Tasmania Coast Australia


Tasmania

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Coast is on its biggest expedition ever.

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I've arrived in Australia.

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It feels like this ancient land has been there done that

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and still has loads of energy for more.

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Around every corner, every bay you go into there's something

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more spectacular, more fascinating, more immense.

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But the true marvel of the coast

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is its power to inspire the imagination,

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the endless possibilities it holds for those

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who know it, love it, and return again and again to rediscover it.

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Australia's only island state, Tasmania,

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is defined by its coastline.

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Separated from the mainland to the north by the formidable Bass Strait,

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to the east by the Tasman Sea,

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and rolling in uninterrupted all the way from Antarctica,

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the chilling vastness of the Great Southern Ocean.

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Three Western empires put this island on the map.

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Dutchman Abel Tasman was the first European to step ashore in 1642.

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Then came the French surveyors who made several expeditions here,

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but, of course, it was the British who claimed it,

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settling here in 1803.

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We've come here to explore how Tasmania's geographic isolation

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has steered its history and shaped the people

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along its south-eastern shores.

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Brendan Moar journeys to remote rugged Tasman Island

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to understand the dramatic grip of lighthouse life

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on our coastal culture.

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This would have to be one of the most beautiful places

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I think I've ever seen... But you can feel the isolation.

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Marine ecologist, Dr Emma Johnston dives into the battle

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between alien sea urchins and giant rock lobsters.

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Oi!

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Palaeontologist, Professor Tim Flannery,

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reveals Hobart's crucial role in Antarctic exploration.

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In the footsteps of Scott and Amundsen and Mawson.

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They were tiny, weren't they?

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Anthropologist, Dr Xanthe Mallett is grateful that fashion changes.

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Oh, I do not fancy wearing this!

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And I discover the enormous effort to restore a grand dame of the sea.

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This is definitely in the once-in-a-lifetime category

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of opportunities.

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This is Coast Australia.

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On this journey, we explore a coastline

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that starts at Wineglass Bay, on the Freycinet Peninsula,

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continues on to Port Arthur, into Hobart,

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and crosses over to Bruny Island in the south.

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The majesty of this coastal landscape and its flora and fauna

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cannot fail to inspire.

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but its natural beauty belies a dark past.

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From the European perspective, this island outpost was,

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from the outset, the realm of hard men.

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Given how perfect it looks today,

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it's hard to imagine the scene down there

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when the whaling industry was at its height.

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But when that bay was completely full of whales' blood

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lapping against that perfectly circular rim,

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it was said to resemble a wine glass full of claret.

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As if coloured by such a past,

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the rare pink granite, characteristic of the region,

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forms nearly 40km of pristine coastline.

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As we head south, the rock changes colour, but not the history.

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I'm heading to Port Arthur on the Tasman Peninsula,

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the showpiece of Australia's convict past.

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In Britain, the initial fear of transportation was waning,

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so the British government had to up its game.

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What was needed was a new penal colony.

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A place who's very name would inspire fear and dread

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in all who heard it.

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The new Governor, George Arthur, was tasked with creating

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a sophisticated new penal system designed to become

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the ultimate deterrent for the Empire's most wayward malcontents.

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What he created...was this.

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From small beginnings as a convict timber-camp in 1830

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Port Arthur's settlement expanded into new industries

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of both hard and light labour,

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and new methods of punishment

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to replace the bloody practice of flogging.

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By the time the last convict left in 1877,

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around 7,000 men had served time here.

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At Port Arthur, the creed was simple...

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To grind rogues into honest men.

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Now, it sounds unpleasant, and I'm sure it was.

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What I want to understand, though, is just how successful

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they were at the business of reform through punishment.

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I'm meeting colonial historian, Dr Hamish Maxwell-Stewart,

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who has spent years studying this place,

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and the people who worked their way through it.

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Hamish, I have to say, on a day like today, this place looks beautiful.

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It's hard to imagine it as a place of suffering, punishment.

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It's gorgeous, isn't it?

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One of the interesting things is that the convicts that were here,

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at least some of them, said exactly the same thing.

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So they wrote in memoires about the strangeness of being a prisoner

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in a penal station, the worst sinkhole in the British Empire,

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in a location that was so beautiful.

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And what kind of prisoners ended up in this colony?

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Secondary offenders, largely, so these are people

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who had committed an offence in the colony, but not serious offences.

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So you did anything really bad you got topped.

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The largest single group of people who came here were absconders,

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so convicts who ran away from other locations and also,

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really interestingly,

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some people who commit crimes that are so spectacular

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in the British Isles that they're singled out for special punishment.

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So who are these spectaculars?

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Well, if you threw a stone at George III, for example,

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that might get you here.

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That goes in the box marked "asking for trouble."

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Hamish is taking me into the penitentiary building,

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in which 484 desperate lives were once cramped.

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How have you gone about, you know, understanding this place?

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You know, how do you make sense of so much human misery?

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Well, I think that's a really, really important question

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because all we've got here is walls,

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but one of the fascinating things about this site

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is the records for this place are just insane.

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You can actually track individuals through this place?

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We know the colour of their eyes.

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'Hamish has brought with him the very detailed records

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'of Scotsman William Irving, a 40-year-old fabric printer,

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'convicted for assault and sentenced to 21 years in the colonies.'

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Complexion, head, hair, whiskers.

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How many people are recorded like this...to this level of detail?

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72,000.

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-72,000?

-72,000 prisoners.

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And you've got this level of detail

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down to the colour of their whiskers and whatever?

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Some of them we know species of the worm that infested their gut.

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Of those 72,000 lives preserved in Tasmania's convict records,

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almost 10% spent time in these grounds.

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In 1850, a new building was opened at Port Arthur,

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modelled on the panopticon design developed in Britain and America.

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Where once flogging was the ultimate penalty for unruly convicts,

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isolation was the new weapon.

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Having being transported to Tasmania,

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how does William Irving end up in the complex of buildings

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at Port Arthur?

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It's a really sad story, see, he almost gets his freedom,

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but he can't get work and he ends up as a pauper/invalid.

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And one of the places that pauper/invalids were sent

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was Port Arthur.

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And he's in the invalids establishment

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where he's done for being absent without leave

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and he goes into this building.

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And this building here is...

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Well, you were in a panopticon, so an all-seeing prison.

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And this point here is you know the heart of the panopticon,

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it's where the warden sat and he can see down every corridor.

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All of these cells are just single occupancy?

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Yes.

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This is a claustrophobic space, isn't it?

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This is where a convict spent their time during the day,

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but if they had to go outside at all, they had to wear one of these.

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Why do you put that on?

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So if they did happen to be seen by another prisoner,

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the other prisoner couldn't recognize them.

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So, no name, no face?

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-Just a number.

-Gosh.

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This only half of it.

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When William Irving is in this building, he again messes up

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and he transitions into yet one more level below this.

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Oh, this is the heart of darkness in here.

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It's a full-blown solitary confinement cell.

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And it would have been dark?

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It would have been pitch-dark, and you've got four doors in this one

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between you and the outside world.

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So, meter thick walls.

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-So it's sensory deprivation.

-Absolutely.

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I'm struck by how strong the desire to escape this place

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would have been.

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But beyond the mental torture, the natural, physical boundaries

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have created a formidable challenge for the daring.

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The only escape by land was 20km north,

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across the 30m wide neck called Eaglehawk.

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But even here, there was an even more fearsome,

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and hungry, line of defence.

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I've come here to meet Port Arthur archaeologist, Dr Jodie Steele,

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to discover what the chances were

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of surviving a desperate attempt at freedom.

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Who's your ferocious friend?

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He's part of the line of defence

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that protected the gateway to the penal peninsula.

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Um, but he didn't act alone.

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I've bought a little postcard from our collection

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for you to have a look at.

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-Oh, that's great, isn't it?

-It is.

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A team of between 11 and 18 dogs, lined up between here

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all the way across this isthmus out into the bay.

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If you wanted to make a break for it,

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pretty much the ocean was your best bet but that meant swimming.

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But for all that, I presume men were trying to get out.

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There were a lot of people attempting it,

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but usually they wouldn't make it very far.

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Everything about it is just a challenge for the convict, isn't it?

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Oh, it would have been, and they were constantly wearing leg irons

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in the chain gang, and I've brought a pair to show you.

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So anyone who's out in the... in the environment,

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in the landscape has got their legs shackled?

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They were, yep.

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They were usually in gangs

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and they would have been wearing these heavy irons.

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And these are, these are the real deal?

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These aren't replicas?

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They are the real deal.

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And you can see they're slightly burrowed, in an oval shape,

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so they've had a fair amount of damage done to them

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to try and get them off.

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Right so that's... Someone has sat on a beach somewhere

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and just thumped away at them with a rock or whatever.

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Most likely a rock or whatever they could get their hands on.

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What about William Irving that I've been hearing about?

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At Port Arthur he just seems to disappear.

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A number of things could've happened to him.

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Um, you can assume that he got out, made it to the mainland, um,

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might have changed his name and then lived happily ever after.

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But, unfortunately, not many of them did.

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We have records of the absconders ending up in the bush.

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Several decades later people finding them still with their leg irons on,

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nothing but a skeleton.

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And I suppose any one of those could have been William Irving.

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Any of them could have been.

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Old stories are aplenty here.

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Born of a daunting coastline,

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and living in the minds of those

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who watched over the ebb and flow of history's seafarers.

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Brendan Moar wants to know why at this very forbidding tip of Tasmania

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the memory of it all is worth preserving.

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In Australia today, all lighthouses are automated,

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but they remain as beacons of a bygone era,

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much-loved and cared for by small armies of devoted volunteers.

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I'm on a mission to find out why lighthouses

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occupy such a romantic and dramatic place in our coastal culture.

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But before I can board my ride out, I've got to scrub down!

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I'm joining a working bee at the legendary Tasman Island Lighthouse.

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It stands in a particularly pristine environmental

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which means no bugs or weeds from the mainland.

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Tasman Island..

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off the rugged south-eastern tip of the Tasman Peninsula,

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topped by that familiar sentinel of maritime safety.

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Oh, my God!

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This is a rare privilege.

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I'm joining a very dedicated group of volunteers

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who come here three times a year to maintain the Tasman Lighthouse

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and surrounding buildings.

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If anyone can explain the fascination with lighthouses,

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these guys can.

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-Good morning.

-Good morning. Hope your boots are clean!

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They are very clean. You must be Carol.

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-I am. Welcome. Welcome to the island.

-Great to meet you.

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The Tasman Island lighthouse was opened in 1906.

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It was de-manned in 1977,

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and has run on automated solar power ever since.

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The homes too have stood empty since then.

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But why do the memories remain strong?

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Carol Jackson spent her childhood here.

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For a lighthouse kid

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it's different to being a keeper or a keeper's wife.

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As kids, Mum used to always say to us that, you know,

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we grew up with too much wind in our heads.

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So you have this freedom, you have an independence,

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you have a resilience.

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You had to make do. You had to make your own fun.

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We didn't have TV. There were no shops. There were no doctors.

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You had a life that was pure and simple.

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With such strong family connections

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she formed The Friends of Tasman Island eight years ago

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to preserve its heritage,

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in partnership with the Parks and Wildlife Service.

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Why is this important for anyone to do this?

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People love wild places.

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We have a...a motley crew each working bee.

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So some people are ex-keepers, or like myself, a keeper's kid,

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and know the history and love the history behind it.

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The stories behind the light station here.

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Others are pharophiles.

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They just love anything to do with lighthouses.

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The volunteers arrived with a diverse range of skills to repair,

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paint and maintain the ageing buildings and gardens,

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which cop the full force of mother nature.

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This is a much bigger house.

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Enormously important bit of maritime heritage

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in a stunning, spectacular spot, and they deserve to be preserved.

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There are four brick keepers' cottages

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and the remains of several other smaller buildings

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that dot the plateau that's just over 1.5km long by 1km wide.

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And here we are arriving at what we call the wim,

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the top of the haulage way.

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It's beyond stunning.

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This is the most extraordinary view...landscape...thing.

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It's amazing. It's just breathtaking.

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My back yard.

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Your back yard? It's a helluva back yard.

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Before helicopters, ships were used

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and it made for a hazardous landing.

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People and supplies could only travel up the steep tramway

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from the small wharf... All the way down there.

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It's about 45 degrees most of the way down.

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But the last couple of hundred feet are one over one,

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so you're actually laying on the trolley

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but you're standing up almost, so...

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-That's me.

-Oh, that's you there?

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-My mother.

-That's your mum.

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Yeah, and this is how we got on the island.

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Gosh.

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So, the basket would be dropped. So down on the landing.

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There was a flying fox shed and the flying fox

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would send the basket down and drop it into the boat.

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The boat would go back out.

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You'd clamber into the basket and then boat would come back on,

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hook you up onto the flying fox and you'd be battered

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back and forth until you got onto the landing.

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Sheep, cattle, all the coal briquettes...

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everything came up this haulage way.

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Were there ever any accidents?

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Oh, yes. There's been a couple of deaths on the haulage way.

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When the crane wasn't working on the landing,

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one of the workers there fell into the sea, never to be found again.

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Memories that linger on in the rusted wheels

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and old homes that stand against the windswept landscape.

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It was a solitary life with just one purpose...

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to keep the light burning bright.

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As Tasman Island's last permanent keeper, Karl Rowbottom, tells me,

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it's always an emotional time when he returns.

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Can you smell the kerosene?

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No.

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Oh, I still can. The place was full of kerosene once.

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Let's go up.

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This is the first landing, Brendan, and we're still going to keep going.

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Right, Brendan. Come out and have bit of a look, mate.

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See what you reckon of this for a view.

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Oh, wow! My God!

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-Yeah.

-It's amazing.

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It didn't matter if anyone was sick or someone died,

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or some...some catastrophe happened.

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This light would have to go every night.

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It would have to go and everyone was secondary to the light.

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The light was God around here.

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You're basically the last man standing.

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How does it feel for you lightkeeping is now

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a thing of the past?

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It's a sad thing that that history is gone from our society

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because they were men...men of a special calibre

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and so were their families to live out in these places.

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The day I had to leave here was the worst part.

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That really hurt.

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I think my heart died that day.

0:19:220:19:24

I went back to the mainland. I couldn't settle there.

0:19:240:19:27

I... Oh, I became a rebel...

0:19:270:19:29

Wonder I didn't end up in jail, but anyway,

0:19:290:19:33

it's funny as I was going down in basket for last time,

0:19:330:19:36

I could feel my heart going down and down with it and, um...

0:19:360:19:39

So that was a bit sad really and then when I saw John Davey,

0:19:390:19:42

see that he's still relief keeping...

0:19:420:19:44

um, went up in the basket and that's when I thought the job's gone.

0:19:440:19:48

Bit sad.

0:19:490:19:51

This will have to be one of the most beautiful places

0:19:550:19:57

I think I've ever seen.

0:19:570:19:58

But you can feel the isolation.

0:19:580:20:00

And to think of the people spending up to two years here,

0:20:000:20:05

which was the maximum posting,

0:20:050:20:07

I have no idea how they did it.

0:20:070:20:09

I don't think I could do it.

0:20:100:20:13

They're certainly made of sterner stuff that I am, that's for sure.

0:20:130:20:16

Memories and traditions are well preserved in Tasmania,

0:20:250:20:28

particularly when it involves the sea.

0:20:280:20:31

I'm going to meet the people who have committed to cultivating

0:20:320:20:35

a renaissance of Australia's wooden maritime culture.

0:20:350:20:39

They have a really big get-together every two years

0:20:400:20:43

to show off their precious vessels.

0:20:430:20:45

It's called the Australian Wooden Boat Festival,

0:20:450:20:48

and they've invited me along.

0:20:480:20:50

I'm in Oyster Cove on a special day.

0:20:520:20:54

It's the ninth and last morning of a little boat raid

0:20:540:20:57

called Tawe Nunnegah.

0:20:570:21:00

-Ros.

-Good morning.

-How are you?

0:21:000:21:02

Ros Barnett is a member of the Living Boat Trust,

0:21:020:21:05

a community devoted to keeping Tasmania's maritime heritage alive.

0:21:050:21:10

Ros, what is Tawe Nunnegah?

0:21:110:21:13

It's an expedition of small boats.

0:21:130:21:16

It's a...a raid, we call it.

0:21:160:21:18

And the idea is that's a lot of these boats are so small

0:21:180:21:21

that they wouldn't be safe going alone so they go together in a group.

0:21:210:21:24

How important is it to keep the boat-making skills alive?

0:21:240:21:29

Oh, just incredibly important.

0:21:290:21:32

And to build a boat, you need the knowledge, the skill, and the timber.

0:21:320:21:36

So Tasmania's got the best boat-building timber.

0:21:360:21:38

We've still got some of these precious people that really know

0:21:380:21:41

how to build a boat really well,

0:21:410:21:43

and we've got these enthusiastic people that want to sail them.

0:21:430:21:46

We're out there in boats.

0:21:460:21:48

Best water than you'll ever get anywhere else in the world

0:21:480:21:50

and we're just having fun.

0:21:500:21:52

With over ten nautical miles of water to travel before I jump ship,

0:22:000:22:04

I'm happy not to be relying on oar-power.

0:22:040:22:08

We get the good boat...

0:22:080:22:09

..with coffee and everything.

0:22:120:22:14

I've scored a lift north on one of the biggest boats

0:22:140:22:17

in the Tawe Nunnegah raid.

0:22:170:22:19

-How you doing?

-Hi.

0:22:190:22:21

It's a genuinely pleasing sight, isn't it?

0:22:240:22:26

To see so many vessels on the water together. It's just lovely.

0:22:260:22:30

But I'm trying to spot my date to the festival...

0:22:320:22:36

An elegantly restored three-masted barque,

0:22:360:22:39

the tallest ship of the fleet heading into to Hobart

0:22:390:22:41

for the opening of the festival.

0:22:410:22:43

Ah-ha! I've clocked her.

0:22:450:22:47

I make my way onto the 140-year-old James Craig,

0:22:530:22:57

to discover the extraordinary story of her salvage.

0:22:570:23:01

Thank you.

0:23:010:23:03

Take in the main...

0:23:040:23:07

Bringing in the...

0:23:080:23:10

'Alan Edenborough has been a member of the Sydney Heritage Fleet

0:23:110:23:14

'since 1969, and fascinated by tall ships since a teenager.'

0:23:140:23:18

So all this madness is yours.

0:23:180:23:22

Initially, yes, yes. A lot of people have helped since.

0:23:220:23:25

Built in England in 1874 she ploughed the world's oceans

0:23:260:23:30

as a merchant ship.

0:23:300:23:31

Later reduced to transporting coal

0:23:320:23:34

and abandoned in 1932 in Recherche Bay,

0:23:340:23:38

this is what Allan discovered in 1972.

0:23:380:23:41

How did... I've seen the photograph of the...of the rusting hulk.

0:23:430:23:48

Well, somebody told us in Sydney.

0:23:480:23:49

They said, "We want one tall ship to Sydney,"

0:23:490:23:52

and I was silly enough to take up the challenge

0:23:520:23:54

to see if we could find one.

0:23:540:23:55

So how did you finally come across...?

0:23:550:23:57

I found a little magazine which, uh, had written an article from

0:23:570:24:00

a Sydney sailor who'd been down to Hobart, and he'd seen the hull.

0:24:000:24:04

I said, "That's the best looking wreck I've seen."

0:24:040:24:06

And the rest is history.

0:24:060:24:07

-That was the best looking wreck.

-Absolutely.

0:24:070:24:09

And when you saw that hulk in that tragic condition,

0:24:090:24:12

you knew that this was achievable?

0:24:120:24:15

Not immediately, but we did two surveys.

0:24:150:24:18

We went down and we spent, uh,

0:24:180:24:19

a total of about two weeks on board the ship.

0:24:190:24:22

Living on board this hulk.

0:24:220:24:24

We go down to the keel, and once we got to the keel

0:24:240:24:26

we realised that she was salvageable.

0:24:260:24:28

The frames and the ship and the fabric of the ship was intact.

0:24:280:24:31

That that's the critical thing.

0:24:310:24:32

I must admit we had to pour about two bottles of scotch

0:24:320:24:35

down the surveyor's throat before he'd sign the letter

0:24:350:24:37

to say it could be salvaged, but he was a nice chap.

0:24:370:24:40

And then it was a 20-year slog to get it back into working condition.

0:24:400:24:44

She is one of only four barques from the 19th century

0:24:460:24:49

still sailing anywhere in the world.

0:24:490:24:51

A true masterpiece of restoration,

0:24:510:24:54

a 30-year labour of love for those devoted to her.

0:24:540:24:58

I'm going up to that little white deck up there.

0:25:060:25:09

Absolutely thrilled.

0:25:090:25:11

It is a bit good up here.

0:25:280:25:30

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

0:25:300:25:33

from this far up the mast of the James Craig.

0:25:330:25:37

This is definitely in the once-in-a-lifetime category

0:25:370:25:40

of opportunities.

0:25:400:25:41

Since the early 1960s, Hobart's Tasman Bridge

0:25:550:25:59

has been the vital link between the city and its eastern suburbs.

0:25:590:26:03

But, on a calm night in 1975,

0:26:030:26:06

fate shattered the peace and quiet of a sleeping city.

0:26:060:26:10

A wayward bulk load carrier struck the bridge and sank,

0:26:100:26:14

bringing down pylons and concrete spans.

0:26:140:26:17

Seven crew were killed and five motorists died

0:26:170:26:20

when their vehicles plunged 60m from the top.

0:26:200:26:23

The city was left with a bridge to nowhere for almost three years.

0:26:230:26:27

Hobart has never forgotten its night of adversity,

0:26:290:26:32

and today, it builds bridges of a different kind.

0:26:320:26:35

This is the heart of Australia's enduring exploration of Antarctica.

0:26:380:26:42

Palaeontologist, Professor Tim Flannery,

0:26:420:26:45

discovers a heroic blend of science and adventure.

0:26:450:26:49

There are more Antarctic scientists here than anywhere else in the world

0:26:500:26:54

because Hobart's the gateway to the Southern Ocean and beyond.

0:26:540:26:59

So I want to discover what a modern day expedition to the ice involves.

0:26:590:27:04

And to do that, you really have to understand

0:27:040:27:06

what happened in the past and you simply can't disregard

0:27:060:27:09

the greatest Antarctica story of them all.

0:27:090:27:12

It begins when a raggedy, exhausted man

0:27:140:27:17

walks into this city hotel fresh off the boat

0:27:170:27:20

after an 18-month expedition.

0:27:200:27:22

Just over a century ago, a disreputable looking figure

0:27:240:27:27

made his way into this rather grand hotel lobby.

0:27:270:27:30

The duty clerk mistook him for a tramp and gave him an inferior room

0:27:300:27:33

at the back of the hotel.

0:27:330:27:35

But the following day,

0:27:350:27:36

that man would be recognised as a great international hero.

0:27:360:27:40

He was Roald Amundsen, the first person to reach the South Pole.

0:27:400:27:44

And here he is after a well deserved shave and shower.

0:27:440:27:48

He had just travelled 5,250km from his triumph to Hobart.

0:27:480:27:55

The papers proclaimed,

0:27:550:27:56

"The hero Amundsen had conquered the South Pole."

0:27:560:28:00

The race was over.

0:28:000:28:01

His long time rival, Robert Scott, had died trying.

0:28:010:28:04

And back then, the voyage out must have been a hazardous one.

0:28:060:28:10

But scientists are still going south and they're discovering great things,

0:28:100:28:14

and I'm really keen to learn what the journey's like today.

0:28:140:28:17

I'm returning port-side to meet

0:28:170:28:19

Australian Antarctic Division Chief Scientist, Dr Nick Gales.

0:28:190:28:23

So, tell me was it really all a race to the Poles?

0:28:230:28:26

Well, back then it really was.

0:28:260:28:27

That was where the attention of the whole globe was.

0:28:270:28:29

They were the they were the rock stars of the age.

0:28:290:28:32

Just like I and people of my generation and older

0:28:320:28:34

remember the lunar landing and where they were.

0:28:340:28:37

That was the scale of attention and it was a huge race

0:28:370:28:40

to get the first person into the South Pole

0:28:400:28:42

of this great unknown land.

0:28:420:28:44

And one of them was this great Tasmanian, um, Lewey Vanacky,

0:28:440:28:48

who came down here in the late 19th century with his family,

0:28:480:28:51

and went down as part of the very first expedition ever

0:28:510:28:55

to over winter in Antarctica.

0:28:550:28:56

And he went down as a scientist, so he was starting to measure

0:28:560:28:59

a whole lot of the science that was fascinating to him,

0:28:590:29:01

and to the scientists that followed him,

0:29:010:29:04

like Edgeworth David and Mawson.

0:29:040:29:05

So, Mawson was a geologist, wasn't he?

0:29:050:29:07

He was a great geologist but he was more than that.

0:29:070:29:10

He really was a renaissance man,

0:29:100:29:11

if you like, because he recognised the importance of the science

0:29:110:29:15

in Antarctica above and beyond everything else.

0:29:150:29:17

And like the science that he was doing back then,

0:29:170:29:19

is that still the sort of thing that's ongoing today,

0:29:190:29:22

or has he nature of it all changed?

0:29:220:29:23

Well, we do things very differently now

0:29:230:29:25

because we have all these wonderful new tools to do our science,

0:29:250:29:28

but the drivers were the same.

0:29:280:29:29

What happens in the Southern Ocean? What happens with the ice cap?

0:29:290:29:33

It's the engine room of global climate.

0:29:330:29:35

So it's relevant to us all.

0:29:350:29:37

Modern day expeditions to the ice

0:29:400:29:42

remain physically and mentally challenging for everyone.

0:29:420:29:45

I'm fortunate to be here just at the right time to witness

0:29:450:29:48

Australia's all-purpose Antarctic flagship, preparing to head south.

0:29:480:29:53

The Aurora Australis is Australia's only icebreaker.

0:29:570:30:00

Since 1990, she's been transporting faculties of scientists

0:30:030:30:07

to Australia's three bases in Antarctica

0:30:070:30:10

to examine the ice continent.

0:30:100:30:12

On board, is Dr Tas Van Ommen,

0:30:160:30:18

an Antarctic Division scientist who specialises in ice cores.

0:30:180:30:23

So, how old is the oldest ice down there?

0:30:230:30:25

Well, we've got good reason to believe that the oldest ice

0:30:250:30:28

is probably over a million years old and there are some real puzzles

0:30:280:30:31

that we want to access one day by getting that old ice.

0:30:310:30:34

But, for the moment, we're satisfied trying to build up

0:30:340:30:37

our network of younger ice records, as well.

0:30:370:30:39

Antarctic has 18,000 km of coast

0:30:470:30:49

and most of it's actually hidden beneath ice.

0:30:490:30:52

And the exact configuration of that ice-water interface

0:30:520:30:56

is so important for determining how the ice responds

0:30:560:30:59

in a warming climate.

0:30:590:31:01

In a sense, you could say the coast of Antarctica hold the key

0:31:010:31:04

to the changing coast to the rest of the planet.

0:31:040:31:07

When you're down there on the ice,

0:31:090:31:11

do you ever think about the heroic age of exploration

0:31:110:31:14

and the conditions Mawson and those other explorers faced down there?

0:31:140:31:18

Yeah, I do. And I marvel at the fact they went into the unknown,

0:31:180:31:20

whereas we're going into something that we've got some experience

0:31:200:31:23

and knowledge about.

0:31:230:31:24

And they achieved such amazing things with such basic equipment.

0:31:240:31:29

BOAT HORN HONKS

0:31:290:31:30

-Bridge, fore and aft, let go.

-Copy that, let go, over.

0:31:300:31:34

Bridge to aft, letting go all lines.

0:31:350:31:37

BOAT HORN HONKS

0:31:370:31:40

Thank you.

0:31:420:31:43

The boat just moves so gracefully and slowly

0:31:530:31:56

as it comes down the Derwind here.

0:31:560:31:59

It's more like a ballet than anything I would have expected.

0:31:590:32:02

I wish I was heading south with them, but it's time for me

0:32:050:32:08

to bid bon voyage to the Aurora Australis

0:32:080:32:11

for her 96th journey to Antarctica.

0:32:110:32:14

And there she goes, a veteran polar explorer in the footsteps

0:32:180:32:23

of Scott, Amundsen, and Mawson.

0:32:230:32:25

While those heroic explorers venture south,

0:32:320:32:35

there were pioneers of a different hue further north.

0:32:350:32:39

Freycinet Peninsula is famously frequented by visitors

0:32:440:32:48

in search of its wildlife.

0:32:480:32:50

I'm heading to the site of particularly large nature fest

0:32:530:32:56

over 100 years ago.

0:32:560:32:58

These naturalists, as they were known,

0:32:590:33:02

were forerunners in Tasmania's now famous green movement.

0:33:020:33:05

In Easter 1910, Coles Bay became the base for the naturalists' field camp

0:33:070:33:13

after nearly 100 naturalists, men and women,

0:33:130:33:16

sailed here from Hobart.

0:33:160:33:18

I'm going to meet local historian Maureen Martin Ferris,

0:33:180:33:21

to see what all the fuss was about.

0:33:210:33:23

They really were very interested in studying some of the botany,

0:33:240:33:28

some of the beautiful granite, and also the marine animals

0:33:280:33:33

because they were botanists, you had zoologists.

0:33:330:33:38

-One of them, of course, was Errol Flynn's father.

-Really?

0:33:380:33:42

-He was a zoologist.

-Gosh, right. OK.

0:33:420:33:44

And he actually wrote a wonderful report,

0:33:440:33:47

and in the report it says that they actually discovered

0:33:470:33:50

60 new Tasmanian species and 25 Australian species.

0:33:500:33:56

So here's some of them and you can see them in their wonderful...

0:33:560:33:59

the women in their hats and their long gowns.

0:33:590:34:01

I'm so relieved that it's the kind of naturalists

0:34:010:34:03

that study wildlife and not the naturalists

0:34:030:34:05

that play naked table tennis.

0:34:050:34:07

Well, actually, that's what I imagined they were like.

0:34:070:34:09

-And you can see...yes.

-And this is this bay here?

-Yes, it is.

0:34:090:34:12

Oh, that's the is that the headland there?

0:34:120:34:14

That's the headland. You can see it right there.

0:34:140:34:16

Oh, right. Fantastic.

0:34:160:34:18

What always gets me about these photos

0:34:180:34:20

is the way that nobody's dressed for the beach.

0:34:200:34:22

No, none of them. They're all dressed as if they were going down town.

0:34:220:34:25

Yeah. Look at that.

0:34:250:34:26

They look as if they've arrived in the primordial jungle there,

0:34:260:34:30

with tents dotted about.

0:34:300:34:32

Such simple kit as well,

0:34:320:34:33

I mean, they were just canvases is thrown over ropes.

0:34:330:34:35

Perhaps the greatest legacy of those early naturalists

0:34:370:34:41

was the creation of Tasmania's first national park,

0:34:410:34:44

here in 1916 to protect Freycinet's natural beauty for generations.

0:34:440:34:49

Preserving nature is a fine thing, but what if nature changes?

0:34:520:34:56

Further south, the tide is turning.

0:34:580:35:00

Australia's east ocean current has been delivering

0:35:000:35:03

some uninvited visitors to the area,

0:35:030:35:05

turning it into an underwater battlefield.

0:35:050:35:08

Marine ecologist, Dr Emma Johnston is diving into the fight

0:35:080:35:13

to pick the winners from the losers.

0:35:130:35:16

What's the relationship between this and this?

0:35:160:35:19

Both are featured on expensive menus around the world.

0:35:200:35:23

But one is an unwelcome visitor, and the other one wants to eat it.

0:35:230:35:27

I'm here to find out what's gone wrong in the neighbourhood.

0:35:270:35:30

Traditionally, the peaceful waters of Dunalley

0:35:320:35:36

have had a thriving marine ecosystem producing loads of seafood.

0:35:360:35:40

But that's now under threat,

0:35:400:35:42

since the East Australian Current has been bringing warmer waters

0:35:420:35:45

from the north, and with it, armies of long spined urchins.

0:35:450:35:49

G'day!

0:35:490:35:51

'Marine ecologist, Dr Scott Ling, from the University of Tasmania,

0:35:510:35:55

'has promised to take me to the battle ground.'

0:35:550:35:58

We're travelling to North Bay where these invasive urchins

0:36:020:36:05

are eating their way through the native sea kelp at an alarming rate,

0:36:050:36:09

leaving the sea beds increasingly barren and unproductive.

0:36:090:36:13

I'm keen to see the evidence,

0:36:130:36:15

and discover the creative solutions that might just save them.

0:36:150:36:18

OK, we'll head down to eight and then swim across until we hit the...

0:36:180:36:21

Swim across and then we'll we should see a lot of the kelp bed

0:36:210:36:24

through here, and then some of the barren areas will start to emerge.

0:36:240:36:28

-There you go. Set to go.

-Thank you.

0:36:280:36:30

Generally, we've got a fairly healthy kelp bed system here.

0:36:460:36:49

This is showing the first signs of these urchins

0:36:510:36:54

overgrazing the system.

0:36:540:36:55

The barren patches that are really just starting to form.

0:36:560:36:59

Look at that! Beautiful.

0:37:080:37:11

They're just like little eating machines, aren't they?

0:37:140:37:17

-That's right.

-Munching away.

0:37:170:37:19

If you look at how long these spines are here,

0:37:190:37:21

really good protection from any lobster that's trying to eat them.

0:37:210:37:23

So purple! It looks black under the water. Pretty bright.

0:37:260:37:30

You can see their five teeth. His mouth's opening up there slightly.

0:37:320:37:36

These are the... This is what's doing all the damage to the kelp.

0:37:360:37:39

See their teeth are extremely hard.

0:37:390:37:42

And, um, they use a rasping type action

0:37:420:37:44

to strip the rock clear of all the algae.

0:37:440:37:47

Like a plague of marine locusts,

0:37:490:37:51

the prickly invaders are eating the sea bed bare.

0:37:510:37:55

The evidence of their destruction is overwhelming.

0:37:550:37:58

But, no more!

0:37:580:38:00

Enter the local hero... the Tasmanian rock lobster.

0:38:000:38:04

Here we have the southern rock lobster.

0:38:060:38:09

This is obviously a larger specimen.

0:38:090:38:11

It's these larger specimens that are able to prey on things

0:38:110:38:14

like sea urchins.

0:38:140:38:15

Obviously you've got all those protective spines.

0:38:150:38:18

It takes quite a large predator to be able to deal with that

0:38:180:38:20

and roll the urchin over and eat it...

0:38:200:38:22

Ah! Oi!

0:38:220:38:25

..on the underside.

0:38:250:38:26

With the support of local fishermen, Scott and his team

0:38:260:38:29

are returning to this area the once over-fished giant rock lobsters,

0:38:290:38:34

to take on their opponent.

0:38:340:38:37

Heading back to shore, Scott is going to show me

0:38:370:38:39

some rare and exclusive footage of an urchin kill.

0:38:390:38:43

OK, so if you have a look here,

0:38:430:38:45

we've got some infrared remote monitoring of a sea urchin.

0:38:450:38:48

-Is that the urchin?

-That's the urchin there. This is at night.

0:38:480:38:51

You can see spines are quite relaxed until the lobster turns up.

0:38:510:38:54

And then the lobster goes about trying to grapple the urchin.

0:38:540:38:57

It rolls it and starts attacking the urchin through the weaker underside

0:38:570:39:00

where there's less protection from the spines.

0:39:000:39:03

So, is it working?

0:39:030:39:04

Yeah, well, certainly it was a bit of a surprise as to how well

0:39:040:39:07

the lobsters actually took up residence

0:39:070:39:09

on these sea urchin barrens.

0:39:090:39:10

So what we're looking at here is, um...

0:39:120:39:14

first of all, there's really obvious yellowy coloured structure.

0:39:140:39:18

That's the...the roe or the gonad.

0:39:180:39:20

So that's the eggs, and for a lobster he cracks open an urchin

0:39:200:39:22

and the first thing he goes for is the roe.

0:39:220:39:25

You've got a lot more calories in there than anything else.

0:39:250:39:28

I'm not sure whether you want to try some, but why not?

0:39:280:39:30

Oh, gosh. Really? Fresh?

0:39:300:39:32

-Yeah. Give it a go. Give it a go. Fresh.

-OK.

0:39:320:39:35

Taste like the ocean?

0:39:390:39:41

That is delicious.

0:39:410:39:43

That's like ocean butter.

0:39:430:39:46

But a small platoon of lobsters is no guarantee

0:39:460:39:49

against a battalion of voracious urchins.

0:39:490:39:52

So, I wonder whether our growing taste for urchin roe

0:39:550:40:00

may become another defence against the spiny invaders.

0:40:000:40:04

On the final leg of my investigation,

0:40:060:40:08

I'm returning to Dunalley Bay to meet diver and entrepreneur Dave Allen.

0:40:080:40:14

Wow, that looks like a huge haul.

0:40:140:40:17

How much have you got here?

0:40:170:40:19

Oh, probably 3/4 of a tonne.

0:40:190:40:20

How much roe do you get out of, say, 3/4 of a tonne?

0:40:200:40:23

About 80kg of roe.

0:40:230:40:24

And that's the premium product.

0:40:260:40:28

And at peak of the season that can bring as much as 400 a kilo

0:40:290:40:33

in the Japanese market.

0:40:330:40:35

Can we eat our way out of this problem?

0:40:350:40:37

Um...I think it's been proven most of the way

0:40:370:40:40

through the northern hemisphere,

0:40:400:40:42

the only way to control a sea urchin problem

0:40:420:40:44

is with a commercially viable industry.

0:40:440:40:47

So, with a serve of science and industry,

0:40:510:40:54

we may not only rejuvenate an ailing ecosystem

0:40:540:40:58

but also sustain a peaceful and profitable underwater neighbourhood.

0:40:580:41:02

For decades, Bruny Island's small community has enjoyed

0:41:070:41:10

a peaceful and exquisite environment.

0:41:100:41:13

But as anthropologist, Dr Xanthe Mallet discovers, 200 years ago,

0:41:170:41:22

the island's fortunes were built upon a grim and bloody business.

0:41:220:41:26

I'm walking along what's called the Neck,

0:41:340:41:36

which links north Bruny Island behind me,

0:41:360:41:38

and south Bruny Island in front of me.

0:41:380:41:40

To the west, the tranquil waters of Great Bay,

0:41:420:41:45

and to the east, the sweeping indigo arc of Adventure Bay,

0:41:450:41:49

naturally sheltered against the Tasman Sea.

0:41:490:41:52

Adventure Bay is an idyllic setting,

0:41:530:41:55

sought out by nature loving tourists, proud locals, and urban escapees.

0:41:550:42:01

But I'm here on a very different journey

0:42:020:42:04

to find out why this bay was flushed red with blood.

0:42:040:42:07

Soon after colonisation in 1803, Tasmanians discovered

0:42:110:42:15

a vast whale population in Adventure Bay during the winter months.

0:42:150:42:19

And so, the hunt for whale oil began here in 1826.

0:42:190:42:24

The oil had a huge market in Britain where it fuelled

0:42:240:42:27

the country's street lamps and factory lighting.

0:42:270:42:30

Everyone wanted to be in on the game and the slaughter.

0:42:320:42:35

I'm heading to the remains of a whaling station

0:42:370:42:39

at the bay's eastern most tip.

0:42:390:42:41

In its day, about 150 whalers were stationed here.

0:42:420:42:47

Good morning.

0:42:470:42:48

'Maritime archaeologist, Michael Nash, has studied the whaling rush,

0:42:480:42:52

'and says the bay is the perfect inlet for the harpooning of whales.'

0:42:520:42:56

In the winter months, they'd come in here to calve and to breed.

0:42:560:43:00

Um, it's nice and shallow, it's a pretty protected bay.

0:43:000:43:02

It's very big, sort of straight access to the ocean out there.

0:43:020:43:05

Why are they called Southern Right Whale?

0:43:050:43:08

-Um, well, it's because they were the right whale to hunt.

-Oh, really?

0:43:080:43:11

Yeah, because where they located themselves.

0:43:110:43:13

They were easy to access. They were fairly big rotund animals.

0:43:130:43:17

Had a lot of blubber on them.

0:43:170:43:19

They were reasonably slow at that time of year,

0:43:190:43:22

and also the carcass floated when it when they were killed,

0:43:220:43:25

so they could tow them back into here.

0:43:250:43:27

When a whale was spotted,

0:43:270:43:29

it just wasn't the boats from one station going out to get it.

0:43:290:43:31

There was maybe four or five stations

0:43:310:43:33

and they're all competing because

0:43:330:43:35

the one that actually harpooned it first, had the claim on the whale.

0:43:350:43:39

So, once they'd actually harpooned it.

0:43:390:43:41

The whale would tow the boat around for a while,

0:43:410:43:43

get exhausted and then they'd come in here to lance.

0:43:430:43:46

-Did people die doing this?

-Oh, they did and I mean occasionally.

0:43:460:43:49

Not a huge number but, you know, boats got upset, you know,

0:43:490:43:53

and the bad weather, or the whales, or the whale line

0:43:530:43:55

as it was going out would get caught around someone's leg or something.

0:43:550:43:59

It was a dangerous occupation.

0:43:590:44:01

They'd bring the carcass about 50 yards off shore

0:44:020:44:04

and set up a basically a platform where they cut the blubber off.

0:44:040:44:10

They'd draw it up with a block and tackle

0:44:100:44:12

and they'd roll the whale, basically.

0:44:120:44:14

They'd draw the whole whale up and then kind of peel it like an orange?

0:44:140:44:17

Yeah, they do.

0:44:170:44:20

One of the characteristics of these sites is we get these,

0:44:200:44:22

what we call, blubber bricks.

0:44:220:44:23

So they have this really thick residue.

0:44:230:44:26

They used to use the scraps of blubber

0:44:260:44:28

to actually put back into the fire.

0:44:280:44:29

So it gave off this really greasy residue,

0:44:290:44:32

which actually sticks to the bricks.

0:44:320:44:34

If it leaves this black stuff when you burn it...

0:44:340:44:36

when they were making the actual oil it would have been giving off

0:44:360:44:40

a black smoke, then?

0:44:400:44:41

Oh, it would have been disgusting.

0:44:410:44:43

You know it would have been this big, thick, greasy thing.

0:44:430:44:45

And they actually reckon with the whaling ships, especially,

0:44:450:44:48

even if you couldn't see the ships,

0:44:480:44:50

you could actually smell them from a couple of miles away.

0:44:500:44:52

And this was what it was all about... whale oil.

0:44:560:44:59

An average 15m whale could yield about 8,000 litres.

0:44:590:45:02

So, what happened, why did it all stop?

0:45:040:45:06

Basically because the whale numbers just declined

0:45:060:45:08

so dramatically from over overfishing.

0:45:080:45:12

They dropped, ah, the 1840s to the 1850s there was virtually

0:45:120:45:15

no whales being caught here.

0:45:150:45:18

In a sense, it was an industry that burned brightly

0:45:180:45:21

but consumed itself over a couple of decades.

0:45:210:45:23

So, what remains of that time?

0:45:250:45:28

Hello.

0:45:290:45:31

'On the final stop of my journey, I'm meeting Margaret Wise,

0:45:310:45:34

'a descendent of Adventure Bay whalers,

0:45:340:45:36

'and she's got a couple of interesting artefacts

0:45:360:45:39

'she wants to show me.'

0:45:390:45:40

And this is a pair of whale's teeth.

0:45:400:45:44

The sailors would etch pictures...

0:45:440:45:46

'This is Scrimshaw.

0:45:460:45:48

'The intricate design and etching was no mean feat given the pitch

0:45:480:45:52

'and yaw of ocean waves.'

0:45:520:45:54

Very fine detail.

0:45:540:45:56

There was another product that we obtained from the whale

0:45:560:46:00

that was part of women's fashion and this was the baleen,

0:46:000:46:04

from the mouth of the whale through which they sieved.

0:46:040:46:08

It's fairly firm and thin

0:46:080:46:10

and became very, very useful in inserting

0:46:100:46:15

into a lady's corset.

0:46:150:46:18

And in the early days this is a corset that ladies used to wear.

0:46:200:46:26

-Right.

-To keep their waists trim, taut, and terrific.

0:46:260:46:30

-Shall we give it a go?

-Would you like to?

0:46:300:46:33

Not having much faith that's going to fit, but...

0:46:330:46:36

The lace is at the back.

0:46:360:46:38

They were tiny weren't they?

0:46:380:46:41

Well...

0:46:410:46:43

I think we need to bring it down just a little.

0:46:430:46:46

I don't think this going to go around me.

0:46:470:46:49

No, they had such tiny, tiny waists.

0:46:490:46:52

Oh, I do not fancy wearing this.

0:46:530:46:55

I'm sure it would have been much bigger

0:46:550:46:57

had I had to wear one in those days.

0:46:570:46:59

-Oh, can we take it off now?

-Yeah.

0:46:590:47:02

Fortunately, fashion changes, as did the fate of whaling.

0:47:020:47:06

Commercial whaling was banned in 1986.

0:47:080:47:11

At its peak between 1835 and 1839,

0:47:110:47:15

about 12,000 right whales were taken in Australian waters.

0:47:150:47:20

Today, worldwide, they number just 8,000.

0:47:200:47:25

150 years after the whaling stopped,

0:47:250:47:28

do you think we'll ever see whales back in Adventure Bay?

0:47:280:47:31

Earlier this year we had at least eight whales at one time

0:47:310:47:36

in Adventure Bay.

0:47:360:47:38

And we believe that one of them calved as well.

0:47:380:47:41

So, the evidence is showing that each year there are more and more

0:47:410:47:46

whales obvious to us out in the bay,

0:47:460:47:49

and I didn't think that I would ever live to see the day

0:47:490:47:52

when so many whales were there.

0:47:520:47:54

But, yes, they're coming back.

0:47:540:47:56

I call that...forgiveness.

0:47:590:48:01

Our journey through Tasmania is at an end for now.

0:48:060:48:10

This island may have begun its colonial life

0:48:100:48:13

as a severe penal corner of the British empire,

0:48:130:48:16

but even the convicts recognised the paradox of doing time

0:48:160:48:20

in a patch of Eden.

0:48:200:48:21

Next time, Dr Xanthe Mallet discovers an abandoned fort

0:48:230:48:27

that had the job of protecting the nation.

0:48:270:48:30

Professor Tim Flannery explores Fraser Island,

0:48:300:48:33

a world-famous sanctuary, but is it edible?

0:48:330:48:37

It's like tasting history, really.

0:48:370:48:39

Dr Emma Johnston finds that to save the dugong,

0:48:390:48:42

you have to capture it first.

0:48:420:48:44

What we're looking for is when they pop up

0:48:440:48:46

and their nose pops out of the water.

0:48:460:48:48

Brendan Moar reveals the true history

0:48:480:48:51

of the great Australian prawn.

0:48:510:48:53

This is a strange and unsettling place.

0:48:530:48:56

And I investigate an outpost for outcasts.

0:48:560:48:59

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