In this opening episode Professor Steve Simpson explores how we satisfy our appetite for food and power. Seen from above. Steve looks at how irrigation and other ingenious schemes have turned our dusty continent into a grand food bowl feeding Australians and 60 million others around the world
In the second part of this four-part epic series, Steve Simpson explores our complicated relationship with the natural world. Attracted by its beauty and fearful of its dangers, Australians are forever locked into a battle with the elements. But this isn't just a story about coping with drought, deluge and dangerous animals. Steve looks at how we protect the environment whilst harvesting land and ocean for its resources. In a stunning opening scene we join aerial fire fighter Rob Laver in South Australia's Deep Creek National Park executing a controlled burn - a small fire now, we learn may control a catastrophe later.
This week we see the mass movement we make across a sprawling land and how our daily habits push systems and networks of transport and data to breaking point. We follow the second busiest air corridor in the world - Sydney to Melbourne - as 150 flights daily prepare for the journey and watch Elyse Fordham as she prepares to captain the first flight of the day. Data visualisation reveals every flight in Australia over a 24-hour period. On the ground, Steve is stuck in traffic, becoming one of the 12 million people - more than half the country's population - trying to make their morning commute. And as the roads and trains fill, we join Sydney's Traffic Management Centre as they try to keep as many people on the move as possible. It is a different type of horsepower as Steve has a punt on the Melbourne Cup, joining Mark Davies whose job it is to move the 100,000 people in and out safely on that day. And finally Steve explores the movement of data as he visits the AFL Grand Final and learns how half a million text messages are delivered during the game.
From the skies, Steve uncovers the otherwise hidden patterns, rhythms, networks and systems that keep Australia on the move, fed, alive and thriving. This week we look at why we live where we live in the world's largest island continent. Taking a unique aerial view, viewers discover the peril of sprawl and the struggle for survival on the continental fringe. Steve takes to the skies with coastal erosion expert Andrew Short to better understand the consequences of Australia's lifestyle. In places such as Kingscliff and the Gold Coast it means building seawalls to keep the ocean from devouring the coastline and towns. Next, Steve examines what it takes to keep the sprawling suburbs running. Data visualisation shows the GPS traces of hundreds of ships as they bring in the goods we no longer manufacture. At the Port of Melbourne, crane driver Sharon Bowker looks down at the Chinese vessel she unloads. Clothing, food, white goods, furnishings, caravans - and much more - are unloaded at Australia's largest container port. But as our suburbs spread, so does crime. The best way to fight back is from above. On patrol with NSW police helicopter, we are on the heels of outlaw bikies. In a sprawling city of 4.5 million, aerial patrols are now a crucial law enforcement tool.