Wildlife Ranger

Wildlife Ranger is an excerpt from the film Wildlife Ranger (19 mins), produced in 1979.

Wildlife Ranger: Set in the beautiful but isolated Kakadu National Park in the Northern Territory, Wildlife Ranger traces the duties and lifestyle of a national park ranger, including protection of and research into the diverse range of flora and fauna in the area. The program follows two rangers plying the boat along the waterways in the wet season to check out a remote rookery. This allows the viewer a close inspection of this unique environment, both at ground level and through breathtaking aerial photography. The northern monsoonal forests, grasslands and wildlife are shown in all their beauty, colour and diversity. The program also touches on the problems of remoteness from major towns, illustrated with the arrival of the fortnightly mail plane from Darwin.
Wildlife Ranger was produced by Film Australia.

Dimension
Geographical knowledge and understanding
At Level 6 students analyse development issues and formulate and evaluate comprehensive policies, including those for sustainable use and management of resources, to alter development patterns at a range of scales.

This video clip is also relevant to Civics and Citizenship (Level 6)
Community engagement
At Level 6, students draw on a range of resources to articulate and defend their own position about environmental issues. They develop an action plan which demonstrates their knowledge of an environmental issue and suggest strategies to raise community awareness of it.

Much of Australia’s far north is tropical wilderness that falls within various National Parks. The Cobourg Peninsula is situated on the northwest corner of Arnhem Land and juts out into the Arafura Sea. The peninsula is part of the Garig Gunak Barlu National Park and is managed jointly by the traditional Aboriginal land owners and the Parks and Wildlife Commission of the Northern Territory. Governments employ wildlife rangers to patrol remote areas and enforce environmental laws, for example; the poaching of crocodiles. Much of their work is prevention as well as enforcement. The wildlife ranger has a vast area to patrol. He has to love living and working in a remote wilderness area where food may be dropped off by plane and many nights are spent camping outdoors. He needs many skills for this kind of work including sharp observation of nature. Pristine wilderness National Parks are a highly valued resource and in need of protection.

1. The video clip:
   1. What does the video clip show?
   2. What does the ranger do? List his different tasks.
   3. List the qualities that the ranger displays.
   4. Investigate the type of qualifications – formal and informal – that the wildlife ranger might need to carry out this job.
   5. Why does the ranger carry out this work? Do you think it is important to the environment? Do you think it is important to Australia? Explain your reasons.
2. In a small group have one of your members ‘be’ the ranger. Ask the ranger questions. The ranger must answer in a way that is consistent with what is shown in the video clip. If you think the ranger’s answers are not consistent with the clip you can ‘challenge’. If the ranger cannot persuade the group that her or his response is consistent, then the person who challenged becomes the ranger and answers the questions.
3. Investigate a local area which needs environmental protection. Design a poster that could raise community awareness about the locale and the need for action.