Latest news with #NorfolkIsland
SBS Australia
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- SBS Australia
Clock's Ticking
They talk about how the sky turned red suddenly the earth shook. They felt rumble and how, all of a sudden, plants died, and there were white and yellow powder. Benetick Kabua Maddison LISTEN TO SBS Audio 22/07/2025 38:48 English It was 24 hours. And if you've got enough to charge them, then you can hold them. If you haven't, then you need to let them go... there was obviously some big cards being played in the background between various nations. NZ Detective Chris Martin Fallout: Spies on Norfolk Island is an SBS Audio production. Credits Created and hosted by Richard Baker. Produced by Liz Burnett. Sound Design and Mix by Max Gosford. Executive Producer is Joel Supple Artwork by Paolo Lim (The Illustration Room) Voice Acting by Allan Lee (Sgt Paul Mackintosh Report)
Forbes
16-07-2025
- Science
- Forbes
Tracking Sharks Around A South Pacific Island
Tiger sharks were mostly seasonal visitors, especially mature females. Their peak residency was in ... More the Austral summer (November to April), and they largely disappeared during the cooler months. getty Norfolk Island may be small (it measures as just 14 square miles or 35.7 km² of land in the middle of the South Pacific), but it's a busy place when it comes to sharks. A recent multi-year study tracked the movements of four species — tiger ( Galeocerdo cuvier ), sandbar ( Carcharhinus plumbeus ), dusky ( Carcharhinus obscurus ), and Galapagos sharks ( Carcharhinus galapagensis ) — using acoustic tags to figure out how they share space around this remote island. The findings show that even in relatively tight quarters, these predators use the island in remarkably different ways depending on age, season, and habitat preference, often shaped by both natural forces and human activity. Located about 870 miles (1,400 km) east of mainland Australia and 460 miles (740 km) northwest of New Zealand, Norfolk Island is part of Australia's external territories and has a population of around 2,000 people. Sitting on the Norfolk Ridge, it is surrounded by deep ocean and influenced by both tropical and temperate currents. This mixture of temperature attracts an array of both migratory and resident marine species, and serves as a natural laboratory for studying remote island ecosystems. Its surrounding waters are considered ecologically significant, with parts overlapping marine parks and biodiversity areas. The tags showed that tiger sharks were mostly seasonal visitors here, especially mature females. Their peak residency at Norfolk Island was in the Austral summer (November to April), and they largely disappeared during the cooler months. When these big sharks were around, they preferred the west side of the island, particularly an area near a long-time livestock waste dumping site, which provided an artificial but consistent food source. This same area is also home to a breeding colony of seabirds, offering another seasonal buffet for these big predators to dine on; these behaviors suggest that tiger sharks are not just following instinct, but are actively responding to what us humans do. Sandbar sharks showed similar timing as the tiger sharks, arriving mostly in the warmer months and spending time in deeper offshore waters. But unlike them, they didn't stick to one area, and while we don't know exactly where they went in the off-season, their disappearance suggests some sort of migration or habitat shift. All the sandbar sharks tracked in this study were likely immature, and their use of deep water aligns with what's been seen in other parts of the world, like Western Australia, where juveniles favor offshore nursery grounds. According to the scientists, it is still unclear whether Norfolk Island serves as a nursery or just a seasonal stopover. Galapagos sharks were detected around the island year-round and often in the same nearshore areas, ... More especially around the Kingston and Cascade piers. getty The Dusky and Galapagos sharks displayed different behaviors though. Both species were detected around the island year-round and often in the same nearshore areas, especially around the Kingston and Cascade piers. Why? Well, these spots are known for regular fish waste dumping by local fishers. The daily routine that may have trained the sharks to visit in search of an easy meal. Most of these individuals were immature, and their movements were tightly clustered around the tagging locations, which suggests a strong site attachment, possibly influenced by food availability or safety from predators. But what is especially interesting with these two species here is that dusky and Galapagos sharks rarely overlap in other parts of the world. Dusky sharks are usually coastal and associated with continental shelves, while Galapagos sharks prefer seamounts and remote islands. Around Norfolk? The story is different; they're not only overlapping in space, they're doing so in similar ways. They're returning to the same spots, day in and day out! And this co-residency raises questions about how they share resources and what kind of competition, if any, exists between them. Early data show dietary overlap too, which could mean these species play similar roles in the local ecosystem. Not all tagged sharks were accounted for during the study period, however. In fact, a significant number were never detected again after tagging. That could be due to a few things: some sharks might have moved to deeper areas beyond the receiver range, others may have died due to predation (possibly from the very tiger sharks they shared space with), and some may simply have avoided the tagging locations afterwards. Still, the big picture here is that this study helps highlight the importance of seamounts and offshore islands as more than just isolated dots on a map. These places can clearly be essential marine habitats, especially for sharks, supporting different species and life stages in different ways. Whether it's a seasonal feeding stop, a year-round home, or a safe haven for younger individuals, Norfolk Island offers a snapshot of how sharks can partition space to coexist, even when their habitats overlap. Work like this is critical as conservation efforts increasingly focus on preserving whole ecosystem functions, not just individual species. Knowing who's using what, where, and when can guide protections to ensure these oceanic hotspots continue to support the diversity of life that relies on them.
SBS Australia
12-07-2025
- Politics
- SBS Australia
Unreleased documents reveal new Australian twist to ship bombing case
Forty years ago, Alan 'Kissard' Buffett was looking out an aeroplane window on the approach to land at Norfolk Island when he noticed a lonely yacht moored at Cascade Bay. As the island's collector of customs in 1985, it was Buffett's job to know where the yacht was from and who was on it. After touching down, he immediately went to one of his officers at the airport to ask about the yacht. "He said, 'I smell a rat'," Buffett said. "And in Norfolk, that means you think there's something fishy going on." "Sure enough, he was on the money. "The crew sort of stood out a fair bit because they had really nice gear. They didn't look like rough-type yachties." The 11-metre yacht named Ouvea had been chartered by four Frenchmen who had just sailed from New Zealand en route to New Caledonia. Alan 'Kissard' Buffett was Norfolk Island's collector of customs in 1985. Source: Supplied The Frenchmen said they were on a South Pacific diving and pleasure cruise. But Buffett and other officials on Norfolk Island soon received warning from the Australian government that the Frenchmen were not who they claimed to be. New SBS Audio investigative podcast Fallout: Spies on Norfolk Island has uncovered previously unreleased confidential Australian government documents which reveal concerns the men were actually French secret service agents suspected of being involved in the bombing of environmental group Greenpeace's flagship Rainbow Warrior in Auckland harbour days earlier. France initially denied any involvement, but then-prime minister Laurent Fabius months later admitted French agents had been ordered to bomb the ship. What the documents reveal The bombing — the 40th anniversary of which was this week — killed photographer Fernando Perriera, made global headlines and sparked one of the biggest police investigations in New Zealand history. The Rainbow Warrior was preparing to lead a flotilla of protest boats in an attempt to blockade a French nuclear weapons test at Mururoa Atoll in the Pacific Ocean. The documents detail how Norfolk Island's three-man police force was authorised by then-prime minister Bob Hawke to shadow the Frenchmen until a party of New Zealand detectives arrived. Dennis Murray, a federal police officer stationed on Norfolk Island at the time, said his orders were simple. "Make sure they don't leave the island. Make sure they don't get on a plane," Murray said. "That was the biggest thing.' Norfolk Island's administrator at the time, former Australian naval commodore and defence intelligence agency head, John Matthew, cabled Canberra to express "strong doubts" about police approaching the Frenchmen's yacht because of the possibility of "armed retaliation". LISTEN TO SBS Audio 09/07/2025 45:12 English Matthew ordered Murray and his police colleagues to remove the Frenchmen's dinghy and hide it so they could not leave the island to reach their yacht, which was moored a distance from the shore. Nearing midnight on 15 July, it was decided that Norfolk Island police and the New Zealand detectives would conduct a raid on the motel rooms where the Frenchmen were sleeping and take them into custody. Murray told the podcast that nerves were running high ahead of the raid. "When you hit those doors, you don't know what's going to happen on the other side ... it could be firearms, it could be anything," he said. In the end, the French agents played it cool and cooperated with the police. They'd been well trained by France's foreign intelligence agency, the Directorate-General for External Security, to withstand interrogation and maintain their cover stories. An impossible deadline? On the morning of 16 July 1985, New Zealand detectives who had flown to Norfolk Island got a shock when they learned the Australian government had set them a deadline of 2pm that day to find enough evidence to charge the Frenchmen with a crime or they would be let go. The detectives had to wait until daylight to search the Frenchmen's yacht. They seized dozens of documents and receipts that needed to be analysed. More importantly, they had taken samples from the yacht's bilge to test for traces of explosives. These needed to be taken to Auckland for analysis because Norfolk Island did not have any laboratory facilities. Fallout: Spies on Norfolk Island investigates why this deadline was set and whether it was necessary. Senior police in Auckland decided they did not have enough evidence to charge the Frenchmen before the Australian deadline expired despite the strong feelings of their detectives on Norfolk Island who believed they had the right men in custody. Murray said he felt for his New Zealand police colleagues. "It's got to be done in 24 hours or 'stiff shit' sort of thing. When you think about it, they didn't give them much time," he said. The French secret agents sailed away from Norfolk Island later on 16 July. Their yacht, the Ouvea, was never seen again and the agents are believed to have been picked up by a French submarine. The 11-metre yacht Ouvea had been chartered by four Frenchmen who had just sailed from New Zealand en route to New Caledonia. Source: Supplied The samples from the Ouvea's bilge returned positive results for traces of explosives. And documents taken from the yacht proved a connection between the Frenchmen on Norfolk Island and two other French secret agents already in custody in New Zealand. Forty years later, Buffett is still puzzled by Australia's decision to impose such a tight deadline on the New Zealand police. "It did appear really short to us, really given the fact that someone was killed," he said. "I just wonder whether Australia was pressured by France or some other power. Because it, as I say, it seemed pretty strange that they only gave them that really small window of time to try and find evidence to keep those fellas in under the police guard." Despite it being beyond doubt that the Rainbow Warrior was blown up by limpet mines smuggled into New Zealand by French agents Roland Verge, Gerald Andries, Jean Michel Bertholet and Dr Xavier Maniguet onboard the Ouvea, none of the men ever faced prosecution after being allowed to sail away from Norfolk Island.
SBS Australia
08-07-2025
- Politics
- SBS Australia
Secrets, Spies and Sabotage: 40 years on, SBS podcast investigates historic bombing of Greenpeace's Rainbow Warrior
Marking the 40th anniversary of the bombing of Greenpeace's international flagship, the Rainbow Warrior, award-winning investigative journalist Richard Baker has re-examined Australia's part in one of the most far-reaching international scandals of the 1980s, in SBS Audio's latest podcast Fallout: Spies on Norfolk Island. Uncovering a sealed 374-page Australian government file, Baker travels to the scene of a real-life international spy thriller. After bombing the Rainbow Warrior in Auckland Harbour and killing photographer Fernando Pereira, four French agents escaped to Norfolk Island where they were eventually detained. However, after 24 hours in custody they were allowed to leave, ultimately evading justice. The Rainbow Warrior had arrived in Auckland after evacuating 300 people from Rongelap Atoll in the Marshall Islands, where they had been subject to fallout from US nuclear-testing, and was next destined for Mururoa Atoll to protest French nuclear testing there. Baker investigates the role that Australia played in the global headline-making affair, interviewing locals who witnessed the events on Norfolk Island, talking to Pacific Islanders who were exposed to radiation from the US and French nuclear-testing programs, and investigating from the Pacific to Paris to uncover the real story. Host of Fallout: Spies on Norfolk Island , Richard Baker said; 'The more I looked into it, the more I was drawn to the events that unfolded on Norfolk Island forty years ago. I placed my bets on a 374-page sealed document from the National Archives of Australia and travelled to the region to speak to the locals – and from that, the podcast series Fallout: Spies on Norfolk Island was born. ' 'It turned out I wasn't the only one who thought something didn't add up. In this series, I uncover Australia's covert role in an international scandal, the geopolitical situation that was driving the government of the day, and the part Australia still plays today in the ongoing battle for influence over the region.' The six-part podcast series features interviews with Maurice Witham, detective inspector who was second in command of the Rainbow Warrior investigation; Chris Martin, New Zealand detective who went to Norfolk Island to interrogate the French agents; Hinamoeura Morgant-Cross, French Polynesian anti-nuclear activist and politician; and Lopeti Sentuli, Tongan anti-nuclear campaigner and lawyer on the ongoing fight for a nuclear-free Pacific. Fallout: Spies on Norfolk Island is the latest offering from SBS, recently named the Australian Podcaster of the Year for the third year in a row . Itlaunches today on SBS Audio, ahead of the 40th anniversary of the Rainbow Warrior bombing. Listen to all of SBS Audio's podcasts on the SBS Audio App, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, LiSTNR or wherever you stream podcasts. Episodes launching weekly. For a pdf copy of this media release, click here.
SBS Australia
08-07-2025
- Entertainment
- SBS Australia
I Smell A Rat
He said, 'I smell a rat'. And in Norfolk, that means you think there's something fishy going on.. 'Kissard' Alan Buffett LISTEN TO SBS Audio 07/07/2025 45:12 English Fallout: Spies on Norfolk Island is an SBS Audio production. Credits Created and hosted by Richard Baker. Produced by Liz Burnett. Sound Design and Mix by Max Gosford. Executive Producer is Joel Supple Artwork by Paolo Lim (The Illustration Room)
