Australia is lucky in its animals, and the marvellous creatures that inhabit our land and seas have us in a constant state of awe (and awwww). This selection from Australian nature documentaries offers an insight into different ways of framing fauna, from dry erudition to anthropomorphic comedy – and shows the breadth of an ecology that deserves our wonder, respect and care.
Pups go exploring
The dingo is one of Australia’s most magical and misunderstood native animals (after a habitation that pre-dates Tasmania being an island, they’ve probably earned the term). The 1988 documentary Wild Dog Dingo follows a pack through their various cycles, and traces a litter of puppies from birth. In this clip, the pups have emerged from their den and grown curious about their surroundings. Three go off exploring – but one gets lost.
The footage of the pups negotiating the rocks around a waterfall is accompanied by the sounds of bush birds and rushing water until one gets separated from the group, when a sparse, ominous piano is heard. The filmmakers amp up the drama of the missing pup by lingering on its adorably stubby paws, questing face and tremulous whimpers. Fortunately, mother dingo comes to the rescue.
The lost-child narrative builds emotional engagement with an animal too often reviled.
Excerpt from Wild Dog Dingo, 1988. NFSA title: 272519
On the snack trail
Did you know there were blonde echidnas? They're part of a sub-species found on Kangaroo Island, Tachyglossus aculeatus multiaculeatus. In this clip from The Ecidhna (or Spiny Anteater), a 1969 documentary made by the CSIRO, the ‘straw-coloured’ animal is observed trundling through the bush, burrowing in leaf litter, and splitting wood to get at snacks.
Animal documentaries of the era often took a comical angle on, say, a wombat in the snow or a platypus bodysurfing down a creek. The CSIRO, who made this documentary in consultation with its Department of Wildlife Research, maintains a drily scientific approach to even the most marvellous facts (the echidna can hear with its nose!).
Excerpt from The Echidna (or Spiny Anteater), 1969. Produced by the CSIRO.
Slapstickypus
Nature documentaries in the 1970s: bringing the soundtrack. Enjoy this medley of a platypus being cute as a slippery button for a solid 30 seconds, accompanied by jazzy flute and glockenspiel.
Although The Amazing Platypus (1973) was made by the Australian Commonwealth Film Unit, its tone was more comic than erudite. The platypus, referred to throughout as ‘he’, is shown blundering into another platypus’ burrow, losing his way to the creek, and, in this selection of clips, full-tilt waddling, water-sliding down rocks and blowing bubbles.
Excerpt from Australian Wildlife: Amazing Platypus, 1973. Produced by the Commonwealth Film Unit.
An underwater orchestra
Have you ever heard the clacking of a clown fish? Or the drumming of a seahorse? How about a pistol fish shooting its prey? The 2015 documentary Life on the Reef takes you below the surface and into a world alive with snorting, honking, crackling and rasping.
Life on the Reef focused on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, the wondrous creatures that live in it, and the urgent need for its protection. This fascinating section about the Reef’s sounds subverts traditional visions of underwater worlds as dreamily silent, illuminating the texture and complexity of communication within a marine ecosystem.
Excerpt from Life on the Reef, Episode 01, 2014.
‘Like a dog’
After the release of Jaws in 1975 fanned primal fears of underwater terrors, the whole world went on a shark hunt. The slaughter was indiscriminate – the gentle grey nurse shark, which unfortunately has a prominent mouthful of scary-looking teeth, was hunted to extinction in parts of the US, and Australian populations were under attack. Diver and conservationist Valerie Taylor went on a mission: to get the world’s first protected status for a shark species.
In the documentary Playing with Sharks (2021), Taylor is shown in her home overlooking the ocean, feeding birds and writing letters (as the voice-over describes her ceaseless lobbying of politicians) – a portrait of her that illustrates the narrative of her activism. As we see footage of her caressing placid sharks ‘like a dog’, she points out the persuasive power of a piece of good film. For the viewer, it’s a doubled experience, as it’s designed to have the same persuasive effect on us.
The grey nurse shark’s way-too-close brush with extinction reminds us how vital it is to advocate for creatures threatened by human activities.
Explore more Playing with Sharks
Excerpt from Valerie Taylor: Playing with Sharks (Sally Aitken, 2021).
Aliens among us
‘Populations do not live in isolation’ – so begins Film Australia’s 1978 educational Australian Ecology Series. In the mesmerising first episode, Populations, the writer and director David E Barrow explores the way different organisms – from pelicans to flannel flowers, from termites to brolgas – band together to improve their chances of survival in the unpredictable Australian environment. The soundtrack feels futuristic, thanks to the echoing of a synth that wouldn't feel out of place in a science-fiction film: a nod to aspects of the animal kingdom that can seem alien in their complexity.
David Attenborough’s epic nature documentary series Life on Earth debuted in 1979, instantly raising the production values bar for the genre, introducing emotive storytelling, and encouraging the viewer to closely identify with its subjects. In contrast, Barrow takes a more distant approach with his work, presenting a medley of animals in short segments to illustrate his points. But we can still enjoy the lyrical close-ups of dragonflies, eucalyptus blossoms and sharks.
Australian Ecology: Populations, 1978. Produced by Film Australia. NFSA title: 19021
Main image: Echidna in Flinders Chase National Park on Kangaroo Island, South Australia, iStock. Credit: dypics, 2020.
Cute and cuddly, furry or feathered, slippery or scaly; our collection of Australian native animals - both real and imagined - will charm and delight you.
From beloved family companions to cheeky physical comedians, these canines, pooches and pups have left a pawsitive impression on the Aussie TV screen.
'What's that, Skip? You've been an Australian icon for how long?!'.
The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia acknowledges Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the Traditional Custodians of the land on which we work and live and gives respect to their Elders both past and present.
