Transcript for the Piece Audio version of RN Documentary: Taming the Salt Monster

Look at a map of Australia and you?ll see a vast expanse of yellow outlined with a thin smattering of green around the edge. Of course maps can look deceptive ? that thin edge of green actually is home to most of the country?s population, its giant agricultural industry and some of the most beautiful flora and fauna to be found on the planet. Oh and also, the colour of Australia?s heart isn?t yellow ? it?s red.
And in between that red heart and the green coast, there are great swathes of land that hover between fertile bounty and desert.

Music Signes tr 4 Rene Aubry
Comp and Perf: Rene Aubry SACEM 3024002 1?00

Teaser Kay ?12
To most of the young ones then the bush was something to get rid of..i suppose

Teaser dog ?16
WA trees not as green.. ..a metre wide

Teaser aidan ?12
If we say 100% of the land.. .. ..in the future

Teaser ? king ?11
A lot of the farmers.. miner not a farmer

Kay ? extinct bush ?14
When we have our wildflower shows.. .. fortunately

Music out
Aidan ? b?ground stats ?31
Western aust takes in 1/3 .. 150 yrs

Aidan Kelly - environmental policy advisor and lawyer.
This chunk of agricultural land is known as the wheatbelt and its made the state of WA the country?s bread basket.

Aidan bground pt 2 ?27
Most of the agric ?..by salinity

Dog how happened ?22
I?m Shawan Dogmaraci? was vegetated?..with the rainfall

The productive wheat belt of Western Australia is prone to a very specific sort of desertification: the problem is not that there?s a shortage of water, but ironically there?s too much of it.

Dog how happened pt 2 ?47
Before clearing?. ceased to occur

SFX ? under next clip ? mix of bulldozers, chains, brush

Kelly ? intro 1?34 (this clip is split to allow space for SFX)
Name?s K.O?Neill.. all the foliage off the land

King id ?10
I?m KV.. 4th generation on the land

Kay intro 1?10
My name is.. 3000 acres I think

The pale and dry landscape of the wheatbelt is deceiving. Under the horizonless grass paddocks lie salty streams. For millions of years these streams flowed under the earth, under the parched looking Australian bush. But now the bush is gone and the salt under the land is making its presence felt.

King ? how much saline ?50
We?ve lost about 15% of the area..55%in some areas

Geoff ? scald ?42
My name is GP ?saturated water
Dog ? quantities ?18
The quantities are .. .. of sea water in most of the wheat belt

Kingsley - sound home lake 1?42
Footsteps ? ahhh ? this looks terrible? particularly in the summer

Rainbow Serpent. Tr 3 Undara?s Lava Tube 13096-2
Comp and performed by David Hudson. 2?00 (total used in prog)

Kelly history ?43
We had a bush here called?. Big problems coming v quickly

Aidan - clearing 1 ?12
It was a state govt decision? .. the land was cleared

FIRE SFX ?

King ? clearing ?50
50?s and 60?s were the biggest time?house heating

Aidan clearing pt 2 ?29
There was a condition? .suitable to the.area

MUSIC ? David Hudson Rainbow serpent ? LAVA
+ FIRE SFX

Kelly ? clearing fires ?44
I was only 15 then.. machine doing the damage? pretty frightening

Kay ? clearing 1?57
People were just amazed????on that piece of land

You?re listening to the programme ?Taming the Salt Monster? on Radio Netherlands World Wide.

Salt has claimed land back from people since the start of civilization.
Shawan Dogramaci, the hydrogeologist can find parallels between his own two cultures ?? both lands made a great part of their early wealth from their agricultural economies.

Dog - Mesopotamia 1 ?24
I come from Iraq?.abundance of food

And both lands had the same nemesis.

Dog ? Mesop 2
The Tigris and Euphrates???.started to migrate

Aidan serious ?36
The salinity issue has really come to a head?? as it once was

King ? shrinking community 1?01
All the services are leaving our towns..going to be difficult

Kelly ? damage ?20
You?ve only got to see the maps.. taken off it

King ? sound salt crust lake here ?38
Sfx car door?..natural salt

Farmers have caused the salination of the land.
But it is the land that they love; that is their home, their life, their livelihoods. In damaging the land, they damage themelves and their families heritage.
So Their forebears awakened the salt monster, and now, for their children?s sake, they have to find a way of pacifying it.

Kay clearing 2 ?35
I?ve seen the sky .. ?younger generation will feel we have to save what we have left.

Geoff ? regeneration 1?34
Where we?re sitting here? ?all balanced

Dog ? towel time 1?18
In another 50 yrs? to minimize the impact

The unknowing visitor to the wheatbelt would not notice the lurking presence of the salt monster. After all, that bald patch on the far paddock maybe because sheep have eaten all the grass. Perhaps those glinting white crystals on that lake are an aberration ? a small salty sea set in the golden sheep dotted landscape.
But the farmers know the land as they know how to breathe. They can feel its pulse as easily as their own. They know about the salt monster, and they?re busy coming up with all sorts of ideas and solutions to keep it at bay.

Kingsley sound sandalwood 1 1?14
Car ? this is our sandalwood?stop and have a look Need to cross fade these two

King ? sound sandalwood 2 ?44
This area is quite low lying..its a bonus

Kay ? jewel 300 acres ?19
We did save.. so old..laughs

Kelly ? regret fire regen ?40
I regret the big trees ?. V quickly here

Aidan - food production ?37 (keep, split ???)
In terms of the state wide level? ..could be increased

Kay ? end teaser ?28
If you could go back.. .. look after it

Kelly ? time to fix it ?7
You?ve only got to look at the maps.. ..good people having a go at it now

Taming the Salt Monster was produced and presented by Dheera Sujan for Radio Netherlands. Speakers in the programme were Kay Vaux, Kingsley Vaux, Kelly O?Neill, Geoff Powell, Shawan Dogramaci and Aidan Kelly.

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