The Land Bridge Podcast

A science and culture deep dive into the ice age world of the Bassian Plain in southeastern Australia.

The Land Bridge podcast series features depth interviews with researchers and cultural custodians you may have encountered elsewhere on this story site. Each episode features a minimally edited, long interview with an expert or a team, who help us explore the deep past landscape which is now submerged under Bass Strait.

Season 1 takes us on a journey into the deep time story of Bass Strait and what island charcoal and pollen records can tell us with Professor Simon Haberle, understanding the land bridge as Sea Country with Palawa Woman and Pakana Ranger Fiona Maher, modelling human pathways on ancient Sahul with Dr Stefani Crabtree and Professor Sean Ulm, saltwater dreaming with Bunurong Women Aunty Gail Dawson and Tasma Walton, exploring the underwater worlds of Bass Strait with Associate Professor Neville Barrett and the saga of the Sydney Cove shipwreck with popular history author Adam Courtenay.

Program Credits: Host Lucinda Horrocks. Producers Lucinda Horrocks and Jary Nemo. Production company Wind & Sky Productions. Music ‘Look to the Sky’ by Piotr Pacyna.

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.

In this episode your host Lucinda Horrocks provides a brief introduction to the podcast series and 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/introduction/.

Host: Lucinda Horrocks. Project production and studio production by Lucinda Horrocks and Jary Nemo, Wind & Sky Productions. Music: ‘Look to the Sky’ By Piotr Pacyna. The Land Bridge project was funded by the Australian Government through the Our Marine Parks grant program.

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 research you can read the article ‘Charcoal and pollen from old lakes’ https://thelandbridge.au/charcoal-and-pollen-from-old-lakes/

Host: Lucinda Horrocks. Featuring Simon Haberle. Audio recorded by Jary Nemo. Project production and studio production by Lucinda Horrocks and Jary Nemo, Wind & Sky Productions. With thanks to Australian National University and the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage. Music: ‘Look to the Sky’ By Piotr Pacyna.

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 article ‘Tayaritja Milathina Muka’ https://thelandbridge.au/tayaritja-milaythina-muka/ 

Host: Lucinda Horrocks. Featuring Fiona Maher. Audio recorded by Jary Nemo. Production and studio production by Lucinda Horrocks and Jary Nemo, Wind & Sky Productions. With thanks to the Tasmanian Aboriginal Corporation. Music: ‘Look to the Sky’ By Piotr Pacyna.

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 companion article to this interview, visit ‘Deep human connection lies under the Bass Strait’ https://thelandbridge.au/deep-human-connection-under-bass-strait/ 

Host: Lucinda Horrocks. Featuring Stefani Crabtree and Sean Ulm. Audio recorded by Lucinda Horrocks with technical support by Jary Nemo. Project production and studio production by Lucinda Horrocks and Jary Nemo, Wind & Sky Productions. With thanks to the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage. Music: ‘Look to the Sky’ By Piotr Pacyna.

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. 

Host: Lucinda Horrocks. Featuring Aunty Gail Dawson and Tasma Walton. Audio recorded by Lucinda Horrocks. Project production and studio production by Lucinda Horrocks and Jary Nemo, Wind & Sky Productions. With thanks to the Bunurong Land Council Aboriginal Corporation. Music: ‘Look to the Sky’ By Piotr Pacyna.

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://thelandbridge.au/the-documentary/ 

To read more about Neville’s seabed mapping research you can read the article ‘Mapping the seabed’ https://thelandbridge.au/mapping-the-seabed/

To read more about marine biodiversity and the underwater worlds of Bass Strait, take a browse through the Land Bridge category page ‘Underwater Worlds’ https://thelandbridge.au/category/underwater-worlds/ 

Host: Lucinda Horrocks. Featuring Neville Barrett. Audio recorded by Jary Nemo. Project production and studio production by Lucinda Horrocks and Jary Nemo, Wind & Sky Productions. With thanks to the Institute of Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS), University of Tasmania, and the National Environmental Science Program (NESP) Marine and Coastal Hub. Music: ‘Look to the Sky’ By Piotr Pacyna.

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 published by ABC books and is available at all good bookstores and online: https://www.harpercollins.com.au/9780733341861/three-sheets-to-the-wind/

Adam wrote a companion story about the Sydney Cove for The Land Bridge website which you can read here: https://thelandbridge.au/shipwreck-over-the-land-bridge/

Host: Lucinda Horrocks. Featuring Adam Courtenay. Audio recorded by Lucinda Horrocks with technical support by Jary Nemo. Project production and studio production by Lucinda Horrocks and Jary Nemo, Wind & Sky Productions. Music: ‘Look to the Sky’ By Piotr Pacyna.