Seven.
Welcome to the show.
The volcano is one of nature's most devastating forces, and the eruption of Krakatoa was one
of the most violent.
To give you some idea, the noise created was the loudest the world has ever heard.
All life on the island, of course, was destroyed, and vast tracts of land on neighboring islands
were ravaged by the giant tidal waves which followed.
It sounds pretty depressing so far, doesn't it?
But this evening's program is, in fact, a wonderful nature film, one of the most optimistic
and reassuring I've seen in a long time.
You see, those areas of lifeless devastation left behind by the volcano were like giant
test tubes.
Today, 100 years later, we can investigate the powers of nature to repopulate the strength
of the life force on our planet, and the results are overwhelming.
In just 100 years, totally barren ground has become a garden of Eden, a jungle wilderness
filled with the most wonderful creatures.
This film from the survival team is a delight.
One hundred years ago, in May 1883, a dormant volcano on a remote island in the Sunda Strait
between Java and Sumatra began a series of violent eruptions.
It belched out vast clouds of ash that obscured the sun.
The explosions were heard 70 miles away.
Towards the end of May, the fireworks seemed to have died down a little.
Those ships passing through the straits at night could see the glow of molten lava in
the crater.
Large-scale eruptions began again in mid-June.
This time, they were even more violent.
Earth tremors were felt in many parts of Java and Sumatra.
The crater where the explosions had begun had been blown away, but now there were at
least 10 others belching out steam and pumice dust so high that the ash fell on villages
300 miles away.
The climax came on August 27, 1883, with an explosion equal to 3,000 atom bombs.
The island of Krakatoa disappeared with a bang that was heard as far away as Sri Lanka
and Australia.
It was the loudest noise the world has ever known.
Amazingly, the actual explosion killed very few people.
The havoc was caused by the seismic waves called tsunamis that followed.
Some were 100 feet high.
The bushfire threat.
It's very real, and Victorians have to face it and beat it every year.
Bushfire survival depends on cooperation between those Victorians who enjoy life in the countryside
and the firefighters of the CFA.
You can do more to aid your own survival, more to add to the safety of your family,
if you improve protection for your property now.
Clear up grassed areas, especially near your home, around buildings, and under trees.
Leave any dry foliage and firewood left about, which can add to the intensity of a fire.
Have your home safe from windblown sparks and cinders.
Clear out gutters.
Seal up openings.
Have a safety plan worked out, and prepare a basic kit of equipment.
Nap sacks, good hoses with firefighting nozzles, a reserve of water.
Invest in a standby pump.
A gate valve installed in your water tank ensures a rapid water supply when you need
it.
When fire strikes, you'll know you're fully prepared.
Contact your local CFA fire brigade or CFA headquarters for brochures to aid your protection.
The tsunamis ripped over low-lying areas, wiping out mainland towns and villages, including
the little port of Anya, shown here as a mere collection of huts.
It's estimated that 36,000 people died.
Contemporary engravings show ships sailing through seas of corpses.
This amazing series of photographs, taken a few days later on the mainland, show scenes
reminiscent of Hiroshima.
All that remains of a railway and railway engine.
The giant waves flattened everything, including a hotel and a fort.
A Dutch gunboat was struck by a series of 90-foot waves and carried over a mile into
the jungle.
After the Big Bang, there was one minor explosion and then silence.
The dust that rose 50 miles high circled the earth, causing spectacular sunsets for years
afterwards.
Half the island of Krakatoa had disappeared, much of it into the upper atmosphere.
For a hundred miles around, the floodwaters wiped the slate clean so that nature could
have a fresh start.
A century after the floodwaters drained away is an ideal time to see what sort of job nature
has made of repairing the damage.
The floods flattened huge areas of jungle and destroyed countless villages.
As to the wildlife there, only that lucky enough to be isolated on high ground survived.
Today, Java, Indonesia is the most populated island in the world.
At its northwest tip is an area of jungle where no one now lives, Ujang Kulon, 25 miles
from Krakatoa.
The reason no one lives there is that Krakatoa's tidal waves wiped them out.
They have never returned.
Today, Ujang Kulon is a national park, the last home of the Jarvan rhino, the rarest
large animal on earth.
In 100 years, the jungle has returned so completely that the only way to penetrate the park is
along one of its few rivers.
This one is called the Chigenta.
To travel along the Chigenta's narrow five-mile course is like making a voyage back to prehistoric
times.
For its easy, climbing mountains, it is a unique experience pertaining to its exciting
When the great tsunamis came bursting over Ujiankulong in August 1883, some Javan rhino
must have been caught above flood level.
That a few of their descendants are living there today is due to the human side of the
tragedy.
The fact that Ujiankulong has never been resettled since the disaster.
They say the jungle is so lush that Ujiankulong might never have been inundated by waves of
salt water 50 feet high.
The secret of its complete rehabilitation lies largely in its immense rainfall, over
100 inches a year.
The rains are followed by six months of sunshine.
In such a climate almost anything will grow.
When the rains end in April, it's an immediate signal for Ujiankulong's birds to begin nesting.
These are blue-throated bee eaters.
The olive-backed sunbird feeds its young in its complicated hanging nest.
A female Philippine glossy starling looks for a nest hole.
A pair of brown-capped woodpeckers has already found one.
Though, a little more wood carving seems desirable.
A well-grown young red-headed flowerpecker pokes its head out to be fed.
An ashy wood-swallow feeds its young after they've left the nest.
The yellow-bellied prinnea arrives to supply its young and removes a dropping from the
nest.
That's a grey-cheeked bull-bull going about its family duties.
The open banks of the little river offer insect-eating birds an abundance of food.
The mudflats of the Chigenta River are home to thousands of fiddler crabs, and a hunting
ground for those who find crab a delicacy.
The crabs are not fiddling away in the hope of scaring off the river monitor.
The waving of the one big claw which gives the fiddler its name is territorial.
The aim is to intimidate rivals.
The monitor is plainly not intimidated.
And there goes one crab who'll never play the fiddle again.
Lowering its front ramp, a box terrapin prepares to go hunting.
Just as there are left and right-handed boxes, so there are southpaw crabs as well as those
who lead normally with their left.
The other claw, as you can see, is minute by comparison and is used largely for feeding.
Here are two left-handers locked in battle.
Here the contest is between a right and a left-hander.
The tidal reaches are also the home of the mudskipper, a little fish that hasn't quite
made up its mind whether to live on land or in water.
Every few minutes it must dip itself in water to breathe dissolved oxygen.
The raised dorsal fin is a threat to rivals who insist on skipping on someone else's piece
of mud.
The sudden appearance of the monitor reveals that mudskippers skip equally well on water.
Tuesday on 7.
Where are you?
MacGyver's playing hide and seek.
And we better find them.
And leapfrog.
And past the basil.
It's a little recipe I use in emergencies.
Game over MacGyver.
These guys don't want to play anymore.
We gotta get out of here.
MacGyver, he's Indiana Jones, James Bond and Errol Flynn all rolled into one.
You're not supposed to frighten me or excite me.
8.30 Tuesday on 7.
Honda wanted to make a car that everyone would agree was the best in its class, so they developed
a Formula One inspired fuel injected overhead cam engine, speed responsive power assisted
steering, an aerodynamically superior body, and included a host of luxury features as
standard.
When Honda asked people what they thought of their new car, they spoke with one accord.
So that's what Honda called it.
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It's hard to imagine now that a hundred years ago any vegetation that survived here was
buried under inches and often feet of gray volcanic dust.
The somber green of the regrown jungle is a perfect setting for a Jarvan Kingfisher's
jeweled wings.
But there's one fish in the Gigenta River that has learned to outwit the Kingfisher
in an amazing way.
This little fish, a relative of the gobies, swims upside down and maneuvers a leaf with
its ventral fins as a portable hide.
So long as it stays below the leaf, the Kingfisher can't spot it.
Sometimes it makes the leaf move against the current.
So far, the river's many species of fish-eating birds haven't been smart enough to work this
out.
Before this was filmed, the leaf-hiding behavior wasn't known to science.
It's possibly the first case on record of a tool-using fish.
Of course, the ruse isn't so successful against predatory fish like this spotted puffer.
To discourage the puffer, the little fish puffs up its gills to make itself look bigger.
It's a trick the puffer should understand very well.
That's exactly how it defends itself against its enemies.
Seven species of Kingfisher earn their living along the Gigenta.
This is the Rufus-backed.
This time, a catch.
The victim obviously didn't know the leaf trick.
The air is abuzz with insects and the river busy with those who feed on them, an unusual
pastime for a heron.
There are hungry mouths waiting for those insects who fall into the water.
Very strange mouths, some of them.
The needlefish's mouth is more of a flap on top of a snipe-like bill.
Though these may look like a swarm of insects, what these fish are feeding on is really a
cloud of crab larvae.
Now this is an insect, an outsize one too.
That's the caterpillar of the Atlas moth, the largest of the silk moth family.
The four-inch-long pupa of an Atlas moth hangs over the river.
The giant moth maturing inside will wait for night before it emerges after its four-month
period of changing from the caterpillar.
Against the moon, the snake's head pattern on the wingtip shows up to great effect.
It's said to be a device to ward off predators.
Slim, Slim, I think we just discovered a strange...
No, Tammy, that's still a few weeks away.
Oh, Slim.
Cheer up, Tammy, we found something almost as big.
What's that, Slim?
The Maya stock-taking sale.
Oh, Slim, that is a discovery.
Wait until you discover the bargains.
Not so great reductions?
More reductions than there were people on the first fleet.
Oh, Slim, when does it start?
Monday morning, so you better tell Australia.
Oh, no, Slim, we haven't found Australia yet.
We'd better tell them anyway.
Australia, be at the Maya stock-taking sale.
Monday morning.
Picture yourself at World Expo 88.
Contact the Queensland Government Travel Centre or your travel agent.
It could be $10,000 in prize money.
All right, but you need great skill with...
Get ready because it begins...
The first day of next week.
Wealth Words starts in the Herald this Monday, so with $10,000 in prize money to be won every
week, the clue is get the Herald Monday.
In the cobblestone markets of Covent Garden, a flower girl falls under the spell of a sophisticated
English professor from Mayfair.
Meanwhile, she's pursued by Freddie, a fine young dandy who loves her.
So come to this sparkling new production of My Fair Lady, the world's most famous stage
musical.
It's playing from the 2nd of January to the 13th of February at the State Theatre.
Don't miss it.
Book it fast, and I know you'll fall in love with Eliza too.
In 1928, a new Krakatoa suddenly erupted from the sea right in the centre of the submarine
crater left by the great explosion of 1883.
Anak Krakatoa, the son of Krakatoa, is now over a thousand feet high and showing every
sign of following its parents' fiery example.
The entire island you're looking at now has been created by the new Krakatoa in just over
50 years.
Anak Krakatoa has still a long way to go before it fills the gap left by its famous father.
Anak Krakatoa is in the centre.
The sea area between the other two islands was land that disappeared in the Big Bang.
The map shows Krakatoa and its islands before the great eruption.
The main island was over seven miles long.
The eruption began in the crater Purbawitta.
This is all that remained.
The island, top left, increased in size due to deposits of volcanic ash.
Anak Krakatoa has risen approximately where the 1883 eruption began.
In the foreground is Rakata, the largest remaining piece of the old Krakatoa.
The eruptions almost certainly killed all life there, so the forests are the result
of a hundred years' growth.
How is life doing on the new Krakatoa?
This barren landscape is by no means all the story.
Volcanoes that emerge from the ocean are perfect laboratories in which to study how life takes
a grip in apparently sterile conditions.
At first come the seeds born on the wind.
Their mission is to find a niche with soil in which they have at least some chance of
germination in what is apparently a slag heap.
For the first few years, the volcanic debris is practically sterile, and then wind, rain
and sun begin to break it down into fertile soil.
The seeds that took root here are quite likely to have been a wind-borne gift from Ujang
Kulon just across the strait.
The first scientist who visited Krakatoa one year after the explosion in 1884 found only
one living thing, a spider.
Spiders too travel on the wind by trailing gossamer threads.
This is one of several species that have already colonised Anak Krakatoa.
The second route by which colonists reach newly created islands is the sea.
Once again, Ujang Kulon is the nearest and most likely mainland from which these visitors
set sail.
The seed pot, which we saw earlier leaving the mouth of the Chigenta River in Ujang Kulon,
may well have made landfall on the black volcanic sand of Anak Krakatoa's beach.
The currents, as well as wind, favour such colonisation for six months of the year.
These pandanus seeds have begun sprouting just above the tideline, a risky tactic that
sometimes pays off, as this fully grown pandanus tree at the sea's edge demonstrates.
Snakes are excellent swimmers, though it's probable that the python made the voyage on
a drifting tree trunk.
Ghost crabs, no problem about their arrival on Anak Krakatoa.
The larvae drift in the plankton swamps.
The water monitor is at home on land or sea, with plentiful supplies of ghost crabs, it
has no food problems on arrival.
Life on Anak Krakatoa is largely confined to the eastern tip.
This is the only place where in 50 years, vegetation has really established itself.
But then, it's had an uphill fight.
The volcano has been in intermittent eruption ever since its rebirth.
Lava and pumice ash continually bar further progress.
Nevertheless, inside this miniature forest, there's a surprisingly varied flora, including
Barringtonias, pandanus, and mature casuarina trees.
On the forest floor, grows a quite rich variety of mosses, grasses, ferns, and some flowering
plants like this convolvulus.
Rakata, part of the original Krakatoa, is a far lusher island.
But then it's had twice the time for colonization and regrowth.
And this hasn't been affected by constant eruptions.
Nevertheless, it's a pretty good model of what Anak Krakatoa may become, given time.
The steep face down which the sea eagle is sawing is where the great volcano collapsed
into its own seabed crater.
Even here, large trees have taken root.
Rakata Island fascinates scientists because it shows what nature can do from a standing
start in exactly 100 years.
A scientist who visited Rakata in 1920, 37 years after the great eruption, recorded 573
species of animals, from sea eagles to beetles to fruit bats.
These giant fig trees give some idea of what the forests of Anak Krakatoa could become
in another 50 years.
Rakata's varied 100-year fauna includes toke geckos, flying snakes.
They aren't true fliers.
They glide on extended membranes.
And there are land crabs for the monitor lizards to feed on.
This well-fed python is probably feeding on rats.
They found their way to Rakata some years ago.
Whether Anak Krakatoa settles down to encourage a similar diversity of flora and fauna depends
to some extent on its uncertain temperament.
From now peaceful Rakata, we get a view of the Eden Anak Krakatoa could become.
Great fig trees like this 80-year-old specimen on Rakata may have to wait a long time before
they get their chance on the restless new volcano.
Here are tonight's tax 2 results just drawn under government supervision.
Alright,
on the first flight Monday morning so you better tell Australia we better tell
them anyway Australia be at the my stock taking side
ice house man of colors a record-breaking number one best-selling
album packed full of its electric blue
my obsession
crazy
ice house man of colors be careful getting your coffee
well now without a petrol stop not bad huh how can I probably do it without the
four-speed automatic does your car have a four-speed automatic
Commodore does I want to tell you about the biggest thing to hit the Australian
theater since it's manning Clark's history of Australia the musical the
music's electrifying the story's as big as Australia itself and it's got some
great performers in it got swinging pot in the cell manning Clark's history of
Australia the musical don't miss it we're all in it opens January 16th down
at the Princess Theatre don't hang about book now ants were one of the first
insects to move in on Rakita after the big eruption during the first phase of
recolonization by grasses they were exceedingly numerous and mostly open
savannah species with the rapid development of tropical forest the
numbers dropped and woodland species like these leaf ants predominant the
workers here are sticking the leaves together to form a nest here they're
using the secretions from one of their larvae as if it were a tube of glue
in 100 years life has returned to Rakita in sufficient variety for
different species to form complicated and useful relationships these tree
termite nests are a case in point as we'll see this hole wasn't made by
termites but by a far more glamorous creature no one could call termites
glamorous they are however members of a marvelously organized community these
workers are exuding cement which they combine with their saliva to build up a
nest as hard as concrete
the small transparent insects are the young which emerge from the egg fully
formed termites dispense with the larval form
all these workers are sterile females so are the heavily armed soldiers the sole
purpose of every member is simply to service their four inch long queen
hidden deep in the center of the nest in the egg laying chamber termites are used
to sharing their nests with other creatures ground nesting termites often
play hosts to mongooses and snakes with tree termites the guest is not
infrequently a bird many kingfishers tunnel into banks to make their nests on
Rakita the crumbly volcanic soil is often unsuitable for tunneling but the
hard-packed cement of a tree termite nest makes an excellent alternative the
collared Kingfishers young are nearly ready to fly she's feeding them on ghost
crabs
the interesting thing about the Kingfishers family is that though the
visiting parents seem to have no control over which of her children legs of the
nest hole all seem to get fair shares no one chick has grown at the expense of
the others so there must be some system of rotation perhaps based on the time it
takes to digest the last meal
sometimes the parents bring a golden skink and whoever gets that to swallow
isn't going to be ready for a second helping for quite some time note that
the skink lost its tail in the attempt to avoid capture
the captor seems to be wondering whether to swallow the tail there and then or
deliver it to the young in the nest even while these scenes were being filmed
Anna Krakatoa two miles away was once again flexing its muscles
at the end of three weeks the young collared Kingfishers are ready to leave
the nest but parental duties aren't over yet a young bird perches on a lump of
Krakatoa's lava while the parent bird brings in yet another ghost crack as for
the termites they have their nest all to themselves once more now it's possible
to see how both sides have benefited from the association moving debris shows
how the termites have steadily been feeding on and clearing up the droppings
and scraps of food left by the young birds while termites clear up below
ants forage on the surface
as if getting ready for the centenary celebrations Anna Krakatoa was
particularly active during the early 1980s it was a busy time for several of
Indonesia's 1,000 odd volcanoes in 1982 the dust from two other eruptions
almost fatally stopped the engines of two Boeing 747s at over 20,000 feet
Krakatoa wasn't responsible that time all the same you can't help feeling that
it's working up to something big
perhaps the most eerie place from which to observe these pyrotechnics is the
sea-filled center of what was once Krakatoa Island the rocks in the
foreground stand up like a jagged tooth from the broken jaw of Krakatoa's old
crater below is the empty magma chamber into which the sea rushed to become
superheated steam and into which most of Krakatoa eventually collapsed causing
the big final explosion
hmm the reefs off Krakatoa are especially rich once again the
fascinating thing for scientists is that they can be dated precisely if there is
one thing that coral polyps detest it is being buried in silt those reefs that
weren't utterly destroyed by the 1883 eruption were buried under up to 30
meters of ash today Krakatoa's reefs are as rich in marine life as anywhere in
the tropics the birth date of their corals is known almost to the hour
the Indonesian authorities are keen to extend the boundaries of the Ujang Kulon
National Park to include the marine habitats around Krakatoa and its
attendant islands the richness of sea life both below and above the surface
makes this urgently necessary
tonight in our house Chris I thought you might be able to find time to help
anime you brush up on her man Chris turns tutor to a girl with problems
I have a chance to help her out she don't need me going after the
scholarship see she needs me looking for a job a glimpse of the other side
she's being in our house 732 nights on 7
at our annual stock-taking sale Dulux spring flat plastic paint is just $9 80
Dulux spring just $9 80 at Faraday and Kent now
it could be $10,000 in prize money but you need great skill with get ready
because it begins first day of next week wealth words starts in the Herald this
Monday so with $10,000 in prize money to be won every week the clue is get the
Herald Monday so this is
and a new one just imagine changing a child's life from poverty and despair to
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because of its violent past crack a toy's name is known around the world in
one sense it would be quite appropriate to call the whole of this area including
Ujian Kulan crack a tour national park as we've seen the volcano that vanished
in the Big Bang of 1883 was responsible for creating and more important
preserving not only the islands and their reefs but Ujian Kulan itself the
question that must now be in everyone's mind is will Anna crack a toe at some
future date repeat the performance
just across the Sunda Strait Ujian Kulan luxuriates in its present security from
human interference from the air it's easy to see how 40-foot seismic waves
overran it let's hope it never happens again for Ujian Kulan is the very last
sanctuary of one of the rarest large animals on earth
tracks are all that is usually seen of them the animals have only been filmed
once before and then very briefly in black and white this is the first time
they've been captured at length on color film
the jungle of Ujian Kulan is so dense that wildlife cameraman Dieter Plager
decided his only chance was along the banks of the Chigenta River even so it
took six months before he succeeded
there were occasional tantalizing glimpses usually when the great animal
was crossing the river before disappearing into the jungle again then
suddenly one day Dieter Plager was face to face with a big bull jarvan rhino one
of perhaps 50 of these animals left on earth and all of them in Ujian Kulan in
this species only the bulls have prominent horns nearby was a cow the
triangular plate of hide at the neck is one of the things that distinguishes the
jarvan from other Asian rhinos the female suddenly moves off towards the
male who has retreated some way into the jungle the male sprays the vegetation so
that the female will follow him and there's the male again slightly more
wary this time
he settles down again giving an opportunity for a unique close-up he's
joined by the female
soon she calmly starts to feed
look at the way that prehensile upper lip reaches out to seize the vegetation
Ujian Kulan had revealed its greatest mystery far more generously than Dieter
Plager could ever have hoped it had provided this unique record of one of
the world's rarest animals the rhinos never gave another chance like this they
simply vanished into the forest
August the 27th 1883 was the day that shook the world and destroyed so much
life and property it was also the day that isolated and helped to preserve
this remarkable wilderness area let's hope that Ujian Kulan is never destroyed
again but with the Sun of Krakatoa fulminating only 25 miles away no one
can ever be quite certain
well it's very sad when a natural disaster destroys a beautiful wilderness
but I think it's inexcusable when we do it ourselves the thing I found so
reassuring about that program is that nature fights back so strongly perhaps
some of the dreadful damage we've done to our environment is reputable after all
thanks you company have a very happy and safe new year and I'll see you next week
goodbye