Torres Strait Island - Island Life E06 - The Secrets of Nature

Lying like idyllic stepping stones between the rugged coastline of Papua New Guinea and the remote northerly tip of Australia's Cape York Peninsula, the Torres Strait Islands are Australia's last frontier wilderness area.

Both naturally and culturally the islands, which number more than 100, are a traditional link between the Australian mainland and its northerly Asian neighbours. As such, they are strategically vital: in wartime, coast watchers scanned the sea and sky for an invading army. Today a new breed of sentinel guards against an unseen enemy - disease.

Each year, as animals and birds migrate from the north to their breeding grounds in Australia's 'Top End', they may carry with them a deadly range of exotic diseases.

As the annual Monsoon sweeps across the Torres Strait, its lashing winds and soaking rains bring millions of insects with the potential to transmit viruses which could devastate Australia's livestock industries and put human lives at risk.

Japanese Encephalitis, Foot and Mouth disease, Surra, Rabies/Lyssavirus and a host of insect pests such as Screw Worm fly and Fruit fly : all are endemic in Asia and parts of Papua New Guinea and all have the potential to island-hop their way to the mainland.

For the men and women of Australia's quarantine service, the Torres Strait Islands are the last line of defence against these biological predators.

The battle to prevent them reaching the mainland is dependent not only on natural forces such as weather patterns and movement of the area's diverse wildlife. It must also enlist the help of local island people, whose traditional lifestyles and cultural practices must now take account of the threat of disease.

Never before told in television documentary, the quarantine story of the Top End is a revealing insight into the environment and culture of this unique frontier wilderness and its people. In the light of recent overseas disease outbreaks, it is a story of vital importance to every Australian.

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