Back from the Brink - The Podcast

May 06 2024 23 ep. 24 mins 4
Back from the Brink - The Podcast artwork

Back from the Brink is Queensland's first ever series that delves into conservation stories from the incredible biodiversity hot-spot we have on our doorstep. From hammerhead sharks to giant orchids, the series showcases our region's most threatened species, what is happening to them and the remarkable people working tirelessly to save them from extinction.

  Science  Education
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E23 - Gums and roses

May 06 2024 30 mins  
Episode 23 sees the Natura Pacific team exploring Queensland's Granite Belt; a unique landscape in the state's south. Here, ancient geology and rich biodiversity have resulted in some intriguing relationships between endemic plants and insects. One such relationship is that linking the Border Boronia (Boronia repanda) and its heliozelid moth pollinators. The teeny-tiny moths are th

E22 - Between a rock and a dry place

Nov 30 2023 23 mins  
Episode 22 heads into the remote dry, vine-thickets of South East Queensland to meet a remarkable reptile. With Australia's commitment to the 30 by 30 pledge (a worldwide initiative for governments to designate 30% of Earth's land and ocean area as protected areas by 2030), we look at what protected areas do for threatened species. The Nangur Spiny Skink (Nangura spinosa) is one su

E21 - The prisoner and the Plunkett

Nov 20 2022 24 mins  
Episode 21 takes a look at an exciting project taking place across a series of South East Queensland correctional centers. Named the Connecting Communities Native Seed Project, Natura Pacific have helped create a green production-line that is buzzing away behind the scenes to help protect threatened plants like the beautiful Plunkett Mallee (Eucalyptus curtisii) along with their re

E20 - Birds without borders

Oct 04 2022 30 mins  
Episode 20 celebrates National Bird Week 2022 with a story of enduring passion for a rather cryptic little brown bird, or LBJ - little brown job, as they're lovingly known in the birding world! The Eastern Bristlebird is an incredibly rare bird in Queensland these days, found only in a tiny slice of grassy upland woodland on the border with northern New South Wales. Even in the spe

E19 - From nest to ocean

Sep 06 2022 28 mins  
Episode 19 celebrates National Threatened Species Day 2022; a day when Australians come together to remember extinct species, and put thought to curbing future biodiversity loss. We look at celebrating one of Australia's conservation success stories, the Nest to Ocean Program which sees thousands of people across Queensland's coasts working together to support nesting sea-turtles.

E18 - A tree with no name

May 18 2022 27 mins  
Episode 18 brings us the story of one of the Gold Coast's best-kept secrets. Hidden deep in the rainforest valleys of Ormeau and Kingsholme is a myterious giant that not many people know about. The Ormeau Bottle-tree is a monster of a plant, growing to 35m tall in the wild and bearing a similar bottle-shaped trunk to its closest relative, the Queensland Bottle-tree found in our dri

E17 - A bird beloved

Nov 24 2021 26 mins  
Episode 17 looks at the amazing success citizen science can have when tailored towards the monitoring of threatened species. For the Glossy Black-cockatoo, the smallest of Australia's black-cockatoo species, one particular NGO has been working tirelessly to help understand and protect its dwindling populations. For years, the Glossy Black Conservancy has worked with community and p

E16 - Burrowing from the brink

Nov 04 2021 31 mins  
Episode 16 takes a trip through time as we recount the awe-inspiring conservation success story of the Northern Hairy-nosed Wombat. For conservation to be successful it requires a cross-disciplinary approach, drawing on the skills and abilities of society as a whole. This has been the strategy of Queensland's Department of Environment and Science which has worked closely with numer

E15 - Our vanishing grandparents

Jul 22 2021 21 mins  
Episode 15 submerses us in the cool waters of Queensland's southern rivers to meet a living fossil. The Australian Lungfish has survived as a relatively unchanged species for about 145 million years, which means it's not only out-lived the dinosaurs, but it also pre-dates many of them! This incredible fish, having survived for so long in Australia, is facing an uncertain future as

E14 - Mysterious creatures of the night

May 20 2021 31 mins  
Episode 14 zooms into the world of insects. Despite being often poorly-known and out-of-sight, the value of insects to society, and the environment globally, is immeasurable. Some species have, in recent years, been given a shred of limelight, allowing people to understand the amazing life-cycles and ecosystem services these animals perform. For one species, the large and gaudy Sou