0:00:04 > 0:00:07This has been Coast's biggest expedition ever.
0:00:12 > 0:00:15We've come to Australia.
0:00:15 > 0:00:19A country so dramatically defined by its ancient and diverse coastline.
0:00:21 > 0:00:24With stories of a resourceful people
0:00:24 > 0:00:25shaped by the tyranny of distance
0:00:25 > 0:00:29and the extremes of climate and scale.
0:00:30 > 0:00:32There's been a rich coastal culture here
0:00:32 > 0:00:34for at least the last 50,000 years.
0:00:36 > 0:00:41The true marvel of this coast is its power to inspire the imagination.
0:00:41 > 0:00:43Any wonder that most Australians
0:00:43 > 0:00:45choose to live along their dazzling coastline
0:00:45 > 0:00:48and revel in its infinite horizons.
0:01:11 > 0:01:14I'm on the cusp of West Australia's wild, remote
0:01:14 > 0:01:17and famously wind-ruled Coral Coast.
0:01:17 > 0:01:20It's a coastline that's blessed with
0:01:20 > 0:01:22outrageously beautiful natural wonders.
0:01:22 > 0:01:25But peel beneath the picture-perfect facade
0:01:25 > 0:01:29and I'm told it also harbours some very dark secrets.
0:01:31 > 0:01:34Joining me on this splendid adventure,
0:01:34 > 0:01:37Dr Xanthe Mallett investigates the first European tragedy
0:01:37 > 0:01:40on Australian soil in 1629.
0:01:40 > 0:01:43So, all of this was the mass graves?
0:01:43 > 0:01:47Three-billion-year-old life with Professor Tim Flannery.
0:01:47 > 0:01:50These black rocks, they're not just rocks.
0:01:50 > 0:01:52They're some of the oldest living things on our planet.
0:01:52 > 0:01:54Dr Emma Johnston
0:01:54 > 0:01:57up close with a 60-million-year-old fish.
0:01:59 > 0:02:02And I'm tracing the mystery of a lost Australian battleship.
0:02:02 > 0:02:06And why does no-one get off of Sydney alive?
0:02:08 > 0:02:11This is Coast Australia.
0:02:37 > 0:02:41In this episode, our journey runs from Wedge Island in the south,
0:02:41 > 0:02:43across to the Houtman Abrolhos Islands,
0:02:43 > 0:02:46up to Shark Bay, Carnarvon
0:02:46 > 0:02:48and the remote North West Cape.
0:02:54 > 0:02:5660 kilometres off the coast of Geraldton,
0:02:56 > 0:03:01the Houtman Abrolhos are a cluster of 122 islands.
0:03:01 > 0:03:05Named after a 17th-century Dutch explorer, Frederick de Houtman,
0:03:05 > 0:03:06their featureless isolation
0:03:06 > 0:03:10has deterred all but a hardy community of cray fishermen
0:03:10 > 0:03:13and the occasional yachting tourist.
0:03:14 > 0:03:17Historically, though, the Abrolhos are known for
0:03:17 > 0:03:20a bizarre tale of murder and madness.
0:03:23 > 0:03:25- Jeff.- Hi, Xanthe. Welcome.- Hello.
0:03:25 > 0:03:29Anthropologist Dr Xanthe Mallett is starting out from Geraldton
0:03:29 > 0:03:33to investigate a macabre tale of three men and a bloodbath
0:03:33 > 0:03:37that took place 140 years before Captain Cook
0:03:37 > 0:03:39first set eyes on Australia.
0:03:42 > 0:03:46400 years ago, the spice trade was the resources boom of the time.
0:03:46 > 0:03:48The Dutch East India Company
0:03:48 > 0:03:52was the most wealthy and powerful institution in the world,
0:03:52 > 0:03:55thanks to its control of the legendary Spice Islands
0:03:55 > 0:03:57in modern-day Indonesia.
0:03:57 > 0:04:01In 1628, the company's newly-commissioned Batavia
0:04:01 > 0:04:06set sail from Holland to its eastern headquarters in Java.
0:04:06 > 0:04:11By June 1629, it was sailing off the coast of western Australia
0:04:11 > 0:04:13when disaster struck.
0:04:13 > 0:04:17The Batavia hit a reef and was wrecked, with 40 lives lost.
0:04:21 > 0:04:23Another 280 made it to land,
0:04:23 > 0:04:27mostly here on the Abrolhos' Beacon Island.
0:04:27 > 0:04:31Enter our first character, Commodore Francisco Pelsaert.
0:04:31 > 0:04:34Having survived the loss of his ship,
0:04:34 > 0:04:38Pelsaert now faces the grim reality of a barren outcrop
0:04:38 > 0:04:40with no fresh water for his marooned charge
0:04:40 > 0:04:44of soldiers, men, women and children.
0:04:44 > 0:04:45He had to act quickly.
0:04:45 > 0:04:49Cast off forward. Let's have the jib up.
0:04:51 > 0:04:53OK, we've just got a gentle breeze.
0:04:53 > 0:04:57With 48 desperate passengers in a longboat exactly like this one,
0:04:57 > 0:05:02Pelsaert heads out in search of water, or so he claims.
0:05:03 > 0:05:05I'm with modern-day mariner Jeff Brooks,
0:05:05 > 0:05:09a Geraldton local and guardian of this historical replica.
0:05:11 > 0:05:13You know the story of Pelsaert as well as anybody.
0:05:13 > 0:05:17What do you think his thoughts were as he rowed off,
0:05:17 > 0:05:20you know, into the distance, leaving all of those people...
0:05:20 > 0:05:22- Mm!- ..on...on that island.
0:05:22 > 0:05:24There's a lot written about it. Um...
0:05:26 > 0:05:29- They were saving their skins. They were.- Do you think?- Absolutely.
0:05:29 > 0:05:32If you're going sailing to the mainland to look for water,
0:05:32 > 0:05:35which is what they were doing, why would you take 48 people?
0:05:35 > 0:05:37The boat was already overloaded.
0:05:37 > 0:05:42Be that as it may, they make an epic 1,700 kilometre journey
0:05:42 > 0:05:45to Java in terrible conditions.
0:05:45 > 0:05:48- They were at sea for quite a long time.- Yeah, 30 days roughly.
0:05:48 > 0:05:51That's a long time to be here, isn't it?
0:05:51 > 0:05:53Yes. Not a lot of privacy. Not a lot of comfort.
0:05:53 > 0:05:56A lot of salt water boils and the boat would have leaked.
0:05:56 > 0:05:58Because all boats at that time leaked.
0:05:58 > 0:06:03That was nothing compared to what was happening back on the islands.
0:06:03 > 0:06:07With no water and little food, the second man in this story,
0:06:07 > 0:06:13Jeronimus Cornelisz, steps up and begins a reign of terror.
0:06:15 > 0:06:19I've come to Beacon Island to piece together a gruesome jigsaw
0:06:19 > 0:06:23with the help of Jeremy Green, a leading maritime archaeologist
0:06:23 > 0:06:26who pioneered excavations of the Batavia wreck
0:06:26 > 0:06:29and has been studying its history for 40 years.
0:06:30 > 0:06:32Jeronimus Cornelisz, who is the really
0:06:32 > 0:06:35baddy, baddy person of this whole story,
0:06:35 > 0:06:40came late off the vessel and he was then the most senior person.
0:06:40 > 0:06:44And he had been involved in this fermenting mutiny
0:06:44 > 0:06:46that was taking place before they were wrecked.
0:06:46 > 0:06:49What was the mutineers' plan?
0:06:49 > 0:06:52I think they were concerned that the food would run out.
0:06:52 > 0:06:55So they wanted to reduce the number of people.
0:06:55 > 0:06:58What happened in the beginning is they had a lot of sick people
0:06:58 > 0:07:01and people who were weak and not able to do anything.
0:07:01 > 0:07:05They were killed and buried rather quickly and clandestinely.
0:07:05 > 0:07:09They then had another problem, the mutineers,
0:07:09 > 0:07:10is they had a group of soldiers.
0:07:10 > 0:07:14And the soldiers were extremely well organised, they were well-armed,
0:07:14 > 0:07:17and for the mutineers, they were a real nightmare
0:07:17 > 0:07:21because, you know, they were not likely to be able to overpower them.
0:07:23 > 0:07:25The biggest challenge for the mutineers was their leader,
0:07:25 > 0:07:28a young, determined soldier named Wiebbe Hayes,
0:07:28 > 0:07:31our third and final character.
0:07:32 > 0:07:34With covert killings under way,
0:07:34 > 0:07:39somehow, Cornelisz manages to disarm and despatch Wiebbe Hayes
0:07:39 > 0:07:42and his soldiers to West Wallabi Island.
0:07:42 > 0:07:44Ostensibly, to look for water.
0:07:44 > 0:07:47Was the hope that they would actually die over there?
0:07:47 > 0:07:49Yes, that was the general idea.
0:07:49 > 0:07:53After that happened, they then started to openly kill people.
0:07:53 > 0:07:55So people who didn't behave themselves were killed.
0:07:56 > 0:07:59In a grisly bout of medieval Hunger Games,
0:07:59 > 0:08:02throats are slit, skulls bashed in.
0:08:03 > 0:08:08115 people brutally murdered by Cornelisz and his mutineers.
0:08:10 > 0:08:16In 1994, Jeremy started excavating and uncovered graves.
0:08:16 > 0:08:21Previous graves were found and then we found this mass grave.
0:08:21 > 0:08:23Um...there was a pit which, I suppose...
0:08:23 > 0:08:25Well, you can see from that, that thing there...
0:08:25 > 0:08:29This hole here would have been about three metres in diameter.
0:08:29 > 0:08:34- So, all of this was the mass graves, but bodies are not here now?- No.
0:08:37 > 0:08:40This is typical of the mass graves that you see in Kosovo et cetera,
0:08:40 > 0:08:43the kind of, um... Just all the bodies thrown in together.
0:08:43 > 0:08:47This speaks very much to that clandestine, kind of covert burial.
0:08:47 > 0:08:50- Yes.- Lack of respect and probably foul play.
0:08:50 > 0:08:51Yes, exactly.
0:08:53 > 0:08:56A survivor of this orgy of rape and murder
0:08:56 > 0:09:00swims over to West Wallabi Island to alert the soldiers.
0:09:02 > 0:09:06I've come to West Wallabi with an Abrolhos local, known as Spags,
0:09:06 > 0:09:09who's going to show me a remarkable historical site.
0:09:12 > 0:09:17This is the area where Wiebbe Hayes, the soldier, set up his camp.
0:09:19 > 0:09:21One of the survivors from over on the other island
0:09:21 > 0:09:26managed to get over here and warn Wiebbe Hayes what had happened.
0:09:26 > 0:09:30So that's when he, um... started fortifying things,
0:09:30 > 0:09:32so that if they were attacked, they had a chance of surviving.
0:09:32 > 0:09:35- And were they attacked? - Yes, apparently they were, yeah.
0:09:35 > 0:09:38This is an extraordinary structure,
0:09:38 > 0:09:40built one and a half centuries
0:09:40 > 0:09:44before the British established a colony in Australia.
0:09:44 > 0:09:48Well, it was built in 1629, so, um...
0:09:48 > 0:09:52Yeah, it's the oldest European building in Australia.
0:09:57 > 0:10:01Wiebbe came here to find water. Did they find any?
0:10:01 > 0:10:04- Yes.- Which is lucky, really, otherwise they were in trouble.
0:10:04 > 0:10:08Cornelisz and his gang then launched several attacks
0:10:08 > 0:10:10on Wiebbe Hayes and his loyalist soldiers.
0:10:10 > 0:10:16Just then, what should appear over the horizon, but a rescue ship.
0:10:16 > 0:10:20Having made it to Java, Pelsaert was ordered to return to the Abrolhos
0:10:20 > 0:10:23to rescue the survivors and cargo.
0:10:23 > 0:10:27Pelsaert had arrived in the rescue vessel, the Sardam,
0:10:27 > 0:10:31and appeared on the scene right when the battle's taking place.
0:10:31 > 0:10:34So they obviously all looked around, "Oh, my God, Pelsaert's here,"
0:10:34 > 0:10:36or, "The rescue vessel's here! Let's go!"
0:10:36 > 0:10:39And the mutineers wanted to capture the rescue vessel
0:10:39 > 0:10:44and Wiebbe Hayes wanted to warn Pelsaert what had happened.
0:10:44 > 0:10:46It was a desperate boat race.
0:10:46 > 0:10:52Wiebbe Hayes got there first and the story goes on from there.
0:10:52 > 0:10:54If Wiebbe Hayes hadn't have got there first,
0:10:54 > 0:10:56we would have had another story.
0:10:56 > 0:11:00- So he's the real hero of the story. - Oh, absolutely.
0:11:00 > 0:11:02About the only one in the whole story!
0:11:04 > 0:11:08Gang leader Cornelisz was executed on the Abrolhos by hanging.
0:11:08 > 0:11:10Pelsaert returned to Java,
0:11:10 > 0:11:14but his reputation was damaged for abandoning his ship,
0:11:14 > 0:11:16its cargo and his passengers,
0:11:16 > 0:11:19and within a year, had died of natural causes.
0:11:21 > 0:11:24As for Wiebbe Hayes, the Dutch East India Company
0:11:24 > 0:11:26sent him back to Amsterdam a wealthy man,
0:11:26 > 0:11:30an officer and standard bearer for the army.
0:11:31 > 0:11:34So this story isn't really about a shipwreck.
0:11:34 > 0:11:37It's the classic tale of good versus evil.
0:11:37 > 0:11:39Of a hero versus a villain.
0:11:39 > 0:11:41And it culminated in a boat race,
0:11:41 > 0:11:45the outcome of which decided the fate of 140 people.
0:11:45 > 0:11:48Whether they lived or died.
0:11:48 > 0:11:52And whether this story was ever going to be told.
0:11:59 > 0:12:02Coming to wild places like this makes me wonder
0:12:02 > 0:12:06what kind of people are drawn to such an isolated setting?
0:12:08 > 0:12:10And does this strip of beach and ocean
0:12:10 > 0:12:14function as much as a test of mettle as a playground?
0:12:16 > 0:12:19Novelist and long-time local Tim Winton
0:12:19 > 0:12:23has written that West Coasters live in the teeth of the wind.
0:12:23 > 0:12:26And that's a sentiment that will chime with coastal dwellers
0:12:26 > 0:12:28in many different parts of the world.
0:12:29 > 0:12:31But maybe there's more to it than that.
0:12:31 > 0:12:36Because you can detect in his words just the hint of a challenge.
0:12:36 > 0:12:40It's a proud declaration of humankind's ability
0:12:40 > 0:12:44to adapt to and to overcome unruly weather.
0:12:48 > 0:12:50Welcome to Wedge Island.
0:12:50 > 0:12:54Well, not so much an island as the tip of an isolated peninsula.
0:12:54 > 0:12:57A shack community three hours south of Geraldton
0:12:57 > 0:13:00and happily far away from everywhere else.
0:13:03 > 0:13:06The locals first arrived as squatters on crown land in the '30s.
0:13:07 > 0:13:09During World War II, government policy
0:13:09 > 0:13:13was to move everyone off this coast in case of invasion.
0:13:13 > 0:13:16And the shacks were used for target practice.
0:13:17 > 0:13:19Soon after, the fishermen and farmers returned
0:13:19 > 0:13:22to slap together their fishing and holiday shacks
0:13:22 > 0:13:27out of whatever was to hand in the best Do-It-Yourself tradition.
0:13:27 > 0:13:32For example, Noddy White and his 40-year-old pad.
0:13:32 > 0:13:34- My humble abode.- I love it!
0:13:35 > 0:13:37- This is the first half. - This suits me.
0:13:38 > 0:13:42- Just this room.- Right, so this is the first bit? Fantastic!
0:13:42 > 0:13:45And like you say, you had to bring all this stuff?
0:13:45 > 0:13:49Yes. Everything on trailers over sand track.
0:13:49 > 0:13:53'Back then, off the highway, it was a hard couple of hours' drive
0:13:53 > 0:13:56'over 36 kilometres of very rough tracks.
0:13:58 > 0:14:01'Now it's 10 minutes on a sealed road.'
0:14:01 > 0:14:04It was all recycled or second hand when it came here 40 years ago.
0:14:04 > 0:14:08And some of this tin on there would be over 100 years old.
0:14:08 > 0:14:10No!
0:14:10 > 0:14:12Look at the electrics.
0:14:12 > 0:14:14- Yes, we've got a few of those.- Yeah.
0:14:14 > 0:14:18The community here, I suppose to come into it,
0:14:18 > 0:14:19you'd have to be the sort of person
0:14:19 > 0:14:22who can muck in and get on with people.
0:14:22 > 0:14:24There's always been that togetherness.
0:14:24 > 0:14:26You know, like, community.
0:14:26 > 0:14:29And kids look after other kids.
0:14:29 > 0:14:31You never worried about your kids up here.
0:14:31 > 0:14:32You know, it's...
0:14:32 > 0:14:36I want to be carried out of here. I'll spend the rest of my days here.
0:14:38 > 0:14:43There's room for all sorts here on what is still crown land.
0:14:43 > 0:14:47With no running water, no mains electricity, no shops.
0:14:47 > 0:14:50It's self-sufficient, off the grid.
0:14:50 > 0:14:55Maybe an expression of Australia's anti-authority egalitarian spirit.
0:14:55 > 0:14:58- Hello.- Hey, Neil!- Hello! - How are you, mate?
0:14:59 > 0:15:01The scatter of 350 shacks
0:15:01 > 0:15:04squat behind another endless windswept beach.
0:15:07 > 0:15:11Great for surfing, although some locals earn their living here, too,
0:15:11 > 0:15:13such as cray fisherman Steven Dawe.
0:15:13 > 0:15:16- How are you doing, Steven? - Good day, Neil.
0:15:16 > 0:15:18- Any luck?- Not that good.
0:15:18 > 0:15:22- Not that good?- Nah. It's the worst we've done for a while.
0:15:22 > 0:15:23Really? Oh!
0:15:23 > 0:15:27But still, there's probably 2,500 worth of crayfish there.
0:15:27 > 0:15:29Really? What is it about crays?
0:15:29 > 0:15:31Is that just the best thing to go for here?
0:15:31 > 0:15:33Oh, we've been into it for years.
0:15:33 > 0:15:36My old man was a fisherman and my uncle's a fisherman and...
0:15:36 > 0:15:38It's always the crayfish, that's the thing to go for?
0:15:38 > 0:15:40Yeah. Well, they're worth a lot of money.
0:15:40 > 0:15:43The most valuable fish on the coast, just about.
0:15:43 > 0:15:48- This place, Wedge, is your livelihood?- It is.
0:15:49 > 0:15:51- Where I'd be without it, I don't know.- Right.
0:15:54 > 0:15:56You guys have done that before, haven't you?
0:15:56 > 0:16:00While Steve and son head off to market, back in the community...
0:16:00 > 0:16:02Well, not much is happening.
0:16:03 > 0:16:06Except for Steve's wife, Helen,
0:16:06 > 0:16:08who's busy with a rather unique hobby.
0:16:08 > 0:16:10What you doing, Helen?
0:16:10 > 0:16:13Oh, hello. Just tanning some skins.
0:16:13 > 0:16:15- Right.- Fish skins.- Fish skins?
0:16:15 > 0:16:16- Yeah.- Oh!
0:16:16 > 0:16:19So I've just taken them out of the bath.
0:16:19 > 0:16:20What kind of fish is that?
0:16:20 > 0:16:22This was a dhufish.
0:16:22 > 0:16:25- Right.- So that's one side of it. - Oh, wow!
0:16:27 > 0:16:29Oh, it's weird!
0:16:30 > 0:16:33- It's like rubber. - Yeah, it feels a bit like rubber.
0:16:33 > 0:16:35- Very strong.- Very strange, yeah.
0:16:35 > 0:16:38- And it's a big... It's come off a big animal.- Yeah.
0:16:38 > 0:16:41So, what do you have to do to that before it's usable?
0:16:41 > 0:16:44I have to take all the scales off.
0:16:44 > 0:16:48And I do that by hand, just flicking them off, which is a bit messy.
0:16:48 > 0:16:52What can you make fish leather into?
0:16:52 > 0:16:57- I've used it, er...to make a dress once.- Really?
0:16:57 > 0:17:01I had, like, black suede and it had leather panels down the side of it.
0:17:01 > 0:17:06- Uh-huh. Yeah. - Um...handbags, wallets.
0:17:07 > 0:17:09So I use the floor because, um...
0:17:09 > 0:17:13- because it's old jarrah, it nails in well.- OK.
0:17:15 > 0:17:19Otherwise, I'd have to have a wooden frame. So this is easy.
0:17:19 > 0:17:23And whose shack is this that we're nailing fish skins onto?
0:17:23 > 0:17:27This is our shack, but this is where our daughter sleeps.
0:17:27 > 0:17:30What do you think it is about this place?
0:17:30 > 0:17:34I think probably to me, it's very...
0:17:35 > 0:17:38It's like a romantic freedom.
0:17:39 > 0:17:41We enjoy the best things in life, I think.
0:17:41 > 0:17:44Like, the best food, the freshest food.
0:17:44 > 0:17:47But at the same time, life's really simple.
0:17:48 > 0:17:51Retreating from the heat of the land or the noise of the city,
0:17:51 > 0:17:53the shack-dwellers of Wedge Island
0:17:53 > 0:17:58have adapted to this magnificently untamed strip of coast
0:17:58 > 0:18:01with a loving hand and a light footprint.
0:18:09 > 0:18:12Red Bluff is a remote part of the Coral Coast,
0:18:12 > 0:18:15130 kilometres north of Carnarvon.
0:18:15 > 0:18:20Bizarrely, it was here that 57 German seamen turned up
0:18:20 > 0:18:23in a crowded lifeboat in 1941.
0:18:23 > 0:18:27Throwing their weapons in the water, they claimed they were responsible
0:18:27 > 0:18:30for what is still Australia's worst naval disaster.
0:18:32 > 0:18:33I'm here to examine the mystery
0:18:33 > 0:18:36that's shrouded those events ever since.
0:18:40 > 0:18:441941, and Europe is consumed by war.
0:18:46 > 0:18:51In Australia, in February, HMAS Sydney had returned a hero
0:18:51 > 0:18:54after an illustrious campaign in the Mediterranean.
0:18:54 > 0:18:56"Here's a story of heroes' homecoming
0:18:56 > 0:18:59"after months in the European warzone.
0:18:59 > 0:19:01"HMAS Sydney with her crew complete.
0:19:01 > 0:19:02"But in all the actions which she fought,
0:19:02 > 0:19:04"not a single casualty was sudden."
0:19:06 > 0:19:09The Sydney and her 645 sailors
0:19:09 > 0:19:12were now to be deployed on the seemingly-safer mission
0:19:12 > 0:19:15of convoy-escort and home patrol.
0:19:15 > 0:19:19But already in Australian waters, there were suspected Nazi raiders.
0:19:19 > 0:19:23German war vessels pretending to be harmless merchant ships.
0:19:27 > 0:19:29The HSK Kormoran, under Captain Theodor Detmers,
0:19:29 > 0:19:32had been in the Indian Ocean for months,
0:19:32 > 0:19:34armed and in disguise.
0:19:36 > 0:19:39On the afternoon of 19th November,
0:19:39 > 0:19:42100 nautical miles off the Western Australian coast,
0:19:42 > 0:19:45the Sydney's captain, Joseph Burnett,
0:19:45 > 0:19:48sighted what appeared to be a merchant ship.
0:19:51 > 0:19:54I'm going to meet Wes Olson, a train driver by day
0:19:54 > 0:19:57and one of the great writers and researchers on the subject,
0:19:57 > 0:20:01so I can find out exactly what happened out there at sea
0:20:01 > 0:20:03that evening of November, 1941.
0:20:07 > 0:20:10- Hi, Wes.- Hiya, Neil.- How you doing?
0:20:11 > 0:20:15Oh, I see you've come fully armed. So, which is which?
0:20:15 > 0:20:18Well, this model represents HMAS Sydney.
0:20:18 > 0:20:21Her main role is trade protection.
0:20:21 > 0:20:24To protect merchant shipping plying these waters,
0:20:24 > 0:20:26protecting this coastline.
0:20:26 > 0:20:29And this model represents HSK Kormoran.
0:20:29 > 0:20:32'Kormoran's job is to sink those merchant ships.
0:20:32 > 0:20:36'She's loaded with mines and well armed.
0:20:36 > 0:20:38'But nothing like Sydney.'
0:20:41 > 0:20:46She's a warship. Sydney carries eight six-inch guns
0:20:46 > 0:20:47mounted in the four turrets.
0:20:47 > 0:20:50Kormoran's broadside is only four 5.9-inch guns.
0:20:50 > 0:20:54- So one here...- Uh-huh. - One in the hold there,
0:20:54 > 0:20:57another one in the hold here, another one under this flap here.
0:20:57 > 0:20:59Right, so they're in disguise. They're...
0:20:59 > 0:21:02Before the battle, those flaps are down.
0:21:02 > 0:21:05- If you turn the ship over, the other side.- Oh, right.
0:21:05 > 0:21:07That's how she would have appeared to Sydney
0:21:07 > 0:21:09before the Germans declared identity.
0:21:09 > 0:21:14To all intents and purposes, she looks like a harmless merchant ship.
0:21:14 > 0:21:16- But she's anything but. - That's right.
0:21:17 > 0:21:19Then, Sydney's Captain Burnett
0:21:19 > 0:21:22signals the Kormoran to identity itself.
0:21:22 > 0:21:26The German ship turns away and claims to be a merchant ship.
0:21:28 > 0:21:33With no guns in sight on the Kormoran, Burnett is left guessing.
0:21:33 > 0:21:34According to his shipping plot,
0:21:34 > 0:21:36there shouldn't be any ship in the area.
0:21:36 > 0:21:39So he has to be extremely suspicious.
0:21:39 > 0:21:42It appears to be a bogus ship claiming the identity of another ship.
0:21:42 > 0:21:45It can only be two things.
0:21:45 > 0:21:47A raider or possibly the raider's supply ship.
0:21:47 > 0:21:50But Detmers had an ace up his sleeve.
0:21:50 > 0:21:53He would have known that Burnett had to identify his vessel.
0:21:53 > 0:21:57If he'd tipped his hand by opening fire,
0:21:57 > 0:21:59even at extreme range or moderate range,
0:21:59 > 0:22:05he's telling Burnett, the enemy ship, what he is, a raider.
0:22:05 > 0:22:09But he didn't do that. He kept his nerve.
0:22:09 > 0:22:11Burnett is under instruction from Britain
0:22:11 > 0:22:13to board raider or supply vessels,
0:22:13 > 0:22:16so he continues to move in closer.
0:22:17 > 0:22:19A fatal error of judgment.
0:22:20 > 0:22:23The Kormoran is no match for the Sydney.
0:22:23 > 0:22:27Detmers knows one way or another that he has already lost his ship.
0:22:29 > 0:22:31It's life and death for the Kormoran.
0:22:31 > 0:22:35They've got 360 contact mines on board.
0:22:35 > 0:22:37Another 30 magnetic mines.
0:22:37 > 0:22:41Just one shell in there, even if it's six inch, four inch, doesn't matter.
0:22:41 > 0:22:44One shell and it's goodbye.
0:22:44 > 0:22:47He waited till Sydney got to such a position
0:22:47 > 0:22:50that he could use all his weapons to maximum advantage.
0:22:52 > 0:22:54Do you think Burnett assumed that the Kormoran
0:22:54 > 0:22:57either would not or simply could not open fire?
0:22:57 > 0:22:59We would have to assume that.
0:22:59 > 0:23:04Finally, the Kormoran raises her Nazi flag and fires on Sydney
0:23:04 > 0:23:06with everything she's got.
0:23:15 > 0:23:18Critically, the first hits are on Sydney's bridge,
0:23:18 > 0:23:21the director control tower. It's the nerve centre.
0:23:21 > 0:23:23Control, the gunnery.
0:23:23 > 0:23:27So everything's lost in those first few seconds of the battle.
0:23:28 > 0:23:31Captain Burnett and his senior officers are killed.
0:23:32 > 0:23:36Are we talking minutes before the Sydney is so badly damaged?
0:23:36 > 0:23:38We're looking at three to four minutes.
0:23:38 > 0:23:41Devastated though Sydney is, she has nonetheless
0:23:41 > 0:23:44done enough damage to Kormoran to finish her, as well?
0:23:44 > 0:23:48She got in some hits, some critical hits, caused a fire.
0:23:48 > 0:23:51So that effectively stopped Kormoran,
0:23:51 > 0:23:55but she did not get that lucky hit. She didn't get the mines.
0:23:55 > 0:23:57Detmers' tactics had won.
0:23:57 > 0:24:01So he first of all outthought Burnett and then he outgunned him.
0:24:01 > 0:24:02That's right.
0:24:02 > 0:24:03As the Kormoran sinks,
0:24:03 > 0:24:07the Germans take to the lifeboats and most survive.
0:24:08 > 0:24:12But the Sydney goes down with all 645 sailors lost.
0:24:20 > 0:24:24And why does no-one get off of Sydney alive?
0:24:24 > 0:24:25I mean, there's lifeboats.
0:24:25 > 0:24:28The upper decks have been swept with shellfire, cannon fire.
0:24:28 > 0:24:31Most of those boats have been damaged in the battle.
0:24:33 > 0:24:36Back on the mainland, the first people knew of this terrible battle
0:24:36 > 0:24:40was when five German lifeboats were picked up at sea.
0:24:40 > 0:24:45Two other lifeboats reached this coast. One at Red Bluff.
0:24:46 > 0:24:51315 Germans survived, but theirs was the only account of the battle.
0:24:53 > 0:24:55The Australian government was slow to announce the disaster
0:24:55 > 0:24:58and refused to release details of the German account
0:24:58 > 0:25:00for another 16 years.
0:25:02 > 0:25:04With no corroborative information,
0:25:04 > 0:25:07there was a suspicion of deception that lingered for decades.
0:25:09 > 0:25:12Conspiracy theories and hoaxes flourished
0:25:12 > 0:25:16until 2008, when both wrecks were discovered and surveyed,
0:25:16 > 0:25:20proving the original German story.
0:25:20 > 0:25:22Ha-ha! That's it!
0:25:22 > 0:25:24That's HMAS Sydney.
0:25:29 > 0:25:31The wrecks lie off this coast,
0:25:31 > 0:25:3480 nautical miles or so in that direction.
0:25:34 > 0:25:37And they're under 2.5 kilometres of water.
0:25:38 > 0:25:40No human being can dive so deep.
0:25:40 > 0:25:45So the wreck site is inaccessible to the loved ones of the lost men.
0:25:47 > 0:25:50These haunting images tell of Sydney's final moments.
0:25:50 > 0:25:54While those aboard desperately fought to save her,
0:25:54 > 0:25:57her bow was hit by a torpedo and broke off.
0:25:59 > 0:26:01It was a catastrophic end.
0:26:01 > 0:26:04Sydney now lies deep on the ocean floor.
0:26:05 > 0:26:08Silent and alone with her ghosts.
0:26:14 > 0:26:16At the westernmost tip of Shark Bay,
0:26:16 > 0:26:19one island stretches out with a curious history.
0:26:19 > 0:26:23In 1616, Dutch Captain Dirk Hartog
0:26:23 > 0:26:26was the first European to set foot in Western Australia.
0:26:26 > 0:26:29He left an engraved pewter plate on this island,
0:26:29 > 0:26:31which now bears his name,
0:26:31 > 0:26:34and then carried on north to the Spice Islands.
0:26:34 > 0:26:3880 years later, Flemish Captain Willem de Vlamingh passed by
0:26:38 > 0:26:40and replaced the plate with one of his own.
0:26:42 > 0:26:45The French then annexed the island in 1772,
0:26:45 > 0:26:47marked by a couple of coins.
0:26:48 > 0:26:52But for all that, no Europeans took root in Western Australia
0:26:52 > 0:26:56until Major Edmund Lockyer claimed it for the British in 1826.
0:26:56 > 0:27:01Aboriginal history in Shark Bay dates back 30,000 years,
0:27:01 > 0:27:04but an unique life form has lived in these waters
0:27:04 > 0:27:06continuously for billions of years.
0:27:07 > 0:27:10Palaeontologist Professor Tim Flannery
0:27:10 > 0:27:13investigates what makes this World Heritage site
0:27:13 > 0:27:16so very important to all of us.
0:27:18 > 0:27:22It hardly ever rains and the summer heat can be extreme,
0:27:22 > 0:27:25but Shark Bay is a site of international historical
0:27:25 > 0:27:28and ecological significance.
0:27:28 > 0:27:30And it all boils down to salt.
0:27:30 > 0:27:32This water's as warm as a bath.
0:27:34 > 0:27:37Oh! And it's intolerably salty.
0:27:37 > 0:27:40That makes it a hostile environment for most living things.
0:27:40 > 0:27:42But there's one thing that thrives here.
0:27:42 > 0:27:45These black rocks. Well, they aren't really rocks,
0:27:45 > 0:27:49they're some of the most primitive living things on the planet.
0:27:50 > 0:27:52They're called stromatolites.
0:27:52 > 0:27:54And in effect, they're living fossils.
0:27:55 > 0:27:56I'm meeting Dave Holley,
0:27:56 > 0:27:59who looks after the Shark Bay Marine Park, to learn more.
0:27:59 > 0:28:01Hi, Dave. Great to meet you.
0:28:01 > 0:28:03Hi, Tim. Nice to meet you, mate.
0:28:03 > 0:28:07Well, they look a bit like a cross between a cauliflower and a rock.
0:28:07 > 0:28:10And if we have a look at one, you can see a dome
0:28:10 > 0:28:13on a bit of a column, basically.
0:28:13 > 0:28:15So they're quite unique-looking.
0:28:15 > 0:28:18What actually creates them?
0:28:18 > 0:28:21It's a really simple life form. It's called arcaya.
0:28:21 > 0:28:24And it's been around for billions of years.
0:28:25 > 0:28:293.5 billion years, in fact.
0:28:29 > 0:28:32Evolutionary life began with colonies of bacteria.
0:28:32 > 0:28:36Like the ones that created these stromatolites.
0:28:36 > 0:28:39Basically, what happens is this organism
0:28:39 > 0:28:44binds sediment in the water and creates a mucus.
0:28:44 > 0:28:46This mucus traps the sediment,
0:28:46 > 0:28:48a reaction occurs with the super-salty water
0:28:48 > 0:28:50and it creates a limestone.
0:28:50 > 0:28:54So over time, it creates this layer called a stromatolite.
0:28:54 > 0:28:58And you can really see that algal layer there now.
0:28:58 > 0:29:00Yeah. Trapping that sediment within it.
0:29:00 > 0:29:04- Yes.- Binding it and creating those layers which build up...
0:29:04 > 0:29:06- Yeah.- ..over time.
0:29:06 > 0:29:10So for billions of years, these things dominated the planet.
0:29:10 > 0:29:12And yet today, we can only find them in a couple of places.
0:29:12 > 0:29:15So, what's so special about Shark Bay?
0:29:15 > 0:29:17Shark Bay, in Hamelin Pool, where we're standing now,
0:29:17 > 0:29:20is critical because of that super-salty water.
0:29:23 > 0:29:26A sill, or barrier in the bay,
0:29:26 > 0:29:29coupled with a hot, dry climate and shallow waters
0:29:29 > 0:29:32mean that the evaporation rate is very high.
0:29:34 > 0:29:38The resulting hypersaline water is twice as salty as the sea.
0:29:39 > 0:29:40What happens is that predators
0:29:40 > 0:29:44which would normally graze upon the organisms within the stromatolites
0:29:44 > 0:29:46can't stand that super-salty water.
0:29:46 > 0:29:50So that allows the stromatolites to grow and develop.
0:29:50 > 0:29:52For three quarters of Earth's history,
0:29:52 > 0:29:56the only creatures that were building reefs in the world's oceans
0:29:56 > 0:29:58were the stromatolites.
0:29:58 > 0:30:01And as they built, they produced a peculiar by-product.
0:30:01 > 0:30:04One that we can all be thankful for.
0:30:04 > 0:30:05See any bubbles coming off it?
0:30:05 > 0:30:08- Is that oxygen?- Yeah.
0:30:08 > 0:30:11- That's still slimy, so it's alive. - Yep.
0:30:13 > 0:30:14Three billion years ago,
0:30:14 > 0:30:17Earth's atmosphere was about 1% oxygen. So not much.
0:30:19 > 0:30:22And they produce oxygen. So the air we breathe today,
0:30:22 > 0:30:24which is around about 20-21% oxygen,
0:30:24 > 0:30:29is as a result of these structures pumping oxygen into the atmosphere
0:30:29 > 0:30:31over many millions and billions of years.
0:30:38 > 0:30:41They're sort of the model, aren't they, that scientists use
0:30:41 > 0:30:44- when they think about searching for life on other planets.- Absolutely.
0:30:44 > 0:30:46I mean, you know, if the conditions
0:30:46 > 0:30:48were such as they were here three billion years ago
0:30:48 > 0:30:50and we found structures like this,
0:30:50 > 0:30:53then there'd be a good chance life, at some point, would follow.
0:30:53 > 0:30:57Incredible to think what a little more salt in the water can do.
0:31:06 > 0:31:08900 kilometres north of Perth,
0:31:08 > 0:31:11the town of Carnarvon was founded in 1883
0:31:11 > 0:31:16as the supply centre for Gascoyne region's growing wool trade.
0:31:17 > 0:31:19But the success of inland pastoral stations
0:31:19 > 0:31:22and the survival of communities along this coast
0:31:22 > 0:31:27was severely threatened by extreme isolation and huge tides.
0:31:30 > 0:31:33So I'm off to find out how the locals set about tackling
0:31:33 > 0:31:35this serious coastal obstacle.
0:31:37 > 0:31:40The solution was simple, but grand.
0:31:49 > 0:31:54A one-mile jetty that goes so far out to sea, ships could berth.
0:31:57 > 0:31:59Seven years in the building,
0:31:59 > 0:32:02the Carnarvon jetty was completed in 1897
0:32:02 > 0:32:05and it was an instant hit.
0:32:05 > 0:32:08Heavily-laden horse-drawn wagons
0:32:08 > 0:32:11travelled up and down the length of the jetty
0:32:11 > 0:32:12to meet the waiting ships.
0:32:13 > 0:32:16For a while, they were even in the habit
0:32:16 > 0:32:17of hoisting sails on the wagons
0:32:17 > 0:32:21to catch the wind and make the journey even quicker.
0:32:21 > 0:32:24And then finally, railway technology arrived.
0:32:24 > 0:32:28The tracks and locomotives to pull the wagons full of cargo.
0:32:30 > 0:32:34But getting the cargo to the jetty was another challenge
0:32:34 > 0:32:37that inspired an ingenious solution.
0:32:37 > 0:32:39Cameleers, mainly from Pakistan,
0:32:39 > 0:32:42were the first to organise a commercial transport system
0:32:42 > 0:32:45from the sheep stations to the jetty.
0:32:45 > 0:32:51Because horse and oxen were completely unsuited to the heat
0:32:51 > 0:32:54and to the terrain, but the camels lapped it up.
0:32:55 > 0:32:58Carnarvon quickly became Australia's third-biggest wool port.
0:32:58 > 0:33:04By the 1920s, motorised vehicles had replaced the Gascoyne's camel teams.
0:33:05 > 0:33:07With little trace of it left in the town now.
0:33:07 > 0:33:11But today, it's a jaunty little tourist train
0:33:11 > 0:33:13that runs the one-mile dash.
0:33:13 > 0:33:15Encapsulating the jetty's stretch of history
0:33:15 > 0:33:20is lawyer, entrepreneur, and local councillor, Lex Fullarton.
0:33:20 > 0:33:22Was the jetty good to your family?
0:33:22 > 0:33:24Oh, absolutely.
0:33:24 > 0:33:27Legend has it that my uncle, Burton Fitzpatrick,
0:33:27 > 0:33:31had his wool going out one way off to London,
0:33:31 > 0:33:35but the return journey brought the greatest bounty of all.
0:33:35 > 0:33:38Single-malt Scotch whisky.
0:33:38 > 0:33:43And legend has it that he had a bath on his veranda at Dory Creek,
0:33:43 > 0:33:45some 100 miles east of here,
0:33:45 > 0:33:49and he filled it with single-malt Scotch whisky and bathed in it.
0:33:49 > 0:33:51- Bathed in it? - LAUGHTER
0:33:53 > 0:33:57Road transportation killed off the jetty in 1984,
0:33:57 > 0:34:00but history may repeat itself.
0:34:00 > 0:34:01What I'm looking forward to
0:34:01 > 0:34:05is Carnarvon continuing its place in the maritime map,
0:34:05 > 0:34:09in the construction of the new jetty, which was promised in 1946.
0:34:09 > 0:34:12So, you're still holding out for that hope?
0:34:12 > 0:34:15When the new jetty is constructed,
0:34:15 > 0:34:17it will put Carnarvon back in its rightful place
0:34:17 > 0:34:19of being the port for the Gascoyne.
0:34:39 > 0:34:42Heading north, the arid Cape Range National Park
0:34:42 > 0:34:46is a spectacularly-coloured vista of rugged limestone ridges,
0:34:46 > 0:34:50plateaus and canyons that roll into the Indian Ocean.
0:34:52 > 0:34:53But not all is as it seems,
0:34:53 > 0:34:56as marine ecologist Dr Emma Johnston
0:34:56 > 0:34:58discovers in Yardie Creek Gorge.
0:35:00 > 0:35:03Right over the dunes here is the Ningaloo Marine Park.
0:35:03 > 0:35:06And at my feet, a coral skeleton.
0:35:06 > 0:35:08Evidence of an ancient coral reef
0:35:08 > 0:35:12that grew here some 100,000 years ago.
0:35:14 > 0:35:19Cape Range gorges, like Yardie Creek, were formed 20-million years ago
0:35:19 > 0:35:22by layers of ancient marine life.
0:35:23 > 0:35:27And across the sand bar, in its more familiar underwater setting,
0:35:27 > 0:35:29is a living reef.
0:35:29 > 0:35:32The magnificent Ningaloo Marine Park.
0:35:33 > 0:35:36A fringing reef which differs from the Great Barrier Reef
0:35:36 > 0:35:38in that it hugs the shoreline.
0:35:39 > 0:35:42Meaning you can actually walk out to it.
0:35:43 > 0:35:47The largest fringing reef in Australia grows right here,
0:35:47 > 0:35:50literally within arms' reach.
0:35:50 > 0:35:54See those dark patches in the water? That's the growing reef.
0:35:54 > 0:35:59And it stretches from here, nearly 300 kilometres to the south.
0:36:07 > 0:36:08The Leeuwin Current,
0:36:08 > 0:36:11a wide ribbon of warm water from the north,
0:36:11 > 0:36:13allows the coral to flourish at Ningaloo.
0:36:14 > 0:36:16And the range's low rainfall
0:36:16 > 0:36:19means little runoff to cloud the crystal-clear water.
0:36:20 > 0:36:24It's a wonderland of tropical reef fish.
0:36:24 > 0:36:26And a particular giant of the ocean
0:36:26 > 0:36:29that's nearly as old as some of this coral seascape.
0:36:31 > 0:36:35A fish with an ancestry that dates back 60 million years.
0:36:35 > 0:36:39Which I have to travel out a little further to see.
0:36:39 > 0:36:41I'm hoping to get up close and personal
0:36:41 > 0:36:44with the largest fish in the world.
0:36:44 > 0:36:47Not just the largest fish, the largest shark.
0:36:47 > 0:36:51And I'm really excited. I've never done this before.
0:36:51 > 0:36:52- Hello.- Hi, Emma. Welcome.
0:36:52 > 0:36:54- Hey, how are you doing? - Good, thank you.
0:36:54 > 0:36:59I'm joining fellow marine biologist Dr Mark Meekan,
0:36:59 > 0:37:04who's been studying the mysterious whale shark for more than a decade.
0:37:04 > 0:37:06- Hey, Mark.- Hey, Em.- How you doing?
0:37:06 > 0:37:08- Good, thanks. Good to see you. - Yeah, good to see you.
0:37:08 > 0:37:11Whale sharks are probably one of the better-known sharks in the ocean,
0:37:11 > 0:37:14but, in fact, we know very little about them, really.
0:37:14 > 0:37:17We have no real idea where these things are going.
0:37:17 > 0:37:19We haven't closed the migration loop yet.
0:37:19 > 0:37:22We're going to head over there. What will we do when we find it?
0:37:22 > 0:37:24Well, we're going to jump in the water
0:37:24 > 0:37:27and the first thing, hopefully, you're going to do, is take a photo.
0:37:27 > 0:37:29OK. What do I need to take a photograph of?
0:37:29 > 0:37:32Well, you're going to take a photo of the spot and stripe patterns
0:37:32 > 0:37:35just behind the gills and just forward of the dorsal.
0:37:35 > 0:37:37We've looked at those over the years
0:37:37 > 0:37:39and can show they're individual to each animal.
0:37:39 > 0:37:41So effectively, we can tell who's who.
0:37:41 > 0:37:44They've got a fingerprint on the outside and I can just take a shot?
0:37:44 > 0:37:47- OK.- Exactly. We keep a library of those.
0:37:47 > 0:37:48We compare those fingerprints later
0:37:48 > 0:37:50and we can see if we've seen that shark before.
0:37:50 > 0:37:52Do you see many of them come back?
0:37:52 > 0:37:54About 25% of them come back every year.
0:37:54 > 0:37:56Ningaloo isn't the only place
0:37:56 > 0:37:58that whale sharks gather around the Indian Ocean.
0:37:58 > 0:38:01There's aggregations in the Maldives, in the Seychelles,
0:38:01 > 0:38:05in Mozambique, in India, parts of Oman, places like that.
0:38:11 > 0:38:15With a whale shark spotted, we jump in and head to our position.
0:38:18 > 0:38:20And then...
0:38:21 > 0:38:24..out of the blue, a shadow looms.
0:38:27 > 0:38:30My first sight of a whale shark
0:38:30 > 0:38:32with its retinue of remora fish
0:38:32 > 0:38:35moving languidly through its domain.
0:38:39 > 0:38:41It's an incredible animal.
0:38:41 > 0:38:46About eight metres long, mouth open to feed on plankton.
0:38:48 > 0:38:53There are rules about how close tourists can get to whale sharks.
0:38:53 > 0:38:56As a scientist, Mark has a special permit
0:38:56 > 0:38:58to approach the shark as required.
0:38:58 > 0:39:00I take some photos
0:39:00 > 0:39:03and Mark moves in to take a skin sample.
0:39:07 > 0:39:10Here at Ningaloo, we treat these sharks very well.
0:39:10 > 0:39:11But they go into the waters of South East Asia,
0:39:11 > 0:39:14where people see them in a completely different light.
0:39:14 > 0:39:16They don't see them as an eco-tourism resource,
0:39:16 > 0:39:18they see them as a meal.
0:39:18 > 0:39:20So, the whale sharks are hunted for food?
0:39:20 > 0:39:23Absolutely. In fact, they're called tofu fish.
0:39:23 > 0:39:27Because they cook up at about the consistency of tofu, believe or not.
0:39:27 > 0:39:28The other thing they do with them
0:39:28 > 0:39:32is they use their fins for advertising, if you like.
0:39:32 > 0:39:34They hang them outside of restaurants and sort of hoardings
0:39:34 > 0:39:37to show that they're actually selling shark fin soup.
0:39:39 > 0:39:42And then, an incredible sight.
0:39:42 > 0:39:45I watch as Mark moves right up to the fish
0:39:45 > 0:39:48and scrapes off parasitic copepods from its lips
0:39:48 > 0:39:50and catches them in his net.
0:39:52 > 0:39:54Copepods are little crustacea
0:39:54 > 0:39:58that attach to the shark and chew into its skin.
0:39:58 > 0:40:02The shark has no way of ridding itself of the painful irritants.
0:40:03 > 0:40:05Mark's action is so welcome
0:40:05 > 0:40:08that the shark effectively stops dead
0:40:08 > 0:40:10to have its lips brushed clean.
0:40:10 > 0:40:13And then follows us for more brushing.
0:40:15 > 0:40:18If you had a microscope, you could see the little pointy, sharp legs
0:40:18 > 0:40:21that basically hang...cling to the surface of the shark.
0:40:21 > 0:40:23And their mouth parts basically chew away at the skin
0:40:23 > 0:40:25and create a little bloody sore.
0:40:25 > 0:40:29You'll get this sort of irritated patch of skin on a shark.
0:40:29 > 0:40:30And so it's really no surprise that
0:40:30 > 0:40:33when you actually start taking them off, the shark likes it.
0:40:35 > 0:40:39Mark takes one final look underneath and we say goodbye.
0:40:40 > 0:40:44Skin samples, electronic tags and photo identification
0:40:44 > 0:40:47will improve our knowledge of whale shark movements
0:40:47 > 0:40:51so that we can engage the relevant governments around the world
0:40:51 > 0:40:56with the long-term aim of protecting this mysterious giant of the ocean.
0:41:02 > 0:41:06When autumn leaves turn gold in the southern half of Australia,
0:41:06 > 0:41:08caravans are dusted off,
0:41:08 > 0:41:10fishing rods are loaded up
0:41:10 > 0:41:14and so begins the annual pilgrimage north for some senior adventurers.
0:41:16 > 0:41:21Brendan Moar drops in on Australia's peripatetic grey nomads
0:41:21 > 0:41:23basking in the Coral Coast's winter sun.
0:41:27 > 0:41:30A funny thing about the Australian coastline,
0:41:30 > 0:41:32no matter how remote or how isolated it is,
0:41:32 > 0:41:34there is something you can count on.
0:41:34 > 0:41:37There will always be a caravan park there.
0:41:42 > 0:41:45Yes, even out here, on the tip of the North West Cape,
0:41:45 > 0:41:47near the town of Exmouth,
0:41:47 > 0:41:51which itself is 1,200 kilometres north of Perth
0:41:51 > 0:41:54and 3,000 kilometres from Darwin,
0:41:54 > 0:41:56where the desert crashes into the sea.
0:41:56 > 0:42:00Tucked below the Vlamingh Head lighthouse is the ultimate escape.
0:42:00 > 0:42:03From the big smoke to the red dust.
0:42:07 > 0:42:10Natasha Tate and her husband run the place.
0:42:10 > 0:42:13So, who was rolling up in 1984 and staying here?
0:42:13 > 0:42:17Um...well, I think that's when our little secret started to get out,
0:42:17 > 0:42:19that this was a magical piece of the coastline
0:42:19 > 0:42:22that people could come and hide on for a few months of the year
0:42:22 > 0:42:24and get away from it all.
0:42:24 > 0:42:27So we've had a few grey nomads that started then
0:42:27 > 0:42:30that are still coming today.
0:42:31 > 0:42:35We're that isolated that we don't get any TV,
0:42:35 > 0:42:37we don't get any telephone,
0:42:37 > 0:42:40internet services, or even mobile services.
0:42:40 > 0:42:43Power comes 17 kilometres down the road from Exmouth.
0:42:43 > 0:42:45With just five inches of rain a year,
0:42:45 > 0:42:49all water has to be pumped from the artesian basin below,
0:42:49 > 0:42:53desalinated and filtered clean of iron and calcium.
0:42:53 > 0:42:58Grey nomads have been in my life for as long as I can remember.
0:42:58 > 0:43:00I've been bought up on caravan parks, obviously,
0:43:00 > 0:43:03so from when I was two years old, you know,
0:43:03 > 0:43:05you'd still find grey nomads around
0:43:05 > 0:43:09that would remember me in a nappy, unfortunately!
0:43:11 > 0:43:14'Such as the park's veteran guests, Norm and Jean Beauchamp,
0:43:14 > 0:43:16'from Busselton, south of Perth.'
0:43:16 > 0:43:18Knock-knock. Anyone home?
0:43:18 > 0:43:20- Yeah. Come in if you're good looking. - Well, I am!
0:43:20 > 0:43:22'They've been coming here for 30 years.'
0:43:22 > 0:43:26- How do you do?- Man, you guys have got the life of Riley here, haven't you?
0:43:26 > 0:43:28Yeah. Well, somebody's got to do it, haven't they?
0:43:28 > 0:43:32We were going to Darwin and we come to the crossroads.
0:43:32 > 0:43:35Either come back here or go to Darwin.
0:43:35 > 0:43:37I said to Jean, "Do you really want to go to Darwin?"
0:43:37 > 0:43:39She said, "No, I don't." I said, "Good."
0:43:39 > 0:43:42- Came back.- And we came back here.
0:43:42 > 0:43:44And done some more fishing!
0:43:45 > 0:43:47Just over the dunes from the caravan park,
0:43:47 > 0:43:50the beach stretches forever.
0:43:50 > 0:43:53But Norm and Jean have their secret spots.
0:43:53 > 0:43:54- Yeah? - I take it, do I go in the middle?
0:43:54 > 0:43:56- Er...yeah.- Yeah?
0:43:57 > 0:44:00So without saying a word, they know exactly what to do,
0:44:00 > 0:44:04where their spot is and I'm just following in behind.
0:44:10 > 0:44:11Reckon you can cast out?
0:44:11 > 0:44:13Ah, it's been a while. It's been a while.
0:44:19 > 0:44:22LAUGHTER A lot to learn.
0:44:27 > 0:44:31'After just 10 minutes, Norm hooks a stunning fish of the day.'
0:44:35 > 0:44:37- That's a bluebone. - That's a bluebone?- Yeah.
0:44:37 > 0:44:39Gosh, it's a beautiful fish!
0:44:43 > 0:44:44All done.
0:44:56 > 0:44:59- Knock-knock. The fish is going in? - Yes, right now.
0:45:00 > 0:45:03- This is a great little set-up, isn't it?- Does us.
0:45:03 > 0:45:06Could you have imagined when you visited here for the first time
0:45:06 > 0:45:08that you'd still be coming here in 30 years' time?
0:45:08 > 0:45:11No, we never thought about getting old.
0:45:11 > 0:45:13You just live the good life every day.
0:45:13 > 0:45:15LAUGHTER
0:45:21 > 0:45:24You know, after spending a day with the grey nomads,
0:45:24 > 0:45:26I think I'm starting to get it.
0:45:26 > 0:45:29Retirement plus the open road, plus this coast,
0:45:29 > 0:45:32well, it all adds up to a good life.
0:45:53 > 0:45:58150 kilometres south of Cape Range, near the middle of Ningaloo Reef,
0:45:58 > 0:46:01Coral Bay is a blissfully peaceful stopover
0:46:01 > 0:46:04along the wilder reaches of this isolated coastline.
0:46:20 > 0:46:24Now, I'm a stranger in a strange land. You might have noticed.
0:46:24 > 0:46:26So I can hardly come all the way to Coral Bay
0:46:26 > 0:46:29without having a wee nosey at the coral.
0:46:31 > 0:46:34'But I'll admit to a reticence about my venturing
0:46:34 > 0:46:37'beyond the golden sand into the crystal waters.
0:46:38 > 0:46:41'It's obvious, really. The wildlife.
0:46:42 > 0:46:46'A power-walking perentie sharing the beach is all right,
0:46:46 > 0:46:50'but beneath the waves, the natives can be a little more unfriendly.'
0:46:50 > 0:46:52- Hi.- Hi, how are you going?
0:46:52 > 0:46:55I'm just wondering, is there anything out there with big teeth?
0:46:55 > 0:46:57No, no big teeth out there, I'm afraid.
0:46:57 > 0:47:00Look, the biggest species of shark don't come in here.
0:47:00 > 0:47:01You're saying the S word.
0:47:01 > 0:47:04I know, but they're not dangerous. They're like big puppy dogs.
0:47:04 > 0:47:06- Just like puppy dogs? - Just like puppy dogs.
0:47:06 > 0:47:07I'll hold that thought.
0:47:07 > 0:47:10- Yeah. You'll be fine. Have fun. - Thanks.
0:47:15 > 0:47:18'So this is what I've been missing.
0:47:18 > 0:47:20'Australia at its wonderland best.
0:47:23 > 0:47:27'A kaleidoscope of reef fish, coral, turtles
0:47:27 > 0:47:30'and who knows what lurking in the blue beyond.'
0:47:37 > 0:47:39The Coral Coast is quite literally
0:47:39 > 0:47:43the western frontier of this continent.
0:47:43 > 0:47:45And it's that sense of remoteness
0:47:45 > 0:47:49that's the attraction for the people who seek this area out.
0:47:50 > 0:47:54And also, about the sheer scale of the place.
0:47:54 > 0:47:57You feel as if you can't even scratch the surface
0:47:57 > 0:48:01because every corner you go around, every bay you enter
0:48:01 > 0:48:05seems to offer something more fascinating, more spectacular,
0:48:05 > 0:48:07more immense.
0:48:13 > 0:48:17'It's been a truly stunning and memorable adventure,
0:48:17 > 0:48:20'yet I feel we've only just begun to experience
0:48:20 > 0:48:22'this distinctive island nation.
0:48:22 > 0:48:26'To meet its people, discover their history and stories
0:48:26 > 0:48:29'about living along a vast, ancient and diverse coastline.
0:48:35 > 0:48:37'How they've shaped each other
0:48:37 > 0:48:39'into this great southern land...
0:48:41 > 0:48:43'..called Australia.'