In February 2000, an international team of biologists met in Hobart, Tasmania to discuss what they believe is a global crisis - the sudden appearance of strange marine micro-organisms capable of poisoning not just fish but people too. One researcher from North Carolina in the US told the conference she'd discovered an aggressive new species...
In our throw away world a plastic bag outlives it's usefulness after around fifteen minutes. A plastic bottle might last a little longer, party balloons a whole occasion. But the ocean likes to hang onto these discarded treasures for decades, even centuries giving many other consumers a taste for plastic...
Have you noticed any weird weather round your place lately? And do you ever wonder if it's normal... or not? Earlier this year, as Catalyst reporter Dr Jonica Newby's home flooded for the tenth time in two years, she found herself wondering exactly that - and figured if a science reporter has trouble sorting fact from conjecture, then others may too. This was the star...
Robert Hughes presents an insight into the work of Joseph Banks, the botanist who accompanied Captain James Cook on his first voyage of circumnavigation. With fellow botanist Carl Daniel Solander, Banks collected specimens of over 700 hitherto unknown species of plants, which were recorded in drawings by Sydney Parkinson...
Frances Bodkin, known to many as "Aunty Fran" is a 76 year old D’harawal woman from the south of Sydney. Despite her age, she works tirelessly to teach traditional Indigenous 'science' and enable a deeper understanding of, and an ability to care for, our natural environment...
This stunning DVD captures a once in a generation event – the flooding of Lake Eyre and the dramatic transformation of the dead heart of Australia. The program follows the floodwaters from north Queensland down the great outback rivers to Lake Eyre and records the amazing cycle of life, as the deserts bloom and birds descend from far and wide to capitalise on the sh...
Island Life is a six-part series exploring some of Australia's most remarkable islands - from the Tropics to the Antarctic – and the interaction of their human and animal inhabitants. Lizard Island...
Dr Maarten Stapper is a man with some fascinating ideas on how to manage our land better. He is unconventional, stubborn and difficult. Not even a near fatal car accident could slow him down in his mission to feed the world using less chemicals...
This series looks at the big seven domestic animals, dog, cats, horses, pigs, cattle, sheep and goats. Presented by Jonica Newby, the series tells the story of how they each left the wild to join with humans and how the partnership changed both humans and their animal companions. Ep 1 - The Pact for Survival - How wolves became dogs...
The island of Tasmania is a natural sanctuary for the plants and animals that migrated down the land bridge connecting it to the rest of Australia, which submerged 13,000 years ago. With no predatory carnivores on the island, Tasmania is now the only place in Australia where some species of marsupials, reptiles, amphibians and birds are still found. Yet the rogue...
In the 1840s Tasmania's capital Hobart was the second largest whaling port in the world. Total commercial exploitation of whales was the order of the day. As the first truly global industry, whaling was a major contributor to Australia's colonial development, but the hardships and dangers were many. Journey into the beautiful wilderness, delicate ecosystems an...
Honoured with multiple film, documentary and nature awards including the 1991 Logie for Best Documentary feature, the series explores the diversity of Australia's landscapes, from the seas to the arid interior; the effects of the extremes of flood, drought and bushfire; and examines the impact of 200 years of European settlement on the land, its plants and animals...
Tells the story of perhaps the most extraordinary partnership ever forged between humans and wild animals. Locals in the Australian town of Eden claim that beginning in the mid-1800s an intimate and co-operative relationship developed between human whalers and killer whales...
"Islands of the Vampire Birds" is the story of how a tiny finch made it's way to a barren group of islands in the Pacific and evolved into one of the most fascinating groups of birds on earth...
The story of the incredible struggle for survival of the land and marine iguanas; the dragons of the Galapagos Archipelago. On the island of Fernandina, film-makers David Parer and Liz Parer-Cook follow the annual migration of the land iguanas up the steep slopes of the 1,500m volcano and into the steaming caldera where they lay their eggs. This extraordinary film...
Catalyst's resident Palaeontologist, Dr Paul Willis, has been a fossil lover for as long as he can remember. So when he had the chance to look inside an ancient embryo that started life over half a billion years ago, he couldn't get on the plane fast enough. Paul's trip took him to the UK and then Switzerland, where they're using an enormous piece of technology to...
William McInnes narrates this first feature documentary on Australia's giant, magnificent and endangered Southern Cassowaries as they struggle to survive when a once-in-50-year cyclone destroys their rainforest homes. A cassowary looks like a living dinosaur; walks its territory and cannot fly and talks using sonorous sounds, mostly outside the range of human heari...
Discover the beauty, brilliance and behaviour of Australia's most conspicuous birds – parrots and cockatoos – in Australia: Land of Parrots. Multi-award winning, natural history filmmakers David Parer and Elizabeth Parer-Cook have turned their cameras to the sky to capture the spirit of these dazzling birds with breathtaking results – including rare and never be...
In the green hills of South East Queensland, there's a Buddhist commune called Frogs Hollow. Curled amidst lush rainforest, peaceful streams and abundant wildlife, it seems tranquil enough. But all is not bliss in this idyllic setting...
