Nature of Australia

The rise of the strange & unique marsupials, from their beginnings as primitive insect-hunters in the primeval forests of the now vanished super-continent of Gondwana, to their triumphant radiation as the dominant mammal group in Australia.

Tells how Australia’s marine shores came to be ringed by the most diverse assemblages of marine life on earth through a long period of isolation travelling north from Gondwana to span both tropical and temperate seas today.

How the island continent’s wooded margins came to be dominated by one unique type of tree growing in a variety of forms – the eucalypt, where once the continent was covered in a dense rainforest.

What was once a land of vast lakes and broad rivers has turned into a parched region of glittering stone and burning sand. This is the story of Australia’s arid interior and how, despite being called ‘the dead heart’, it teems with a great variety of plants and animals.

The story of Australia’s Top End where the first Aboriginal people arrived, settled and perfected the use of fire as a means to manage the landscape. Portrays a year in the life revealing how animals and plants cope with the stresses of life in a place that swings savagely between the drenching floods of the annual wet and the parched heat of the dry season.

Examines the impact of 200 years of European settlement on the Australian continent, showing the causes and effect of fire, drought, erosion, dust-storms, introduced animal and plant species and looks at new strategies for managing the land.