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01:21Human song first sounded in Australia at least 50,000 years ago.
01:28It heralded great changes for the island continent.
01:58The origins of the first Australians are lost in time.
02:02They came from somewhere in Asia, gradually drifting south over many generations.
02:09A final voyage across a strait, narrower than now because the sea was lower, brought them to North Australia.
02:18Here they found a mix of the known and the new, swamps where crocodiles lurked, like those of Southeast Asia,
02:25but also much that was strange.
02:34Like the regions of their forefathers, tropical Australia was ruled by monsoons.
02:39But here the annual swing from flood to dry was far less predictable, far more savage.
02:49The newcomers had to learn new ways, interpret new patterns and weave them into a system of beliefs to explain
02:57this new land.
02:58They identified with certain animals, and made them powerful tribal totems.
03:11The first Australians were coastal wanderers.
03:14Their descendants on the northern shores still call themselves saltwater people.
03:28They never moved far from the familiar sea, that never failing provider of good things to eat.
03:59Among the skills imported by the early people,
04:02was a practised use of fire.
04:09Through wielding flames to clear the land and aid the hunt,
04:13they went on to change the face of Australia.
04:17Before people came here, lightning was the only source of fire.
04:26They believed lightning was made by Namargon, the Lightning Man.
04:37Namargon's stone axes hit the clouds to make sparks and thunder.
04:46These are the storms of the build-up, the time before the wet.
04:50The Aborigines call it Gunemalang, one of the many seasons they came to recognise.
05:01Gunemalang is also signalled by fainter sounds, calling freshwater crocodiles to their nest.
05:13The cries come from inside eggs buried in the riverbank, some three months earlier.
05:19They summon the females to excavate the nests, so helping to release their offspring.
05:25Not all the eggs survive.
05:28Some are dug up by human foragers, who find them delicious.
05:32But enough are left to ensure they'll continue to be crocodiles, and supplies of eggs.
05:49Though capable of making it to the water on their own, it's much safer and quicker for mother to carry
05:55them.
06:01The sound of sand being scraped away, and the calls of the newly hatched, stimulate the rest of the brood
06:08to break free.
06:09A national music op income.
06:11A national music team.
06:26A national music.
06:28A national music.
06:30A national music.
06:31A national music.
06:34A national music.
06:37After incapable of the will GOD all this time.
06:39As soon as the maternal jaws release them, the young crocodiles launch their lifelong hunting career,
06:45starting on insects and working their way up.
06:49But they also make attractive morsels themselves, and the mother keeps watch,
06:54especially for other crocodiles coming to investigate with cannibalistic intent.
07:12Northern Australia lies on the edge of the monsoonal belt, and the build-up is a fickle time.
07:18Dry spells alternate with drenching rains.
07:22Early falls soak in, then the soils saturate.
07:25Pools fill, rivers flow.
07:33They flow out of the great Kakadu escarpment, looming over the plains.
07:38The edge of a vast and ancient plateau.
07:44Its worn and cragged roof makes an enormous catchment that feeds permanent pools and rivers.
07:52Millions of years of monsoonal rains scoured and sculpted the sandstone, and rivers carved deep gorges.
08:01It's Gujjuk now, the wet season proper in January and February.
08:15It's a barren and forbidding place, where Aborigines rarely come.
08:19But it's also the source of much fertility, for the waters wash sediments down to the lowlands.
08:39The cascades feed broad rivers, which meander across the northern plains,
08:44and the rising waters set the rhythm of life for many animals.
08:53The pig-nosed turtle is one of them.
08:56As the river rises, it cues a new generation into the world.
09:01They spend most of their time submerged, but they have to come out to bury their eggs.
09:10The eggs of reptiles, like crocodiles, drown if they're flooded.
09:19But pig-nosed turtles actually wait until they're completely immersed, before breaking out.
09:30The sudden drop in oxygen passing through the shell gives them their cue.
09:37Eager for air, they emerge into conditions best suited to their survival.
09:42Fast-flowing water to aid dispersal, and a wealth of food.
09:56The rising waters also stimulate the magpie geese to gather and breed,
10:01and tell the people there's an abundance of goose eggs to collect.
10:09The spike rushes grow tall in the swamps, and the geese trample them into floating nests.
10:15Crops of wild rice shoot up, and in the steaming heat,
10:19their seeds ripen swiftly to provide rich nourishment for the goslings.
10:27But it won't last.
10:29Parents and chicks are racing against time.
10:32But the youngsters need to grow strong enough to fly,
10:35before the swamps begin to dry out, and they have to move elsewhere.
10:46The breeding of these ancient birds follows the rise and fall of the waters,
10:51and their seasonal wanderings became part of the knowledge
10:54that guided aboriginal walkabouts.
11:09The season rolls on.
11:12The storms of Gudjuk sweep in almost daily now,
11:16and with ever-increasing force.
11:27Hot winds, heavy with moisture, drive in from the northwest,
11:31pile the clouds into mountains,
11:34and hurl sheets of water across the landscape.
11:38Day after day, this is the pattern of Gudjuk.
11:42The very sky turns to water.
12:08As the plains became impassable to all but water birds and aquatic creatures,
12:13the people moved to higher ground,
12:16into the shelter of the escarpment's caves and overhangs.
12:36The long, wet days gave time to reflect on their place in this world.
12:41In painting the rock walls,
12:43the people celebrated their deep sense of affinity with the land.
12:47The record goes back unbroken for tens of thousands of years.
12:59The torrential downpour sends so much water rushing across the plains
13:03that even higher ground disappears under the swirling floods.
13:16The swifty rising waters send creatures scrambling for whatever precarious perch they can find.
13:23This sand goanna will need to hang on for many hours before the floods subside.
13:32Even capable swimmers like highly venomous king brown snakes and water goannas
13:37may find the currents too strong.
13:47A mass of termites.
13:49A mass of termites.
14:03Odd companions, a python shares its refuge with a water rat.
14:09In this common crisis, normal predatory instincts are suspended.
14:24The floodplains merge into one vast, shallow lake.
14:28The spreading waters replenish their fertility with sediments rushed down from the escarpment.
14:35But while the rains recharge the top end's biological power,
14:40they also bring hardship to many animals.
14:43Rocky outcrops become islands
14:44and maroon the wallabies that normally graze down on the plains.
14:55Until the floods subside, these short-eared rock wallabies will have a lean time of it.
15:12Over time, the lives of animals and people wove into a complex fabric of myth and custom.
15:18The rock paintings became the icons of Aboriginal belief as well as a practical inventory of their most important creatures.
15:48The rainbow serpent, mythical carver of rivers and gorges as it slid across the landscape,
15:54intertwined with pictures of animals hunted for food.
16:03The record also traces changing climate.
16:06As sea levels rose and estuaries came closer, images of barramundi fish featured more.
16:21In 2,000 generations of human occupation, the view from the escarpment changed as floodplains extended and retreated.
16:30But the relentless rhythm of the tropical monsoons continued to rule all of life here.
16:47The mating call of the green tree frog adds to the cacophony that marks the height of the wet season.
16:56They need standing water, and there are now plenty of pools where the females can spawn.
17:02She lifts her rear end to scatter the eggs.
17:06The male, clasping her firmly from behind, covers them with sperm.
17:12Of the hundreds of eggs, only a few will survive.
17:15The rest will feed other creatures.
17:36Deep within the escarpment, other animals breed.
17:41The walls of some caves crawl with bats.
17:45More than 100,000 bentwings crowd together, all of them females and they're young.
17:51The females came here early in the wet, to give birth.
17:55Now their offspring are on the verge of flight.
18:01But for the moment, they're still left behind in a creche, while the mothers make their evening exodus, streaming out
18:08to feed.
18:09The creche is far from safe.
18:12Below the bat-covered walls, green tree frogs lurk, waiting for a baby to fall.
18:34The young bats are only tiny.
18:36Even so, they make quite a mouthful for the frog, which is about the size of a man's fist.
18:48The dense flow of bat-flesh, attracts other predators.
18:52Pythons and venomous snakes, cast around in the stream, like lethal fishing rods.
19:18The snake throws a deadly coil around the victim, then dislocates its jaws to swallow the bat whole.
19:37The meal lasts the snake many weeks.
19:43The streams of breeding bats are an endless source of food at this time of Gudjuk.
19:50Their comings and goings meld into the flow of the seasons, part of the nature of Australia for 25 million
19:57years, when bats first flew in from Asia.
20:04They're particularly abundant in the tropical north, flying foxes especially.
20:15At dawn, tens of thousands return to their tree camps to roost for the day.
20:23They're the largest of the bats, very different from the small insect hunters that inhabit the caves.
20:29Their flesh is as sweet and succulent as the flowers and fruits upon which they feed, and highly prized by
20:36human hunters.
21:02Flying foxes, also called fruit bats, are found throughout Southeast Asia.
21:07And raiding their camps remained an important part of life for the Aborigines of Northern Australia.
21:22The fruit bats have their own seasonal rhythms.
21:25As the monsoonal rains fall away, and the end of the wet thaw is near, males begin to feel the
21:31urge to mate, and females respond.
21:33Eventually.
21:57Having to mate upside down might seem to add an extra dimension of difficulty.
22:02But for the fruit bats, there's no other way.
22:11The pair may mate four times in half an hour, and several more times during the day.
22:17During that time, the immediate space around them is in violet territory.
22:37Soon the bats shift camp to follow the moveable feast of flowers and fruits as the season turns.
23:02With the heaviest rains passed, the Aboriginal year moves to Bangarang, a time of brooding calm, pierced by sudden storms.
23:12The water lilies flower in the paperbark swamps, and on their broad leaves, jacana eggs are about to hatch.
23:30While the cock bird broods the eggs, his mate jealously keeps other hens away.
23:46While the cock bird broods the eggs, his mate jealously keeps other hens away.
23:57A few days later, the jacana chicks take their first tentative measure of this floating leafy world.
24:07Fr runs of the collmans.
24:09The longìx and my love remains cold.
24:33The father has a wonderful way of keeping his chicks safe.
24:36At the first sign of danger, he calls and sweeps them under his wing.
24:48Only their legs betray their presence,
24:51already with the long toes that make Jakana seem to walk on water.
25:04In these closing days of the wet,
25:07the humid air is heavy with the scent of flowers,
25:10vibrant with insects.
25:16In a final spurt, the speargrass shoots to twice a man's height.
25:21But the storms of Bangarang will soon knock it down.
25:30For the early people and their descendants,
25:32this was a good time of year to collect wild honey.
25:38As the season turns to dry,
25:41fire begins to dominate the daily round.
25:46The art of making it came with the ancestors.
25:50Using it became an ever more important skill,
25:52on the small scale and the large.
26:04Though the native bees are small and have no sting,
26:07flame and smoke help clear the way into the sweet heart of the nest.
26:14Fire sticks were also put to larger use,
26:17and the effects reached into the very essence of the landscape.
26:29When the winds turn cool and blow from the southeast,
26:32it's yege, the burning time.
26:35Fire cleaned the country of the speargrass,
26:38smashed into an impenetrable tangle by the storms of Bangarang.
26:49Natural fires, sparked by lightning,
26:52mostly flared towards the end of the dry.
26:54The Aborigines burnt early in the season
26:57and altered the landscape.
27:03They lit their first fires when dew still fell.
27:07It dampened the flames at night.
27:14Over the years,
27:15Aboriginal burning created a mosaic of plant growth
27:18that fostered a range of valuable game.
27:37The smouldering aftermath also brings immediate benefits
27:41to the hunter-gatherers,
27:42human and animal alike.
27:49Fried insects make rich pickings
27:51and bring game within a spear's throw.
27:56Alert eyes spot barbecued meals of small lizards and snakes.
28:04A scatter of fresh leaves protects the human feet.
28:09The scavenging birds have nothing between theirs
28:12and the glowing cinders.
28:20They'll start to decline in 1000 doses.
28:24The처리�ender is a 7-Hourer.
28:33A醫ic coniferous is a 1-1-1-1-2-1-1-1-1.
28:35The?".
28:37The
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28:56The patterns of Aboriginal burning brought lasting change to the nature of Australia,
29:02evident on the small scale through the hunting birds that prosper as fire followers,
29:06and on the larger scale through a shift in vegetation, with fire-tolerant eucalypts
29:12thriving, where plants sensitive to scorching could not.
29:19The woodland seemed dead after fire, but within days the gums green up again.
29:31The spread of the eucalypts was aided by another force,
29:35less obvious and dramatic than fire, but just as powerful.
29:44These castles of clay conceal that hidden power.
29:48They're the strongholds of the termites, and it was fire that destroyed the bark's defences
29:53and opened the way for termites to enter the tree.
30:07Deep within lies the colony's pulsating heart, the termite queen.
30:13She produces a ceaseless flow of eggs to keep the colony growing,
30:17and issues a stream of chemical commands to govern her subjects.
30:29workers stack the precious eggs in nurseries, and tend them till they hatch.
30:41Other workers look after the larvae, preparing them for their allotted task.
30:46As workers, soldiers, and once a year, they tend a special brood of future kings and queens.
31:00Workers form the largest class, labouring endlessly,
31:04turning the eucalypt structural heartwood into energy that drives the entire colony.
31:13Their sharp jaws slice into the tough fibres, and the hindgut breaks it down into digestible nutrients.
31:21Some goes to feed other termites, the queen, soldiers, and juveniles.
31:30The massed jaws of the worker brigades swiftly excavate the heartwood,
31:35chewing their way up inside the main trunk and out into the branches.
31:41The waste is molded into more galleries and egg chambers.
31:59Within a few years, the eucalypt is completely hollow.
32:02In places, breaking branches open a way to the outside – branches that provide Aborigines with hollow wood to craft
32:10into didgeridoos.
32:17Now the legions move out, digging tunnels to seek fresh supplies in the surrounding trees.
32:23They too are hollowed out, and the colony grows ever larger.
32:38Strange as it may seem, not only do the eucalypts survive this attack on their very heart,
32:43they actually benefit from it.
32:49The termites might appear to be parasites, but in fact the hollows they chew out are a kind of payment
32:55for their board and lodging.
33:01Hollows attract birds and other animals to nest and shelter.
33:05Their spillings and droppings make valuable fertiliser.
33:09The trees absorb these bonus rations and grow well in the soils of this higher ground, which are otherwise extremely
33:17poor.
33:29The dollar bird takes insects on the wing.
33:32It migrates from New Guinea and joins the local birds to take advantage of the nest holes created by the
33:38termites.
33:46Individually, the fragments don't amount to much.
33:51Together, the leftovers and litter of nesting birds like this forest kingfisher, add up to a feast when taken into
33:58the bowels of the tree.
34:02Over time, it gives eucalypts a great competitive advantage over trees that don't have this curious partnership with termites.
34:16As well as birds, half the local mammals use hollows as layers, turning the trees into a well-stocked larder.
34:25Aboriginal hunters need only a fire stick to smoke the game out.
34:33Night reveals other hunters.
34:36Some holes, excavated by termites, make nurseries for quolls and their young.
34:46When they're nearly full grown, the youngsters go piggyback when mother goes hunting.
35:15For the young quolls, catching insects and keeping them
35:18are the first big steps on the road to independence.
35:44The adult quolls tend to use the same hollow all year round.
35:48And when they come home, the waste they excrete helps to nourish their host, an organic form of rent.
36:03But eventually, the termites weaken the tree so much that fire or a storm sends it crashing.
36:16The termite castle smashes open and armies of green tree ants come racing in to devour the workers.
36:29The sudden onslaught temporarily overwhelms the termite soldiers.
36:34The sudden onslaught temporarily overwhelms the termite soldiers.
36:35But soon they'll repel the invaders.
36:37And if the queen survived, the colony will rebuild.
36:44The season moves to Wurging.
36:47Hot, still and no rain.
36:50The floodplains are dry.
36:53The streams stop flowing.
36:54The waters withdraw to the deeper swamps and billabongs.
36:58And the magpie geese follow.
37:07For the first Australians, the sight of such vast flocks meant more than abundance.
37:17Watching them, stalking them, inspired dances of a natural grace matched only by the birds themselves.
37:25Toon toon toon toon toon toon toon the twin birds and Jess Forms harmon Atmen.
38:28Trumpeting, tossing sprays of leaves, the brolgas dance around the year, as part of the courtship at breeding time, and
38:37to enhance the bond between pairs wherever the birds flock together.
38:49The dry tightens its grip, but the mud around the swamps remains soft enough for the brolgas' long beaks to
38:56spear up tubers.
38:58In a week or so, it'll be too hard, and the birds move on.
39:07These stately waders breed in the wet season, when it's easier for growing chicks to find food.
39:18By contrast, hunting birds like sea eagles build their nests and have their chicks in the dry, snatching up nesting
39:26material with the same easy swoop used to catch fish.
39:55Wurgan is a hard time for the water creatures.
39:58The diminishing lagoons cram them together and make them easy to catch.
40:04The eagles hook up fish and turtles in plenty, and they keep their young well fed.
40:23When the wet season returns, it'll bring an abundance of other game, especially newly hatched goslings, and there'll be plentiful
40:31opportunity for the young eagles to learn to hunt.
40:46The season changes to Gerung, the hottest time of the year.
40:51The flying foxes prepare to give birth.
41:06The baby's head has just emerged, and the mother arches upwards to clean it with her tongue.
41:29The baby may stay like this for more than an hour.
41:32It's a tense time for both mother and young.
41:36Should the newborn fall, it'll be to its death, for many predators lurk nearby.
41:56When finally all of the baby emerges, mother has to be ready to catch it.
42:01And she does.
42:03This youngster at least is safe.
42:15She cleans off the last of the afterbirth, and helps the infant find her nipples,
42:19located in the armpits, where it can cling in safety when mother goes flying.
42:34Barbed growths inside their claws help young bats hook into the mother's fur,
42:39and their teeth curve inwards to hang on to the nipple.
42:46Independence comes swiftly.
42:48Even at two weeks, it's already trying for its own grip on the tree.
43:01Until the young bat's ready to fly, at around three months,
43:05the maternal wings always remain ready to enfold it, and keep it safe.
43:16The wings help the flying foxes to keep cool.
43:19They fan the air, and, folded, make an excellent heat shield.
43:25The searing heat has sucked all the moisture from the swamps and floodplains,
43:29and the only water left is in the permanent soaks and deeper billabongs.
43:46Birds from all over the region converge on these precious oases.
43:54Red-tailed black cockatoos wander from Soak to Billabong, in search of a drink.
44:00Aborigines believe the flaming red of the tails was fire,
44:03the means by which the birds carried it round the land.
44:15While all around the plains lie parched,
44:18these last wetlands provide rich bounty.
44:22Each billabong attracts its own progression of visitors.
44:33Each bird's bill is designed to harvest different food
44:36at different depths, in different ways.
44:47This jabberoo has caught a water snake.
44:57As the waters recede, the birds need to keep moving
45:00to find the food that suits their particular way of feeding.
45:09These royal spoonbills come to feast on the rich broth of this shallow lagoon,
45:14sweeping through the water to sift out small fish and crustaceans.
45:33Pelicans flock together on a deeper billabong
45:36and round up shoals of fish and scoop them up with capacious beaks.
45:44Cormorants patrol alongside, ready to snatch any that escape.
45:57There are as many fishing techniques as there are birds.
46:01A pied heron takes extraordinary steps to secure a safe vantage point.
46:22island by a shelter for the
46:23island and Himalaya
46:41Engineering
47:16The waters fall ever further, exposing new crops of food.
47:21The plant-eating birds have their feast now, and flocks grow by the thousands every day.
47:35The sound of the whistling ducks is made by voices and wings together, rising and falling as they move between
47:42grazing and resting.
47:44The massed song is a spectacular celebration of the great fertility of these northern wetlands.
48:17Clouds of birds darken the sky over these last wars.
48:22Now's the time, too, when magpie geese assemble in their hundreds of thousands, a sure sign that the first storms
48:29of Gunamalong are not far away, but the season's coming full cycle.
48:36The vanishing water leaves great stretches of soft mud, with abundant bulbs and tubers for the birds to rip up
48:43with their hooked bills.
48:59The massing of the magpie geese is one of the biological events that mark the turning of the seasons in
49:05the far north.
49:07For the first Australians, they became part of the calendar, which set the rhythm of their own rounds and celebrations.
49:30Knowing the nature of the land was basic to their survival, but in learning to live with it, the skills
49:36they acquired and practiced over 2,000 generations set profound changes in train.
49:49Fire became the symbolic centre of their spiritual and ceremonial life, their tribal temple.
49:57Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire!
50:13Far from being a timeless people in a timeless land, their impact was as great as that of any people
50:19on earth, and the chief instrument of that impact was fire.
50:25Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire!
50:50Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire!
50:53Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire!
50:53Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire!
50:53Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire!
50:53Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire
50:59Aboriginal burning altered the mix of plants in the landscape, the fire-tolerant eucalypts
51:06extended their hold and the woodlands opened out.
51:16As the Aboriginal people grew in numbers and spread across the vastness of Australia, the
51:22migrations were marked by trails of fire and the hunting birds that followed them.
51:43The fire skills perfected in the monsoonal north were carried to new terrain and different
51:48climates.
51:49The fire stick reached into every plant and animal community in every part of the continent,
51:56from the coastal regions to the dry interior.
52:13Many animals profited from the changes, many others vanished for all time.
52:21In all this vast land, there were only ever less than one million people at any moment.
52:26Yet in their 50,000 years, the Aborigines' way with fire changed the face of the continent.
52:36Evil spirits, they called these willy-willies, but they were tornadoes of ash and dust unleashed
52:42by the heat of their own fires.
52:50Now a new storm was about to break.
52:53The whirlwind of the European invasion would race across the continent with unprecedented
52:59speed and pose the most severe challenge yet to the nature of Australia.
53:07A new storm was about to break.
53:07A new storm was about to break.
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