The Land Bridge

Palawa Woman and Pakana Sea Country Ranger Fiona Maher discusses her people’s deep spiritual and cultural connection to the places of Tayaritja/ the Bass Strait Islands, stretching back to the time of the Land Bridge. To watch parts of Fiona Maher’s interview in the Land Bridge documentary film, visit https://thelandbridge.au/the-documentary/   To read more about Fiona’s work you can read the arti...

Dr Stefani Crabtree (Santa Fe Institute/Utah State University) and Distinguished Professor Sean Ulm (ARC Centre of Excellence for Indigenous and Environmental Histories and Futures, James Cook University) discuss their research using computational modelling which can help us understand the likely pathways people used to travel to, live on, and traverse the Bass Strait land bridge. To read the comp...

Bunurong Women Aunty Gail Dawson and Tasma Walton talk about women’s spiritual connections to sea and coastal places, the significance of the dreaming, and Bunurong links to the ancient landscape of the land bridge.  Episode Credits Host: Lucinda Horrocks. Featuring Aunty Gail Dawson and Tasma Walton. Audio recorded by Lucinda Horrocks. Project production and studio production by Lucinda Horrocks...

Marine ecologist Associate Professor Neville Barrett has mapped the seabed and surveyed the marine life of the shallow waters of the Beagle Marine Park in Bass Strait. His research helps us understand both the drowned landscape of the Bassian Plain and the unique, biodiverse environment of Bass Strait today.  To watch parts of Neville’s interview in the Land Bridge documentary film, visit https://...

Popular history author Adam Courtenay shares the story of the sailing ship the Sydney Cove which crashed in Bass Strait, on the remnants of the land bridge, in 1797. Seventeen of the stranded crew were compelled to cross Bass Strait and walked 600 miles to Sydney and, in the process, walked their way into Australian history.  Adam Courtenay’s book on the Sydney Cove ‘Three Sheets to the Wind’ is p...

Palaeoecologist Professor Simon Haberle explains how charcoal and pollen deposits in very old lakes, lagoons and swamps of the Bass Strait Islands paint a picture of the human history of the Bassian Plain stretching back 40,000 years. To watch parts of Simon Haberle’s interview in the Land Bridge documentary film, visit https://thelandbridge.au/the-documentary/   To read more about Simon’s researc...

Welcome to the story of the Land Bridge. Many thousands of years ago, during the last ice age, falling sea levels exposed the shallow Bass Strait seafloor as land.  This episode explains what can be expected in this series and also introduces Bass Strait and its ancient existence as the Bassian Plain. A full introduction is also freely available to read at the link https://thelandbridge.au/introdu...