The World About Us

Kingdom of Coral (4x30)

Air date: Nov 01, 1970

In the warm waters of the Coral Sea, a long and bitter battle is waged -the endless struggle for survival. Sometimes it's beautiful, like the shoals of silver pilchards: sometimes pathetic, like the defenceless baby turtles. Into this pattern of inter-dependence has come man, equipped with aqua-lung and explosive harpoon, and an endless thirst for knowledge. So he snares the poisonous sea-snake to discover the secret of its venom: dynamites the shark that could kill him. This film is the work of the outstanding Australian underwater photographer and director, Ben Cropp: it captures beauty in the frond of coral, action in the excitement of a shark hunt: and deals with a subject of ever-increasing importance - man's place in, and destruction of his environment.