Great Barrier Reef Coast Australia

Coast has come to Australia...

..to explore a coastline of unparalleled splendour.

This is a landscape that dwarfs humankind.

Vast in scale. Glorious in spectacle.

But it's the tales the people of this coast have to tell

that are so compelling -

of the success and sorrows layered along these shores

and the dramatic changes chartered through time.

It's the furthest Coast has travelled

for our biggest adventure yet.

Welcome to Lizard Island,

30km off the mainland of Queensland

and within Australia's awe-inspiring natural wonder,

the Great Barrier Reef.

This is Earth's largest living organism...

..and, at 2,300km long,

stretches further than the west coast of the United States.

Within its boundaries, over 900 islands...

..and on the mainland, a rich history,

coloured by the reef that hugs its coast.

On this journey, marine ecologist Dr Emma Johnston

joins a remarkable Google project to record the world's reefs.

OK - you're mapped!

They had no idea what was going on.

Do people know about it?

Brendan Moar uncovers the living history of a hidden slave trade.

A lot of people are simply amazed

that this actually happened in Queensland.

Anthropologist Dr Xanthe Mallett

investigates an historic maritime mystery.

It must have been terrible for the family,

just not knowing what happened.

And I examine a bloody chapter in Australia's frontier wars.

A heartbreaking conflict with no winners.

This is Coast Australia!

Our route this time stretches from Lizard Island in the north,

down through Cairns, Townsville, Stone Island,

and on to Heron Island in the south.

The Great Barrier Reef is no single reef -

it's a stunning mosaic of 3,000 reefs,

ranging in area from less than a hectare

to over 10,000 hectares.

Beautiful to behold,

especially when seen from a decent height.

The Great Barrier Reef is the only living thing

that can be seen from space.

But come on - how could it possibly look any better

than from where we are, right now?

But below that shimmering surface is a treacherous coral maze

that's been making life difficult for mariners for centuries,

including accomplished astronomer, navigator and surveyor,

Captain James Cook.

He'd arrived on the east coast of Australia in 1770,

armed only with this rudimentary French map from 1756.

It's little wonder he got into trouble!

In 1770, the legendary mariner James Cook

became trapped in this labyrinth.

On June the 11th, the Endeavour actually ran aground on a reef

not far from here.

Cook was determined that that would never happen again.

The Endeavour had hit a reef, then limped north to be repaired

at the mouth of what's now Endeavour River near Cooktown.

Once seaworthy, Cook had set off.

On August 12th, he'd come ashore here,

armed with a plan.

He climbed up to the top of this mountain on Lizard Island,

to see if he could spy a safe passage out of the reef.

And I can tell you, his first impressions weren't good.

"To my mortification, I discovered a reef of rocks

"laying about two or three leagues without the island,

"extending in a line northwest and southeast

"farther than I could see."

Despite the daunting view,

Cook managed to navigate a route out of the reefs

in which he'd been trapped for almost two months.

He'd relied on a good view and a keen eye to make his escape.

I'm heading to the port of Cairns,

the major city of Queensland's tropical north

to rendezvous with the Royal Australian Navy.

The Great Barrier Reef has been slow to reveal its secrets.

More than 240 years after Cook ran aground,

large parts remain uncharted.

So I'm hitching a ride with the Navy's hydrographic team

as they continue their vital work surveying these waters.

Hydrography is the science

of charting the coastline and seafloor

to enable the safe navigation of vessels

through the world's waterways.

The facing points will be as briefed.

1.4 nautical miles...

The Paluma is one of the navy's six hydrographic survey vessels.

Today, I'm joining the crew responsible for mapping

the remaining uncharted waters of the Great Barrier Reef.

These sailors are protecting a reef that's still a hazard to shipping

and a maritime trade valued at over 300 billion a year.

To ensure the highest accuracy in its surveying,

the Paluma uses an echo sounder

that fires out multiple beams in a fan shape under the boat.

We're on the lookout for an old wreck

and it soon makes an appearance.

Oh, right. So, that's a bit more of a complicated picture - what's that?

Yeah, so that's the wreck that we just went over.

So, after we've added all our corrections and stuff to it,

cleaned it up nicely,

this looks like a proper, intact ship, still.

Petty Officer Russ Hinze

is the Paluma's hydrographic systems manager.

Our understanding is it's from the 1950s,

so it's still in pretty good nick.

And you can see here, it's in about 32m of water.

The information the team gathers

is ultimately translated into nautical charts,

both paper and electronic.

Armed with the latest technology,

the Paluma can map about 10 square nautical miles a day.

But I want to know how the earliest mariners,

including Cook, did things.

'So I'm going to try and pinpoint exactly where we are,

'the depth of the water we're in and the condition of the seabed

'using only old-school equipment and methods.

'And that starts with a 2kg weight on a rope.'

This is lanolin or sheep's fat

and this is actually what they used to use as well.

It's to get a seabed sample as well

so they have an idea of what type of holding ground or something is on the seafloor

just for...for anchorage purposes and stuff back then.

Be good if it comes up with a Spanish doubloon stuck to it.

Yeah. Don't like your chances.

-Depth's 9m.

-9m - right.

-That's saying about 9m.

So you can see it hasn't too much, but...

-Just some grains of sand, really.

-Just mud, yeah.

How does this bit of kit come into the equation?

OK - so we've got our depth.

-Now, we're trying to position ourselves.

-Uh-huh.

So, basically, all we're going to do is take two angles.

So the angular difference between Rocky Island, just in front of us,

-and Cape Grafton.

-OK.

That angle and then the same angle between Rocky Island and False Cape.

Using a horizontal sextant,

what we need to do is accurately record two separate angles

off three stationary points.

Once we've applied some

basic trigonometry,

we'll know exactly where we are.

It's simple in theory, but it can be quite tricky to master.

-Not even sounding simple in theory.

-LAUGHING:

-Yeah.

'So how hard can it be?'

Where are you, Rocky Island?

I can't even see Rocky island.

Oh, I must have overshot Rocky Island. Hold on...

-OK.

-Reckon you got it?

Right? Is that Rocky Island?

Right, I'm going to give it one more.

I can't see what I'm looking at.

I'm coming to the conclusion that I may be blind in my right eye!

Eventually, I do come up with two angles.

-Right, OK. 60 and 110.

-60 and 110.

Whether they're the right ones?

Well, that needs to be checked on the bridge.

When James Cook came to these waters,

the British Navy was still 25 years away

from appointing an official hydrographer.

And if you compare the chart he arrived in these waters with

to the one he created,

it's easy to see why he's regarded by many

as the grandfather of modern hydrography.

-How'd I do Russ?

-All right. I looked at your stuff on the chart.

Yeah, I think you need to keep practising, mate.

So, I'll leave you to it.

You're being kind, aren't you?

RUSS LAUGHS

I'm definitely near Australia.

Through the centuries,

ships have delicately threaded their way

through these sparkling waters.

But in these beautiful surroundings,

some of those vessels were taking part

in a truly ugly enterprise.

Travelling south, the city of Townsville sits alongside

the central area of the Great Barrier Reef.

It was established in the 1860s,

when white settlers were moving into northern Queensland,

and a string of sugar plantations developed along the coast.

With convict transportation abolished

and white men considered unfit for the task,

the question was who was going to take on

the back-breaking work needed to develop tropical Queensland?

Brendan Moar is in Townsville

to meet a descendent of those who did

and discover the living legacy of a resilient islander community.

This is a new event for a very old community,

one that had a really grim start about 150 years ago.

-Good morning, Sonia.

-Good morning.

-Brendan.

-Nice to meet you.

'Sonia Minniecon is the founder of a group

'that reconnects South Sea Islanders with their families and culture.'

Theirs is a history that has been overlooked in Australia for decades.

And I'm going to investigate that dark chapter in our shared history.

But first, I've got to start this race.

On your marks....get set...

Go!

Sonia's grandparents in Vanuatu

were transported to Queensland to work on sugar plantations

in the late 1800s.

Now known as South Sea Islanders,

over 60,000 people like her grandparents

were rounded up from Melanesia

and brought to Queensland between 1863 and 1904.

They came mainly from the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu,

from where Australian sporting legend Mal Meninga's great grandfather

was abducted as part of this labour trade.

While some came voluntarily, others were lured, tricked

and sometimes kidnapped to work in the cane fields.

It was a form of recruitment known as "blackbirding".

Most were offered a pittance

in return for three years of indentured labour,

and often, the money was never paid out.

And winner!

'Despite the conditions,

'a small number stayed and started families.'

Nice work.

'For nearly a century the true origin of these families was ignored

'and their history denied.'

-How'd you go, Sonia?

-Oh, good.

'Sonia is working to reconnect this community now,

'with events linked to their island identity,

'like today's canoe race.

'Her organisation is called Blackbird.'

They came in boats like these.

Over 800 blackbirding voyages were made to transport this human cargo.

This is the Defender. She's from the 1890s.

She was used as a cargo ship but this is very similar

to what the blackbirding ships would've looked like.

These guys, you could tell, were straight from the island.

They're not wearing anything.

And they were on their way, probably to Queensland.

Isn't that extraordinary?

-That is basically, like...that view, isn't it?

-Yeah, it is.

These are just some, um...photos of my grandparents.

So the first generation South Sea Islanders.

So on my mother's side, her mother and father.

He was brought over from Gaua, an island called Gaua,

and she was from an island called Ambae.

And that's my grandfather from Ambrym.

This is, um...a Pacific Islander's Labour's Act register -

an agreement of when the pastoralists or the cane farmers

came and went to an auction and...and got their workers.

So as they came off the boat,

the men were auctioned off and taken straight to a farm?

Yes, that's right.

I had no idea about this. Do people know about it?

No, they don't.

People ask - you know - me, where I come from, and...

to tell them the story...a lot of people are simply amazed

that this actually happened in Queensland.

The evidence sits before us at the Museum of Tropical Queensland.

-G'day - Brendan.

-Good morning. Steve.

'Stephen Beck is an authority on the trade

'and the methods used by recruiters.'

A recruiting vessel would arrive at the islands.

The recruiter would go on

with a whole boxful of European trade goods.

Axes, tomahawks, metal knives, tobacco pipes and muskets.

It was usually the tribal elders who did the deals.

Almost all the workers they traded were in their teens to mid-30s.

Amongst trade goods, factory-made ceramic copies of islander jewellery

had a curious appeal.

The islanders knew that they weren't the genuine thing

but here's a new type of armband

that they can incorporate into their status.

So if you've got one of these,

it's like having, you know, the latest TV.

So it had its own intrinsic value.

So essentially, this is island currency.

This is like islander currency.

We'll give this its own set of values,

because no-one else has got one of these.

For those returning home after three years,

often, more injustices lay ahead.

Some were dropped off at the wrong islands...or countries.

In the years following federation and the White Australia policy,

most of the 10,000 workers were deported.

Those who were granted a deportation exemption -

about 2,000 - were left with few rights.

'Today, the number of Australian South Sea Islanders

'has risen to about 40,000 -

'many descendants of those early sugar workers.'

Sonia and her Blackbird Team arrange visits back to the islands

so people can renew family ties.

It's an emotional experience but welcomed by all.

I wonder about the word "blackbird" - why did you choose to use that word?

For me, now it represents flying. Um...letting go. You know?

Just, um...releasing the word

and releasing...you know, telling the story.

So...that's why blackbird, to us, means so much.

How important are the boats, the water -

like, the entire coastal culture?

We're saltwater people.

You know, we've got saltwater in our...our veins.

It's who we are so, um...

Yeah, I get very emotional just not being close to the ocean

and, um...it reminds me of family and the journeys.

All those sorts of things, yeah.

Sonia and her team's work will certainly give the term new meaning -

one that celebrates the identity of a unique community.

Reaching 250km off the Australian mainland,

these reefs have always proved perilous for shipping.

Added to that, seasonal monsoons hurl furious cyclones and angry seas

upon tropical North Queensland.

More than 30 historic wrecks lie scattered along this coast.

One of these came to be known as Townsville's Titanic.

Anthropologist Dr Xanthe Mallett

is in Townsville to investigate a mysterious maritime disaster.

100 years ago, the ships that plied these waters

were an absolute lifeline for Australia's coastal communities,

critical for moving goods and passengers.

The SS Yongala was operating along the busy east coast passenger route.

The Yongala was renowned for its luxury.

This was the first class lounge -

as you can see, it was extremely comfortable.

It had serviced the Melbourne to Cairns route

from 1907 to 1911 without incident,

but it was the 99th journey in Australian waters

that was destined to be its last.

By 2pm on the 23rd of March, 1911,

the Yongala had left Mackay bound for Townsville.

With no radio on board,

warning of a cyclone to the north

never reached the ship's captain.

By early evening, the Yongala was seen

by a lighthouse keeper in the Whitsundays,

heading into worsening weather.

Due into Townsville the following day,

the Yongala never arrived.

After five days, all hope had been lost

for the 122 passengers.

The local community was shattered.

An official inquiry noted that skipper William Knight

was experienced and careful, his ship seaworthy.

Paul Brown's great grandparents were amongst those

who never made it home to Townsville.

The finding of the Marine Board says "The fate of the Yongala

"passes beyond human ken into the realms of conjecture

"to add one more to the long roll of the mysteries of the sea."

Do you think that lack of understanding

made it worse for those left behind?

Oh, I'd say it certainly did.

I know our family...there are pictures that were published

in one of the papers of the time

of our family going out in small boats to look for the ship,

and it must have been terribly disappointing,

not to find any trace,

and then, after about five days,

they found a few mail bags washed up.

It must have been terrible for the family

just not knowing what happened.

Just disappeared.

The mystery endured for nearly 50 years

until a local salvager snagged the Yongala's hull in 1958.

I'm hoping to learn more about its disappearance.

So I've come to Alva Beach

to see what the wreck of the Yongala can tell us

about how and why the ship went down.

-Hello.

-Good morning, Xanthe.

-Welcome aboard the Yongala Express.

-Thank you very much.

Dive master Heather Batrick has explored the wreck hundreds of times.

The site lies about 20km off the coast,

80km from Townsville.

We actually seem to be in, literally, the middle of nowhere. Where are we?

We're in the shipping channel and, basically,

the Yongala was heading from Airlie Beach to Townsville,

so it would seem that it stayed on its course

and ended up probably about three hours away

from its final destination.

30m beneath us lies the largest and most intact historic shipwreck

in Australian waters.

So this is the Yongala. Wow!

It's an amazing site.

The irony is that a wreck that claimed so many lives

is now absolutely teeming with marine life.

Wow, it's amazing. It's just stunning.

It's like a little oasis in the desert.

122 people died on this wreck. Why? Why did the ship go down?

And there are some clues

when you come down here and have a look.

'The first clue is in the way the 109m wreck is lying.'

It's still pointing towards Townsville.

'And the fact that, when it was first found,

'the hull was completely intact.'

So we don't think that it hit anything,

because of the fact that we're only in, sort of,

29m of water.

There would have literally been about 15m of swell.

So there would have been a lot of water coming overboard.

'The gaping cargo holds are another clue.

'Under violent waves, the wooden hatches could be ripped open,

'leaving the holds exposed.'

In the shocking weather that the cyclone would have brought,

the sheer amount of water that went into the cargo holds

is probably what caused the ship to sink.

'Our best guess is that the ship

'was desperately trying to reach Townsville,

'but caught in the open, with nowhere to shelter,

the cargo holds brought it down, swamped by enormous waves.

'When it was recovered,

the ship's chronometer showed the Yongala sank at 11:45pm.

'It would have been a terrifying end in the darkness -

'a disaster that caused immeasurable pain for their loved ones.'

The wreck, when it happened,

was obviously really devastating for people here.

Exactly. And all the remains are still on the wreck.

-Are they?

-They've been taken further into the bow on the wreck.

As a mark of respect, nobody really wanted to bring the remains up

and then decide what to do with them.

Famous dive site, isn't it?

-And famous for its sad story as well.

-Yeah.

One of Australia's biggest maritime mysteries.

Yeah, absolutely. Amazing to be able to see it.

Sorrow is never far from success

when stories are told about life along a reef,

especially one as beautiful and daunting as this.

Lizard Island was named by Captain James Cook

on arrival in 1770

after seeing a large sand monitor.

100 years later, it was a major port for the lucrative sea cucumber trade

and the setting for one of the most tragic tales

in modern Australian folklore.

Tourists - well-heeled tourists, I might add -

come here to take advantage of the island's relative isolation,

its pristine beauty

and its stunning underwater landscape.

I can see the attraction.

This is the Barrier Reef's northernmost island resort,

accessible largely by private plane.

But look closer, and you'll see that a dark shadow hangs over

this tropical island paradise.

And it's all about this creature - the sea cucumber, or beche-de-mer.

The waters around Lizard Island are teeming with life

and back in the 1800s, a lucrative beche-de-mer industry

began to supply the hungry demand from Asia...

..a trade that attracted Europeans in search of fortune.

And this is where the history of this island becomes fascinating

and a grim tale emerges of Australia's frontier wars.

In 1879, British captain Robert Watson

established an operation here,

with his wife Mary, baby boy Ferrier,

a business partner and two Chinese servants.

They had arrived in paradise,

with abundant sea cucumber to harvest and sell.

But unbeknownst to the settlers, the island was, and remains,

a site sacred to the local Aboriginal people.

A stone hut stands witness to that era of European intrusion

into a land long used by the Dingaal tribe.

Confrontation was building.

Two years later, in September 1881,

while Watson was on a fishing expedition,

the Dingaal attacked, killing one servant, Ah Leong

and wounding the other.

It was a fatal collision of two cultures

This is an extract from Mary's diary,

dated October the 1st.

"Natives, four, speared Ah Sam.

"Four places in the right side and three on the shoulder."

Mary bandaged Ah Sam's wounds

and made the decision to leave the island.

With her husband still away at sea, Mary fled with baby Ferrier

and the badly wounded Ah Sam.

They set off from this beach -

incredibly - in a ship's tank, used for boiling beche-de-mer.

These are the approximate dimensions of the tank.

It's about five feet square.

And - perhaps more awkwardly - no more than perhaps waist high.

So not much of a life boat

for a woman, an injured man and a baby boy.

After five days in this very tank, that was later found,

they ended up on what's now Watson Island,

64km away from Lizard.

Crucially, however, in the sweltering heat,

they had run out of water and there was none on the island.

In her diary for October 10th,

Mary wrote, "Self very weak.

"Really thought that I would have died last night."

The following day, though, she found cause for hope.

"October 11 - still all alive.

"I think that it will rain today.

"Clouds still very heavy."

But it wasn't to be.

"October 12th - no rain. Ah Sam preparing to die.

"Have not seen him since nine o'clock.

"Ferrier more cheerful. Self not feeling well at all.

"No water. Nearly dead with thirst."

And that's her last entry.

Mary Watson was eventually found dead on the island

with her son and Ah Sam.

They had died from dehydration.

A few weeks later, Robert Watson returned to Lizard

to find his family missing

and evidence of an Aboriginal attack.

The national media was whipped into a frenzy

before the bodies were found,

which didn't stop them from wild speculation.

These are pages from the Sydney Morning Herald

and for the edition on the 8th of December, 1881,

it reads, "Mrs Watson defended herself courageously,

"as long as possible,

"but was, at length, overpowered, brutally outraged

"and then tomahawked.

"The body was thrown into deep water."

There's more from December 19th -

"When she was finally overpowered, she was brutally treated, killed

"and, with her child, cut in pieces and cast into the sea."

None of this was true.

Regardless, the Aborigines were blamed for their deaths

and were subsequently slaughtered in white revenge killings.

Despite this, Mary was hailed a heroine

with a monument erected in Cooktown

to "one of the first martyrs of Northern Settlement".

This place set off a chain of events

that have passed into Australian folklore.

Some of those events are about remarkable courage.

Others are about callous disregard for human life.

But apart from anything else,

they signify a heartbreaking conflict with no winners.

We're travelling along Australia's natural wonder.

On Whitsunday Island,

the largest in the Whitsundays group,

you'll find the stunning Whitehaven Beach.

Thanks to a silica purity of 98%,

Whitehaven's sand is incredibly white

and so reflective that, even under the hottest sun,

it remains relatively cool.

These are some of the smallest sand grains on earth,

protected within the National Park zoning

of the Whitsunday Islands,

to prevent people from removing this white treasure

from its natural environment -

a pristine beach with its perfect sand.

There are at least 600 different types of coral

that make up the Great Barrier Reef -

some of which are slow-growing

and live to be hundreds of years old.

Professor Tim Flannery wants to discover the secrets

that coral hold from the past,

and he's travelling 50km from Townsville to Cape Cleveland,

and the renowned Australian Institute of Marine Science.

I've been given rare

and privileged access

to the restricted waters

of a scientific research zone.

At this pre-eminent research station,

scientists are examining the Great Barrier Reef,

which is larger in landmass than Germany.

One of their tasks is to analyse coral.

Just like the inner rings of trees,

coral has incredibly preserved markings

that illustrate the history of our environment.

To uncover this past,

scientists simply bore into the coral,

take goal-post sized samples

and then examine the messages within the coral barcode.

-Ah - Eric, is it?

-Yeah. Hi, Tim, how are you?

-Good, Eric, good to meet you.

-You too.

-Now, I've been told

that you can read coral like a book - is that right?

We can do that here and we're very fortunate -

we have some amazing samples of coral

that give us a lot of information.

-Want to have a look at one?

-I'd love to see one.

-OK.

This is some coral bits - they're actually one core.

We can lay 'em out on the grass and have a look at how big they are.

-Fantastic.

-There we go - this is the first piece.

-Do you want to take that one and I'll bring the next one?

-I will.

-That must be about 700ml long, that one.

-Yeah, just about. Yeah.

This stuff grows at about a centimetre every year.

A coral is essentially a huge colony of polyps.

As a polyp grows, it secretes a layer of limestone...its skeleton.

Over time, layer upon layer of skeleton builds up.

Crucially, the density of each layer differs

depending on the climate at the time.

-And this is the living end down here?

-Yeah.

'Once this core is laid out and measured,

'we can see that the coral it's taken from is not only huge,

'it's got a very long memory.'

So how old is it then, this massive organism?

That's a good question, isn't it?

This one, in fact, is so big, it's actually...500 years' distance

between those two ends from here to here.

-500 years - that's a long time, isn't it?

-That's incredible. Back in the 1500s.

Yeah, that's correct, it really is.

By analysing the density of the core's different layers,

scientists can determine what climactic conditions were like

in any given year.

Today, the rising level of C02 in our atmosphere

is not only affecting ocean temperatures and acidity,

but the frequency of extreme weather events

like cyclones and floods.

'Coral is extremely sensitive to any of these changes.'

What an extraordinary record of life in the oceans, for 500 years.

I guess you just don't get that sort of record anywhere else?

Not in the kind of resolution offered by these corals.

The lovely thing about corals, from our perspective,

in the current conversation about climate,

is that because they grow about a centimetre a year,

something like this encompasses some significant world events.

'Indoors is the good stuff - where science provides us

'with a DNA map of the past.'

What we're doing here is putting ultraviolet light onto a coral core

and it's glowing.

So we can now see bands.

In particular, can you see this band over here, this quite bright one?

-Yeah?

-That's that 1974 flood,

-which was one of the wettest on record, right?

-Yes.

And caused a bit of devastation in Brisbane.

-This one up here, can you see there's a fuzzy area there?

-Yes.

That's that bleaching period in 1998.

The lighter bands, then, are periods of stress for the coral, are they?

Where it perhaps has been...?

They're periods when it's been really wet with fresh water.

So we're talking about floods, high rainfall,

in some cases, cyclones.

So high influx of fresh water causes the bright yellow bands.

So, Eric, what makes you so confident

that what you're seeing here represents actual events?

Well, when we look at our coral records,

we can see that for more than 50 years

the weather station records match with our coral records.

So we're really confident that if we take our coral records back,

they would match too.

Coral's precise record of weather conditions over hundreds of years

will help scientists predict the future with more accuracy,

and so better inform our ability

to preserve this great natural wonder.

I'm heading to Stone Island.

This wee island has become a significant site,

thanks to the legacy of one enlightened scientist,

who arrived here, with his kit, 120 years ago.

This trip is going to take me in the footsteps

of a great naturalist...

..a true pioneer in the field of marine environment management...

..and a man away ahead of his time.

William Saville-Kent had a vision for the reef a century ago

that has left us today with a telling insight into its health.

Joining me is a Saville-Kent admirer,

Dr David Wachenfeld, conservation scientist

with the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority.

Well, this is just a really important place

because of the photographs that were taken here

at the end of the 19th century.

-Oh, is that the man?

-This is the man himself, William Saville-Kent.

-And his pith helmet!

-And his pith helmet and his suit.

Maybe when there was nobody to record what he was doing,

he was as naked as a jaybird.

It could be! It could be.

And that's photographic equipment? Here?

Yeah - look, this is one of the ways

in which Saville-Kent was an amazing pioneer.

He used photography in the study of biology and fisheries

for the first time.

What was the character of the man?

He was a meticulous scientist,

but he was also, I think, a visionary and an innovator.

A lot of the ways that he used science

to inform the management and development of fisheries

was groundbreaking at that time.

Saville-Kent already, at the end of the 19th century,

was worried about overfishing.

Saville-Kent was already observing

that we'd overfished some of these resources.

Between 1884 and 1895,

Saville-Kent produced the first comprehensive and scientific surveys

of Australia's fisheries

and gathered material for one of his major books,

The Great Barrier Reef Of Australia.

It was the first extensive collection

of high quality photographs for any coral reef.

Saville-Kent wanted to create a benchmark

so future generations could monitor the reef's progress.

So this is one of the photographs that Saville-Kent took

right here in 1890.

So that horizon there is more or less the horizon across there.

That's right. In the distance there is Cape Gloucester,

it's got quite a distinctive outline.

And of course, this was part of Saville-Kent's intention.

He made detailed notes about where he took the photographs

and he took them with a horizon that was recognisable

with the view that he wanted people to come back

and see how the coral had grown.

So at the moment, this is low tide,

but not all low tides are the same.

This was an extreme low tide.

And this photo, taken in 1994

on a tide that was as low as the one in the Saville-Kent photo,

shows how the coral has diminished.

100 years ago, someone - Saville-Kent -

spotted the significance of this place,

and yet, in all of that time, we haven't...we haven't managed

to keep the right eye on it.

That's right.

Unfortunately, in this instance, we've come back

and seen that the coral has died.

An early advocate of sustainability,

Saville-Kent advised governments around the country

to adopt new practices to protect fisheries,

from registering vessels

to introducing minimum-size regulations.

A man of great vision,

who left scientists a remarkable record of this reef.

Half an hour north of Cairns

is the quiet beach town of Palm Cove,

where, like for so much of this coastline,

the temptation to jump in for a quick dip is never far away.

But these waters can be deadly.

And as luck would have it,

some of the deadliest creatures of all are right out there.

-Hi, Kim.

-Hi, Neil.

-How are you?

-Very good.

So what is this paraphernalia here?

This is a swimming enclosure

to protect people against the jellyfish.

Kim Moss' job is maintaining stinger nets throughout the region.

What exactly is out there in that water?

The main one we're concerned about is this fellow here -

-the box jellyfish.

-OK.

And what size is it? Can you see it in the water?

You can't really see it without special lighting.

They're really transparent. Big as your head.

Right. With the tentacles...

With tentacles, can be several metres long.

And how much damage will that do to a person who swims into it?

The sting is very painful

and you get welts all over your skin.

That's part of the problem.

The other part of the problem is it then attacks your body

and can stop your heart and your breathing.

-Oh for goodness' sake.

-And that's a serious issue.

There have been around about 60 people

that have died from this over the last 100 years or so.

In this region, they're found mostly across northern Australia

and as far as China.

Experts believe they may have caused thousands of deaths

over the past century.

A box jellyfish can kill a person within two to five minutes -

one of the most venomous creatures on earth.

It's a soup of death out there!

What with the sharks and whatever else is out there,

and added to that, just as a final touch,

lethal jellyfish.

Unfortunately, in this part of the world, yes.

Is it a year-round problem?

I mean, are you taking your chances every day of the year

when you go in there?

No, it's only a summertime problem. They're a seasonal animal.

From about November through to May.

So in this whole expanse of beach,

the only safe place to be in the water is that rectangle there.

That rectangle there. And you go to the next beach

and we have another enclosure at the next beach.

So each one of these beaches.

-I will take your word for it.

-Go for a swim!

I didn't say that! I'm not going that far.

I'll come back in winter.

With over 2 million visitors a year and sea temperatures rising,

the future of the Reef is uncertain.

In the search for answers,

the world's most famous search engine has signed up.

On Heron Island, marine ecologist Dr Emma Johnston

explores how Google is turning Streetview into Seaview.

Today, we're taking the Great Barrier Reef to the world.

An incredible project is under way

in which modern history meets preservation.

'I'm joining underwater stills photographer,

'Christophe Bailhache, for a day in the life of the project.'

Christophe, this is an amazing bit of equipment.

Yeah, that's correct.

But I think the best way to try it is to go and get in the water.

-Excellent. Let's give it a go, yeah.

-Let's go.

The state of the reef is being recorded for long-term analysis.

'And at the same time, high-definition pictures

'are being broadcast to the world via Google's Streetview -

'a new, ground-breaking aspect of Google's worldwide mapping.'

OK, ready when you are.

'Filming the reef for the world is one thing,

'but the pictures have huge scientific value

'and this drives the project.'

Once you get below the surface in this beautiful seascape,

it's difficult to know where to look

and extraordinary to think that anyone in the world

will see what we're seeing now.

'The camera looks in three directions at once.'

So I'm driving behind Christophe,

who has a remarkable camera with him.

It's only one of two cameras in the whole world like this.

Tell me, how does it work?

It's made of three cameras, propped inside the orb,

to create these 360-degree panoramic images.

'We're travelling at 4kmph, which means all three cameras

'automatically take a shot every two metres or so.'

When we conduct a transect,

we dive for about 45 minutes along the coral reefs.

In that time, we create about 1,000 panoramic images.

Of course, on a reef that's home

to 25% of all the world's marine species,

you're not just going to see coral.

I'm taking a few shots right now

to try and get her through the downward facing camera.

The team always use the SV2 camera in natural light.

'Photos are taken at an average depth of 8m.'

Wow, we've got a beautiful manta ray!

Look at that!

Hopefully, this will create a beautiful panoramic shot.

Watching Christophe operate the camera

is to see a master at work...

..but I'm keen to have a go myself.

So, Emma, would you like to have a go?

-Can I have a go?

-Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So I just point it and it's going to take all these photographs for me?

Lift it up a bit.

OK. Let's go.

So how does it feel, Emma?

Feels very fast. Much faster than I could swim.

'The exact location of every photo taken is recorded by GPS

'and the photos are taken at such an angle

'that the 3D structure of the reef can be analysed.'

This is the most amazing piece of research equipment.

'Problem is, round here, it's easy to get distracted.'

Christophe, I'm just going to come up to this turtle here

and see if I can take a photo.

OK...you're mapped.

'To think - we could make this turtle more famous than Tom Cruise.'

'The next step of the process is equally important.'

-Richard!

-Hello.

'Richard Vevers is the project's director.'

-We've got some amazing photographs.

-Brilliant.

And what are you going to be doing with them?

Well, we've actually got the...the three images here,

as you can see, from each of the three cameras.

And that goes off for image recognition analysis

and that will break down the species and will give us a massive database,

because we've got 105,000 images so far.

Another key aspect of the project is getting the public involved,

by viewing the images on Google.

How many people are looking at these images?

Well, it is actually, um, millions.

-Millions?

-Well, tens or hundreds of millions

because we're uploading these to the internet in such a way,

using the latest technology,

that anyone can go virtual diving for the first time in history.

Thanks to photos like these,

scientists will be able to diagnose the health of the world's reefs

more effectively than ever.

And if you want to see my day's work, go to Google,

type in "Ocean Street View",

and you might see a turtle you recognise.

The Great Barrier Reef is just 6,000 years old.

And in terms of the lifetime of a 5 billion-year-old planet,

it's a mere infant.

But will we lose it before we have the time and the chance

to unlock all of its secrets

and simply to appreciate the wonder of it all?

I do hope not.

Next time, Tasmania.

Brendan Moar journeys to rugged Tasman Island

to understand the dramatic grip of lighthouse life.

This must be one of the most beautiful places I think I've ever seen,

but you can feel the isolation.

Emma Johnston dives into the battle

between alien urchins and giant lobsters.

Hey!

Tim Flannery examines Hobart's crucial role

in Antarctic exploration.

In the footsteps of Scott, Amundsen and Mawson.

They were tiny, weren't they?

Xanthe Mallett is glad that fashion changes.

Ooh, I do not fancy wearing this.

'And I learn about the enormous effort

'to restore a grande dame of the sea.'

How often does a person get the chance to look out at Hobart?

This is definitely

in the once-in-a-lifetime category of opportunities.