This week on Back Roads, guest presenter Paul West explores the twin towns of Agnes Water and 1770, in Central Queensland, where he finds locals on a mission to save their environment.
Paul discovers that on the surface these twin towns are quite different. Agnes Water is the bigger town and has a legendary surf break. Whereas 1770 is tiny and is famous for its unusual name. It marks the year of Captain Cook’s landing on Australian soil.
Locals embrace the past, but they are much more interested in the present. They’re concerned about their environment and how they can save it. And as Paul learns, the best thing is anyone can get in on the action.
It’s called ‘citizen science’ and it involves ordinary people doing extraordinary things. People like ‘Turtle Crusaders’ Nev and Bev McLachlan. She was an office worker, and he was a school teacher but over the summer holidays for the past 43 years they’ve been visiting Wreck Rock, just down the coast from the twin towns, to do turtle conservation.
Locals seem to really love their slice of paradise, but they are also keen to keep it that way. Another passionate volunteer is wildlife carer Yvonne Thomson. She’s Agnes Water’s very own Dr Doolittle.
When Paul drops by he finds her house / animal shelter full to the brim with a menagerie of creatures.
Paul learns that Yvonne has devoted most of her life to caring for injured wildlife.
On his last day, Paul heads offshore to see where the Great Barrier Reef begins. Jim Buck, another turtle crusader, takes Paul out to the picturesque Lady Musgrave Island. Jim’s been collecting data on turtles for the past 33 years.
He’s not even a scientist, he’s a retired engineer, and yet for three months every year Jim and his small team of volunteers collect vital data for the Queensland Government.
Join Paul as he discovers the heart and soul of these towns, where science is harnessing the ‘power of people’.
Production credits: Executive Producer: Brigid Donovan. Story Producer: Louise Turley.
