Innholdsfortegnelse for November - December 2025 i Australian Geographic

A SCENARIO OFTEN played out in wetland bird communities involves adults letting their young know, in no uncertain terms, when it’s time to move on and find their own space and meals. When chicks are younger but have already left the nest I’ve observed the adults continuing to share meals, regurgitating them for their young. However, these two young black-necked storks, at left, were past that stage, although hoping – agitating, really – for a morsel from a large fish dad was breaking up into swallow-sized pieces. I’ve observed that even the adult’s mate can be lucky to get a scrap in these situations: in this case, mum was only able to get a few morsels that were flung off when the male was shaking the fish around to break…

EARLIER THIS YEAR, A team of astronomers led by scientists at the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado, made a discovery that was paradoxically both humdrum and spectacularly exciting. What they had found was a previously undiscovered moon of Uranus, a planet already known to have a retinue of 28 natural satellites. The scientists’ observing program was specifically targeted at studying the rings and moons of Uranus, so what made this anything other than a routine detection? The answer lies in the remarkable parameters of the discovery. Provisionally designated S/2025 U1, the newly found moon is minuscule, with a diameter of about 10km. Its dusky surface shines dimly with reflected sunlight. Extraordinary, then, that it could be detected from our vantage point 2.91 billion km away – and the instrument…

AUSTRALIA’S BEACH CULTURE is world-famous today, but it took British colonials many years to take up swimming in the surf. For many early settlers, the ocean was a reminder of the long and dangerous voyage that separated them from the motherland. Swimming – especially mixed-sex bathing – was generally viewed as immoral and indecent, even when people wore modest swimwear. In parts of New South Wales, local laws prohibited surf bathing during daylight hours. Men and women could only swim in the early morning and late evening, and never at the same time. In 1902, artist William Gocher reputedly swam at Sydney’s Manly Beach at noon to protest this law. He was arrested but not formally charged. Similar protests occurred at other beaches, but police were reluctant to arrest bathers…

LOCATED NEAR THE southern end of the 70km-long Gold Coast seaside strip – famed the world over for its rideable waves – is a surf break called Currumbin Alley, where beachside memories are created by the bucketful. The Alley is at the mouth of the estuary where the picturesque Currumbin Creek cuts through Currumbin Beach to enter the Coral Sea. The creek reaches here from 24km to the north-west in the Gold Coast hinterland, where it begins life among the ancient temperate rainforests of Springbrook National Park. Springbrook is part of the Gondwana Rainforests of Australia World Heritage Area, one of Queensland’s five World Heritage properties, and its natural beauty and purity are a source of pride on the Gold Coast. Perhaps underpinned by its direct World Heritage link –…

AFTER MORE THAN 40 years collecting, classifying and studying the life forms known as lichens, Dr Gintaras Kantvilas, from the Tasmanian Herbarium, has only scratched the surface of Australia’s biodiversity for this unusual group of organisms. “Each year, I discover at least 10 more lichen species that are new to science – and that’s just in Tasmania!” says Gintaras, one of Australia’s leading lichenologists. So far, science has documented more than 3200 species of lichen in Australia. It’s an often-overlooked group found in almost every terrestrial environment, from tropical rainforests and arid deserts to rocky coastlines and city sidewalks. From a global perspective many are cosmopolitan, with distributions that span continents. Venture outdoors and you’re almost guaranteed to see lichen growing on a tree trunk or concrete footpath. “From the…

LIT BY A campfire’s glow and framed by the ancient red Bynguano Range, the beat of clap sticks and hum of a didgeridoo echo through Ngalkirrika, a natural amphitheatre in Mutawintji National Park in the New South Wales outback. Hundreds of spectators with freshly cooked johnnycakes in hand sit on the hills surrounding a dance circle, watching as performance groups from across the country gather for the biggest First Nations festival in western NSW. These performers aren’t just here to dance at this now-annual event, but to connect – to Country, to culture, and to each other. Since its inception in 2022, the Mutawintji Cultural Festival has grown in a short space of time into a powerful celebration of Aboriginal culture. This year, it reached new heights, drawing a record…

IN THE EARLY 1920s, thousands of British families boarded ships to Western Australia, lured by the promises of the Group Settlement Scheme – an assisted migration initiative that sought to boost the state’s population and expand its agricultural output, particularly in dairy production. To promote the scheme, British newspapers published glowing editorials about WA’s profitable farms, while promotional posters of cosy homesteads and paddocks stocked with cows helped romanticise farm life to urban populations. For those living in Britain’s overcrowded and polluted cities, the prospect of owning land was deeply appealing – and, for many, an opportunity that would’ve otherwise been out of reach. From 1921, thousands of families emigrated from England, Scotland and Wales and settled across south-west WA in ‘group settlements’ at Northcliffe, Manjimup, Busselton, Augusta, Denmark, Pemberton,…

An immersive experience BROKEN HILL-BASED photojournalist Em Jensen stepped deep into the outback dust, culture and history of far western New South Wales for our story The magic of Mutawintji, on page 66. She’d only recently moved – in the last 18 months – from Melbourne to the area. “So, this was my first time attending the [Mutawintji Cultural] festival. But I felt immensely privileged to have been able to not only capture the experience but also to participate,” Em said. “Mutawintji itself is an incredibly magical place; the feeling of it being sacred and ancient country is palpable as soon as you set foot on the red earth there. Watching the dance groups perform in the dust as the sun set each evening was a highlight. “Everyone sat on…

It’s about slime New research suggests Australian velvet worm slime could be a new source of bioplastics. Australia has the world’s largest diversity of velvet worms, with more than 74 species described. These critters ensnare prey using sticky slime excreted from their head glands, which hardens mid-air into stiff fibres. Scientists from Canada’s McGill University and Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University are studying the slime’s protein structures to figure out how it can rapidly transform from liquid to fibres (and back again). Published in PNAS, the research highlights its potential as a “protein-based bioadhesive” for next-generation sustainable materials. Take me home, plastic roads Virgin polymers have been used in pavement materials for decades – but could plastic waste be used instead? New research from Edith Cowan University has reviewed the pros…

NATIONAL PARKS ARE often the only landscape-scale areas where fire is carefully managed. This helps make them safe havens where native animals can find refuge from bushfires. A shining example is Judbarra/Gregory National Park, which covers 13,000sq.km of staggeringly diverse habitat – much of it wilderness – about 180km south-west of Katherine in the Northern Territory. In August 2019 I led a tour group on a walk to the top of a red sandstone escarpment on the edge of Judbarra. The walk was short, but its impact will remain in my heart forever, not only for its startling beauty but also for an encounter that reminds me of how vital it is to retain such intact wilderness for wildlife. At the top, the escarpment flattened into open, sparsely treed savanna…

DID YOU HEAR the story about the workman who was buried alive in wet concrete during a bridge construction? Or was it a dam? This is one of Australia’s most common myths. There’s hardly a bridge or dam more than 100 years old that, according to local legend, doesn’t have the remains of at least one construction worker buried in its foundations. I refer to these as ‘myths’ because in most cases that’s exactly what they are. Consider the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Last time I pulled up a bar stool at a pub in the inner-city suburb of The Rocks, the bartender told me, “When three workers accidentally fell into the south-east pylon during a concrete pour, their bodies were too difficult to retrieve and remain there to this day.”…

FOR GRACE VEGESANA, the seeds of activism were sown long before she joined a movement. As a child growing up in the western Sydney suburb of Blacktown, she noticed how the world felt different depending on where you stood. Summer heat was harsher out west, public transport less forgiving, outdoor workers more exposed. She didn’t yet know the terms ‘climate crisis’ or ‘environmental justice’, but she could sense something in the air around her. High school did little to answer her questions. Climate change appeared only once in her curriculum – a 20-minute aside in Year 9 science class that left her unsettled. The silence that followed pushed her to dig deeper, learning from books and online communities. Slowly, she pieced together an understanding that would guide her adult life:…

TREVOR EVANS PEERS into a wooden nest box. “Ah, somebody’s awake,” he says with satisfaction as he pulls out a tiny, wriggly scrap of fur with a long tail – a thumb-sized mountain pygmy-possum (Burramys parvus) that sniffs the cold air with expectant curiosity. This is a juvenile male and, along with 22 females and seven other males of this critically endangered species being held nearby, he’s supposed to still be in torpor – a type of hibernation the species enters during the coldest seasons. In fact, he shouldn’t be up now anyway as it’s mid-morning and these possums are crepuscular – normally only awake in the twilight before early morning and in the late afternoon. But, like a wide-awake toddler at bedtime, this little critter is alert, active and…

DESERT ILLUMINATION A geological, hydrological, cultural and botanical marvelawaits in the Northern Territory’s Central Desert. STORY BY CANDICE MARSHALL IT’S MINUTES BEFORE Midday as we approach the entrance to Standley Chasm/Angkerle Atwatye, about 50km west of Alice Springs. Our guide has timed our arrival perfectly to witness the natural spectacle for which this site is famed. Every day about now, depending on the season, sunlight floods this tall, narrow gorge, illuminating its craggy cliff walls with glowing hues of deep orange and red. Carved into Tjoritja/West MacDonnell Ranges, this 3m-wide, 80m-high chasm cuts through quartzite – a hard rock that began here as layers of sand from the floor of an ancient sea. Compacted under pressure, this sand fused into sandstone. During a later period of intense tectonic activity these…

1 Which prime minister disappeared while swimming in 1967? 2 Which native marsupial is the only known non-primate animal with fingerprints? 3 True or false: macadamia nuts are native to Australia. 4 Which Australian bird can mimic the sounds of car alarms, chainsaws, human voices and camera shutters? 5 Which Queensland town is commonly referred to as Australia’s Beef Capital? 6 What colour are the flowers produced by the ‘running postman’ pea plant? 7 The Carnaby’s black-cockatoo is endemic to which state or territory? 8 In what year did Advance Australia Fair officially become the national anthem of Australia? 9 Which town sits at the confluence of the Murray and Darling rivers? 10 The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia is located in which capital city? 11 The southern…

Dying emblem FEATURED LETTER Thank you very much for your comprehensive article on the algal bloom in South Australia (see Algae armageddon, AG 188). The federal government, by refusing to declare it a national emergency, is not truly acknowledging the magnitude of marine animal losses, nor fully comprehending the long-term consequences. The government’s refusal to talk more openly about the marine heatwave causing this catastrophe feels like confirmation of their lack of preparedness to confront climate change. Thank you for highlighting this evidence of the danger our Southern Reef ecosystem is facing. The leafy seadragon is SA’s marine emblem. The photograph on pages 38–39 in AG 188 (pictured here) is a great picture, so well composed, encapsulating the disaster. It’s of a common seadragon (Phyllopteryx taeniolatus), not a leafy seadragon…

ON 11 NOVEMBER 1975 the newly sacked Gough Whitlam stood before a crowd of camera-toting journalists and uttered one of the most memorable quotes in Australian politics: “Well may we say ‘God save the Queen’, because nothing will save the Governor-General.” Fifty years on, you’d be hard-pressed to find a more divisive moment in our nation’s political history. Whitlam entered office in 1972, intent on transforming Australia after 23 years of Coalition rule. His Labor government quickly introduced sweeping reforms in healthcare, education, social policy and foreign affairs, while developing programs for the environment, Aboriginal self-determination, women’s rights, multiculturalism and more. However, Whitlam’s government only controlled the House of Representatives – not the Senate, where the conservative Opposition still held a majority. The Senate routinely blocked his legislation, impacting his…

WE USED TO think the ‘sex’ of an animal was clearly defined by its chromosomes. But it’s way more complicated than it seems. To begin with, consider five bird species commonly found in Queensland: the crested pigeon, rainbow lorikeet, scaly-breasted lorikeet, laughing kookaburra and – of course, my favourite – the magpie. Scientists examined some 500 carcasses (sorry, dead bodies) of these birds and found that, depending on the species, some 3–6 per cent showed ‘sex reversal’. What is sex reversal, you ask? Well, it’s a seeming mismatch between an animal’s sex chromosomes, and the sexual characteristics of its outward appearance and gonads (testes or ovaries). For example, a backyard rooster with its bright comb on top of its head looks very different from a female chicken. So, back to…

ANTARCTICA IS AN extraordinary wilderness with some of the richest ocean waters on the planet. Its bottom-dwelling (benthic) groups are among the earth’s most diverse. Swarms of krill support albatrosses, emperor penguins and seals, and contribute to the services of an ecosystem critical for our future. The Southern Ocean absorbs much of the heat and carbon dioxide we produce, keeping global temperatures lower than they otherwise would be. And yes, the Antarctic Ice Sheet is melting in ways that are difficult to fully anticipate, meaning we could see anywhere between about 30cm and 1m of sea-level rise before the century is out. This broad level of uncertainty confounds coastal planning and is existentially threatening to everyone in the Indo-Pacific. These are the right reasons for the region to be in…

WIDE-EYED EXPRESSIONS OF awe on kids’ faces at the newly opened WILD with Australian Geographic precinct at Dreamworld on the Gold Coast said it all. “That’s when I knew we were onto something extraordinary,” says Australian Geographic’s Managing Director, Izaac Blomley, after announcing a significant new partnership between the two iconic Australian brands. “We had been working on this collaboration for well over a year, but when I saw how kids were reacting to what we were doing, I fully realised the significance of this partnership – another way to tell our conservation-based stories to a wider audience.” Izaac was at the theme park in September to announce the new collaboration, which will underpin a fresh focus for conservation education in Australia. Top science students with an interest in wildlife,…

THE CRACK OF the pistol shot was still ringing out across the serene waters of Middle Harbour when Alfred hit the ground, felled by the force of the bullet. The crowd happily mingling at Sydney’s Clontarf Reserve turned in horror. “The Duke is shot!” someone shouted. “He is shot and has fallen down dead.” His Royal Highness, Prince Alfred, the Duke of Edinburgh and beloved second son of Queen Victoria, had indeed been shot – in the back and at close range. The man holding the smoking Smith & Wesson was Henry O’Farrell. As the crowd stood aghast, O’Farrell levelled his revolver and took aim a second time. Everything changed in that moment. It was 12 March 1868, and the Duke – ‘Affie’ to his mother – was on the…

IN 2024 WE were excited to launch the Australian Geographic Awards for Nature. This conservation funding program has significantly increased the Society’s impact in tackling multiple threats to our embattled environment. At the same time, it has provided a valuable platform for conservationists to share their inspiring stories with much larger audiences than they could otherwise hope to reach. The awards are both an acknowledgement of past success and a vote of confidence in the future of the five award-winning projects that will share $150,000 in funding. Awards funds are generated from our ‘All Profits Donated to Nature’ business model, and we acknowledge our loyal magazine subscribers and customers for their support in making this possible. We also thank everyone who applied. This program has uncovered so many wonderful and…

AUSTRALIA AND CRICKET have gone hand in batting glove virtually ever since Arthur Phillip set sail from Portsmouth in 1787 – the same year the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) was formed. And while Australia has a host of winter football codes battling for supremacy, there’s only one summer game. That game takes many forms. At the top there’s Test cricket, the Big Bash and the first-class game, for example. There’s grade cricket most weekends from September to March across the length and breadth of the nation. Then there’s the traditional backyard game on Christmas Day with assorted local rules: one bounce, one hand; only two short-pitched deliveries per over to Grandma; or ‘electric-wicky’. Or even beach cricket, from Byron Bay to Palm Cove, Cable Beach or Glenelg. And yes, the…

THERE WAS A time when 25,000 people – mostly gold prospectors – lived in and around Coolgardie. It was a wild mining boom town with a main street wide enough to turn a camel train, which suggested people believed it would thrive for centuries. Even today the Shire of Coolgardie announces itself as the ‘Mother of the Goldfields’, its eponymous town a small settlement driven by curious tourists and wild optimists who seek and mine gold in the area. Coolgardie offers a unique chance to explore a once-prosperous goldmining town with a main street still lined by imposing 19th-century buildings – hotels, clubs, banks and office blocks. “It swarmed [at its peak] with diggers and speculators when the teams arrived,” wrote WA author Katharine Susannah Prichard in her book The…