Back Roads Season 12 Episode 2

Reality Realm US

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Transcript

00:03big news look who got a boat license join me on backroads as i find my sea legs and dive

00:13into life

00:13off 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

00:34in the remote gascoyne region of western australia

00:38where calm turquoise waters meet striking red cliffs denise look at this landscape

00:46it's incredible isn't it a treasured place for the mulgana nanda and yingada people

00:54we actually call them a um moon you plant moon news now shared with thousands of tourists

01:01who come to experience life on the edge

01:09i want to know how can the shark bay community balance the impacts of tourism

01:14and still protect this unique way of life

01:17and 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

01:42the biggest draw card monkey 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

02:31i think they're just so charismatic and i think the fact that they actually come and they look at you

02:37i think people get that connection with them and they look like they're always smiling even though

02:41they can't change their face but yeah they're very personable i guess

02:44what we're doing now is we're waiting for the stars of the show the dolphins

02:49after nine years of watching over dolphins

02:52so we're just going to wait and see if they come in

02:53reserves officer kayla porter begins this morning's encounter as she always does

02:59this morning and the dolphins weren't here when we got here some days they're ready to go

03:04at 7 45 other days we wait for them there's no set times we don't have any bells whistles

03:08it's entirely out to the dolphins if they want to come in

03:10the dolphins make the rules here they have us very well trained

03:14and they will come into this area here show us a bit of a look roll on their side

03:18anticipation builds amongst the holiday makers

03:22it's one of their main hunting grounds as well

03:24christina crossman's traveled nearly 3 000 kilometers from adelaide

03:28just for this moment it's a trip 45 years in the making

03:35i was driving in here crying yesterday had my summies down so no one could see

03:43thinking to myself i'm here

03:45this is a big deal for christina and her husband graham

03:50hubby's been unwell

03:52um he's in remission with cancer so we thought really good time to come now in case it doesn't

03:59happen so really happy don't make me cry

04:05a 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 the

04:20sides 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 all sorts of things um very nasty stories

04:33sometimes you can kiss it on the nose and she'll be very very mellow

04:38oof it was a different time then that's for sure thankfully we've come a long way

04:48we've learned from the past um and now we can only feed a strict number of dolphins the same

04:54dolphins and we make sure we only give them a little bit of food so it's not going to impact

04:58them throughout the day we still need them to hunt and maintain all those skills such a balancing act

05:03isn't it to give people what they want but to protect what you've got a hundred percent so now we

05:08have a really great survival rate with the calves born to the hand-fed dolphins it matches that of

05:12offshore population so we know we're not impacting on them too much what a relief and they have the

05:19evidence to support it can i have a look every detail of the dolphins lives is carefully observed

05:26and recorded let's go to the og 1982 oh this is how old it is this is the original diary

05:36of the

05:36dolphins at monkey mire yeah that'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 there

05:50was only about 30 people on the beach and today that is extremely quiet for us oh there's something

05:57quite 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

06:36i mean we could see them right out the back yeah how frustrating it is kind of frustrating for us

06:44because we do really want to have the experiences with them but at the same time it's also good

06:49because we do want them to be wild joanna olivera sacrificed a lot to be part of the volunteer

06:59program the marine biologist left portugal in 2025 for a job at shark bay's local coffee shop

07:08all so she can spend her days off here well i really love dolphins

07:15and i heard about what this area did with dolphins to have this experience with them where you are so

07:22close but still making sure that you're trying to disrupt their life as little as possible

07:30i feel like it's very ethical compared to other tourism industries what do you feel that you're

07:37contributing um i feel like we have dolphins in the va oh okay you're gonna say something what do you

07:45what do you need to do that that's them there isn't it yes gosh babe we've got dolphins where's the

07:50timer look we'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

08:18most of the day she's with her car and her sister piccolo and piccolo's heart's over

08:23boat and i'm so happy for christina her wish has come true they spend their whole life together

08:31they hang out together they can sort females together they will rest together

08:38it happened it really happened i'm thrilled for you too i was a bit worried dolphins are very tactile

08:48they like to touch each other they like to touch each other to show how close they are that's a

08:53lifetime

08:53dream come true for me

09:03i'm happy

09:18that makes me want to cry that meant so much to her i can see why this place has an

09:25effect on people

09:30being here feels like such a gift

09:35i 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 there's something humbling about that

09:53something freeing too letting go and trusting in nature just as first nations communities have done

10:02for tens of thousands of years we drag this backwards and the shells come out of the sand and roll

10:13up

10:14onto the tray for traditional owner bobby holt the ocean's always been his source of income

10:21and that's been a lifetime of adapting it's not about speed i guess definitely not about speed bobby's

10:30families like many here shifting with the times from purling to shearing and then back out to sea

10:40and you've got to do the whole thing walking backwards uh the only way i've found out so far

10:46i don't think i've ever chatted to anyone like this walking backwards bobby

10:49i've been walking backwards all my life so we don't find this hard work at all the hands-on approach

10:58gets the job done while respecting the environment oh wow we've got a stack right there yep

11:09there 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

11:23through the years it 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

11:38how old are we bobby's the oldest you're good aren't you this is the old fishing crew

11:47they've left the industry behind now but the memories linger back after dark no killers

11:55much like the wildlife officers tracking dolphins at monkey mire

12:01fishermen like gaven poland were meticulous record keepers of their castings

12:06and their catch thursday the 2nd of april 1998 dugongs on corner of bank what's beautiful though

12:16is these pages also hold records of enduring friendships two holts gone south up to spit

12:25are they talking about you bobby yeah bobby coming up here too from clown bluff to wilson island not too

12:34many whiting on here so glenn and dennis they would have gone to the spit and you're coming up towards

12:42us guys now that's almost 30 years ago and you're writing down all these notes about who's fishing

12:49where yeah so we all keep an eye on each other and we join up when we can and we

12:55all get together

12:55anyway and meet up and pull nets together have tea together or whatever and eagles had a good win

13:02over pies

13:05last time

13:07that's been a long time ago

13:09you even got the footy in there yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah

13:14they've stuck together through it all this lot

13:17including a 20-year fight to keep their connection to the seas and waterways alive

13:24and as ben belotti tells me 2018 saw the molgana people formally recognized as native title holders

13:33of large parts of the bay

13:36i don't think the significance of the moment really hit me till probably the next day and i think

13:43good said we've done this it's the beginning 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 i know

14:14denise grew up here then raised a family while working across western australia

14:20and now she's back on home ground and has recently become a molgana ranger

14:27i thought oh no i'm too old for that now but i'm so glad that i did it because it

14:34brings back the

14:35memories from growing up but for denise those memories are few and far between

14:43she tells me that as a child her culture wasn't often talked about and it wasn't often practiced

14:51i wish we were told by our old people the way it was for them but they didn't acknowledge their

15:02culture openly there was segregation back in the early days which you wouldn't think it you know

15:10shark bay being such a touristy town but it was there

15:17we've come to hamlin station about an hour out of town hello hello sarah gilliland gilly to most

15:27has been posted here with bush heritage australia since 2022

15:34hamlin station was once a sprawling pastoral property stark contrast to how it looks today

15:42so these are the old sheep yards essentially the remnants of a 200 000 hectare sheep station which

15:50is now totally conservation

15:58gillies worked across half of regional australia as an environmental scientist

16:03but taking on this job living and working on a property so large and so remote

16:09it was a big call

16:13you're a long way from the city chick in melbourne that you once were

16:17yeah i certainly am it's a real change of scene being out here and there's definitely a lot that i

16:24that i gave up to take on this role and that was a really conscious decision and a hundred percent

16:29worth it the dream job the dream job yeah that's it while gilly's managing the restoration project

16:37she's not doing it alone from the ocean seagrass i explored earlier to this arid rangeland

16:46the wisdom held in traditional knowledge is being incorporated into modern day solutions

16:53straight down again just me ruffle the feathers a bit alongside denise and gilly is fishing buddies

17:01gaven and glenn holt who i met earlier

17:06the traditional owners are now all working together in this new role tackling erosion

17:12yeah this one eradicating feral pests and above all spending time getting to know country

17:23it's a bit different after spending 40 odd years on the water i quite enjoy it actually strangely enough yeah

17:33wow 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 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

18:04it means that we're able to bring traditional custodians back on country and we're able to

18:10facilitate that connection where do you think they might be coming through down from coburn or what

18:16and there's so much that is outside of my knowledge that i will i will never get from a textbook

18:28and the rangers they may have begun this project feeling unsure about their traditional knowledge

18:34yeah they're actually a um bush pair but their confidence is steadily growing we actually call

18:41them a um more new plant more news so did you eat these as kids yeah yeah yeah and all

18:49the kids

18:49just you know climb the trees and pick them yeah we used to fight over just about yeah yeah yeah

18:56a couple of old aunties used to boil them up and have a bit of honey on them or something

19:01yeah

19:01yeah they were lovely what can i see before me a strengthening of culture

19:11and at the same time a landscape showing promising signs of recovery

19:23it flew behind oh there it is i'll stay here yeah right there so it's looking towards us

19:29um i see it's about to go beautiful so i'm pretty sure that was a boo book so they make

19:36this really

19:37cute call at night time and it's book book book there he is

19:42oh well that's good so if they're here then it means there's other things here because

19:49they wouldn't be here if there was nothing to eat so that's a really good sign i'm really happy with

19:54that bringing the place back to life yeah back to good health yay yay it was their ancestors who once

20:04stood on this very ground working for others as station hands but never with the same freedom

20:12or recognition felt today you're not sort of going oh you can't go down here you can't go there

20:20and we always feel welcome when we come here and we have this freedom to come on country and work

20:29together we don't have that freedom anywhere else

20:35i think country needs its people as much as people in their country

20:41our culture is starting to come awake now so we don't want it to go back to sleeping we want

20:46it to

20:46be out there you know to show on country that we have got our culture alive

20:54things are shifting around here in 2024 the mulgana people struck a landmark agreement with the wa government

21:04to jointly manage 180 000 hectares of new parks and reserves in the shark bay heritage area

21:14the great hope is that experience will be as good as the one at hamlin station

21:19and that by working together they can make this place something for everyone to enjoy

21:32what's encouraging is shark bay's next generation is ready to learn eager to hear from their elders

21:42they'll shark bay sea mullet best eating fish in the ocean i'd say are they hard to catch when they're

21:52schooling you'll get big schools big schools and sometimes you get that bit in the net you've got

21:58to open the net up and you might end up with less than what you wanted but you've got to

22:02look after this

22:03place we never went hungry there's no worries about that especially when you've got mullet

22:09this is their gift sharing their stories continuing a sense of responsibility and belonging

22:17what's the name of the shell anyone tell me bala shell bala shell one of our elders she would make

22:24things out of the big bala shells so what she would do is cut that there and take that top

22:31bit off and

22:32she'd use that for something else and then that whole shell would be a a fruit bowl

22:37a little bit heavy just be careful how often would you go shelling every time the tide was low

22:44auntie maude we called her she would have a spear and she'll see a a marking on the sand

22:51and she knows there's a shell in there and us kids that are coming behind they knew to dig that

22:57up

22:57yep the impact of talks like these grows slowly i'll take that little bit thanks but that's the

23:06selfless hope behind it all this is pretty yummy yep 100 the days like these will make a real difference

23:14now end in the future the birds that wouldn't when they go they're non-stop flight they fly all the

23:21way they're listening there's no worries about that just to share my bit of knowledge with them

23:27and to pass it on which is great you know nothing better than that a bit more you want okay

23:33these guys

23:34up there what a way to spend the day yeah shark bay sure has a lot to offer both at

23:43sea and on land

23:45but 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 mire 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

24:26we're gonna go

24:33this is one of the largest bays in australia we've got 18 000 square kilometers 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 well when me and liam work together we usually have

24:50to say in the safety briefing that we're not married it's worse we're brother and sister so

24:57if we start arguing there's no problems it's okay oh the dolphins are just off to the left of us

25:03here

25:0311 o'clock just on the bow there guys just down the front of the bow yeah they love surfing

25:09the

25:09front of the boat they think this is their uber service across the bay what heartens me

25:14is the tourists who travel all the way to shark bay aren't the kind who want to see it ruined

25:22for christina from adelaide that feelings only deepened

25:28i 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 our

25:42oceans we have to look after these animals so i'm going to leave here more informed

25:50is this the shark bay effect people may arrive chasing personal adventure but they leave here

25:59changed as ambassadors for a better way of living with nature shark bay doesn't just welcome visitors

26:09it transforms them there's a certain fragility about the place it's made me want to step a little

26:19more lightly mindful of the impact my presence has

26:28the bird when they go their non-stop flight what's been exciting to see here is indigenous knowledge

26:35leading the way and how so many people are caring for this place all wanting to see it flourish now

26:45and

26:46for the future oh wow my hope for the future is that i can come back here in 20 to

26:5430 years

26:55and see this landscape absolutely buzzing and this really strong connection between that and

27:00relationships with traditional custodians i've got a role that i need to play and i'm hoping you know

27:09like the future generation will come back on country

27:15i love it and it is very unique yeah

27:29next time on back roads i head to eldorado in victoria where the locals like to do things differently

27:37like living in straw houses that's good hun or even teepees they thought oh god here comes the hippies

27:44and i discover more about human waste than i ever thought would be desirable it used to be banana

27:52then it was a turd then we've composted and now we're going to make basil

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