March - April 2022

Australian Geographic

The journal of the Australian Geographic Society

Australian Geographic2 min read
Hard Truths
WHO CAN resist a cute kitten? I can’t. They make me go weak at the knees, and even the grown-up versions can melt my heart if they’re the affectionate, purring type. But cats are by far the most destructive of all the animal species introduced into A
Australian Geographic1 min read
Battling For The Eastern Barred Bandicoot
A couple of decades ago, many believed the eastern barred bandicoot had been completely wiped out on mainland Australia. The discovery of a small population in western Victoria drastically changed the trajectory of the species. From that wild populat
Australian Geographic1 min read
Australian Geographic
MANAGING DIRECTOR Jo Runciman EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Chrissie Goldrick CREATIVE DIRECTOR Mike Ellott SCIENCE AND ENVIRONMENT EDITOR Karen McGhee GROUP PICTURE EDITOR Nicky Catley CHIEF SUB-EDITOR Maggie Cooper COPY EDITOR Jo Hartmann SUB-EDITORS Elizabeth G
Australian Geographic2 min read
It’s Good To Talk
Former AG online editor Gemma Chilton pitched us a feature on the history of apple growing in Tassie’s Huon Valley after relocating there with her family (see page 70). “I confess, my motives were selfish!” she says. “Journalists are naturally nosy,
Australian Geographic6 min read
More Tales Of Ball Lightning
March–April 2022 MY DAD HAD come home on furlough (R&R) to Mount Scott farm, east of Kingston, SA, during World War II in 1942. Late one hot and humid night, he took the stallion down the hill from the house to lock him in the stallion yard, because
Australian Geographic2 min read
Geobuzz
MARCH – APRIL 2022 Ruth Verrall feeds Ralph, a juvenile eastern grey kangaroo, in her kitchen in Panton Hill, on Melbourne’s New as South a just-viable Wales ‘velvet’ joey, after his mother was chased by a dog. “He’s now old enough to venture freely
Australian Geographic6 min read
Dinosaur Embryo Revealed
THIS EXQUISITE illustration of an unhatched dinosaur fossil by renowned palaeontologist and artist Dr Lida Xing is based on one of a number of fossilised eggs discovered in the Late Cretaceous Hekou Formation in southern China in 2000. The fossils la
Australian Geographic4 min read
Lest We Forget
BE THEY ON LAND, at sea or in the air, theatres of war are turbulent and messy places. In the aftermath of the death and destruction of battle there’s rarely time for an ordered clean-up, where the dead can be formally identified and interred with ho
Australian Geographic1 min read
Wild Diary
AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY Embrace National Eucalypt Day AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL BOTANIC GARDENS Celebrate the significance of eucalypts on 23 March at Canberra’s Australian National Botanic Gardens’ Eucalypt Lawn, home to 70 types of gum. You can also
Australian Geographic1 min read
Talking Australia
Subscribe and never miss an episode of our entertaining podcast. Sophie shares the extraordinary experiences of the epic 5000km trek she took across Australia during the global pandemic accompanied only by her beloved team of camels. Rally car driver
Australian Geographic3 min read
A Scourge Begins
DEFINING MOMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY ON CHRISTMAS DAY 1859 wealthy settler Thomas Austin released 13 wild European rabbits onto his estate, Winchelsea, at Barwon Park inVictoria. They had been specially collected and sent to him by a relative in En
Australian Geographic2 min read
How To Reduce Your Personal Carbon Footprint
On average, each Australian produces 47kg of carbon dioxide (or the equivalent in other green-house gases) every day. This is about eight times the 5.5kg per person per day needed to meet our Paris Agreement target. THIS INFOGRAPHIC aims to help you
Australian Geographic2 min read
Of Monsters, Screams And Birds
WHEN LINN ARMOUR of Bookham, in southern New SouthWales, awoke to “a blood-curdling scream”, he first thought it was a woman in distress. The high pitched shrieking was coming from Jugiong Creek, 200m from his back door. After confirming the alarming
Australian Geographic2 min read
A Case Of Gravity In The Extreme
SINCE ALBERT EINSTEIN published his theory of general relativity in 1915, astronomers have understood gravity not as a force pulling objects together but as a distortion of the space around them that makes them want to slide towards each other. This
Australian Geographic3 min read
Vaccine Victory Via Chickens
AS WE ENTER the third year of COVID, it’s clear the coronavirus that causes the disease could be with us for a long time. It might become less lethal, in which case, no worries. It might stay just as deadly. But it might become more so. If the latter
Australian Geographic3 min read
The Australian Geographic Book Club
By Duane Hamacher Incredibly, this is the first book published anywhere in the world offering an overview of First Nations knowledge about astronomy. This is popular science writing at its best: an enthralling overview of ancient knowledge and passio
Australian Geographic1 min read
Looking Up
Autumn evening skies reveal an unusual constellation – the Emu – on the south-eastern horizon. Arising from the Dreamtime, this is not like traditional constellations made up of stars. This ancient bird is seen in the dark lanes of gas and dust silho
Australian Geographic2 min read
Animal Navigation
FAMILY PETS CAN navigate back to a former home weeks after leaving, and cover hundreds of kilometres in the process. How? Dunno – but we are learning. Some three centuries ago, scholars claimed (with zero evidence) that storks flew to the Moon for wi
Australian Geographic3 min read
“The Coathanger” Is Open
IN MARCH 1932, after decades of planning and seven years of construction, the Sydney Harbour Bridge finally opened, physically linking the two sides of the city. This engineering marvel remains the tallest steel arch bridge in the world. During its b
Australian Geographic1 min readForeign Language Studies
Oz Words
When Lake Superior State University announced its 2022 Banished Words List, number two was “no worries”, which the Americans complained was being misused to mean “you’re welcome”. But “you’re welcome” means exactly that and “no worries” is an Austral
Australian Geographic1 min read
Your Subscription Is Essential To The Australian Geographic Society
EVERY SUBSCRIBER to this journal automatically becomes a member of the not-for-profit AG Society. Your subscription helps us fund Australia’s scientists, conservationists, adventurers and explorers. To subscribe, call 1300 555 176 Who are the Austral
Australian Geographic7 min read
Little Diggers Rebound
IT’S ALMOST DARK AT Woodlands Historic Park, a swathe of native grasslands just north of Melbourne Airport, where a small crowd has gathered with torches to witness a historic event. But the star of the show, an eastern barred bandicoot named James,
Australian Geographic1 min read
Back In The Black
March • April 2022 With support from an AGS fundraising campaign in AG 160, Conservation Volunteers Australia (CVA) has worked successfully with other conservation charities, volunteers and local community partners to help regenerate drooping she-oak
Australian Geographic1 min read
Eastern Barred Bandicoot
FAMILY: PERAMELIDAE SPECIES: Perameles gunnii CONSERVATION STATUS (VIC) DD L C NT VU EN CR EW EX DD Data deficient LC Least concern NT Near threatened VU Vulnerable EN Endangered CR Critically endangered EW Extinct in the wild EX Extinct SIZE: Up to
Australian Geographic8 min read
Early Encounters
ALTHOUGH HOME TO First Nations people for tens of thousands of years, Australia has a relatively recent history of non-Indigenous contact that is commonly misconstrued. Research in 2019 by the now-defunct federal Department of Communications and the
Australian Geographic1 min read
The Huon Valley
Tasmania’s fertile Huon Valley is a patchwork of farms, orchards and bush sprawling beyond the Huon River, whose waters spill into the D’Entrecasteaux Channel and beyond to the Tasman Sea. Charming rural towns give way to the rugged south-west wilder
Australian Geographic11 min read
The Apple Of The Isle
“These trees were all huge and overgrown. You couldn’t even walk through them,” Coreen Ung says, gesturing towards row upon row of now-bare apple trees, their gnarly silver trunks reaching towards the clouds. We’re standing with her husband, Matthew
Australian Geographic12 min read
The Future Is Fungi
WITHOUT FUNGI, THE world as we know it would not exist. Humans have harnessed the molecular powers of fungi since the beginning of civilisation, turning wheat into bread and fruit into wine, and our lives are richer for it. Modern-day privileges such
Australian Geographic1 min read
Cats On The March
MODERN AUSTRALIA has a history of accidental and deliberate introductions of species that became feral – biological invaders that can erode economies, degrade ecosystems, destroy biodiversity and ultimately harm societies. In Australia these interlop
Australian Geographic1 min read
A Celebration Of Apples
IN 1952 A TWO-DAY apple festival was proposed to what was then the Port Cygnet Council to promote the local apple industry. After £1500 was secured from the Tasmanian government for the event, more than half of Cygnet’s then 2500-strong population wa
Australian Geographic1 min read
Homes Away From Home
WHILE DRIVING IN the Huon Valley, visitors soon notice small timber huts on roadsides or in the middle of fields. Often degraded, they are ‘pickers huts’, which served for decades as housing for itinerant workers. Sometimes entire families would live
Australian Geographic12 min read
When Cats Are Not So Cute
FOR SOMEBODY WHO’S spent decades creating this fenced, predator-free sanctuary for native animals, releasing cats into it seems like a very odd thing to be doing. But here at Arid Recovery’s wildlife reserve in outback South Australia, senior scienti
Australian Geographic1 min readCats
Minimising The Impact Of Pet Cats
NUMBERING AN estimated 4.9 million, pet cats currently outnumber feral cats in Australia. And while 30 per cent of them are kept indoors, the remainder are allowed to roam, with each cat killing an estimated 186 mammals, birds and reptiles each year.
Australian Geographic1 min read
Pioneering Cat Crusader
ONE OF Australia’s first fenced, feralfree reserves, Warrawong Sanctuary in the Adelaide Hills, was set up by conservationist Dr John Wamsley. Among the first outspoken advocates for removing feral predators from Australian landscapes, John famously
Australian Geographic9 min read
A Mine Tragedy Remembered
In that exact moment, in the township of Mount Mulligan, 155km by road west of Cairns in far north Queensland, assistant teacher Mary Ellen ‘Nellie’ Hourston stood on the verandah of the small schoolhouse. She listened as headmaster Neil Smith delive
Australian Geographic7 min read
Here Be Dragons
MANY OF THE stark, black basaltic lava shorelines of the Galápagos Islands bristle with hundreds, if not thousands, of equally dark, metre-long lizards. They’re marine iguanas and, with their bodies often intertwined and overlapping, they lie immobil
Australian Geographic1 min read
Deadly Toll
Threatened Species Recovery Hub data show, that on average, a typical feral cat kills 791 animals a year. The contents of this feral cat’s stomach at Arid Recovery reveals the significant toll taken by a single cat in one feeding spree – one juvenile
Australian Geographic1 min read
Marine Iguana
FAMILY: IGUANIDAE SPECIES: Amblyrhynchus cristatus CONSERVATION STATUS (IUCN RED LIST) DD L C NT VU EN CR EW EX DD Data deficient LCLeast concern NT Near threatened VU Vulnerable EN Endangered CR Critically endangered EW Extinct in the wild EX Extinc
Australian Geographic1 min read
Travel With Us
ACCESS Travelling with Australian Geographic inspires people to care about the planet by providing meaningful opportunities to explore it. Our experiences are rich in nature and adventure, and our travel partners specialise in small-group experiences
Australian Geographic4 min read
Antarctica By Air
MY NEW YEAR’S EVE is often spent fighting my fellow revellers for a half-decent view of the fireworks along Sydney’s crowded foreshore. I inevitably leave it far too late to head into the city and find myself craning for a glimpse of the annual spect
Australian Geographic2 min read
Christmas Island Bird ’n’ Nature Week 2022
EXPLORETHE UNIQUE birdlife on Christmas Island during Bird ’n’ NatureWeek 2022. Experienced guides, working on research and specialising in birds, are on hand to help bring guests and the unique fauna and flora of Christmas Island closer together. Gu
Australian Geographic2 min read
Solar Eclipse Voyage
JOIN US ABOARD Coral Adventurer on our special expedition, JThe Solar Eclipse Expedition, in partnership with the Australian Geographic Society. Sail to Ashmore Reef to experience the rare, hybrid solar eclipse from this isolated location. Toast this
Australian Geographic2 min read
Kakadu and Arnhem Land, NT
THIS EPIC, TAILORED adventure acrossWorld Heritage-listed Kakadu National Park and Arnhem Land winds through stunning floodplains and escarpments in search of the formidable saltwater crocodile, many of the region’s 280 bird species, adorable marsupi
Australian Geographic2 min read
Antarctica And Falklands Expedition
AUSTRALIAN GEOGRAPHIC and Hurtigruten Expeditions have partnered to offer you this once-in-a-lifetime experience. Explore Antarctica during its summer, touring icebergs and visiting penguin colonies ashore. You’ll also go to the Falkland Islands, vis
Australian Geographic1 min read
K’gari 2-Day Tour, Fraser Island
Experience the remarkable Queensland UNESCO paradise that is K’gari, on a two-day, one-night eco-adventure to suit all travellers. Led by expert local guides, you’ll explore both coasts of the world’s largest sand island. Discover the destination’s b
Australian Geographic1 min read
Cruise Ancient Gorges, Soak In Thermal Springs
Introduce yourself to the wild beauty of El Questro Wilderness Park with a calm cruise along the Chamberlain Gorge. Look out for rock wallabies and freshwater crocodiles as you gently float in the flat-bottomed boat. Feed the mischievous archer fish
Australian Geographic1 min read
Explore The Nature Trails Of The Macleay
The Macleay Valley Coast, situated on the NSW Mid North Coast, is a nature lover’s paradise. With an appealing mix of beautiful coastline and stunning hinterland, the region features an abundance of picturesque trails just itching to be experienced.
Australian Geographic1 min read
Galápagos Islands Adventure – In Darwin’s Footsteps
Australian Geographic and Hurtigruten Expeditions have partnered to offer you this once-in-a-lifetime experience. Join us on a journey of ecological discovery as we go from Quito, Ecuador in Charles Darwin’s footsteps to experience the natural wonder
Australian Geographic1 min read
See Antarctica In A Day With Antarctica Flights
Fly to Antarctica in a day! Become one of the privileged few to witness the desolate beauty of this untamed polar landscape. Aboard our chartered, state-of-the-art 787 Dreamliner, you will experience unparalleled Antarctic viewing over vast and vario
Australian Geographic1 min read
Bird Research On Island Haven
A gem of the natural world, Lord Howe Island has dramatic scenery, lush subtopical forests, rare flora and fauna, pristine beaches and colourful marine life. Both breathtaking and unique, Lord Howe Island elicited this praise from Sir David Attenboro
Australian Geographic3 min read
AusQuiz
1 Which Western Australian goldmining city is this? 2 Name this Aussie mountaineer. PHOTO CREDIT: GETTY IMAGES 3 Which 2006 cyclone smashed much of Queensland’s banana crop? 4 What crested parrot species is this? 5 Name this journalist and welfare ad
Australian Geographic4 min read
Halls Creek, WA
HALLS CREEK IS two towns. One, the modern Halls Creek, lies on the Great Northern Highway – Highway One – and is a predominantly First Nations community. In the 2016 census almost 70 per cent of the population identified as Aboriginal. This is the Ha
Australian Geographic2 min read
The New Italy Settlement, NSW
NEW ITALY is a pleasant stopover along the Pacific Highway between Coffs Harbour and Ballina in northern New South Wales; perfect for grabbing a coffee, stretching the legs and, if you’re not too pressed for time, discovering the story of Australia’s

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