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00:03big news look who got a boat license join me on back roads as I find my sea
00:11legs and dive into life off the westernmost tip of Australia well this is one way to see Shark Bay
00:21just try and stop me now
00:27Shark Bay is an environmental treasure a spectacular World Heritage listed site in
00:35the remote Gascoyne region of Western Australia where calm turquoise waters meet striking red
00:43cliffs Denise look at this landscape it's incredible I don't know a treasured place
00:51for the Molgana Nanda and Yengarda people we actually call them a more new plant more news
00:57now shared with thousands of tourists who come to experience life on the edge
01:09I want to know how could the Shark Bay community balance the impacts of tourism
01:14and still protect this unique way of life
01:18and can ancient wisdom help preserve the natural environment for everyone to enjoy
01:35if there's one thing Shark Bay is famous for it's bountiful marine life the biggest draw card
01:44monkey myers dolphins attracting more than a hundred thousand visitors a year
01:57this is the only place in the world where wild dolphins seek out human contact
02:05for decades tourists have lined these shores eager to experience a close-up encounter
02:16it was Shark Bay's fishermen who first attracted the dolphins throwing their bycatch into the water
02:28what do you think it is about dolphins that draws people here I think
02:32they're just so charismatic and I think the fact that they actually come and they look at you I think
02:38people get that connection with them and they look like they're always smiling even though they
02:41can't change their face but yeah they're very personable I guess what we're doing now is we're
02:46waiting for the stars of the show the dolphins after nine years of watching over dolphins
02:53reserves officer Kayla Porter begins this morning's encounter as she always does this morning and the
03:01dolphins weren't here when we got here some days they're ready to go at 7 45 other days we wait
03:06for them there's no set times we don't have any bells whistles entirely out to the dolphins if they
03:10want to come in the dolphins make the rules here they have us very well trained and they will come
03:15into this area here show us a bit of a look roll on their side anticipation builds amongst the
03:21holidaymakers one of their main hunting grounds as well Christina Crossman's traveled nearly 3,000
03:27kilometers from Adelaide just for this moment it's a trip 45 years in the making I was driving in here
03:45this is a big deal for Christina and her husband Graham hubby's been unwell he's in remission with
03:54cancer so we thought really good time to come now in case it doesn't happen so really happy don't make
04:03me cry a lot's changed though in the four and a half decades Christina's been dreaming of dolphins
04:12it had to because for many years it was pretty much anything goes the best way is to pat them
04:20along
04:20the sides of their bodies there's horror stories of people putting cigarette butts down their blowholes
04:27trying to ride them showing their dog the dolphin out all sorts of things very nasty stories sometimes
04:34you can kiss it on the nose and she'll be very very mellow oh it was a different time then
04:40that's for
04:41sure thankfully we've come a long way we've learnt from the past and now we can only feed strict number
04:52of dolphins the same dolphins and we make sure we only give them a little bit of food so it's
04:57not
04:58going to impact them throughout the day we still need them to hunt and maintain all those skills such
05:02a balancing act isn't it to give people what they want but to protect what you've got a hundred percent
05:07so now we have a really great survival rate with the calves born to the hand-fed dolphins it matches
05:12that of the offshore population so we know we're not impacting on them too much what a relief and they
05:18have the evidence to support it can I have a look every detail of the dolphins lives is carefully
05:25observed and recorded let's go to og 1982 oh this is how old it is this is the original diary
05:36of the
05:36dolphins at monkey mire yeah it's crazy that's amazing 28th of Feb I thought this one was quite
05:45funny because it was it was quite a shock to see the beach so crowded and then it goes on
05:49to say
05:49there's only about 30 people on the beach and today that is extremely quiet for us oh there's
05:57something quite gorgeous about it even the way they've written yeah a real lovely day out here today
06:03it's a bit more scientific now but this is how it started back on the beach I noticed the crowds
06:09thinned it's been over an hour and still no dolphins in sight feeling a little anxious right at the moment
06:18yeah yeah it's like I've been please come please come just just one but you're not gonna give up oh
06:27no
06:27yeah I'm staying right here until I know there's no hope of them coming I mean we could see them
06:38right out the back yeah how frustrating it is kind of frustrating for us because we do really want to
06:45have the experiences with them but at the same time it's also good because we do want them to be
06:51wild
06:55Joana Oliveira sacrificed a lot to be part of the volunteer program the marine biologist left Portugal
07:03in 2025 for a job at Shark Bay's local coffee shop all so she can spend her days off here
07:11well I really
07:14love dolphins and I heard about what this area did with dolphins to have this experience with
07:21them where you are so close but still making sure that you're trying to disrupt their life as little
07:29as possible I feel like it's very ethical compared to other tourism industries what do you feel that
07:36you're contributing I feel like we have dolphins in the VA oh okay you gotta say something what do you
07:45what do you need to do that that's their mayor isn't it yes gosh babe we've got dolphins where's the
07:50time look
07:51we've got dolphins and oh wow look
08:02magical creatures wild wonders and so close
08:13after all the anticipation this morning it's such a relief
08:17most of the day she's with her car and her sister piccolo and piccolo's car's bobo and I'm so happy
08:25for
08:25Christina her wish has come true they spend their whole life together they hang out together they
08:32can sort females together they will wrestle together it happened it really happened
08:43I'm thrilled for you too I was a bit worried dolphins are very tactile they like to touch each other
08:49to show
08:49you how close they are that's a lifetime dream come true for me
09:03I'm happy
09:04that makes me want to cry that meant so much to her
09:23I can see why this place has an effect on people
09:30being here feels like such a gift
09:34I can't help but wonder though how would it have felt if the dolphins hadn't come to shore
09:44it's a gentle reminder that we humans aren't always in control
09:50there's something humbling about that something freeing too letting go and trusting in nature
09:58just as First Nations communities have done for tens of thousands of years
10:08we drag this backwards and the shells come out of the sand and roll up onto the tray
10:15for traditional owner Bobby Holt the oceans always been his source of income and that spent a lifetime of adapting
10:25it's not about speed I guess definitely not about speed Bobby's families like many here
10:33shifting with the times from pearling to shearing and then back out to sea and you got to do the
10:41whole
10:41thing walking backwards the only way I found out so far I don't think I've ever chatted to anyone
10:48like this walking backwards Bobby I've been walking backwards all my life so we don't find this hard work at
10:55all
10:56the hands-on approach gets the job done while respecting the environment oh wow we got a stack
11:04right there yep there you go a successful hunt for cockles that's right that's why we're here
11:17net fishing became the traditional way for First Nations people supporting countless families through the years
11:26it became a way of life for Bobby and his mates right up until today
11:33it's a dying art unfortunately how long have you all known each other all our lives how old are we
11:40Bobby's the oldest you're good aren't you this is the old fishing crew they've left the industry
11:48behind now but the memories linger back after dark no killers much like the wildlife officers tracking
11:58dolphins at monkey mire fishermen like gave in Poland were meticulous record keepers of their
12:06castings and their catch Thursday the 2nd of April 1998 dugongs on corner of bank what's beautiful
12:15though is these pages also hold records of enduring friendships
12:21two holes gone south up to spit are they talking about you Bobby yeah yeah Bobby coming up here too
12:30from
12:31Cowan Bluff to Wilson Island not too many waiting on here so Glenn and Dennis they would have gone to
12:40the
12:40spit and you're coming up towards us guys now that's almost 30 years ago and you're writing down all these
12:48notes notes about who's fishing where yeah keep an eye on each other and we join up when we can
12:54and we
12:55all get together anyway and meet up and pull nets together have tea together or whatever Eagles had a
13:02good win over pies they've stuck together through it all this lot including a 20 year fight to keep their
13:20connection to the seas and waterways alive and as Ben Bellotti tells me 2018 saw the Molgana people
13:30formally recognised as native title holders of large parts of the bay
13:37I don't think the significance of the moment really hit me till probably the next day and I think we've
13:44done this it's the
13:45beginning of a new journey for us to be honest
13:49the journey's far from over but there's already promising changes underway
13:57I'm off to learn about a project that has traditional owners genuinely hopeful
14:03so I'm catching a ride with Denise Mitchell
14:09Denise look at this landscape it's incredible we don't know Denise grew up here then raised a family
14:17while working across Western Australia and now she's back on home ground and has recently become a
14:25Molgana Ranger I thought oh no I'm too old for that now but I'm so glad that I did it
14:32because it brings back
14:35the memories from growing up but for Denise those memories are few and far between she tells me that as
14:45a
14:45child her culture wasn't often talked about and it wasn't often practiced I wish we were
14:54told by our old people the way it was for them but they didn't acknowledge the
15:02culture openly there was segregation back in the early days which you wouldn't think it
15:09you know shark bag being such a touristy town but it was there
15:17we've come to Hamlin station about an hour out of town
15:21hello hello Sarah Gilliland gilly to most has been posted here with Bush Heritage Australia since 2022
15:34Hamlin station was once a sprawling pastoral property
15:38stark contrast to how it looks today so these are the old sheep yards essentially the remnants of
15:47200,000 hectare sheep station which is now totally conservation
15:58Gilliland's worked across half of regional Australia as an environmental scientist
16:03for taking on this job living and working on a property so large and so remote it was a big
16:11call you're a long way from the city chick in Melbourne that you once were yeah I certainly am
16:19it's a real change of scene being out here and there's definitely a lot that I that I gave up
16:25to
16:25take on this role and that was a really conscious decision and a hundred percent worth it the dream
16:31job the dream job yeah that's it
16:33well gilly's managing the restoration project she's not doing it alone from the ocean sea grass I
16:42explored earlier to this arid rangeland the wisdom held in traditional knowledge is being incorporated
16:49into modern day solutions
16:57alongside denise and gilly is fishing buddies gavin and glenn holt who I met earlier
17:06the traditional owners are now all working together in this new role tackling erosion
17:14eradicating feral pests and above all spending time getting to know country it's a bit different
17:24after spending 40 odd years on the water I quite enjoy it actually strangely enough yeah
17:32wow there's so much erosion here it is a little bit yeah yeah we haven't really had any much rain
17:40but once it starts a bit of vegetation coming back it'll hold the ground a bit better too
17:49so whenever there's a fauna surveys or vegetation surveys or it's simply infrastructure work that
17:56needs to be done I'll reach out to the Rangers and say hey we're doing this project do you want
18:01to come along it means that we're able to bring traditional custodians back on country
18:09and we're able to facilitate that connection where do you think they might be coming through down
18:14from Coburn or what and there's so much that is outside of my knowledge that I will I will never
18:24get from a textbook and the Rangers they may have begun this project feeling unsure about their
18:33traditional knowledge yeah they're actually a bush bear but their confidence is steadily growing we
18:41actually call them a more new plan more news so did you eat these as kids yeah yeah yeah and
18:49all the
18:49kids used to you know climb the trees and pick them yeah we used to fight over it yeah yeah
18:55yeah a couple
18:56of old aunties used to boil them up and haven't been a bit of honey on them or something yeah
19:01yeah oh a lovely
19:05what can I see before me a strengthening of culture and at the same time a landscape showing promising signs
19:16of recovery
19:23it's it flew behind oh there it is I'll stay here yeah right there so it's looking towards us I
19:29think it's about to go
19:34beautiful so I'm pretty sure that was a boo book so they make this really cute call at night time
19:38and
19:38it's book book book there is well that's good so if they're here then it means there's other things
19:48here because they wouldn't be here if there was nothing to eat so that's a really good sign I'm really
19:54happy with that bringing the place back to life yeah back to good health it was their ancestors who
20:04once stood on this very ground working for others as station hands but never with the same freedom or
20:12recognition felt today you're not sort of going oh you can't go down there you can't go there and we
20:20always feel welcome when we come here and we have this freedom to come on country and work together
20:30we don't have that freedom anywhere else I think country needs its people as much as people in their
20:39country our culture is starting to come awake now so we don't want it to go back to sleeping we
20:45want it
20:46to be out there you know to show on country that we have got our culture alive things are shifting
20:56around
20:57here in 2024 the Molgana people struck a landmark agreement with the WA government to jointly manage
21:06180,000 hectares of new parks and reserves in the Shark Bay heritage area the great hope is that
21:16experience will be as good as the one at Hamlin station and that by working together they can make
21:23this place something for everyone to enjoy what's encouraging is Shark Bay's next generation is
21:37ready to learn eager to hear from their elders our Shark Bay sea mullet best eating fish in the ocean
21:48I'd say
21:50are they are they hard to catch when they're schooling you'll get big schools big schools and
21:55sometimes you get that bit in the net you've got to open the net up and you might end up
22:00with less
22:00than what you wanted but you got to look after this place we never went hungry there's no worries about
22:05that especially when you got mullet this is their gift sharing their stories continuing a sense of
22:14responsibility and belonging what's the name of the shell anyone tell me baylor shell one of our elders
22:23she would make things out of the big baylor shells so what she would do is cut that there and
22:31take
22:31that top bit off and she'd use that for something else and then that whole shell would be a fruit
22:37bowl
22:37a little bit heavy just be careful how often would you go shelling every time the tide was low auntie
22:45Maud we called her she would have a spear and she'll see a marking on the sand and she knows
22:52there's a
22:52shell in there and us kids that are coming behind they knew to dig that up the impact of talks
23:01like
23:01these grows slowly I'll take that little bit thanks but that's the selfless hope behind it
23:08all this is pretty yummy yep 100% the days like these will make a real difference now and in
23:16the
23:16future the birds that wouldn't when they go their non-stop flight they fly all the way they're listening
23:23there's no worries about that just to share my bit of knowledge with them and to pass it on which
23:28is
23:28great you know nothing better than that a bit more you want okay these guys up there
23:35what a way to spend the day yeah shark bay sure has a lot to offer both at sea and
23:43on land
23:46but what it looks like in the future will no doubt be influenced by outsiders
23:53tourism's the economic backbone here and it's easy to see why
24:02look at them this place is teeming with marine life
24:12so the water in sharp bay here in monkey moa it's about one and a half times salt in the
24:17ocean
24:18i first met the ridgely family on a community seagrass restoration project
24:33this is one of the largest bays in australia we've got 18 000 square kilometres of water
24:38now we also have the world's largest seagrass meadows here in sharp bay for liam and jade
24:43there's nothing better than showing off their backyard
24:47well when me and lean work together we usually have to say in the safety briefing that we're
24:52not married it's worse we're brother and sister so if we start arguing there's no problems it's okay
25:01oh the dolphins are just off to the left of us here 11 o'clock just on the bow there
25:06guys just
25:06down the front of the bow yeah they love surfing the front of the boat they think this is their
25:10uber service across the bay what heartens me is the tourists who travel all the way to shark bay
25:17aren't the kind who want to see it ruined
25:22for christina from adelaide that feelings only deepened
25:29i came here thinking about my dream to see the dolphins i'm leaving here with not only my dream
25:36having been fulfilled but knowing we have to do the right thing which means we have to look after
25:42our oceans we have to look after these animals so i'm going to leave here more informed
25:50is this the shark bay effect
25:54people may arrive chasing personal adventure but they leave here changed
26:01as ambassadors for a better way of living with nature
26:06shark bay doesn't just welcome visitors it transforms them
26:13there's a certain fragility about the place it's made me want to step a little more lightly
26:21mindful of the impact my presence has
26:31what's been exciting to see here is indigenous knowledge leading the way
26:39and how so many people are caring for this place all wanting to see it flourish now and for the
26:47future
26:47oh wow we got a stack my hope for the future is that i can come back here in 20
26:54to 30 years
26:55and see this landscape absolutely buzzing and this really strong connection between that and
27:00relationships with traditional custodians
27:03i've got a role that i need to play and i'm hoping you know like the future generation
27:11will come back on country
27:13i love it and it is very unique
27:28next time on back roads i head to eldorado in victoria
27:33where the locals like to do things differently
27:37like living in straw houses
27:39that's good hun
27:40or even teepees
27:42they thought oh god here comes the hippies
27:44and i discover more about human waste than i ever thought would be desirable
27:50it used to be banana
27:52then it was a turd
27:53then we've composted
27:55and now we're going to make basil
27:56wouldn't be profitable
27:57that we have security
27:59wouldn't be able to buy
27:59and I encourage you To take off
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28:00andOL
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28:00and it was good for you
28:00thanks
28:01for
28:01you I'll
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