Australian
Screen

Teacher’s notes

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This clip describes the discovery of the Wollemi pine in the Wollemi National Park, New South Wales, in 1994. News footage from the time and a re-enactment of David Noble abseiling into an unknown gorge where he discovered the trees are shown. A narrator provides an explanation of the supercontinent Gondwana and how the Wollemi pine was thought to have died out when the land split into subcontinents and Australia moved north. There is an animation of continental drift and the clip includes a music track.

Educational value points

• The Wollemi pine, seen in the clip, was given its name from its discovery location in the Wollemi National Park. It was given the scientific name Wollemia nobilis in recognition of its discoverer, David Noble, at the time a field officer for the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NSW). Wollemi is an Aboriginal word meaning ‘watch out’ or ‘look around you’.

• Characteristics of the Wollemi pine include dark green leaves and sometimes multiple trunks and chocolate-coloured bark with a bumpy appearance. The Wollemi pine grows in temperatures ranging from minus 5 degrees Celsius to 40 degrees Celsius. The plant can grow to a height of 40 m with a trunk diameter of more than 1 m.

• Strict conservation measures are enforced to protect the 100 mature Wollemi pines that grow in the National Park. The exact location of the wild population is a closely guarded secret and only a limited number of researchers is permitted to visit the area. The plant’s wild population is listed under the Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 and the NSW Threatened Species Conservation Act 1995.

• In 2005, Wollemi pine trees were released for sale to the public to reduce the risk of visits to the plant’s wild population and to raise revenue for the plant’s conservation. The first Wollemi pine seedlings were auctioned by Sotheby’s international auction house at Sydney’s Royal Botanic Gardens on 23 October 2005. Since then plants have been made available to the public across Australia, North America, Europe, Japan and the UK.

• The Wollemi National Park is the largest wilderness area in NSW and occupies about 492,500 ha. It is situated approximately 100 km north-west of Sydney and is part of the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area. It is a maze of canyons, cliffs and undisturbed forest. The discovery of the Wollemi pine was an important factor in the park being included on the World Heritage List in December 2000.

• The Wollemi National Park is the only place in the world where the Wollemi pine is known to survive in the wild. The plant was discovered in a remote sheltered area of the park where it had remained protected from fire and other natural disasters for thousands of years. The pristine environment and the isolated gorge where it was discovered ensured the survival of the species.

• The break-up of the supercontinent Gondwana, illustrated in the clip, began more than 180 million years ago during the Jurassic Period and resulted in Africa, South America, Madagascar, India, Antarctica, Australia and New Zealand drifting apart. Gondwana itself had separated from a larger mass called Pangea 250 million years before. There are seven major and many minor landmasses, known as tectonic plates, that are still in movement.

• The clip is taken from an episode of Catalyst, which is produced by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. The program first aired in August 2001 and is a mixture of Australian and international science stories. The programs have high production values and, as here, often include re-created scenes, archival material and animations.