeys
0:03:33 > 0:03:35in all of modern Australian history.
0:03:35 > 0:03:40It's a tale of risk, chance and ultimate reward.
0:03:42 > 0:03:43Hi, Rowan.
0:03:43 > 0:03:46Rowan Brownette is an avid history buff.
0:03:46 > 0:03:49He's also the Chief Pilot here on Botany Bay.
0:03:49 > 0:03:52- Permission to come aboard. - Welcome aboard.
0:03:52 > 0:03:53Thank you.
0:03:53 > 0:03:56We're setting off on a sea-route that's been almost continuously
0:03:56 > 0:03:59in use since the British first arrived.
0:03:59 > 0:04:03How long has there been a pilot service here?
0:04:05 > 0:04:11We have had a pilot service in Sydney in Port Botany since 1796.
0:04:11 > 0:04:14A very proud service here.
0:04:16 > 0:04:18Botany Bay is all about shipping.
0:04:18 > 0:04:23It's the bustling port for Sydney, 12 nautical miles to the north.
0:04:25 > 0:04:29Originally, there were quite different plans for Botany Bay.
0:04:29 > 0:04:33Certainly when Captain James Cook put in here in 1770.
0:04:33 > 0:04:37- So, this is Cook's buoy. - OK, right.
0:04:37 > 0:04:39This is as close as we can work out
0:04:39 > 0:04:41where Captain Cook actually dropped his anchor.
0:04:41 > 0:04:44- Right, so right here, right on this spot.- In 1770.
0:04:47 > 0:04:50What do you think a mariner like Cook
0:04:50 > 0:04:54would've made of Botany Bay when he saw it in 1770?
0:04:54 > 0:04:58Well, upon entering here, it was a big, wide open bay,
0:04:58 > 0:05:02it was sheltered waters, something he hadn't seen for months.
0:05:02 > 0:05:06Cook anchors here, while the scientists go ashore.
0:05:06 > 0:05:09After ten days of mapping and exploration,
0:05:09 > 0:05:13he sets sail to head north.
0:05:13 > 0:05:15It's late afternoon, the light's against him
0:05:15 > 0:05:19and that's the exact moment he spots an inlet
0:05:19 > 0:05:23and names it Port Jackson and sails on!
0:05:23 > 0:05:27Big mistake! Because look what he missed!
0:05:27 > 0:05:29A great harbour.
0:05:29 > 0:05:31All he did was spot the opening.
0:05:31 > 0:05:33Spot it and named it.
0:05:33 > 0:05:37- What an oversight! - Yeah, what an oversight, yeah.
0:05:37 > 0:05:41Eighteen years later, Governor Arthur Phillip arrived in Botany Bay
0:05:41 > 0:05:46with the First Fleet, and orders to set up a penal colony here.
0:05:46 > 0:05:53Fast forward to 1788... How does Botany Bay strike Phillip?
0:05:53 > 0:05:56Well, it's a completely different place,
0:05:56 > 0:05:58it's during the hottest time of the year,
0:05:58 > 0:06:01you have little water, not a lot of rain...
0:06:01 > 0:06:04Is that why he contemplates reconnaissance
0:06:04 > 0:06:08and, you know, exploration further north?
0:06:08 > 0:06:11Yes, because he had Cook's journals
0:06:11 > 0:06:13and he knew that Cook had found a port,
0:06:13 > 0:06:1512 nautical miles to the north of here,
0:06:15 > 0:06:19which was called Port Jackson.
0:06:19 > 0:06:21Phillip had everything to lose.
0:06:21 > 0:06:25His orders were to stay put, but he couldn't afford to.
0:06:25 > 0:06:28Survival was at stake.
0:06:28 > 0:06:32Add to that, the French were also dangerously close.
0:06:32 > 0:06:36Phillip set off for Port Jackson in three rowing boats
0:06:36 > 0:06:40on what would be one of THE most momentous journeys
0:06:40 > 0:06:42in Australian history.
0:06:48 > 0:06:51After the disappointment of Botany Bay,
0:06:51 > 0:06:53I can well imagine Phillip's excitement
0:06:53 > 0:06:57as this spectacular, shimmering inlet gradually revealed itself.
0:07:04 > 0:07:07It must have been breathtaking!
0:07:07 > 0:07:09He's just discovered what I have to say
0:07:09 > 0:07:13is one of the most dazzling harbours in the world.
0:07:13 > 0:07:15Not a bad find!
0:07:17 > 0:07:20The colony had been established here in the harbour
0:07:20 > 0:07:22but one vexing problem remained...
0:07:22 > 0:07:26Back in England, no-one knew that Phillip had moved camp.
0:07:29 > 0:07:31And that's where this place, South Head
0:07:31 > 0:07:35and the old signal station becomes a key player in this story.
0:07:37 > 0:07:42Local historian Peter Poland is the go-to man about that.
0:07:42 > 0:07:43What is the significance of this?
0:07:43 > 0:07:45Well, Neil, this place is in fact
0:07:45 > 0:07:49one of the most significant sites in Australia.
0:07:49 > 0:07:52Phillip comes up here in three little boats,
0:07:52 > 0:07:55finds the cove, but of course, they've got a problem.
0:07:55 > 0:07:58Nobody in England knows anything about Sydney Harbour.
0:07:58 > 0:08:00So, they've now disappeared off the face of the earth?
0:08:00 > 0:08:05They've disappeared, so ships coming to Botany Bay...
0:08:05 > 0:08:07Where are they?
0:08:07 > 0:08:10They've been eaten, you know... Goodness knows!
0:08:12 > 0:08:15So, a flag pole was dug in to ensure that ships far and wide
0:08:15 > 0:08:21could see exactly where they were and deliver much-needed supplies.
0:08:21 > 0:08:26There's been a flagstaff up here for 223 years.
0:08:26 > 0:08:33This site has been continuously manned since 20 January, 1790.
0:08:33 > 0:08:35All ships, all ships, this is Marine Rescue Port Jackson,
0:08:35 > 0:08:39- Marine Rescue Port Jackson.- With the forecast for Sydney coastal...
0:08:39 > 0:08:41I doubt if there are very many places in the world
0:08:41 > 0:08:45where you could say, this site has been continuously manned.
0:08:45 > 0:08:47So, it's this place here that mattered
0:08:47 > 0:08:49to the lives in Sydney Harbour?
0:08:49 > 0:08:52Oh, this was crucial, absolutely crucial.
0:08:54 > 0:08:57From the earliest days, this signal station
0:08:57 > 0:08:59was the first point of contact with the outside world
0:08:59 > 0:09:01for the early settlers.
0:09:01 > 0:09:04Imagine the thrill when the flag went up!
0:09:04 > 0:09:07Ships on the horizon with news of home!
0:09:07 > 0:09:10And eventually...
0:09:10 > 0:09:13the supply ships arrived just here,
0:09:13 > 0:09:16just off the coast, but fortunately, for all concerned,
0:09:16 > 0:09:18they didn't stop there.
0:09:18 > 0:09:21They kept on coming up the coast,
0:09:21 > 0:09:26until they could take this very inviting left-hand turn,
0:09:26 > 0:09:30which finally brought them into contact with the good folk of Sydney
0:09:30 > 0:09:33and from that moment, the fate of the settlement was sealed,
0:09:33 > 0:09:36all based around this spectacular and hidden harbour
0:09:36 > 0:09:40that's now home to almost five million people.
0:09:51 > 0:09:53With the colony established,
0:09:53 > 0:09:56next came the job of building a great city.
0:09:56 > 0:09:58But from what?
0:09:58 > 0:10:01Anthropologist Dr Xanthe Mallett
0:10:01 > 0:10:04discovers that the new locals had a knack for innovation.
0:10:08 > 0:10:12Sydney. A wonderland of glass and steel but, of course,
0:10:12 > 0:10:18200 years ago, the plan was for a settlement of bricks and mortar.
0:10:18 > 0:10:21But soon after the First Fleet arrived in Sydney Cove
0:10:21 > 0:10:27in January 1788, a major gap appeared in the supply chain for building.
0:10:27 > 0:10:29In a word, lime.
0:10:29 > 0:10:33You need lime to make mortar and that generally comes from limestone.
0:10:33 > 0:10:36But Sydney didn't have any limestone.
0:10:36 > 0:10:38A solution was needed, and fast,
0:10:38 > 0:10:42if the city was to grow. But where to find it?
0:10:45 > 0:10:48Looking for answers, I'm travelling to Goat Island,
0:10:48 > 0:10:50the largest island in Sydney Harbour,
0:10:50 > 0:10:55to meet Jacqui Goddard, a heritage expert at Sydney's Lime Forum.
0:10:55 > 0:10:57So, what have we actually got here?
0:10:57 > 0:11:00What we have here is, very basically,
0:11:00 > 0:11:02we've got some sand and some water.
0:11:02 > 0:11:05But what we're missing is a good source of calcium carbonate,
0:11:05 > 0:11:07which is the basic form of the lime,
0:11:07 > 0:11:10that we would then use to make the mortar.
0:11:10 > 0:11:11So, where would I find that?
0:11:11 > 0:11:14The most common source of calcium carbonate
0:11:14 > 0:11:18in Sydney Harbour itself is shell. Mainly oyster shell.
0:11:18 > 0:11:21And a good source of that is, in fact, at Cockle Bay,
0:11:21 > 0:11:23traditionally and even now, because now Cockle Bay
0:11:23 > 0:11:26is full of really good restaurants.
0:11:26 > 0:11:30Traditional Aboriginal feeding grounds provided a ready supply.
0:11:30 > 0:11:33Heaps of discarded shells - or middens -
0:11:33 > 0:11:36piled up over thousands of years.
0:11:36 > 0:11:41Oysters were a staple for indigenous Australians here.
0:11:41 > 0:11:43Most people have never seen a midden now,
0:11:43 > 0:11:45but when Philip and his cohort arrived,
0:11:45 > 0:11:48the Sydney foreshore would have been dotted with them,
0:11:48 > 0:11:52from Lane Cove in the west to here at Cockle Bay. That's the name.
0:11:52 > 0:11:55Back then, such was the demand to build
0:11:55 > 0:11:58that the shell was more valuable than the meat.
0:11:58 > 0:12:01So, who was eating oysters?
0:12:01 > 0:12:02Hello, Jacqui?
0:12:02 > 0:12:05I'll ask Colonial Gastronomer Jacqui Newling
0:12:05 > 0:12:06from Sydney Living Museums.
0:12:06 > 0:12:09- Oh, look what you've brought with you.- Yes.
0:12:09 > 0:12:12OK, let's have a look at one of these little delicacies.
0:12:12 > 0:12:14Here we go.
0:12:15 > 0:12:16Yum.
0:12:16 > 0:12:18When the Europeans came here to settle,
0:12:18 > 0:12:20fresh food was important to them,
0:12:20 > 0:12:23because they could really only bring what they called salt provisions.
0:12:23 > 0:12:26So, salt, pork, flour to make bread, that kind of thing.
0:12:26 > 0:12:28So, they had to supplement their diet with the local produce
0:12:28 > 0:12:32- and that included shellfish. - Just wealthy people, or everybody?
0:12:32 > 0:12:35That's what I love about oysters, they cut across all classes.
0:12:35 > 0:12:38So, you have the toffs, sitting on the hill there,
0:12:38 > 0:12:40in their fine houses, but you also had the convicts
0:12:40 > 0:12:43and the very poor people literally gouging them
0:12:43 > 0:12:46off the rocks themselves.
0:12:46 > 0:12:48We know that the convicts were eating them.
0:12:48 > 0:12:51For example, in Hyde Park Barracks, we found oyster shells
0:12:51 > 0:12:53as part of the archaeology of that building,
0:12:53 > 0:12:56hidden underneath the floorboards.
0:12:56 > 0:12:58Well, I have my modern-day midden.
0:12:58 > 0:13:01I'm taking that with me for my experiment. Thank you very much.
0:13:01 > 0:13:05- Well, good luck with it! - Thank you!
0:13:05 > 0:13:09I'm following up Jacqui's mention of Hyde Park Barracks,
0:13:09 > 0:13:11which are located at the end of Macquarie Street.
0:13:11 > 0:13:15Sydney's grand old sandstone canyon.
0:13:18 > 0:13:21And if we look in the wall of Hyde Park Barracks,
0:13:21 > 0:13:23which was built in 1819,
0:13:23 > 0:13:26we can actually see some of the shells in the mortar.
0:13:26 > 0:13:30Here, for example, we've got a little piece of cockle shell
0:13:30 > 0:13:33and here, we've got a bit of oyster shell.
0:13:37 > 0:13:41This is a combination of ancient Aboriginal middens
0:13:41 > 0:13:44and convict labour from 200 years ago.
0:13:44 > 0:13:46It's extraordinary!
0:13:50 > 0:13:52Back to Goat Island
0:13:52 > 0:13:57and our experiment on how the humble oyster shell is turned into mortar.
0:13:57 > 0:13:58And here we are.
0:13:58 > 0:14:00This is where we're going to burn these shells of yours.
0:14:00 > 0:14:02So, we now have everything we need, then?
0:14:02 > 0:14:04We do indeed.
0:14:04 > 0:14:08Back then, a kiln would burn for up to three days at about 800 degrees,
0:14:08 > 0:14:13to break down the shell's calcium carbonate to calcium oxide.
0:14:13 > 0:14:14Get this burner up.
0:14:14 > 0:14:17To speed that up, Gary Waller, a heritage building expert,
0:14:17 > 0:14:19is using a butane torch.
0:14:19 > 0:14:22We just leave that for about 10 to 15 minutes.
0:14:22 > 0:14:25Perfectly possible to produce lime mortar this way,
0:14:25 > 0:14:28- but you'd have to do it a shell at a time.- Yes!
0:14:28 > 0:14:31- Not the best way to build a house. - Not the best way to build a house.
0:14:31 > 0:14:35We'll just leave that till the oyster glows orange.
0:14:37 > 0:14:39Well, that looks about right now.
0:14:39 > 0:14:43So, I'll just take it out and let it cool down.
0:14:43 > 0:14:46Got some clean water in the bucket and see if we get a reaction.
0:14:49 > 0:14:50There you go, it's flaking.
0:14:50 > 0:14:53It's bringing itself to the boil, basically.
0:14:53 > 0:14:56So, that'll turn into a putty, which we use in the building mortar.
0:14:56 > 0:14:59I don't know why, but I did not expect it, actually,
0:14:59 > 0:15:02to dissolve like that! That's amazing!
0:15:02 > 0:15:05- Just water?- Just water.
0:15:05 > 0:15:10And then we mix it with the sand. Then it will set in the air.
0:15:10 > 0:15:13- The moment of truth.- Yes.
0:15:16 > 0:15:18How long do we need to leave that now for that to set?
0:15:18 > 0:15:21Probably leave that for about a week.
0:15:21 > 0:15:23Will it stick if I lift that up now?
0:15:23 > 0:15:24You can try!
0:15:27 > 0:15:30- Well, there you go! - Oh, look at that!
0:15:30 > 0:15:35City built on blood, sweat, tears of convicts and oyster shells.
0:15:35 > 0:15:38- That's right.- Yeah, there you go. - Fantastic.
0:15:41 > 0:15:45This harbour is a safe haven, plenty of calm waters and hidden coves.
0:15:45 > 0:15:49It has been Sydney's greatest strength,
0:15:49 > 0:15:51but also her greatest weakness.
0:15:53 > 0:15:56And it was this weakness that would ultimately lead
0:15:56 > 0:15:59to one of the most daring attacks of the Second World War
0:15:59 > 0:16:03and the loss of many Australian lives.
0:16:04 > 0:16:07The attack left Sydneysiders stunned.
0:16:07 > 0:16:11Suddenly, this faraway war was right on their doorstep.
0:16:11 > 0:16:14I want to know how the enemy was able to penetrate
0:16:14 > 0:16:19such a protected port and to claim so many unsuspecting victims.
0:16:22 > 0:16:25My journey begins at Dawes Point.
0:16:25 > 0:16:30This is where the first fort of Sydney Harbour was built in 1791.
0:16:30 > 0:16:35Hugely strategic, because this is the narrowest point of the harbour
0:16:35 > 0:16:38with its clear line of sight to the Heads.
0:16:38 > 0:16:43As the colony grew, so did threats from the outside.
0:16:43 > 0:16:47First from the Spanish, then the French, then the Russians.
0:16:47 > 0:16:51So more forts were built over the next hundred years.
0:16:51 > 0:16:54Here on the northern side of the harbour was an integral part
0:16:54 > 0:16:57of the command post for Sydney's defence network.
0:16:57 > 0:17:00It was called The George's Head Battery.
0:17:00 > 0:17:02As part of the outer line of defence,
0:17:02 > 0:17:04it was designed to intercept enemy ships
0:17:04 > 0:17:06before they could infiltrate the harbour.
0:17:06 > 0:17:10It took four months and 250 soldiers
0:17:10 > 0:17:13to laboriously manoeuvre the enormous guns
0:17:13 > 0:17:17along a rough track called Military Road.
0:17:17 > 0:17:20So, this is our entry into the gunpit.
0:17:20 > 0:17:23I'm being shown through the labyrinth of tunnels
0:17:23 > 0:17:25by heritage expert, Bob Clark.
0:17:25 > 0:17:29You get lost incredibly easily.
0:17:29 > 0:17:31It's cut out of solid sandstone
0:17:31 > 0:17:35and by the 1890s, George's Head was the command centre
0:17:35 > 0:17:39for all 41 gun emplacements around the harbour
0:17:39 > 0:17:42and minefields in the water below.
0:17:42 > 0:17:45This form of Fortress Sydney, was it used in anger?
0:17:45 > 0:17:48Did it see any action?
0:17:48 > 0:17:53This site never fired either a shot or a mine in anger.
0:17:54 > 0:17:56But that was never going to last,
0:17:56 > 0:18:00not with the advances in submarine technology.
0:18:00 > 0:18:05Sydney Harbour was about to become more vulnerable than ever.
0:18:05 > 0:18:09I suppose, in fact, the sheer scale of the harbour
0:18:09 > 0:18:12presents such a struggle to defend it.
0:18:12 > 0:18:14Yes, that's right, that's right.
0:18:14 > 0:18:16It's just a NIGHTMARE to look after this place!
0:18:16 > 0:18:18It's just one headache after another!
0:18:18 > 0:18:22Just lucky nobody really came until 1942!
0:18:25 > 0:18:28It seemed like every time a new line of defence was established,
0:18:28 > 0:18:30a new threat emerged.
0:18:30 > 0:18:34Fast forward to 1942, the halfway mark in World War II,
0:18:34 > 0:18:39and Japan is now a serious threat in the Pacific.
0:18:39 > 0:18:41The Japanese were expert submariners,
0:18:41 > 0:18:44so Sydney had to be protected.
0:18:44 > 0:18:47But these huge gun emplacements up on the cliffs
0:18:47 > 0:18:49and headlands were outmoded.
0:18:49 > 0:18:51They were helpless in the face of submarines
0:18:51 > 0:18:54just slipping unnoticed into the harbour.
0:18:54 > 0:18:57What was needed, in effect, was a great big net!
0:19:00 > 0:19:02Steven, tell me about the boom and how it operated?
0:19:02 > 0:19:06Historian Steven Carruthers knows more about it than most.
0:19:06 > 0:19:09A boom stretched across the harbour from that point of land
0:19:09 > 0:19:11you can see in the distance.
0:19:11 > 0:19:14That was where the net was placed, a permanent net.
0:19:14 > 0:19:16It wasn't a net that could be moved.
0:19:16 > 0:19:18It was permanently fixed to the bottom.
0:19:18 > 0:19:22So, there was no way they could actually nose under.
0:19:22 > 0:19:27But on the night of May 31st, 1942, the net was incomplete.
0:19:28 > 0:19:30Gates on either side were open
0:19:30 > 0:19:34and that's how three Japanese mini-subs slipped into the harbour.
0:19:37 > 0:19:39The first one got in around about eight o'clock.
0:19:39 > 0:19:42He came in through the gate here.
0:19:42 > 0:19:44He finished up backing into the net.
0:19:44 > 0:19:48We suspect that he actually collided with that navigation marker.
0:19:50 > 0:19:52- So, he's out of action. - He's out of action.
0:19:52 > 0:19:57He lays quiet for about two hours, before a fiery, red-headed Scotsman
0:19:57 > 0:20:00by the name of James Cargill saw something
0:20:00 > 0:20:02suspicious in the net.
0:20:02 > 0:20:06He raised the alarm but, at first, no-one believed him.
0:20:06 > 0:20:11By the time they did, the trapped Japanese two-man crew aboard M-14
0:20:11 > 0:20:14had scuttled their craft and killed themselves.
0:20:14 > 0:20:17So, one sub down,
0:20:17 > 0:20:21but two more were still out there somewhere
0:20:21 > 0:20:24and one of them was dead on target.
0:20:27 > 0:20:30He made his way all the way up to Naval Anchorage.
0:20:30 > 0:20:32He circled the Fort Denison twice.
0:20:32 > 0:20:36And then he took aim at Chicago.
0:20:36 > 0:20:38Fired both his two torpedoes.
0:20:38 > 0:20:42The first one past the stern of the Chicago.
0:20:42 > 0:20:45M-24's second torpedo also missed,
0:20:45 > 0:20:48but sank a converted ferry,
0:20:48 > 0:20:53the HMAS Kuttabul, with sleeping soldiers aboard.
0:20:53 > 0:20:5721 were killed.
0:20:57 > 0:20:58But what if?
0:20:58 > 0:21:03What if the American cruiser USS Chicago had been hit instead?
0:21:03 > 0:21:05The main worry would have been the aviation fuel.
0:21:05 > 0:21:08The ammunition would have made a big enough bang.
0:21:08 > 0:21:12But certainly the aviation fuel could have set off a chain reaction.
0:21:12 > 0:21:14There were other capital ships nearby,
0:21:14 > 0:21:17heavy cruisers that were also laden with aviation fuel.
0:21:21 > 0:21:24Eyewitnesses are still alive.
0:21:24 > 0:21:26I'm meeting Margaret Hamilton.
0:21:26 > 0:21:31She was just 17 at the time and had a ringside seat.
0:21:31 > 0:21:37The force of the blast sort of pushed the house and it came back.
0:21:37 > 0:21:40Gosh, so the house was actually rocked back by the force?
0:21:40 > 0:21:44The house was pushed. It just went 'whoosh!' like that, and back.
0:21:44 > 0:21:49And then the force of it coming back tossed my brother out of bed.
0:21:49 > 0:21:54So, this is the 31st of May, 1942, right here.
0:21:54 > 0:21:59I could see tracer bullets coming down the harbour this way.
0:21:59 > 0:22:04So, I mean, Chicago was not that far away over in that direction.
0:22:04 > 0:22:10You could hear them saying, "Ready, aim, fire!"
0:22:10 > 0:22:12So, you could hear all of that?
0:22:12 > 0:22:15- I think the wind was coming from there.- OK.
0:22:15 > 0:22:18And it carried the noise. To see tracer bullets going...
0:22:18 > 0:22:23going down the harbour was, you know, a bit weird.
0:22:23 > 0:22:27Gunfire, explosions, the last mini-sub, M-21,
0:22:27 > 0:22:30was being chased down and, in desperation,
0:22:30 > 0:22:35it put into Taylor's Bay, right outside Margaret's house.
0:22:35 > 0:22:40And I was looking down here and I saw a periscope.
0:22:40 > 0:22:44I thought, "It can't be anyone swimming at this time."
0:22:44 > 0:22:47Did you realise what you were looking at?
0:22:47 > 0:22:50- You knew it was a periscope. - I knew it was a periscope
0:22:50 > 0:22:53and it came in and came in and came in
0:22:53 > 0:22:55and I thought it would go aground.
0:22:55 > 0:22:58- So, right in here? - Right in, down here.
0:22:58 > 0:23:02And I thought it was incredible that a submarine would be there.
0:23:02 > 0:23:06I just thought, "Am I really seeing things or what!?"
0:23:08 > 0:23:12Both M-14 and M-21 were salvaged the next day,
0:23:12 > 0:23:15both crews having committed suicide.
0:23:15 > 0:23:20But M-24, the sub that sank the Kuttabul, disappeared.
0:23:20 > 0:23:23Her whereabouts, a mystery for the next 60 years,
0:23:23 > 0:23:28before divers found the wreck, deep off Sydney's northern beaches.
0:23:28 > 0:23:31The crew died on board.
0:23:31 > 0:23:35The whole thing was, for a young girl, was exciting.
0:23:35 > 0:23:40For me, it was. It was so interesting.
0:23:40 > 0:23:43It was a one-off, you might say.
0:23:46 > 0:23:48When the attack was over,
0:23:48 > 0:23:50the people of Sydney gave the Japanese submariners
0:23:50 > 0:23:52a funeral with full military honours.
0:23:52 > 0:23:56And for many years, Japanese nationals would come here
0:23:56 > 0:24:00and spread chrysanthemums on the water to remember all the lives lost
0:24:00 > 0:24:02when war came to Sydney.
0:24:11 > 0:24:13From the recent past, we're journeying
0:24:13 > 0:24:16to the farthest recesses of history
0:24:16 > 0:24:20and the story of Sydney Harbour itself.
0:24:20 > 0:24:24What of those defining sandstone cliffs that embrace it?
0:24:24 > 0:24:29How were they formed? How DID the Harbour come about?
0:24:29 > 0:24:31There's a great mystery to this place
0:24:31 > 0:24:36and palaeontologist Professor Tim Flanney is going to unravel it.
0:24:36 > 0:24:40When Governor Phillip entered Sydney harbour here, over 200 years ago,
0:24:40 > 0:24:44he was expecting to find a massive river feeding into this harbour.
0:24:44 > 0:24:48It looks like the estuary of a very large river indeed.
0:24:48 > 0:24:50But he found nothing of the sort.
0:24:50 > 0:24:54It turns out that Phillip was thousands of years too late.
0:24:54 > 0:24:55The river was long gone.
0:24:55 > 0:24:57But why?
0:24:57 > 0:25:03It's an intriguing puzzle that dates back 300 million years.
0:25:03 > 0:25:06But in order to get the big picture about how the harbour formed,
0:25:06 > 0:25:09we need to resort to a cake, believe it or not.
0:25:09 > 0:25:14A cake representing the ancient super-continent of Gondwana.
0:25:14 > 0:25:17It really comprises three pieces.
0:25:17 > 0:25:19The part that would become New Zealand,
0:25:19 > 0:25:22the part that was to become Antarctica off to the South
0:25:22 > 0:25:26and here's Australia. Let's mark Sydney in there.
0:25:26 > 0:25:29An enormous river, a river the likes of which
0:25:29 > 0:25:31just doesn't exist on the planet today,
0:25:31 > 0:25:35started to flow from the Trans-Antarctic mountains
0:25:35 > 0:25:39along the East Coast of Australia and through the Sydney Basin.
0:25:39 > 0:25:44Soon after that, this great super-continent began to break up.
0:25:44 > 0:25:47New Zealand began to drift off to the East,
0:25:47 > 0:25:52but Australia began moving north at a cracking pace for a lump of rock,
0:25:52 > 0:25:54to come to rest where it is today.
0:25:54 > 0:25:58That's the story of Gondwana, told by cake.
0:25:58 > 0:26:01I'm meeting a mate of mine, Professor Bruce Thom.
0:26:01 > 0:26:04He's an expert in coastal geology.
0:26:04 > 0:26:06So, Bruce, what evidence do you see here
0:26:06 > 0:26:09for this ancient river system that came from Antarctica?
0:26:09 > 0:26:12Tim, if you look at the rocks, the rocks give you the story
0:26:12 > 0:26:17and down here, we see the layers and particularly we see the layers
0:26:17 > 0:26:19of what we call cross-bedding.
0:26:19 > 0:26:22These are the layers of sand that were laid down
0:26:22 > 0:26:27as great big sand-waves, as the river flowed towards the north-east
0:26:27 > 0:26:30and then built itself up like a cake.
0:26:30 > 0:26:33Like the cake was getting layered up.
0:26:33 > 0:26:37The stratified sandstone cliffs that define Sydney Harbour today
0:26:37 > 0:26:41are formed by layer upon layer of hard quartz sand,
0:26:41 > 0:26:45washed down from the Antarctic by that mighty river.
0:26:45 > 0:26:49Not that Governor Phillip was to know that, back in the day.
0:26:49 > 0:26:54Phillip put into idyllic Camp Cove here in 1788.
0:26:54 > 0:26:59He needed to find a ready source of freshwater desperately.
0:26:59 > 0:27:01But what he did find, Tim, but trickles.
0:27:01 > 0:27:03- Creeks, you might call them. - Yeah, creeks.
0:27:03 > 0:27:07The little trickles of water and that... One of them he selected
0:27:07 > 0:27:12and that became the base for the first settlement of Australia.
0:27:12 > 0:27:15- Right, but he never found that river? - No, he never did.
0:27:15 > 0:27:18The best was creeks, but he found something better
0:27:18 > 0:27:23than he had in Botany Bay, so he decided to move.
0:27:23 > 0:27:25It didn't make sense to Phillip.
0:27:25 > 0:27:28He could see that three waterways fed into the harbour.
0:27:28 > 0:27:32The Parramatta River, Lane Cove River and Middle Harbour.
0:27:32 > 0:27:35But Phillip was expecting something much bigger.
0:27:35 > 0:27:38Where was a Danube or an Amazon?
0:27:38 > 0:27:42To answer that, Bruce has brought his sandpit to time-travel back
0:27:42 > 0:27:45to the way the land used to look.
0:27:45 > 0:27:49- So, this is the continental shelf? - This is the continental shelf here
0:27:49 > 0:27:51and this is the continental slope
0:27:51 > 0:27:53and the continental shelf goes up
0:27:53 > 0:27:56and comes up towards the present shoreline
0:27:56 > 0:27:59and then rises up into the area which is now the catchments
0:27:59 > 0:28:02that feed into Sydney Harbour.
0:28:02 > 0:28:05These three rivers that are coming down like so,
0:28:05 > 0:28:09and they join together, forming a river valley.
0:28:09 > 0:28:14This system drained right out onto the continental shelf
0:28:14 > 0:28:16when sea levels were much lower.
0:28:18 > 0:28:21All right, so a river system that over millions of years
0:28:21 > 0:28:25carved out the shape of the harbour as we see it today.
0:28:25 > 0:28:30But by around 20,000 years ago, everything was about to change.
0:28:30 > 0:28:34The ice is melting. The sea is rising?
0:28:34 > 0:28:38- It starts to rise.- 'Post Ice-Age, sea levels were on the rise.'
0:28:38 > 0:28:41This whole channel that was carved out millions of years ago
0:28:41 > 0:28:44and re-carved when the sea level was lower,
0:28:44 > 0:28:46that valley has now been flooded by the sea.
0:28:46 > 0:28:48- Yes.- The remnants of it can still be found.
0:28:48 > 0:28:52But, of course, now the sea has risen
0:28:52 > 0:28:55and by 6000 years ago, it's right up there
0:28:55 > 0:28:58and it's flooded Sydney Harbour and this is what we've got.
0:28:58 > 0:29:01- Yes.- This is the story. Here it all is before you.
0:29:10 > 0:29:12From the moment Europeans saw this harbour,
0:29:12 > 0:29:15they've been enchanted by its beauty.
0:29:15 > 0:29:17But had they known what Bruce has just told me
0:29:17 > 0:29:22about its geological history, I think they would have been astonished!
0:29:22 > 0:29:26The sand here coming all the way from the Transantarctic mountains,
0:29:26 > 0:29:29the ice sheets of Europe and North America melting
0:29:29 > 0:29:33and flooding this valley, drowning the mystery river of Sydney Harbour.
0:29:36 > 0:29:39It's a symphony of geological action that involves the entire planet
0:29:39 > 0:29:42and what it's done is created what I think
0:29:42 > 0:29:44is the most beautiful harbour on earth.
0:29:50 > 0:29:53As much as anything else, for Australians
0:29:53 > 0:29:57the Sydney Harbour Bridge says, "This is us."
0:29:57 > 0:30:01As Brendan Moar discovers, this gigantic Mecccano set
0:30:01 > 0:30:05speaks to the very heart of the Australian identity.
0:30:09 > 0:30:12It's humbling, the size and strength.
0:30:12 > 0:30:17And sense of permanence, like it's always been there.
0:30:25 > 0:30:29But the way it looks today was never a given.
0:30:29 > 0:30:31Had history taken another course,
0:30:31 > 0:30:35this view would have been very different.
0:30:35 > 0:30:38From the 1850s through to the turn of the century,
0:30:38 > 0:30:43all manner of suspension, and cantilevered designs were considered.
0:30:43 > 0:30:45How's this?
0:30:45 > 0:30:48Or this one from a couple of years later?
0:30:48 > 0:30:50Finally, a steel arch design was settled on
0:30:50 > 0:30:55by chief engineer Dr John Bradfield and I'm meeting his grandson, Jim.
0:30:55 > 0:30:58G'day, Jim. How are you going? What sort of man was your grandfather?
0:30:58 > 0:31:03He was a man of great vision, but even more a man of great passion.
0:31:03 > 0:31:05He was passionate about the bridge.
0:31:05 > 0:31:07He was passionate about Sydney,
0:31:07 > 0:31:10he was sure that it had to be a grand bridge.
0:31:10 > 0:31:12It just couldn't be a simple bridge, it had to be grand.
0:31:12 > 0:31:14Was he a grand man himself?
0:31:14 > 0:31:18Well, he sort of was, but he was small in stature.
0:31:18 > 0:31:22He was quite a short man, but he had a very large head,
0:31:22 > 0:31:26which I think was part of his, the brains were all in there, y'know?
0:31:30 > 0:31:35In 1923, work began on the massive foundations and columns.
0:31:35 > 0:31:39Sydney was abuzz,
0:31:39 > 0:31:42but getting barely a second thought were whole communities
0:31:42 > 0:31:45that had to make way for it.
0:31:45 > 0:31:48The majority of those were over here on the north shore
0:31:48 > 0:31:53and I've come to find out more about these forgotten victims of progress.
0:31:53 > 0:31:56I'm in North Sydney, meeting historian, Ian Hoskins.
0:31:56 > 0:32:01Back in the day, it was all housing, streets going here and there...
0:32:01 > 0:32:03and cheek-by-jowl terraced housing.
0:32:03 > 0:32:06This was the first area settled on the north side.
0:32:06 > 0:32:08It would have been a mix of working class
0:32:08 > 0:32:10and more substantial middle class.
0:32:12 > 0:32:16Whole neighbourhoods were marked red for demolition.
0:32:16 > 0:32:22By the end of 1925, some 500 houses and around 2000 people were gone.
0:32:24 > 0:32:26It was bad news for everyone.
0:32:26 > 0:32:29If you owned the property, you at least got compensation
0:32:29 > 0:32:32for the value of the land and the value of the building.
0:32:32 > 0:32:34Most people here, however, rented,
0:32:34 > 0:32:38so they didn't get any compensation at all.
0:32:38 > 0:32:41Most Sydneysiders, though, were utterly focused
0:32:41 > 0:32:45on the two mighty half arches, creeping towards each other.
0:32:53 > 0:32:59It's a lot to take in, 5 million rivets, 53,000 tonnes of steel
0:32:59 > 0:33:04assembled with hardly a nod to health and safety.
0:33:04 > 0:33:07These days, being on the bridge is a very safely controlled affair.
0:33:07 > 0:33:09I am firmly attached to the bridge.
0:33:09 > 0:33:12But, back in the day, when the bridge was being built,
0:33:12 > 0:33:15it could not have been more different.
0:33:15 > 0:33:20No harnesses, no helmets and just lucky to have a job
0:33:20 > 0:33:22in the Depression era.
0:33:22 > 0:33:25'1,000 men were employed, all doubts whether Australians
0:33:25 > 0:33:28'were equal to the task were soon dispelled.'
0:33:28 > 0:33:33Sixteen men died, six of them falling to their deaths.
0:33:33 > 0:33:40Despite that, in August 1930, both sides met with absolute precision.
0:33:40 > 0:33:43'Dr Bradfield, the chief engineer for the bridge,
0:33:43 > 0:33:46'and Mr Innis anxiously inspect the joins.'
0:33:48 > 0:33:53I'm 134 metres up with modern day engineer, James Reynolds.
0:33:53 > 0:33:56So, two halves coming together from opposite sides of the harbour.
0:33:56 > 0:33:59How close were they? Were they spot on?
0:33:59 > 0:34:02Well, it's surprising and without computers, it was an amazing feat.
0:34:02 > 0:34:07They were only 13ml apart, so smaller than your pinkie finger
0:34:07 > 0:34:09in alignment when they actually came together.
0:34:09 > 0:34:11So, an incredible feat of engineering.
0:34:24 > 0:34:30The bridge was finally ready for the grand opening in March 1932.
0:34:30 > 0:34:32'The dream was realised at last.
0:34:32 > 0:34:36'Sydney rightly claims the greatest and heaviest
0:34:36 > 0:34:38'arch-type bridge in the world.'
0:34:43 > 0:34:47You know this is more than a bridge, it's more than a landmark.
0:34:47 > 0:34:49Because, as much as anything,
0:34:49 > 0:34:54this a symbol of what Sydneysiders could do in truly testing times.
0:35:01 > 0:35:05Not far from the bridge, in Balmain, is another Sydney institution.
0:35:05 > 0:35:10Built 130 years ago, The Dawn Fraser Baths are a haven
0:35:10 > 0:35:12for some very fortunate ex-wharfies,
0:35:15 > 0:35:19still doing it hard every morning.
0:35:25 > 0:35:27To be in a city of Balmain,
0:35:27 > 0:35:32spend your retirement days down on the water, what could be better?
0:35:38 > 0:35:41That one! Get that one into ya!
0:35:41 > 0:35:45We're all retired blokes. We had our childhood down here
0:35:45 > 0:35:48and we've all congregated here on our retirement.
0:35:48 > 0:35:52I enjoy their company. You know, they're generous and everything.
0:35:52 > 0:35:54They're all about me.
0:35:54 > 0:35:57Take the milk out of your tea, they would!
0:35:57 > 0:36:00The boys play cards. I do crosswords, read the paper.
0:36:00 > 0:36:03You know, it's just a... beats work.
0:36:03 > 0:36:06You get out of the house and get away from your missus.
0:36:06 > 0:36:09It's a well spent four hours every day.
0:36:14 > 0:36:17It's actually the oldest tidal pool in Australia.
0:36:17 > 0:36:21That means the water comes in and out. Flows on the tide.
0:36:21 > 0:36:24Surfs up! Where's that board?
0:36:24 > 0:36:26Get me my board, the surf's up.
0:36:26 > 0:36:29The fish come and go at their own pleasure.
0:36:29 > 0:36:32We got stingrays, numrays in here that swim with us.
0:36:32 > 0:36:37This pool, it's been part of my family's culture spanning 60 years.
0:36:37 > 0:36:41It was a meeting place for all the families in Balmain.
0:36:42 > 0:36:46The benefits, mentally and physically.
0:36:46 > 0:36:50It keeps me alive, actually, and it gets me out of the house.
0:36:50 > 0:36:53Another day in paradise.
0:37:02 > 0:37:05But in the early days, the good life was out of reach
0:37:05 > 0:37:10for many of the less fortunate new arrivals.
0:37:10 > 0:37:13If there was one thing the young colony feared, it was disease.
0:37:13 > 0:37:17Reeking convict hulks would arrive overloaded, not just with convicts
0:37:17 > 0:37:21and new settlers, but also with typhoid, cholera, bubonic plague
0:37:21 > 0:37:26and, in the early days, smallpox.
0:37:26 > 0:37:29I'm off to find out how they dealt with that.
0:37:29 > 0:37:31Before the age of modern medicine,
0:37:31 > 0:37:33the only known way of protecting communities
0:37:33 > 0:37:38from the outbreak of infectious diseases was to isolate sufferers.
0:37:38 > 0:37:41I'm heading to the quarantine station on North Head
0:37:41 > 0:37:45on the northern side of the harbour.
0:37:45 > 0:37:49It's also at the quarantine station that we'll unearth an amazing story
0:37:49 > 0:37:54of a rebellious mass escape by 900 Australian soldiers,
0:37:54 > 0:37:57freshly returned from the First World War.
0:38:02 > 0:38:04What a place to be quarantined!
0:38:04 > 0:38:07It feels more like Club Med or St Tropez.
0:38:07 > 0:38:09But with a difference.
0:38:09 > 0:38:11In fact, this was a 32-hectare prison,
0:38:11 > 0:38:16complete with security fences, armed guards and guard dogs.
0:38:16 > 0:38:19There was to be no escape...
0:38:19 > 0:38:20or was there?
0:38:23 > 0:38:27Convicts with smallpox were first put here in 1828.
0:38:27 > 0:38:32Over the next hundred years 13,000 people were processed,
0:38:32 > 0:38:35but of them, 600 sadly would never leave.
0:38:38 > 0:38:42It became a microcosm of the passenger liner class system,
0:38:42 > 0:38:47the most luxurious accommodation naturally reserved for First Class.
0:38:47 > 0:38:50But it must have been a galling sight
0:38:50 > 0:38:55for freshly arriving Australian soldiers in February, 1919.
0:38:57 > 0:39:01After they disembarked, they saw a bunch of jolly old chaps,
0:39:01 > 0:39:04enjoying a game of cricket on this very walkway.
0:39:04 > 0:39:07But in stark contrast and despite being war heroes,
0:39:07 > 0:39:13they were given tents and billy cans and dispatched into the bush.
0:39:13 > 0:39:19After four years of mud and misery, you can imagine how they felt.
0:39:19 > 0:39:22Home just across the water and here they were
0:39:22 > 0:39:24despatched into the bush.
0:39:24 > 0:39:29No facilities and snakes by the dozen.
0:39:29 > 0:39:30Something had to give.
0:39:32 > 0:39:36After just two days, there was a full-scale revolt.
0:39:36 > 0:39:40All 900 soldiers marched to confront 140 armed police guards
0:39:40 > 0:39:43at the perimeter fence. They were demanding their freedom.
0:39:43 > 0:39:47And the police, fearing that any attempt to resist them
0:39:47 > 0:39:51would lead to slaughter, let them go!
0:39:51 > 0:39:54Next, they were ferried en masse into Sydney,
0:39:54 > 0:39:59despite fears that they might spread the deadly Spanish flu virus.
0:39:59 > 0:40:02Locals greeted them in stony silence,
0:40:02 > 0:40:05while the authorities scrambled to find somewhere
0:40:05 > 0:40:06to quarantine them.
0:40:06 > 0:40:09And I just love what happened next.
0:40:09 > 0:40:12It is a truly Australian answer to the problem.
0:40:12 > 0:40:15The government and the health authorities held crisis talks.
0:40:15 > 0:40:18What was to be done with the recalcitrant soldiers?
0:40:18 > 0:40:19What was the solution?
0:40:19 > 0:40:23Well, the answer is, it was decided the soldiers would serve
0:40:23 > 0:40:26the rest of the quarantine in the Sydney Cricket Ground!
0:40:26 > 0:40:28Oh, yes, they did.
0:40:28 > 0:40:30I should add there was no game on at the time.
0:40:31 > 0:40:34After four days at the cricket ground they were released
0:40:34 > 0:40:39with no sign of illness and later joined rousing Victory celebrations.
0:40:52 > 0:40:57I'm off along the coastal walk to the surfing Mecca
0:40:57 > 0:40:59of Bondi Beach!
0:41:00 > 0:41:04On Bondi Beach, Sunday the 6th of February 1938 is
0:41:04 > 0:41:06remembered as 'Black Sunday.'
0:41:06 > 0:41:10And on that day, there were hundreds of people in the water as usual.
0:41:10 > 0:41:12But over the course of just five or six seconds,
0:41:12 > 0:41:17three freak waves hit the beach almost simultaneously
0:41:17 > 0:41:22and 300 people were pulled out, all the way out here into deep water.
0:41:23 > 0:41:27One onlooker who witnessed the event said all at once the waves
0:41:27 > 0:41:31came crashing, and three seconds later hands went up everywhere.
0:41:31 > 0:41:34Now the hands were up, calling for help.
0:41:34 > 0:41:37And as sheer good luck would have it, there
0:41:37 > 0:41:42were 70 lifeguards on the beach that day for a training exercise.
0:41:42 > 0:41:44And so they were able to launch an instantaneous,
0:41:44 > 0:41:46mass rescue operation.
0:41:47 > 0:41:50And of the 300 people who went into the water,
0:41:50 > 0:41:53all but five were pulled out alive.
0:41:53 > 0:41:56Yet more testament to the bravery of the men
0:41:56 > 0:41:59and women who safeguard life at sea.
0:42:06 > 0:42:09As the marine centrepiece of a busy city, you'd expect
0:42:09 > 0:42:14Sydney Harbour to be a challenging environment for its underwater life.
0:42:14 > 0:42:15But marine ecologist
0:42:15 > 0:42:18Dr Emma Johnston also knows its strengths.
0:42:18 > 0:42:22It's a surprising harbour that boasts twice as many fish
0:42:22 > 0:42:25species as the entire United Kingdom!
0:42:28 > 0:42:31This is my back yard. It's my home and it's where I work.
0:42:31 > 0:42:34I've spent my career investigating the resilience of this harbour
0:42:34 > 0:42:39to all of the challenges that a big city can throw at a waterway.
0:42:41 > 0:42:46Resilient and in a constant state of flux. At Collins Beach on the north
0:42:46 > 0:42:50side of the Harbour, I'm joining Professor David Booth and his
0:42:50 > 0:42:54researcher, who are monitoring some newcomers to these temperate waters.
0:42:54 > 0:42:57So, Dave, what are we going to be looking for this morning?
0:42:57 > 0:42:59Well, we're looking for some little jewels called tropical reef
0:42:59 > 0:43:02fish that have come down the coast, probably from the southern
0:43:02 > 0:43:07Great Barrier Reef, over 2,000kms and every summer these little guys
0:43:07 > 0:43:11sort of grace our harbour and sights down in this direction.
0:43:17 > 0:43:21Soon flashes of orange and electric blue reveal the identity of several
0:43:21 > 0:43:26species of new arrivals to these now warmer waters of Sydney harbour.
0:43:27 > 0:43:30They travel down on the East Australian Current,
0:43:30 > 0:43:34which acts like a marine superhighway carrying huge volumes
0:43:34 > 0:43:38of water and fish from the Coral Sea to Sydney and further south.
0:43:38 > 0:43:40- Let's have a look. - And here we have 'em.
0:43:40 > 0:43:42Oh, it's so beautiful.
0:43:42 > 0:43:45So we got a nice array of butterfly fish and damselfish there.
0:43:45 > 0:43:48- Look at that.- The bottom corner a little Neon Damsel
0:43:48 > 0:43:50and a couple of different species of Sergeant Major.
0:43:50 > 0:43:52So we've seen a build in numbers of this little guy here.
0:43:52 > 0:43:54He's probably come in in the last week.
0:43:54 > 0:43:57There's thousands of them there and they weren't there last week.
0:44:01 > 0:44:04Sydney Harbour is one of the most biologically diverse
0:44:04 > 0:44:05estuaries in the whole world.
0:44:05 > 0:44:09One of the major reasons for that great diversity is a huge
0:44:09 > 0:44:11structural complexity we get here.
0:44:11 > 0:44:14And the massive range of environmental conditions.
0:44:14 > 0:44:17And we also get changes in circulation depending on where
0:44:17 > 0:44:20you are, changes in salinity, changes in light.
0:44:20 > 0:44:23All of these things support a great diversity of habitats
0:44:23 > 0:44:26and a great diversity of biological organisms.
0:44:32 > 0:44:35Which makes for a unique and resilient harbour,
0:44:35 > 0:44:37that still surprises with its hidden beauty.
0:44:39 > 0:44:43There is an enormous Blue Groper. It's beautiful.
0:44:43 > 0:44:45Look, it's eating the sponge on the rock.
0:44:46 > 0:44:48I'd say it's about a metre long.
0:44:50 > 0:44:53Look at this bizarre-looking underwater garden.
0:44:56 > 0:45:01Sea squirts, sponges, barnacles
0:45:01 > 0:45:05and huge number of animals that live in and amongst these.
0:45:05 > 0:45:08This is why Sydney Harbour is so diverse
0:45:08 > 0:45:11because we've got places like this that are virtually
0:45:11 > 0:45:14untouched by the massive city above us.
0:45:24 > 0:45:28And now I'm going topside to the leafy
0:45:28 > 0:45:30eastern suburbs for a taste of the
0:45:30 > 0:45:32high-life the way it used to be done.
0:45:36 > 0:45:40This was Australia's first international airport right
0:45:40 > 0:45:41here in Rose Bay.
0:45:41 > 0:45:43And there were no terminal buildings.
0:45:43 > 0:45:45There wasn't even a runway.
0:45:45 > 0:45:49Instead, a little ferry used to take passengers out to the flying boats.
0:45:51 > 0:45:57Before the war they were a symbol of luxury and modernity at a time when
0:45:57 > 0:46:01international travel was more about the journey than the destination.
0:46:03 > 0:46:10Spacious cabins, silver service and Sydney to London in 10 days!
0:46:10 > 0:46:14The new QANTAS Imperial flying boats were aviation marvels
0:46:14 > 0:46:15taking first-class mail
0:46:15 > 0:46:21and first-class passengers to the farthest outposts of the Empire.
0:46:21 > 0:46:23What must it have been like?
0:46:23 > 0:46:26I'm taking a spin with pilot, Andy Gross.
0:46:26 > 0:46:27Hi, Andy.
0:46:28 > 0:46:31They only carried 17 passengers.
0:46:31 > 0:46:34So it was a service just for the high and wealthy.
0:46:34 > 0:46:37You know it cost an average salary to take the trip from here to
0:46:37 > 0:46:39- London. - What, like a year's salary?
0:46:39 > 0:46:42Yeah, for the average working diggers.
0:46:42 > 0:46:46Three flights a week and luxury. Oh, yes!
0:46:46 > 0:46:49Even an on board putting green!
0:46:49 > 0:46:52It's just a touch different in Andy's wee plane.
0:46:52 > 0:46:54Fantastic.
0:46:54 > 0:46:56But it's just as exciting.
0:47:01 > 0:47:03This is real seat-of-the-pants flying.
0:47:06 > 0:47:08Alrighty, off we go.
0:47:11 > 0:47:15Back in the day, the next stop was Darwin, then Surabaya. A crew
0:47:15 > 0:47:19change in Singapore then on to Bangkok, Calcutta, Karachi,
0:47:19 > 0:47:24Basra, Athens and finally England, 10 days later.
0:47:25 > 0:47:27This is exactly how the trip to London would start.
0:47:29 > 0:47:30The take-off is so smooth.
0:47:30 > 0:47:33There's no sensation of leaving the water at all.
0:47:36 > 0:47:40This sparkling harbour continues to define Sydney despite all
0:47:40 > 0:47:42the challenges of the past two centuries.
0:47:44 > 0:47:49Resilient, defiant, diverse and surely,
0:47:49 > 0:47:53as Governor Phillip said, the finest harbour in the world.
0:47:56 > 0:48:00I've got a lot more of it to see. I think I've done Sydney now
0:48:00 > 0:48:04so that just leaves 59,000 kilometres of coastline to go!
0:48:05 > 0:48:07Can you turn right, Andy?
0:48:18 > 0:48:22Next time we're off to explore the Great Barrier Reef!
0:48:24 > 0:48:27Dr Emma Johnston discovers a remarkable piece of technology
0:48:27 > 0:48:30that could save the world's coral reefs.
0:48:32 > 0:48:33Brendan Moar uncovers
0:48:33 > 0:48:36the living history of a hidden slave trade.
0:48:36 > 0:48:38A lot of people are simply amazed that this actually
0:48:38 > 0:48:40happened in Queensland.
0:48:40 > 0:48:42Dr Xanthe Mallet hunts for a ship that
0:48:42 > 0:48:44vanished without a trace.
0:48:44 > 0:48:45Why did the ship go down?
0:48:47 > 0:48:50And I try navigating with the Australian Navy.
0:48:50 > 0:48:53I'm coming to the conclusion that I may be blind in my right eye.