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ABC RN: Melbourne from a tram

Get ready to board a Melbourne tram for a journey around the City Circle route! Along the way, the passengers on the tram will highlight some aspects of Melbourne's urban design, both past and present, giving you a real sense of place. Is this the most 'liveable' city in Australia, as many claim, or a city in need of change?

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Magical Land of Oz: Koalas and climate change

The koala population in rural NSW has been declining over the years due to drought and heatwaves. What causes some of the temperature extremes experienced in this region? Dr Mella believes koalas normally get most of the moisture they need to stay hydrated from eucalyptus leaves. What has changed in recent years that means ...

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Foreign Correspondent: The Mekong: A damming example

The government of Laos has plans for many revenue-raising dams along the Mekong River. Find out about a dam, the Nam Theun 2, which was completed in 2010 and lies across the Nam Theun river in the Nakai Plateau. This clip from the same year asks if the dam could be the flagship for others to be built along the Mekong. Discover ...

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Catalyst: Toxic sediments

Learn how high levels of toxic sediments in Sydney Harbour have destroyed as much as 40 per cent of its invertebrates. Find out the main source of toxins. Learn how toxins become trapped in the sediment and distributed across the Harbour. Observe the devastating effects of toxic sediments on the food chain in 2010, when ...

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Weekend Magazine: The Stomp, a 1960s dance craze

Imagine a dance so simple it could be learnt in minutes and so popular it became a craze. This clip from a Weekend Magazine program screened in 1963 looks at such a dance. It was called the Stomp and it was pounded out in surf clubs and council halls around Australia's coast. Watch and listen as teenagers express their ...

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ABC News: Sydney slips in world cities rankings, 2012

A 'Cities of Opportunity' study in 2012 found that, while Sydney was regarded as a 'livable' city, its residents faced some significant urban issues. With other cities moving ahead of Sydney in the rankings, questions have been asked about why the cost of living in Sydney is so high and what should be done to solve some ...

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Understanding the causes of climate change

Did you know that climate change is not a recent phenomenon? In the past, natural events led to changes in the climate. Although natural events still affect climate, they're not enough to explain the big changes we've been seeing in the last 150 years. What changes on earth can account for such dramatic changes to our climate? ...

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Reflections on ending the White Australia policy

Why was the abolition of the White Australia policy so important? Steps taken by the Whitlam Labor government in 1973 signalled the end of the legislation behind the policy. Find out which event first led to the new multiracial policy being put into practice. In this clip, you will hear from former prime ministers and ministers ...

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ABC 7.30: If you build it, they will come

It's been 'all systems go' in the Northern Territory, with a range of new development projects springing up. In this clip from 2013, see Territorians coming up with novel solutions to the age-old problem of housing. Could a shortage of affordable housing derail the good economic times?

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Five Australians: Charles Perkins fights for racial equality

Why is Charles Perkins remembered as a significant leader in the struggle for the rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples? In this clip, he looks back on two campaigns that brought him to public attention in the 1960s and were part of a wider struggle to end racial discrimination in Australia. This clip ...

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Nexus: Holden, the 'all-Australian car'

What made Holden cars symbols of Australia during the 1950s, 60s and 70s? During this period, more than any other vehicle, the Holden came to reflect changing lifestyles in Australia, and helped to define for many what it meant to be 'Australian'. Find out the impact that generations of Holden vehicles have had on the lives ...

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Landline: Feeding soils to grow hungry crops

How do today's farmers improve their crop yields? One school of thought is to go high-tech and use agricultural technologies designed to improve efficiencies and yields. See the role that soil condition plays in gaining those high yields.

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Engineering clean rivers

Figuring out how to clean up contaminated rivers is a big challenge. It's also tricky to work out where the most contaminated parts of a river system are and whether its fish are safe to eat. Watch this video and learn how engineering has helped to solve these problems. Why do you think engineers looked to the bottom of ...

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Catalyst: E-waste, recycling, and sustainability

What happens to electronic waste (e-waste)? Watch this clip about the physics of recycling to find out the way that useful materials are captured from waste at a local materials recovery facility. Presenter Tanya Ha investigates e-waste, the products it comes from, and the sustainability challenges it poses.

Interactive

Dollar street

This is an interactive resource about the different standards of living of people at different levels of wealth. It shows a street containing photo-panoramas from households at different income levels in Mozambique, South Africa and Uganda. The user can choose the level of income ranging from $1-2 per day to over $100 per ...

Audio

Chemicals on the Great Barrier Reef

This program deals with a range of human impacts on the Great Barrier Reef. Herbicides from land runoff have been traced to algae and sea grasses in river mouths and coastal zones along the Great Barrier Reef. Effects include retardation of photosynthesis and growth of corals. Other pressures on the reef include high water ...

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Ocean energy

This is a resource about ocean energy that includes sections on Tidal energy, Wave energy, Ocean thermal energy, World ocean energy market, and Australia's ocean energy resources. Links on the right-hand side of the resource provide additional related resources including publications and websites. The resource is part of ...

Online

Seven billion people, seven billion stories: What makes a compelling life story?

This is a unit of inquiry made up of 12 learning sequences for year 9 in the English for the Australian Curriculum resource. Each learning sequence contains a series of resources, suggested activities to carry out with students and a post-activity reflection. This unit gives students experiences of listening to, viewing ...

Interactive

Interactive maps

Interactive Maps is a discovery and exploration view of Geoscience Australia's geospatial services. Maps are organised under the following themes: Australian Marine Spatial Information System (AMSIS); Earth observation and satellite imagery, National location information; Geology and geophysics; Hazards; Marine and coastal; ...

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Electricity generation from geothermal energy in Australia

This is an online information resource that explains how electricity is generated from geothermal sources in Australia and includes three diagrams supporting and demonstrating the information provided in the text. It contains six sections: Geothermal systems; Potential advantages of geothermal power generation in Australia; ...