I’ve always been a little afraid of the sea. Not a cold, paralysing fear – but one imbued with respect. The sea is a cataclysmic giant, influenced by the moon, weather and wind. I still much prefer land. I like dirt, not sand. But there is something alluring about the sea that perpetually draws me back...
The Meriam Elders in the eastern Torres Strait have long known that the stars twinkle because of strong, high winds, and used these dancing stars to predict the coming of the wet season. The Gumbaynggir people would treat wounds with the sap of the bloodwood tree, which crystallised over the cut to stop bleeding and acted as an antiseptic. The Gunditjmara people invented a net to catch eels made of grasses woven into a tube-like shape. Eels would be drawn to the cosy nook, slither in and get stuck - just like a finger trap.
All human activities impact the natural environment of Antarctica, but leisure activities have much less potential to benefit Antarctica than those related to science and scientific discovery...
All human activities impact the natural environment of Antarctica, but leisure activities have much less potential to benefit Antarctica than those related to science and scientific discovery...
Connecting Country is a community-led conservation organisation based in the Mount Alexander region of north-central Victoria whose central tenet is to engage the local community in restoring and caring for the land...
Self-taught author and illustrator of six books, Trace Balla, walks me through her garden – virtually – and sets me (her computer) down in the studio tucked beside a grapevine at the back of her property in the Dja Dja Wurrung Country of central Victoria...
One thing that has become clear to me on this journey is that we have some amazing things here on Norfolk Island – species that are rare and perhaps even endangered. Some species that are endemic to this island, and some that may even be new to science...
We swing off our distancing tack and head for Mud Islands, over water less than one metre deep. It’s strange to feel all at sea, but know you could jump overboard and still stand with your head above water...
Once there was a time when more of us knew the language of wild places, when we could hear the songs of the wind, the language of birds, when we could follow the braille of tiny marsupials wending their paths, when our vision was wider, when we were immersed within the great conversation of the wild...
