#CinemaJourney
#TheKimberley
#TheKimberley
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Short filmTranscript
00:00The American Pronunciation Guide Presents «How to Pronounce Gumtree»
00:08High above the ground, in a hundred-year-old gumtree, a clan of savannah gliders makes a cuddle puddle.
00:22Some of these bubbers are so young, they've barely opened their eyes.
00:30They don't know it yet, but just outside their cozy tree hollow, a stunning tropical savannah stretches as far as the eye can see.
00:51Soon, they'll get their chance to explore one of the wildest places on Earth.
01:00They're a group of young, wild, and unprecedented savannah gliders.
01:10They're not afraid of the dark, but they're not afraid of the light.
01:20They're not afraid of the dark, but they're not afraid of the light.
01:30Some of these bubbers are so young, they've barely opened their eyes.
01:45Some of these bubbers are so young, they've barely opened their eyes.
02:00I come from one of the world's last great wildlands, a place our people have cared for
02:21since the beginning of time. A place unlike anywhere else on earth.
02:32The Kimberley is a land defined by its extremes. Torrential rain, drought and fire have shaped
02:40life here. But our land is as fragile as it is rugged, and it's now facing threats that
02:48could change it forever. Across the region, First Nations people are leading the fight
02:54to safeguard this nation-sized tropical wildland. And as the cool dry gives way to the hot dry
03:02season of Wilburoo, things are about to heat up.
03:17The Kimberley is a vast landscape. It's an area that covers over 400,000 square kilometres.
03:24And within that space is immense bioregional diversity. But it's not until you've lived
03:32out here that you really start to understand just how much country changes in a year.
03:45Many of our mob in the Kimberley measure the passage of a year in six distinct seasons.
03:52Right now, it's the season Yigina people call Bargana. There's still lots of water remaining
03:58from the wet. The sky is blue and country is green and healthy.
04:07With daytime temperatures around 30 degrees, this is as cool as it gets out bush. A perfect
04:16time to go out and explore. The Kimberley is home to large tracts of the most intact
04:26savannah ecosystem on the planet. The rains have left behind fields of grass bursting
04:40with tasty seeds. And the little ones born over the wet season are growing up fast, thanks
04:50to all the crunchy insects. At this time of year, flowering trees call in an abundance
05:01of birdlife. The canopy can get a little crowded. And if you're looking for a private retreat,
05:19it's first come, first served. It can take a tree hollow like this one over a hundred
05:29years to form. And they are few and far between these days. So it makes sense for our savannah
05:37gliders to share their family home. Multiple families make up each territorial clan. And
05:46because they're nocturnal, sunset means it's breakfast time. Time for mum to go on a shopping
05:54run. But it's hard to go anywhere without a little one clinging on. Wait, make that
06:09two. Two little ratbags always fighting about who gets to sit in the front. If they don't behave
06:25themselves, mum might feed them to a neighbour. In the world of the canopy, one of the most sought
06:40after snacks is a lerp. These sugary structures produced by sap-sucking insects make a tasty
06:48treat for a hardworking mum, especially one with a couple of mouths to feed. The bigger they grow,
07:06the rowdier they get. But the one time they're good at sharing is when it comes to mum's milk.
07:19Gliders are known for having their own language. And I think these little sounds mean, thanks mum.
07:27But the canopy isn't the safest place for feeding time. A nearby python has caught their scent in
07:44the air. But savannah gliders look out for each other. And a bark from a nearby auntie warns her
07:56of the approaching danger. This three metre python may be slow, but he's blocking her from going back
08:09the way she came. Mum and bubs are cornered. Good thing super mum has her own cape.
08:28Savannah gliders have been known to glide more than 30 metres. But with two babies on board,
08:44mum's just happy to make it to the next tree. One day, they'll be big enough to fly on their own.
08:59But for now, they're just hang gliders.
09:03As the season of bargana progresses, smoke starts to appear on the horizon. But these
09:28aren't wildfires. They're carefully conducted traditional burns. For countless generations,
09:47First Nations people have used fire to manage country. These burning practices are a conversation
09:56between people and the land. The wind, soil, animals and trees all inform us of when and
10:07how to burn. And no two places are the same. Burning in the cool dry season keeps the fires
10:19low and the burn scars small. It preserves the food, shelter and nesting trees that so many
10:33animals rely on. The burned areas also create a patchwork of firebreaks. If we don't reduce the
10:47fuel load now, lightning storms will spark catastrophic wildfires later in the year.
10:52When Europeans forced out traditional owners from their land, the long-running burning practices
11:02were severed. For decades, late season wildfires ravaged the landscape, pushing many species
11:12towards extinction. Creatures like the Gouldian finch now hang on by a thread. These tiny
11:23rainbows used to flock all over our savannas in their thousands. But years of hot fires have
11:32destroyed their food source and the old trees with their precious nesting homes. Managing fire
11:42is key to preserving the ecosystems, and First Nations people have understood this for thousands
11:49of years. Recently, ecologists have studied the traditional burning techniques and recognized
12:02how effective they are. Now, they're working with traditional owners, combining modern technology
12:13and timeless wisdom to apply these practices on a huge scale. And the rewards of all this
12:22hard work are being seen all over the Kimberley. When the wind shifts to the north and temperatures
12:41begin to rise, country starts to bake. We're entering the season of Wilburoo. Animals are faced
12:53with increasingly hot and dry conditions. This burrowing frog has no interest in hanging around
13:01to sizzle on the surface. She's digging her way into the cool dark soil while it's still moist.
13:09And she's a patient frog. She's willing to stay there as long as it takes for the rain to come
13:17back. But the brolgas don't need to wait around. They're on the move to places that'll have water
13:27and food throughout the dry. I'm on the move too. This week, I'm heading over 400 kilometers inland
13:40on an expedition organized by the Matawara River Council. We're on our way to the remote eastern
13:47reaches of the river catchment to document the stories and sacred sites in Guniandi elder
13:53Mervin Street's country. This place is very special. If you walk around, wander around,
14:01you'll find artifacts in this area. Mervin was born out here in the early pastoral days. His
14:10parents were enslaved into the labor force of a local cattle station. And as a young man,
14:16he learned to navigate two worlds. His father taught him how to become an accomplished stockman,
14:23and his grandmother raised him to become a custodian of traditional Guniandi culture.
14:30This is a part of the Kimberley few people ever get to see.
14:35My granny took me when I was a little boy, learning about the place name. You learn about
14:50all the other things first, and then learn about the station. I was a stockman. I used to ride a
14:57horse. I used to run cattle through here. When I was in my country, I was here camping, walking,
15:05living, and I know all this area. You'll never get lost here. I won't get lost. I know where to go.
15:12But you've got to stick to me. Don't wander away. We lost you last night when we got lost,
15:20as soon as we lost you. I love my country.
15:28This is where I come from.
15:31And my story is here.
15:35We come from an oral culture and a culture of storytelling. It's really important that the
15:41stories that we have aren't lost. And so someone like Mervyn, the knowledge he has, the wisdom he
15:48has, from a cultural point of view, can't be understated.
15:53My skin name is Yuru, and I belong to here.
15:58What I'm here now is a story that's been given to me by my great-great-grandmothers.
16:04And this way I'm sitting, a lot of song lines pass through this gorge.
16:16The song lines that Mervyn talks about are ancient systems of cultural knowledge that unite First
16:22Nations people with their country. These song lines are woven into the physical geography of
16:28the land itself, with different parts of country representing different parts of the story.
16:35You can see the spear coming from sideways. You know, it's all fading away, you know?
16:41Older and older and older. I'm getting older too.
16:47Many of these stories span thousands of kilometres across the landscape, and the preservation of the
16:53knowledge embedded within them is a responsibility shared between nations.
17:03Ha ha, look at that!
17:08Today, we're following the song line of the crocodile and the bat, an important story
17:14in the East Kimberley that travels hundreds of kilometres through Guniandi country.
17:20This is a big place, but it's Mervyn's incredible knowledge of country that allows us to navigate
17:26and learn of the deeper meaning within the land itself.
17:33Crocodile been sick. He was haunted by fear, and the bat had to chase him near a little cave there.
17:39He run in there. They had to chase him up with spear.
17:45And now he said, on his living in that cave,
17:51you'll see thousands and thousands of bats inside of the cave.
17:58But the song, he's singing...
18:04That bat was chanting...
18:10That's a really big story. I didn't realise how big that is, because if that crocodile hadn't been teasing him,
18:16that bat wouldn't have turned all of them people into the animals we see today.
18:23I'm really glad that we got this chance to get back out here and spend a bit of time with Mervyn,
18:29because he's a very special person. To me, he's a superstar. He's a rock star.
18:35He's a man with all the stories, and he's an incredible artist, and he's a creative person.
18:41He's gone through so much. He's someone who was born on the ground.
18:48And he's watched the chapters of what we know of Australia change over time.
18:54Yeah.
18:57You see country look different?
19:01Look different. It's more harder, no?
19:05People don't use the place, so it's changed, no?
19:12Old people die, and all the younger kids can't know what story belongs to this country.
19:18They only know. But they're learning from me, and they're the ones going to carry on, you know, after me.
19:30Country is like a human. You've got to care about the country.
19:36Work real hard. Keep the country alive. Country got story.
19:42I don't want to miss out this story, passing this story to my, you know, family, kids, and even people.
19:50For me, it's things. What I looking at now?
19:54I've been here for many, many years, and now I'm here, you see?
20:00Making me happy to tell the story, making me happy I'm here, you know?
20:06Yeah.
20:09Yeah.
20:13Keep the story alive.
20:30For animals on country, surface water is now becoming scarce.
20:46Even the wetlands mightiest are forced to make a move to get to permanent water.
21:01But as these solitary creatures move back into the main channel of the river, tensions begin to build.
21:13Male salties are territorial animals, and the most powerful individuals don't take kindly to strangers.
21:22These kings of the riverbanks are known as boss crocs, and they bear the scars of many battles.
21:32Animals like Stumpy here are well over 50 years old.
21:38He's long in the tooth and getting grumpier with age.
21:45At close to 6 meters in length, he won't back down from a fight.
21:51And anyone curious enough to test him soon gets the message.
21:58Stumpy weighs well over a ton.
22:04But he's not afraid of water.
22:10He's not afraid of water.
22:16He's not afraid of water.
22:23Stumpy weighs well over a ton and throws a mean headbutt.
22:39It's not unusual for crocs to die in these territorial battles.
22:46The dry conditions are also tough on new species.
22:54The Kimberley is home to hundreds of thousands of cattle that roam freely across huge pastoral leases.
23:02But Moocow wasn't built for this country.
23:08Out here, heavy creatures walking around on small hooves can be a terrible combination.
23:14The mud that lines the tidal reaches of our rivers can be very deep.
23:22It's a deadly trap for a thirsty cow.
23:28The incoming tide often drowns them.
23:34But nothing goes to waste.
23:41The dead cow creates a rare truce amongst the crocs.
23:57Only the largest males dare to join the feast.
24:01And even Stumpy seems willing to share his food.
24:08But the cow won't last long, and these cranky old dinosaurs will be snapping at each other in no time.
24:16The young male crocodiles that move to the coast earlier in the year don't have to put up with the oldies.
24:22There's plenty of food and space for them out here, even in the dry season.
24:53The Kimberley Coast is lined with stunning mangrove systems.
24:59The Kimberley Coast is lined with stunning mangrove systems.
25:05The Kimberley Coast is lined with stunning mangrove systems.
25:11The Kimberley Coast is lined with stunning mangrove systems.
25:18The Kimberley Coast is lined with stunning mangrove systems.
25:24And the creatures that live in these saltwater forests have adapted to the rhythms of an 11 metre tidal range.
25:34The complex underwater root systems offer shelter for many juvenile fish.
25:40And when the water drains away,
25:47the creatures of the mud emerge.
25:53Like our friends, the buggle-buggles, and their industrious neighbours, crabs.
25:59Most of us have seen crabs before, but few realise how essential they are to the mangrove world.
26:08They're involved in everything from waste disposal to large-scale tunnelling works
26:14that supply nutrients to the mangrove forest.
26:20And after all that hard work, they still have to avoid becoming someone else's snack.
26:26It's not easy being a crab.
26:33The complex tunnels they create can become the hunting ground of a very slippery individual.
26:51A specialised crab killer that moves beneath the mud.
26:58The white-bellied mangrove snake has eyes and nostrils on the top of its head.
27:08Perfectly adapted for a muddy ambush on a hard-working crab.
27:15With a rapid strike, he pins the crab to the ground
27:21and proceeds to dismember and devour his prey.
27:28And he's not one to leave behind any evidence.
27:44A mangrove crab is a very special creature.
27:50The mangrove crab is a very special creature.
28:06After months without rain, the Kimberley has transitioned into its driest conditions.
28:12We're entering the season of lalang.
28:18And as temperatures continue to rise, the battle to survive intensifies.
28:27But in our desert regions, there are animals that have long been used to a world without water.
28:34This dunnart is a desert-adapted marsupial predator.
28:40This dunnart is a desert-adapted marsupial predator.
28:46She's only about the size of your thumb.
28:52But don't underestimate her.
28:59If you're a grasshopper, this little cutie is basically a T-Rex.
29:21Like many desert specialists, dunnarts don't need to drink water.
29:28They get all the moisture they need from their juicy prey.
29:34And after a big meal, everyone needs a good nap.
29:47But not everyone is a desert specialist.
29:53And for most animals in the Kimberley, survival hinges on having access to the sites that hold our last remaining water.
30:03Spring-fed creeks, deep gullies, and our main river channels.
30:11These oases are few and far between.
30:17And for some of you, these special places are the lifelines that will see us all through the dry.
30:29But some places hold water longer than others.
30:35In the northwest Kimberley, the ancient sandstone ranges help capture and store moisture.
30:42Here, at a meeting point of waterways, is Poonami Oonpru, Mitchell Falls.
31:02These are the traditional lands of the Wunambul Gambra people.
31:08And for tens of thousands of years, they have carried the rule of this land.
31:23Jeremy Cowan is a traditional owner of this special place.
31:29And he has the responsibility of passing on its natural, human, and spiritual history to the next generation.
31:38It's really special to us.
31:44Our grandfather told us that here are these three snakes.
31:50They were traveling from inland and went down towards Mitchell Falls.
32:01They create the creeks and the waterholes.
32:08That's where the fish and turtles and crocodiles remain, the living water.
32:20That's where the rainbow serpent, Oongood, remains too.
32:28The Oongood serpents are creation beings that formed country and brought law to the land.
32:35And the Wunambul Gambra people tell us they still reside in the deep water at the base of these falls.
32:42It's a powerful and sacred place.
32:50My grandfather used to roam this country, you know, and walk all over the place and pass the knowledge on to us.
32:56And now I'm passing it on to the young ones.
33:00And now my daughter, she's working as a ranger and I'm passing the knowledge on to her.
33:08Jeremy and his daughter Tabitha work with the Oongood rangers to look after the unique animals and cultural heritage on their country.
33:17Today we're doing some camera trapping.
33:21We set the bait three meters away from the camera.
33:25There are probably some snakes if you have any here, bandicoots, skeletal possums. It's exciting.
33:37Thanks to its complex geology and year-round water, the area around the falls is renowned for its rich biodiversity.
33:47And many of its animal inhabitants are found nowhere else on earth.
33:56After dark, some of these unique creatures begin to emerge from between the boulders.
34:13This adorable little rock wallaby is a monjon.
34:20Living proof that even the roughest landscape can have a soft spot.
34:30Only 30 centimeters in height, they're perfectly adapted to the caves and stone country.
34:40They're quick too, and they need to be, because not everyone wants to nibble leaves.
34:50The rough-scale python is one of Australia's rarest snakes.
34:58It's also only found in this region.
35:04His rigid scales help him grip the rocky surface as he silently hunts mammals in the sandstone maze.
35:12He'd love a monjon if he could catch one, but tonight he's stalking another endemic mammal.
35:20The Kimberley rock rat.
35:27The ancient sandstone in the northwest Kimberley is a precious refuge for extraordinary biodiversity.
35:34And for countless generations, the Wunna-Bulgumbra people have practiced a culture that preserves this biological arc.
35:41We come out here and it's nice and quiet and you can hear the animals.
35:47There's hardly any people around. You know, you just hear the birds chirping and the water.
35:53It's a very peaceful place.
35:59The Kimberley rock rat is one of Australia's rarest snakes.
36:05It's nice and quiet and you can hear the animals.
36:11There's hardly any people around. You know, you're just healing on your own.
36:17Especially when we're out looking at the outsides and you can feel that, you know, I have my ancestors here with me.
36:23They're guiding me through the country.
36:29It's one of the most extraordinary cultural heritage sites on earth.
36:35This complex sandstone holds hundreds, if not thousands, of ancient rock art galleries.
36:41Paintings that offer a glimpse into a living culture that stretches back tens of thousands of years.
36:50But our people will tell you it's not the age that matters, it's the meaning.
36:56Not only do our art, songs and stories define who we are,
37:02they connect us to all the other creatures who share country with us.
37:12Our totem is the bow bird.
37:18We call it a dewy bird, stealing bird.
37:23So while the rangers work hard to protect country,
37:27Dewybine is busy with his own masterpiece.
37:33It's the end of the dry season and there might be some ladies coming past soon.
37:39Better tidy up the bachelor pad.
37:45But this isn't a nest, it's a bower.
37:52A stage he'll use to attract a mate.
37:56He needs everything to be perfect.
38:00And spends months collecting precious objects, like these smooth white shells.
38:07His most prized finds are kept in the center of the bower.
38:13Diamonds are a girl's best friend, but this quartz gem will have to do.
38:22The dating scene can be rough,
38:27and when Dewybine goes in search of more fancy bling,
38:31a rival seizes the opportunity.
38:37The dodgy neighbor has a go at sabotaging his bower.
38:44And when that doesn't work, he goes for the centerpiece.
38:53It's a low blow, even by stealing bird standards.
38:59Dewybine's going to have to find a new treasure.
39:06After several days, the Oongoo rangers collect their camera traps.
39:12And the footage offers a glimpse into the local neighborhood.
39:22It also catches our resident thief.
39:29Looking for replacement bling.
39:39Too bad for him, Tabitha tied the camera down.
39:45I hope he finds a ladybird soon, or he might fall in love with himself.
39:52My father was the reason why I was born.
39:58I was born with a dream.
40:04I was born with a dream.
40:10I was born with a dream.
40:17My father was the reason why I joined the rangers,
40:23because he would come back home and tell me a lot of stories
40:27about what he would do out on country.
40:31His grandparents teaching him how to sing the djumba and rock paintings,
40:36and I would love to carry that on.
40:40All our grandfathers, they told us,
40:43you guys got to look after this country now, and pass it on to the next generation.
40:47You got to look after the country.
40:49You look after the country, the country will look after you.
40:52The country feels special.
40:57Dhirubhu
41:10Rising humidity and distant thunder
41:14announce the return of the season of Dhirubhu.
41:19The build-up to the wet season has begun,
41:23and massive electrical storms now rattle the skyline.
41:30But there's no rain yet, and the savannah is bone dry.
41:36A tinderbox just waiting for a spark.
41:54Our little savannah glider has just begun venturing out on her own.
42:03And she's discovering all the yummy smells and tastes the canopy has to offer.
42:24But this is her first storm season.
42:36And when a bolt of lightning strikes nearby,
42:40the surrounding bush ignites.
42:45The surrounding bush ignites.
42:57The first embers quickly become a wall of flame,
43:01and a wildfire closes in.
43:15Dhirubhu
43:21It's one of the hottest years on record, and the fire is moving fast.
43:36As it laps at the base of the tree, her only option is to jump.
43:44Let's hope she's been practicing.
44:02Oh no!
44:09Oh, I've been worried for a second.
44:13Lucky she takes after mum.
44:24This area was burnt earlier in the year using traditional methods.
44:29With less fuel on the ground, the fire is smaller and cooler.
44:36And the tree canopy is untouched.
44:46The proper management of country makes all the difference for the animals who live out here.
45:06As country reaches its hottest and driest conditions,
45:11the smoke from wildfires is replaced by a towering wall of storm clouds.
45:36The season of willow-growth is back,
45:41and creatures across the land celebrate the return of water.
45:53We think of water as a living being.
45:56We think of the river as an ancestral being,
46:00as something created by Wunyumbul and the serpents.
46:06You always just feel so blessed to travel to a landscape that's this pristine and that is this intact.
46:14I don't think there's many places in the world quite like this.
46:19It's sort of like dropping into the land before time.
46:25This place tells the story of, you know, the world's deep time story.
46:31It's fabulous being back out here.
46:38So when our river nations speak of the Matawarra, we see it as an ancestral being.
46:43You know, our stories tell us we emerged from this system itself.
46:48Everything comes from here for us.
46:51The philosophies and the wisdom that I grew up around has become increasingly more profound the older that I've become,
47:00in that it's not rocket science, it's really simple.
47:05If we care for country, country will be able to care for us.
47:11We don't look at it simply as a body of water or as simply a resource.
47:17It's a poetic relationship. It's a really beautiful relationship.
47:21It's a relationship where we share our mythology with this river system.
47:26And that mythology is tied up in our spirituality and in, well, I mean, we could call it a religion really.
47:35Some people build cathedrals. This is our cathedral, this river system.
47:42How lucky the whole world is to have a place like this, that's still in the state that it's in,
47:47and how important it is for us to take care of it on that regard.
48:01For as long as our nations have existed, we have cared for country,
48:07acknowledging the land and all other life in it with reverence and respect.
48:13And despite the challenges of the past two centuries, our connection to country lives on.
48:21The vision our elders have for tomorrow is to be able to witness the world we still have today.
48:28Not just for the next generation, but for all life that has made this place home.
48:50The preservation of our natural world can no longer just be a part of our culture.
48:56Now, it's a path the whole world must walk together.
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