ABC Documentaries

On A Wing And A Prayer follows the incredible life cycle of the Carnaby's cockatoo through the engaging story of one small cockatoo family. Capturing a remarkable never filmed before journey of life and love for one of Australia's most loved, but critically endangered birds. Playful, mischievous and highly intelligent, Carnaby's cockatoos are typical Aussies, larger than life, rowdy, fun-loving and loud, their booming calls heard long before you even catch sight of them. A strong part of Australian folklore, these cockatoos used to be called 'rain birds' by the early settlers. As they migrated back to their breeding grounds, their screeches and squawks were a sign of good luck. Sadly, the booming call of the Carnaby's cockatoo is more akin to a cry for help. Only found in the south-west of Western Australia a tiny pocket of birds remains and these are permanently under threat. Some are still being smuggled for private collections. Others are illegally shot. Together with land clearing, loss of native food habitat and injury from man-made structures, the Carnaby's cockatoo is plummeting towards extinction. Species recovery is an uphill struggle. While it is thought they pair for life, the birds are lucky if they raise one chick a season. The odds are against them and hope for their future lies in the hands of the local community, and one man in particular, DEC Senior Wildlife Investigator Rich Dawson. This year Rick is determined to protect one small family of Carnaby's cockatoos at a 'high risk' nesting site. With their species numbers halved over the last forty years, it is vital for the survival of their kind that they breed and Rick will do whatever it takes to make it happen.

Presented by award-winning historian Dr Clare Wright (The Einstein Factor), Utopia Girls tells the fascinating, little known story of how Australian women became the first in the world to gain full political rights.

In November 2006 Ian Thorpe, Australia's most successful Olympian, announced his retirement from competitive swimming. Aged 24 and the winner of nine Olympic medals, including five gold, he was adamant that a return to the sport was out of the question. He stepped from the limelight much as he first came to it: articulate but strangely remote with the media and public, without the tribal markings of any familiar kind of Australian male. His short life only came into focus in water, where his efficiency and consistency, and his line through the pool elevated swimming to a kind of art. Now that was gone. Then, in October 2010, he began a comeback - his goal, victory at the London Olympics. Immediately friends and filmmakers Gregor Jordan and Simone Kessell started interviewing and filming Ian as he trained, secretly at first, then as he competed in lead-up events to the Olympic Trials in Adelaide in March 2012. We all know how the competitive swimming part of this story ends: defeat. What the film reveals are the inner struggles of Ian Thorpe not just to swim fast but to rewrite his sporting legend, re-engage with the public and discover a different relationship with water itself. It's a rollercoaster ride in which Thorpe and the filmmakers plumb his depths but find, despite failure at the trials, a surprising redemptive ending. Ian Thorpe learns to love swimming again. And he learns to value truly the extraordinary champion he was - just as he comes to terms with being a more ordinary man now.

What is Japanese beauty? The Katsura Rikyu shows us its essence. The Japanese aesthetic imbues every turn in the grounds. The buildings reveal each season. The garden lays out the trees, rocks, and water in subtle designs. Even the main terrace was designed to give a direct view of the full moon during harvest season. This palace was built in Kyoto in the 17th century as a villa for an aristocratic family. Losing their political power to the samurai, the aristocrats built their palaces with great attention to craftsmanship to show in the realm of culture, their glory. High- definition cameras gain entrance for the first time to the furthest recesses of the buildings and grounds.

Gallipoli from Above: The Untold Story is the true story of how a team of Australian officers used aerial intelligence, emerging technology and innovative tactics to plan the landing at Anzac Cove. It is now nearly 100 years since the landing and hundreds of books, movies and documentaries have failed to grasp the significance of the ANZAC achievement. Instead, the mythology has clouded the real story of how these two influential Australian officers took control of the landing using every innovation they could muster to safely land their men on Z Beach.