- 8 minutes ago
Back Roads Season 12 Episode 2
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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 i don't know 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 bound to fall 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 up to the dolphins if they want to come in
03:11the 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 sunnies 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
04:18the best way is to pat them along the sides of their bodies
04:22there's horror stories of people putting cigarette butts down their blowholes trying to ride them
04:28showing their dog the dolphin all sorts of things 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
04:43thankfully 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
04:53the same dolphins and we make sure we um only give them a little bit of food so it's not
04:58going
04:58to impact them throughout the day we still need them to hunt and maintain all those skills
05:01such a balancing act isn't it to give people what they want but to protect what you've got
05:06a hundred percent so now we have a really great survival rate with the carbs born to the hand fed
05:10dolphins
05:11it matches that of the offshore population so we know we're not impacting on them too much
05:16what a relief and they have the evidence to support it can i have a look every detail of the
05:23dolphins
05:24lives is carefully observed and recorded let's go to the og 1982
05:31oh this is how old it is this is the original diary of the dolphins at monkey mire
05:37yeah it's crazy that's amazing
05:4328th of feb i thought this one was quite funny because it was it was quite a shock to see
05:47the beach
05:47so crowded and then it goes on to say there's only about 30 people on the beach and today that
05:53is extremely quiet for us oh there's something quite gorgeous about it even the way they've written
05:59yeah a real lovely day out here today it's a bit more scientific now but this is how it started
06:07back on the beach i noticed the crowds thinned it's been over an hour and still no dolphins in sight
06:16yeah it's like i've been feeling a little anxious right at the moment yeah yeah it's like i've been
06:21please come please come just just one but you're not gonna give up oh no yeah i'm staying right here
06:28until 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
06:44us because 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 program
07:01the 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 and i heard about what this
07:18area
07:19did with dolphins to have this experience with them where you are so close but still making sure that
07:26you're trying to disrupt their life as little as possible i feel like it's very ethical compared to
07:32other tourism industries what do you feel that you're contributing um i feel like we have dolphins in
07:41the va oh okay you've got to say something what do you what do you need to do that that's
07:46them there
07:47isn't it gosh we've got dolphins where's the time look we've got dolphins and oh wow look
08:02magical creatures
08:06wild wonders
08:09and so close after all the anticipation this morning it's such a relief most of the day she's
08:19with her car and her sister piccolo and piccolo's heart's over and i'm so happy for christina
08:26her wish has come true they spend their whole life together they hang out together they can sort females
08:33together they will rest together it happened it really happened i'm thrilled for you too i was a bit
08:45worried dolphins are very tactile they like to touch each other to show how close they are
08:52so that's a lifetime dream 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 i can't help but wonder though how would it have felt if the
09:38dolphins 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
10:08we drag this backwards and the shells come out of the sand and roll up onto the tray
10:16the traditional owner bobby holt the ocean's always been his source of income
10:21and that's spent a lifetime of adapting it's not about speed i guess definitely not about speed
10:30bobby's families like many here
10:33shifting with the times from purling to shearing and then back out to sea
10:40and you got to do the whole thing walking backwards
10:44the only way i've found out so far
10:46i don't think i've ever chatted to anyone like this walking backwards bobby i've been walking
10:51backwards all my life so we don't find this hard work at all the hands-on approach gets the job
10:59done
10:59while respecting the environment oh wow we've got a stack right there yep
11:09there you go a successful hunt for cockles
11:12that'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 heart unfortunately how long have you all known each other
11:37all our lives how old are we bobby's the oldest feel good on you this is the old fishing crew
11:47they've left the industry behind now but the memories linger
11:52back after dark no killers
11:56much like the wildlife officers tracking dolphins at monkey mire
12:00fishermen like gave in poland were meticulous record keepers of their castings and their catch
12:09thursday the 2nd of april 1998 dugongs on corner of bank what's beautiful though is these pages
12:17also 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 county bluff to wilson island not
12:34too many whiting along here so glenn and dennis they would have gone to the spit and you're coming
12:42up towards us guys now that's almost 30 years ago and you're writing down all these notes about who's
12:49fishing we're yeah so we all keep an eye on each other and we join up when we can and
12:54we all get
12:55together anyway and meet up and pull nets together have tea together or whatever and
13:01eagles had a good win over pies
13:04that's a bit of a long time ago you haven't got the footy in there yeah yeah yeah they've stuck
13:15together through it all this lot including a 20-year fight to keep their connection to the seas and
13:22waterways alive and as ben belotti tells me 2018 saw the mulgana people formally recognized as native
13:32title holders of large parts of the bay i don't think the significance of the moment really hit
13:41me till probably the next day and i think it should we've done this it's the beginning of a new
13:46journey
13:46for us to be honest the 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 denise grew up here then raised a family while
14:17working across western australia and now she's back on home ground and has recently become a mulgana 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 the
15:02culture
15:03openly there was segregation back in the early days which you wouldn't think it you know shark bay being
15:11such a touristy town but it was there
15:17we've come to hamlin station about an hour out of town hello
15:24sarah gillyland gilly to most has been posted here with bush heritage australia since 2022
15:34hamlin station was once a sprawling pastoral property
15:39stark contrast to how it looks today so these are the old sheep yards essentially the remnants of a
15:47200 000 hectare sheep station which is now totally conservation
15:58gilly's worked across half of regional australia as an environmental scientist
16:03the taking on this job living and working on a property so large and so remote 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
16:24gave up to take on this role and that was a really conscious decision and a hundred percent worth it
16:31the 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 sea grass i explored earlier to this arid rangeland
16:46the wisdom held in traditional knowledge is being incorporated into modern day solutions
16:57alongside denise and gilly is fishing buddies gaven and glenn holt who i met earlier
17:06the traditional owners are now all working together in this new role tackling erosion eradicating feral pests
17:16and above all spending time getting to know country
17:22it's a bit different after spending 40 odd years on the water i quite enjoy it actually
17:29strange enough yeah wow there's so much erosion here it is a little bit yeah yeah we haven't really
17:38had any much rain but once it starts a bit of vegetation coming back it'll hold the ground a bit
17:45better too
17:49so whenever there's fauna surveys or vegetation surveys or it's simply infrastructure work that needs
17:56to be done i'll reach out to the rangers and say hey we're doing this project do you want to
18:01come along
18:04it 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
18:21outside 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
18:35yeah they're actually a um bush pair but their confidence is steadily growing
18:40we actually call them a um more new plant more news
18:44so did you eat these as kids yeah yeah yeah yeah and all the kids used to you know climb
18:51the trees and
18:51pick them pick them yeah we used to fight over them just about yeah yeah yeah a couple of old
18:57aunties
18:57used to boil them up and having a bit of honey on them or something yeah yeah they were 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 it flew behind oh there it is oh 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 well that's good so if they're here
19:47then
19:47it means there's other things here because they wouldn't be here if there was nothing to eat so
19:52that's a really good sign i'm really happy with that bringing the place back to life yeah back to
19:57health good health yay yay it was their ancestors who once stood on this very ground working for
20:08others as station hands but never with the same freedom or recognition felt today
20:16you're not sort of going oh you can't go down here you can't go there and we always feel welcome
20:22when
20:22we come here and we have this freedom to come on country and work together we don't have that freedom
20:32anywhere else i think country needs its people as much as people in their country our culture is
20:42starting to come awake now so we don't want to go back to sleeping we want it to be out
20:47there you know
20:48to show on country that we have got our culture alive things are shifting around here in 2024 the
21:00mulgana people struck a landmark agreement with the wa government to jointly manage 180 000 hectares of new
21:10parks and reserves in the shark bay heritage area the great hope is that experience will be as
21:17good as good as the one at hamlin station and that by working together they can make this place
21:24something for everyone to enjoy what's encouraging is shark bay's next generation is ready to learn
21:38eager to hear from their elders
21:49are they hard to catch when they're schooling you'll get big schools big schools and sometimes
21:55you get that many in the net you've got to open the net up and you might end up with
22:00less than what
22:00you wanted but you've got to look after this place we never went hungry there's no worries about that
22:07especially when you've 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 bala shell bala shell one of
22:22our elders she would make things out of the big bala shells so what she would do is cut that
22:29there and
22:31take that top bit off and she'd use that for something else and then that whole shell would
22:35be a a fruit bowl a little bit heavy just be careful how often would you go shelling every time
22:43the tide
22:43was low auntie maude we called her she would have a spear and she'll see a a marking on the
22:50sand
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
23:06but that's the selfless hope behind it all this is pretty yummy yep 100 the days like these will
23:13make a real difference now and in the future the birds that when they go they're non-stop flight
23:20they fly all the way they're listening there's no worries about that just to share my bit of knowledge
23:26with them and to pass it on which is great i know nothing better than that a bit more you
23:32want okay
23:33these guys up there what a way to spend the day yeah shark bay sure has a lot to offer
23:41both at sea
23:43and on land but what it looks like in the future will no doubt be influenced by outsiders
23:53tourism tourism's the economic backbone here and it's easy to see why
24:02look at this place is teeming with marine life
24:07now i'm stamping
24:13so the water in sharp bay here in monkey mire is 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 kilometers of water
24:38now we also have the world's largest seagrass meadows here in sharp for liam and jade
24:43there's nothing better than showing off their backyard well when me and lean work together
24:49we usually have to say in the safety briefing that we're not married it's worse we're brother and
24:54sister so if we start arguing there's no problems it's okay oh the dolphins are just off to the left
25:02of us here 11 o'clock just on the bow there guys just down the front of the bow yeah
25:08they love surfing
25:09the front of the boat they think this is their uber service across the bay what heartens me is the
25:14tourists 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
25:29i 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
26:00as 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
26:28the birds when they go their non-stop flight what's been exciting to see here is indigenous
26:35knowledge leading the way they spend their whole life together hang out together and how so many
26:40people are caring for this place all wanting to see it flourish now and for the future oh wow
26:49they're stuck my hope for the future is that i can come back here in 20 to 30 years and
26:55see this
26:56landscape absolutely buzzing and this really strong connection between that and relationships with
27:01traditional custodians i've got a role that i need to play and i'm hoping you know like the future
27:10generation will come back on country i love it and it is very unique yeah
27:29next time on back roads i head to el dorado 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
27:44kind of thing and i discover more about human waste than i ever thought would be desirable
27:50it used to be banana then it was a turd then we've composted and now we're going to make dazzle
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