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00:06This is as close as I'll get to a living dinosaur.
00:15It's so gorgeous.
00:18Backroads is in Australia's Jurassic Park.
00:25It's World Heritage, one of the oldest continuous living rainforests on the planet.
00:33This is also World Heritage, an ancient coral reef, the largest on Earth.
00:41By the 1960s, the delights of the Barrier Reef were already embedded in our national psyche.
00:48One of the natural wonders of the world, a tourist attraction of international repute, this is the Great Barrier Reef.
00:56These three natural and national icons meet in this one magical place, Mission Beach in far north Queensland.
01:07It's a coastal town, as well as a series of interconnected villages on the Cassowary Coast.
01:14This treasure trove has been battered by natural disasters for decades.
01:20But what if I told you its biggest threat is us?
01:25And that it was once the centre of what's thought to be the biggest conservation battle in Australia.
01:36How many of us know that Mission Beach was the home of the first major flashpoint for the Australian environmental
01:45movement?
01:45Yeah, long before the famous Franklin River protests of the 1980s.
01:52I'm keen to learn about this little-known history and about the locals who are carrying on its legacy.
02:00With the area under threat once again, what are these eco-warriors up to now?
02:06Are they doing enough?
02:08Or is it already too late?
02:25I'm travelling about 15 kilometres off the Mission Beach coast.
02:31My guides, Adele Pyle and Stuart Alexander, are local eco-warriors and scientists.
02:38And they love sharing their magnificent backyard.
02:47It makes it really hard to pick a holiday destination when you live here.
02:52How did you end up here?
02:53Well, I've been in corporate life for a long time and really was looking for a change.
02:59And I found this little business here in Mission Beach that was for sale.
03:04So did you have a background in anything like this?
03:06So, not owning a tourism business per se.
03:10I'm a marine biologist.
03:12And I studied Oceanography University.
03:14So we're able to combine those two skills together to create a tourism product that's unique.
03:21Adele and Stuart are contracted by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority.
03:26It's a genius idea to partner with tourist operators who have a vested interest in preserving the reef.
03:33And these two are scientists to boot.
03:41We do measurements when we arrive at a reef, we take some temperature readings,
03:46but we'll also do surveys at all of our sites.
03:51There are four main stressors to the reef.
03:53Of course, there's cyclones, there's ocean warming from climate change,
03:58there's poor water quality, and then there's crown of thorns starfish outbreaks.
04:03So those are the four major stressors for the reef that we monitor when we're out doing our surveys.
04:14So that means that we are stewards for the reef.
04:18I'm keen to do my bit now.
04:21So, Lisa, I want you, while we're out there today, looking for the butterfly fish.
04:26Now, they're important indicators of the reef because they only eat coral.
04:30Well, bring it on.
04:32This is what I'm here for.
04:35Of course, I'm expecting to see this.
04:39But today, I'm seeing this.
05:05Oh, that looks, that looks like rubble.
05:08You know, it reminded me of scenes after an earthquake, actually.
05:13Yeah.
05:13Yeah.
05:14Like that, just that brown that covers everything.
05:17Yeah.
05:18It's devastating.
05:19It is devastating.
05:20So, what happened is during the February of this year's flood event, so much fresh water came out of the
05:28rivers around here.
05:29We had, like, nearly five meters of rain during that month that the ocean turned into fresh water, and then
05:37it killed everything.
05:39I mean, literally everything.
05:41It must be gutting for you.
05:43Yeah.
05:43I've never seen anything like this.
05:46Ever.
05:47I've seen a lot.
05:48I've been doing this for 30 years.
05:50I've seen a lot.
05:51This is climate change, man.
05:53And climate change is indiscriminate, and it is coming for you.
05:57And this is what climate change looks like.
06:03It's the first time in recorded history of the Great Barrier Reef that we've had back-to-back bleaching events,
06:09significant bleaching events, across the reef.
06:13And it's just like when you get the flu or you get sick, you know, if you have back-to
06:19-back sicknesses, it just hits you harder the second time around.
06:23So, the events are coming closer and closer, so nobody has time to recover.
06:28So, the reefs are really up against it?
06:30It is.
06:30It is 100% up against it.
06:33And all of them are, except for cyclones, are things that humans can do something about.
06:39Thankfully, Adele tells me we can do something to revive dead reef.
06:46What we do is we go to depth where the corals are surviving, and we can bring them up into
06:52the shallow water and replant them, just like planting trees.
06:57And those are called fragments of hope.
07:02Adele and Stuart reckon if they can get funding, they can restore this dead reef in five or so years,
07:09rather than the 50 to 100 years it would take if left as is.
07:19Back in Mission Beach, I go in search of another endangered natural icon.
07:24Hello you.
07:26The southern cassowary is only found in the tropical rainforests of far north Queensland, Papua New Guinea and some surrounding
07:34islands.
07:35It's so gorgeous.
07:36You can understand why these magnificent birds are tourist magnets, but feeding them harms them.
07:45They become dependent on humans for food.
07:53But with development encroaching on the rainforest, it's forcing the cassowary more and more into the open to forage.
08:01And then the injured adults, or orphaned chicks, end up at the Mission Beach Rehab Centre.
08:12We only have two here at the moment, but last year was a busy year.
08:16We had up to six in December.
08:18We had a full facility and lots of volunteers coming to help down.
08:22I'm here to help.
08:23And alongside the lovely Kate Blank...
08:26We've got birds to feed.
08:27We've got birds to feed.
08:28..I'm put to work, prepping classic cassowary cuisine.
08:32So, who are you all?
08:34I work for C4 and we are a 100% volunteer community group here in Mission Beach.
08:40And we volunteer here to take care of the cassowaries.
08:43We care for them here and then they go back into the wild.
08:48This is an amazing conservation resource, staffed by volunteers, but overseen by Queensland Parks and Wildlife.
08:56It's a 2.2-acre property here in Bingle Bay that was bequeathed to Queensland Parks and Wildlife by a
09:02local family,
09:04Frida and Joseph Jorison.
09:05They were really passionate about cassowaries and obviously wanted to see that they left something that continued on for cassowary
09:13care into the future.
09:14It's a nice story that it was community that ended up making this happen in the first place and keeps
09:20it going.
09:21Absolutely.
09:23As if on cue, one rustles the bush near us.
09:27They are quite dark in colour and they blend right into the rainforest, making them incredibly hard to see when
09:35they stand still.
09:36The southern cassowary is a keystone species and this means it plays a really large role within the ecosystem.
09:44So its absence or decline potentially has catastrophic effects for the environment in which it lives.
09:52In other words, the endangered cassowary is a big wake-up call to anyone who cares about the very things
10:00that make Mission Beach so special.
10:03Oh, mushy bananas!
10:06So you've got to be a bit tricky with where you're putting it.
10:09That's right.
10:10You can't make it too easy for them.
10:11That's it.
10:12Over here.
10:14For now, there are two hungry orphans waiting for their food.
10:19Even at the rehab centre, volunteer Peter Rouse tells me there's a strictly no-contact policy when feeding these birds.
10:27So the birds don't directly associate people with food.
10:33So we'll just let them through.
10:36A pulley system between enclosures lets the birds find their food without revealing the human hand behind it.
10:43Oh, look at them go.
10:45They know there's food in there all right.
10:48They haven't seen us put the food out, they haven't seen us throw food to them or anything like that.
10:53They find the food in the bush, so to speak.
10:58The payoff comes when the birds are ready to go back into the wild.
11:05Each release buys a bit more time for the increasingly fragile Mission Beach ecosystem.
11:12I think while we can continue to work with community groups to give back, there is hope that the cassowary
11:18won't go the way of the dinosaur.
11:21So, if you find yourself in Mission Beach, do yourself a favour.
11:26Take the time to breathe in the wonder of this very special place.
11:32By slowing down, you might also save a cassowary.
11:55Many of Mission Beach's long-time locals live alongside the cassowary, deep in the rainforest.
12:08Artist Liz Galley moved here in the 1970s.
12:16She makes exquisite jewellery by alloying and melting pure metals to make sterling silver, 9-carat and 18-carat gold.
12:28Her handmade pieces also incorporate natural materials, including native lawyer cane, her signature.
12:37How does it feel to be working in such a beautiful environment here?
12:42It's very relaxing.
12:44Yeah, very relaxing.
12:45And you can hear everything and you can see cassowaries walking through.
12:51I notice cassowaries pop up in your jury.
12:54When you say the kings and the queens, they control the bush.
12:59A healthy land means a healthy reef.
13:03Liz's love of the cassowary and Mission Beach led her to join a group called Friends of Ninny Rise.
13:09It champions reef and rainforest conservation and looks after this property in Bengal Bay.
13:18This now empty house is the birthplace of a little known but fascinating conservation campaign.
13:27This is the home that John Bust built that's now known as Ninny Rise.
13:33If you've never heard of John Bust, you're not alone.
13:36Which is amazing because his is the most extraordinary story.
13:42John Bust came from a well-heeled family in Victoria and he started out in university in law school.
13:51And he dropped out of there to join the Montsilvat art movement in Victoria.
13:57Montsilvat is a well-known community on the outskirts of Melbourne created by artists in 1934.
14:03And it was as an artist that John Bust moved to Farnalls, Queensland.
14:11In the 1960s, he launched an epic campaign that changed the face of the conservation movement in Australia
14:19and how we felt about the environment.
14:23John's wife saw a small ad in the Innisfail advocate, Ally Bust, her name was,
14:28that it was a local farmer wanted to mine lime out on Ellison Reef.
14:35Wait, what?
14:36They wanted to mine the Great Barrier Reef for fertiliser?
14:41And they always said that the reef was dead.
14:44This argument was used by applicants to justify mining coral for cheap agricultural fertiliser.
14:51So John used his influence and money to get some marine scientists, students from Brisbane to come up.
15:01And they spent five days out on the reef studying and making a report on that.
15:06What did those students discover out on Ellison Reef?
15:11It wasn't dead, no.
15:14It's the responsibility of this generation to ensure that the reef isn't destroyed by short-sighted economic development.
15:23Eddie Hegel was a key player in the fight to save the Great Barrier Reef.
15:28He was one of those young scientists employed by John Bust to prove the reef wasn't dead.
15:36This is the best car race system in the world and the biggest. I'll be crying in a minute.
15:43He's back in Mission Beach, where it all began.
15:47It was outrageous to think that a government could be so stupid as to endanger such an important international aspect,
15:59which was bringing people to Australia to see it.
16:04It was the opposite of being farsighted. It was just plain stupid.
16:11So John Bust challenged the application in court, the mining warden's court in Innisfail, and they won.
16:20It was a landmark victory, but for John Bust, it was just the start.
16:27It set a precedent. They discovered that the Queensland Government had put out expressions of interest for oil exploration leases,
16:36and all over the reef. The whole reef.
16:40The Queensland Premier was the all-powerful Joe Bielke-Peterson, who governed the state for 19 years.
16:49It is quite safe to drill. Mr Premier, how can you be so sure?
16:53Well, you can be as sure as possible to be sure.
16:56It was then that a really big campaign started, and it just got bigger and bigger.
17:04In Australia, more than 100,000 people bought these stickers to show their support.
17:10There was, at that time, oil spills around the world, so it became an international issue as well.
17:17It galvanised all of the conservation groups.
17:21The momentum that he was able to get and gather and push in this campaign was quite extraordinary.
17:34As a Queenslander, I'm amazed I haven't come across this story before.
17:39We helped develop an Australian environmental conscious, I would say, that we had something special that we should cherish,
17:50and the rest of the world would want to see.
17:55It's extraordinary to think what might have happened if John Bust hadn't challenged that farmer's application to mine on the
18:05Great Barrier Reef.
18:06He won the case, and it triggered a nine-year national and international environmental battle to save the reef.
18:16Finally, in 1975, the Whitlam government legislated to make the reef a marine national park.
18:25Just take a moment to think about that.
18:30In the 1980s, the reef and the rainforest finally gained World Heritage status.
18:38What would we have out there instead?
18:41Well, out on the reef, we would have oil rigs. We'd be seeing oil rigs.
18:52John Bust's legacy lives on.
18:55These days, his passion for the environment is even having an impact on the humble banana.
19:10What am I looking for, Rachelle?
19:12We're looking for any damages on the banana.
19:14So things like knife cuts, bruising, or marks on the skin.
19:18OK, how am I going?
19:20A bit more training and you'll be fine.
19:27My long-suffering instructor, Rachelle Miles, is co-owner of a local banana farm that processes its own fruit.
19:37If you get a dud bunch next time you're in the supermarket, it's not them.
19:41It's me!
19:43There's trouble!
19:45Oh, no!
19:49Rachelle, her husband Steve, and their two boys love life at Mission Beach.
19:54I think it's so special that we get to live in a town that captures the essence of small-town
20:02coastal as well as small-town country. It's beautiful.
20:05Oh, straight through the gas! There you go!
20:12I like the cassowaries because it helps the environment to get the trees breathing on us.
20:20I love being here because it's a nice house and because there's so much trees.
20:36I've been at Mission Beach for over 10 years now, but bananas have been my game now for over 25
20:42years.
20:42Yes, yeah.
20:43If you're wondering what bananas have to do with John Bust, it's because this Mission Beach farm lies closest to
20:51his beloved Great Barrier Reef.
20:53And that's front and centre of Steve's mind.
20:58It makes us very much aware of environmental impacts and for where your water and everything goes.
21:06Years ago, this was all just dirt gushing through, running into the two dams that we have and then running
21:13directly out of the reef,
21:14whereas now we've got catchments, we've put in certain stops there for the water, and we've got our grass covered
21:20down.
21:21These efforts that we go to come at a huge cost, and when they pay off, it's really rewarding.
21:26And to see that, one, it's a benefit to you, but also a benefit to the environment.
21:33But the farm is also facing another typical Mission Beach environmental challenge, right on its doorstep.
21:41Wow, there are houses right there. That blows me away. You've got your fence right here, and there are houses
21:4950 metres away being built.
21:51Correct. And that's our challenge. That's our biggest challenge.
21:55When we're under pressure with rainfall, plus the development, this is chock-a-block that overflows.
22:03That's our biggest challenge.
22:04Be hard on the eights in here, boys. Be hard on them, OK?
22:07For now, Steve and Rochelle are especially chuffed at winning an industry award for sustainable farming.
22:15Looking after the landscape and respecting the Great Barrier Reef and the surrounds,
22:20I honestly hope that our kids are able to take those learnings with them
22:24and enjoy the same things that we've been lucky enough to enjoy.
22:29Steve's concern about the impact of urbanisation on the environment is echoed by the Juru,
22:35the traditional owners of Mission Beach.
22:43A lot of people are making their home here in Mission Beach,
22:47but they're taking away the cassowaries' home when they're doing it, clearing all the rainforests.
22:54I've joined a kids' camp run by the local Girrigan Aboriginal Corporation Junior Rangers program.
23:02Well, the aboriginals in the rainforests are here hunting animals.
23:06Today's walk is led by Juru elder Leonard Andy.
23:11Today they call them quondongs and they call them murrigan in language.
23:16Cassowaries eat them.
23:19And you can just chew it with a little bit of seed in it, so we can just chew it.
23:27It's really dry and sour.
23:34I don't own a phone. I've never owned a phone.
23:39And I see how the kids are with the phones and screens.
23:44And because I've done a lot of education, it's like AI.
23:53It's an artificial learning experience.
23:55It's not multi-sensory.
23:58Because when I take them in the rainforest and they learn about culture, it's multi-sensory.
24:04And you move it back and forward till you feel like you've caught something.
24:08And then you pull it out.
24:09And it'll be a witchy grub caught onto hooks.
24:12And I reckon the kids are embracing this change, despite the rain.
24:17Well, we are in the wet tropics.
24:20And it's not dampening anyone's spirits.
24:23I like to walk around because it's fun things to do around here.
24:28A lot of people live in the city and they don't really know about all this.
24:32Yeah.
24:33Well, yeah.
24:35Hey, who's eating a witchy grub?
24:38Me.
24:39What's it taste like?
24:41Chicken.
24:42Does it really?
24:43Yeah.
24:45Look at a big jungle perch.
24:47Come out.
24:49See that thing right over there moving?
24:52That black line?
24:53Oh, yeah.
24:54Yeah, that's a little perch.
24:56Oh, wow.
24:57Good spotting.
25:00This is a magic place.
25:04Mission Beach is a magic place.
25:08We live in a magic place where the rainforest greets the sea.
25:17I really don't want to leave this magic place.
25:20But there's one last hurrah.
25:24I'm on my way back to Ninny Rise, where it all began.
25:28The home of that great pioneer eco-warrior John Bust.
25:32It's the 50th anniversary of the creation of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park.
25:38They're having a bit of a celebration.
25:40And why not?
25:42This is a magic place.
25:45Mission Beach is a magic place.
25:49We live in a magic place.
25:51Oh, that looks gorgeous.
25:53It looks amazing.
25:54Oh, thank you.
25:56I'm thrilled to see how the friends of Ninny Rise are spreading the word about John Bust and his incredible
26:03legacy.
26:05One of the greatest untold conservation stories in Australia is John Bust's story.
26:10The power of one, he single-handedly created a rainforest campaign and a reef campaign, virtually running parallel.
26:17And the seeds he planted here in this very fertile place, Ninny Rise, the place John built, turned into two
26:24World Heritage Charities.
26:25And that's a story all Australians need to know.
26:36Every paradise has its serpent, and in Mission Beach it comes in the form of cyclones and floods and the
26:44pressures of rapid development.
26:45But passionate locals from John Bust onwards have given me hope that we can manage the serpent, just as the
26:54traditional owners have done since time immemorial.
26:58The reef and the rainforest and the mighty cassowary are among our greatest natural icons.
27:06That's a legacy worth fighting for, isn't it?
27:17Next time on Backroads, we take on the legendary Bins Track.
27:23An epic four-wheel-drive adventure.
27:26Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh!
27:29That reveals the hidden gems of Central Australia.
27:33This looks like the surface of Mars or something.
27:36There's about a trillion rocks, you know?
27:37That's pretty awesome.
27:40My motto is, expect the unexpected and be prepared for anything.
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