The Australian Bite

Birds, boats and natural burials

24 June 2010

Listen and download: MP3

This week on the Bite, it’s death the green way when we drop in on the opening of a new natural burial ground in Sydney. We meet some young men from Kimbe in Papua New Guinea who have been in Australia to train for their coxswain, or boat master, qualifications.  And we hear about a community’s tireless work to save the helmeted honeyeater; an endangered bird species  found in just a tiny pocket of Victoria.

Church opens “eco-cemetery” in Sydney

It appears that even death will not release us from the problem of our carbon footprint. 70 per cent of Australians currently choose to be cremated, releasing an estimated 160 kilograms of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. But knowledge of this has created a demand for a greener alternative, and to help meet that demand the Catholic Church has just opened Sydney’s first natural burial ground. The St Francis Natural Burial Field in Sydney’s west won’t have headstones, but people can find their family members using GPS technology.  Jennifer Macey reports.

Read this story at the ABC news website

PNG students learn coxswain skills

Papua New Guinea is a nation of many islands, many inlets and more than three hundred ports. But since few locals are professionally trained or hold a coxswain certificate – which is required to operate commercial vessels – many of the best maritime jobs in the country go to foreigners from countries including Indonesia and Taiwan. But in recent months, twelve students from Kimbe in PNG’s West New Britain province have come to Australia to train for the internationally recognised qualification, and they hope it will help their job prospects back home. Reporter Madeleine Genner caught up with the student group as they prepared for their final exams.

Saving the helmeted honeyeater

Twenty years ago, Robert Anderson had just retired from school-teaching and was living in bushland east of Melbourne. He soon became aware that a tiny population of helmeted honeyeater birds living nearby was the last on the planet. Along with other concerned locals, he formed an action group to save the population, mustering a huge number of volunteers. Robert’s work was recently recognised when he was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list. He speaks with Michael Cathcart.

You can listen to a longer version of this interview at the Radio National Bush Telegraph website

Music (not in podcast)

Originally from Adelaide, South Australia , soul, jazz and funk songstress Candice Monique has now made Melbourne her home.  He debut album, recorded with her five piece band the Optics has been getting great reviews.  We play the title track.

Artist:   Candice Monique & the Optics

Track:    In My Soul

Album:  In My Soul (2010)

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