Australia's Wild Places

In this Episode of Wild Places we journey with botanist Peter Latz, who believes the biggest influence on the Australian arid landscape has been fire. Years ago Peter wondered how different this country would have looked without the influence of fire.

It may come as a surprise to non-Australians that the island continent renowned for its flat plains and searing deserts has snow-capped mountains at all. The peaks of the Australian Alps national parks are not tall, but they’re old. Their geological history stretches back over 600 million years when sediments were lain down on the floor of a shallow sea. At 2,228m above sea level, Mt. Kosciuszko is the highest mountain on the continent and its slopes harbour rare and unusual species adapted to the harsh conditions. Biologist Linda Bloom has spent 40 years here studying the rare Mountain Pygmy Possum.

Just 460,000 people live in Tasmania, an island off the south-east coast of mainland Australia roughly the same size as Ireland. While its human population is small, the majestic state is rich in natural wonders and is known for its large tracts of pristine wilderness.. Wallabies, wombats and the island’s very own carnivorous marsupial, the Tasmanian devil, enjoy their isolated habitat, which is almost devoid of natural predators. Charismatic Biologist Wade Anthony breeds Tasmanian devils, which have become part of his own family life.

Daintree National Park is a magical meeting of rainforest and reef, lying at the heart of the world heritage listed wet tropics of Queensland in northern Australia. The area is a living link to our planet’s distant past, to a primeval world from more than 50 million years ago. Biologist Peter Byrne and his research team ride a giant crane to gain a unique view of what many consider to be the last biological frontier. It’s the rainforest from an entirely new perspective, where the treetops meet the atmosphere and it’s frequented by birds and all manner of mammals, which use the foliage as an aerial highway and never have to venture to the forest floor to commute between food sources.

On the remote coastline of Australia’s northwest there are great natural wonders to be found. Above the sea on this sunbaked coast, there is very little; only a sparse landscape shaped by the arid conditions. But here the miracle reveals itself …