The problem with the oldest river in the world

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Summary

Beau Miles explores the Think River in Central Australia, the oldest river in the world coursing through one of Earth's hottest landscapes. Despite its remarkable history of supporting life for millions of years, the river faces the threat of rapid change due to climate change. Beau embarks on a unique journey to run the river, documenting the experience filled with exploration, stories, and encounters with locals like Benji, who deeply connect with their ancestral lands. This adventure not only highlights the enduring natural beauty and challenges of the Think River but also reflects on the broader impact of human choices on the environment.

Highlights

Beau stands in awe at the Think River, a place affected globally despite its remote location 🌐.
Running the dried riverbed offers a unique perspective on the landscape and its ancient beauty 🌄.
Local guide Benji shares stories and cultural richness connected to the river, enriching Beau's journey 🌿.
Heatwaves and extreme weather underline the urgency of addressing climate change by showcasing its impact on this iconic river 🌞.
Solo camping experiences along the journey provide Beau insight into nature's delicate balance and man's influence 🌳.

Key Takeaways

The Think River, deemed the world's oldest, is a testament to nature's resilience and beauty, yet faces existential threats from climate change 🌍.
Beau Miles embarks on an adventurous run along the dried riverbed to experience its stark beauty and cultural significance firsthand 🏃‍♂️.
Through interactions with locals like Benji, the cultural and spiritual importance of the river to Indigenous Australians is highlighted 🌏.
The documentary-style exploration emphasizes the interconnectedness of human actions and environmental changes, urging mindfulness and sustainable choices 🌿.
Beau's journey is not just physical but philosophical, prompting reflections on past, present, and future environmental stewardship 💡.

Overview

Beau Miles takes us on a fascinating adventure along the Think River, known as the oldest river in the world, located in the harsh, arid landscape of Central Australia. This journey isn’t just about the physical feat of running along its dried bed but a deep dive into the history, culture, and environmental challenges surrounding the river. Despite being more than 100 kilometers from the coast, this river is deeply influenced by global human activity, embodying the universal impact of climate change.

As Beau proceeds with his run, he is guided by Benji, a local who shares a rich tapestry of stories and cultural wisdom about the river and its significance to Indigenous Australians. The expedition is as much about listening and learning as it is about the physical challenge. Together, they delve into conversations about land, ancestral stories, and the looming threats posed by climate change, enriching Beau's understanding and appreciation of this ancient waterway.

The trip is punctuated by moments of solitude, contemplation, and awe at the natural beauty and resilience of the environment. Through camping and exploring remote parts of the river, Beau captures the stark reality of an ever-changing ecosystem, urging collective responsibility in safeguarding such precious parts of the Earth. This narrative compels us to reflect on our relationship with nature, the essence of environmental stewardship, and our role in writing the future for such ancient rivers.

Chapters

00:00 - 01:00: Introduction and Background The chapter examines a sparsely populated area in central Australia, noting the global interconnectedness as it feels the impact of 7 billion people worldwide. It also highlights the amazing attributes of the Think River region.
01:00 - 03:00: The Expedition Begins The chapter titled 'The Expedition Begins' introduces a journey through one of the hottest places on Earth, which is experiencing rising temperatures. The unique nature of this river, in contrast to other rivers the narrator has encountered, is emphasized. Past experiences include a city river littered with garbage and a wilderness river polluted by mining runoff.
03:00 - 06:00: Day One on the Fink River This chapter, titled 'Day One on the Fink River,' discusses the significance of the Fink River, which is considered the oldest river in the world. It highlights the river's role in supporting life for hundreds of millions of years and the current risks it faces due to rapid environmental changes. The narrative reflects the author's surprise at being in the middle of the desert, about to embark on further exploration.
06:00 - 11:00: Exploring the Landscape and Cultural Significance This chapter delves into the natural and cultural significance of the oldest river in the world. It begins with the narrator expressing a desire to explore the river, noting its current dry state that prevents paddling. Instead, they opt to explore the various water holes of the river, starting with what is known as the 'first water hole of the Think River.' The narrative highlights the river's appeal as a tourist destination, with people frequently visiting and exploring its unique rock formations and natural beauty. The narrator finds satisfaction in observing the river's ability to attract visitors, emphasizing its importance both as a natural wonder and a cultural landmark.
11:00 - 14:00: Challenges and Reflections The chapter titled 'Challenges and Reflections' delves into the theme of sharing and preserving stories, experiences, and cultural heritage. The speaker mentions the significance of conveying narratives and memories that have been passed down through generations. Benji, portrayed as a mentor and guide, is introduced. His role in the chapter indicates the importance of guidance and mentorship during the journey described. The emphasis is on collective experiences and the continuation of traditions over the years.
14:00 - 16:00: Concluding Thoughts and Broader Implications The chapter concludes by emphasizing the enduring connection to the land that individuals and families maintain through generations. It describes the cultural traditions, such as storytelling about the Dreamtime, that are passed down as families gather along rivers like the F river. Through these gatherings and stories, people like Benji, representing a lineage spanning 35 years, maintain their ties to their country, illustrating the broader implications of cultural continuity and heritage.

The problem with the oldest river in the world Transcription

00:00 - 00:30 I'm standing in a place that has the smallest population in Australia and yet it feels the effects of the 7 billion people around the world. And it's an amazing place. The Think River, Central Australia,
00:30 - 01:00 courses through one of the hottest places on Earth. And it's getting hotter. That's the reason I'm here, because it's so staggeringly different from the other rivers I've visited. I've been to a city river that's full of rubbish and a wilderness river full of runoff from a mine. badness was
01:00 - 01:30 obvious. The remarkable thing about the Think is that it's considered the oldest river in the world, coursing through the landscape for hundreds of millions of years. It's been a river supporting life for a remarkable stretch of time. And that very thing all of a sudden is at risk of rapid change. I never thought I'd be sitting in the middle of the desert about to descend a
01:30 - 02:00 river. There's no water in it. I can't paddle it. So, I'm going to run the oldest river in the world. This is the first water hole of the Think River. It's kind of nice that it's a tourist attraction. You know, people are crawling out of the rocks all over the place. This is fantastic. People are coming to see these places. And that's what I'm here for,
02:00 - 02:30 too. To come and see this place and have an experience here. These folks are gathering up stories and photos and experiences, and they pass it on to someone, which is what's been happening here for tens of thousands of years. So, we've got this great fellow Benji along. He's going to be our guide. Yeah. A bit of a mentor. Uh I'll see him at various stages throughout the run. Um we
02:30 - 03:00 go through his country for the first 40 or 50 km and he's been here his whole life, of course, and then he's 35 years of a big long line of Benji's like him. It's not it's not just all about the kangary tail. It's the fact it's like when every families go out like on the F river and have feed and that they tell stories, you know, about the dream time and all this.
03:00 - 03:30 The Fin River starts in the dead center of Australia, thousands of kilometers from the edge of the continent. My plan is to run the first 100 km of the Fin over 3 days. I've stripped back my gear and I'm fully self-supported. The key theme for the run is to drink only from the water holes or riverbed of the finink. Much like Benji's family have done for an awfully long time, the water
03:30 - 04:00 I find will dictate what I can or can't do here. It'll be nice to stop along the way and to chat with you and to hear some stories and slow down. And I'm always in a hurry. So, um I feel compelled to be slower up here because I feel like it's a I feel like being slower. Yeah. Yeah. At the end of a journey, you will fully understand. You know, it's like bit of bit of bad, middle, good. See the difference how the
04:00 - 04:30 country changed. But like I said, you know, I am connected with the Fing River. the pins come out a really good moment. But um what I'll try what I'll do something tomorrow or like when we all down in the water I want to do the welcome to country but other people do smoking ceremony but I I do I prefer
04:30 - 05:00 water you know. Okay. Mhm. Are you happy for us to film that? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Of course. Yeah. For me and my family, we want people to know, you know, how proud we are of the Fring River. Rivers are the are the great end point for how healthy land is, which is representative of how healthy humans are
05:00 - 05:30 or how we're treating it. Now, this is a um ephemeral river, so it only runs during massive flood events anyway, which is not often. So, it's mostly a dry river, but it's also where most of the life kind of comes to. It's got water holes all through it. This is a trip about water, and it's very cool that for the most part, I will run a big chunk of this river and not swim it or paddle it
05:30 - 06:00 or whatever. I got to remember to look around and take in this landscape. Just staggering. The land that we are sitting on now is western country. My ancestors lived all along in the back behind these ranges. And this area used to be just
06:00 - 06:30 fishing country. Yeah. So, but to this day, we still living by the river. You're going to be swimming across while we meet on the other side. She's cold, baby. Oh, yeah.
06:30 - 07:00 That sun feels good. Once again, my love and loathing of the sun starts today. Benji said I should light a fire on this side and Thor out. He's not half wrong. I'm a blow in here. I'm a transient. And it kind of intimidates
07:00 - 07:30 me. The size of this landscape, the stillness, the silence, the fact that I don't know a lot of the bird calls. It's not yet a bad river. It's got some problems. There's grazing salinity, some weeds all over the joint. I didn't know that this grass is not supposed to be here. This one, Benji was saying last night, it's just taken over all the native grasses. What survives here is a product of only the hardiest things that can can
07:30 - 08:00 survive. It gets on average 20 days of rain here and they're just bits and bobs. Only sign of other things obvious life other than the birds chirping and the insects buzzing is um lots of uh cow and horse So wild cows and wild brumies in here apparently. What a bibong. Classic inland
08:00 - 08:30 Australia. You beauty. They're just magic. I didn't think there'd be this much water. You know, there's been water on and off now for 10ks or so. Um February. Yeah, February we had good rain, but before that we just didn't have much. It's like sort of two year
08:30 - 09:00 drought. It is true that you can get used to the heat. You can talk yourself into it and succumb. You can be practical with how you go about life using nights and mornings when it's cool. And today isn't even hot. It's winter here. But even now, when I'm in it and I can't hide, it creeps up on you and accumulates. In 2013, the Australian
09:00 - 09:30 government added a new color to its heat index. It's this frightening color, purple, representing 50 to 54° C. Temperatures that until then had never been recorded or backdated through history. And it was that color purple and the graph that led me here in the first place. Hey, big bull. Big bull. Oh,
09:30 - 10:00 mama. It's a big boy. He's a ginger, too. And there's a big gum coming up. It's magnificent. And it's been here for a bloody long time. Look at this. What a portal to history. Kind of tangible history, too, because a rock is so ancient, millions
10:00 - 10:30 of years old. Whereas this, you know, I can fathom a bit more human history with this one. Horse. I was just saying I like the look of this water hole. Another uh spot to put the billy in for tea. But
10:30 - 11:00 alas, with the water holes, we're worried about those. And when the water start drying, the animals just die in there. And we can't swim in there because it's still poison. Running a riverbed feels like a grand
11:00 - 11:30 mistake, as if I'm running along a beach in the moments before a tsunami rolls in. Or walking through Time Square without a single other person, like Tom Cruz in Vanilla Sky. It's a provocative experience because everything looks and feels like a river, but with the remarkable absence of water. The very thing that you think makes a
11:30 - 12:00 river. It's well into the afternoon now. I don't think I'll crack 30ks today. Benji's going to do a, you know, welcome to country or welcome to his country. Bloody good looking water hole. Beautiful. This here is called Numipa. And this water has never been dried. You
12:00 - 12:30 know, it's a permanent spring. That's like a little cave system underneath. That's where the water comes out of. We'll just, you know, just wash our face, wash our hand. Yeah. Just to welcome you over here. It was nice to be on Benji's true homelands where he grew up, learned to fish, and swim by the banks of the fin. He tells me of another water hole a few kilometers down river, which sounded perfect for a solo camp.
12:30 - 13:00 And I'll tell you what, making camp at the end of a physical day is one of my great pleasures in life. Look at this. I'm going to make myself a liter of tea. So, yeah, these are these are what I've I've bought. Sugar, tea,
13:00 - 13:30 jam, 1 kilogram of flour for damper. That's next. I'd make three or four dampers a day, which was another way to force my hand of being reliant on the fin. Without water, a bag of flour is useless. But it looks like I've never done it in a lid of a pot before because I haven't. And the trick is to slow
13:30 - 14:00 cook. Oh, come along beautifully. That's a great little loaf. Easy Bodie. Take one obnoxious knife, one decent lashing of strawberry jam. Lick sad knife. Didn't bring
14:00 - 14:30 pegs. And here's bed. A bivvie without a pole. Oh, this is very pleasant. Laying on the sandy bank of the Fink River looking directly into the sky. That's fantastic.
14:30 - 15:00 So, I've been up now almost 2 hours and the whole morning's just about getting out of here. Boiling two billies and then cooling them before I can put them in a flask takes bloody ages. It's kind of good, you know, for a bloke who always wants to keep going. You put these overlays to yourself cuz I could get water from the crew. I could get
15:00 - 15:30 food from the crew. I could do this really lightweight, but then you just blast through the country. Really slows me down. Day two on the fin. I'm in a dual state of awareness. Maybe the think water in my cups of tea and my bread start to soak in. That's a good metaphor for actually
15:30 - 16:00 being here, taking on the cells of the place that I'm passing through. Oh, that's a big big pile of male horseshit. I think male I think the Australians always crap in the same place to mark their territory. I don't know what the lifespan of a horse out here is, but I can't imagine it to be very old. Bloody grim, really. Poor
16:00 - 16:30 bastards. On the outskirts of Hermansburg, I visit the original home of Albert Namajiraa. I sp he'd be your most famous Aboriginal artist. And the strange thing is he's famous for painting in a western way. He was a watercolist. I've known Namadjira's work my whole life, having seen a small print of his tacked into a nook of my dad's studio. And my dad, who's an artist, always talked about him. In fact, he
16:30 - 17:00 painted like him at times. Yeah. Dad's painted the F River a bunch of times. He's seen it in flood. And Albert Amadira's probably got a lot to do with it. Elbert's life is one of the reasons I knew about the Fin River and the town of Hermansburg. Herman'sburg, the township is off to my left. Yeah, this place has got the most at stake of any settlement on the fin. It's the largest on the fin. Their
17:00 - 17:30 balls, their water holes, they need them to survive. The great contradiction with this adventure is that I'm here in the first place. Me and four crew flying in, driving about the desert, getting bogged, while I run around trying to
17:30 - 18:00 cook up a story. Folks might say I could have told the story of the think without being here, which is true. But having lived a life of experiences, which become my knowledge and informs how I tell stories, there is a big difference between a river on a map and a river I've met.
18:00 - 18:30 And my plan is to sort of spend the next hour, 90 minutes here making bread and water and just having R&R during that sort of middle hour or two of the day. For a bloke who's pretty good at cooking damper, it was looking like I'd overdone it, which was a real shame because I'd asked Benji and his great uncle Stewart to share the damper with me.
18:30 - 19:00 It was like eating rocks. You reckon it's getting hotter? It It is getting hotter now. Yeah. Yep. And we're afraid that this year the summer's going to be really really hot. Yes. Yeah. Come in. Come in. Yeah. This summer. Yeah. So, we're just going to try be prepared. We never used to wear shoes. Nah. How How old were you when you had your first pair of shoes? I was about 12. Well, I've got a daughter who's 2 years
19:00 - 19:30 old and we had shoes on her before she could even walk, which I wondered why we did 6 months before. That's good. We got reception here. So, it's your language. Yeah. Yeah.
19:30 - 20:00 We're starting to get into this red gorged country. And this is where they've dated it to be the oldest river in the world because the river outdates the uplifted mountains either side of it. It's usually the other way around that water runs through a landscape and cuts into it over time. The mountains have grown around
20:00 - 20:30 the river. It's remarkable. You should see the placement after a big rain. The people all the way on the side of the river to watch, you know, the mighty finger flow. The hotter this place gets, the more of the landscape
20:30 - 21:00 evaporates. Scientists predict that it will actually create bigger and wetter storm events, but they'll be less frequent. As I make my way down this river, it's starting to dawn on me that people like me, billions of us all over the world, make choices. And those choices in the coming years will affect what lives and dies here.
21:00 - 21:30 Now, I'm not religious, but that's a very godly thing to think that our actions as a collective dictates life everywhere. Oh, it is. It's
21:30 - 22:00 electric. I'll be damned. It's an electric fence. The river for the last 10ks has been magnificent. I like the fact that I'm thirsty all the time. Everything is about water. You obsess about water. When you do journeys in the heat, too. It makes me think about the early
22:00 - 22:30 explorers. It makes me think how the Aboriginal people constantly evolved around water. Culture is built on water. Benji tells me about a great sandy beach and water hole for my next solo camp. As the next 20ks is inaccessible by vehicle, I'd see the crew tomorrow for lunch. When you get to the bottom of a big red cliff, Benji had said, "You're
22:30 - 23:00 there." My decision to be alone was pretty simple. I'm a new parent in the busiest phase of my life, and I'm never alone. And it's alone when I do my best thinking.
23:00 - 23:30 M grainy bits and all sugary. Oh, it's nights like tonight where you realize just how bloody lucky you are. to have places like this where you can
23:30 - 24:00 go and get perspective on the world. Bloody hell, Bodie. That's a good one, mate. It's freaking hot. I'd buy that. I'd go into a store and say, "Yep, I'll have one of them. Oh
24:00 - 24:30 yeah. Pancake sky. A very pleasing sky for a day that's going to be pretty warm. giant big hunks of rust iron colored rock just brilliant. If you go along by yourself,
24:30 - 25:00 just feel it. Listen to the animal, listen to the spirit, even the rocks. You know, when we die, we go back to the land. So this is why we want to protect not only the land but fing river for me knowing that you know they still live here the fing river is still Five.
25:00 - 25:30 feel like this is um the sort of think I came looking for with the gorgees and the color spectrum and the big river red gums and the bird life. I've hit flow state in a river that's not really flowing. The older I get, the more I've
25:30 - 26:00 come to question the uselessness of my running. useless if it doesn't give my mind as much of a workout as my legs. 10 years ago, I would have gone faster and further and with less agenda other than my selfish search for an existential self. Keep it personal and simple. But there is nothing simple about this river and its people. As I listen to Benji and Stuart,
26:00 - 26:30 I hear a lot of tragedy and yet resilience to their story. Um, his brother is a the man on the $2 coin. The first Aronda to be baptized. Yeah. 14 years of age, 1887. Yeah. So, that's my um that's his uh mother's mother's mother's mother's father. So, any I'm just looking for similarities, similar eyes. today.
26:30 - 27:00 A common thread is always water. They talk about this river like they talk about a family member. Think about that. It's a hell of a premise. And the Frink River here like this is where you run through the fin through this chief of the rain man. And then the running waters country and that you know this is how the connection for us. Even the fact he's written in a sent to Germany. Yeah,
27:00 - 27:30 that's my secret talent. Protecting cameras when I fall with a camera through the land. I do that once a film at least twice maybe. It's not only one family groups river. There are all the you know locals from
27:30 - 28:00 Ellis Springs the tourists you know they love coming out here being with people like you guys that feeling you know makes my soul and spirit happy. So I find myself in the final furong second half of day three as the heat of the day starts to kick in. But the point is having a conversation with Benji and Stuart on the bonnet of their
28:00 - 28:30 car is that it's really important to know the past so you can try and make a good future. When I saw that the temperatures out here were increasing and it's happening in this short space of geological time, it's very abstract unless you come out here and I suppose get an impression of what is heating up and what's at
28:30 - 29:00 stake. Bird life is abundant. The scenery is to you know it's what poets and writers that's their muse. This is a landscape that is remarkable.
29:00 - 29:30 This is the equivalent of paddling in the wake of a boat running in the ruts of cars. But Brett, intrepid cameraman. He's in very little at the moment. I got to say, he looks pretty
29:30 - 30:00 good. I don't know. I don't know what's going on there, but I like it. The trouble with a film that's called Bad River is that I'm kind of on the back foot with the way I tell the story of it. The other rivers very easily I can slip into a really negative mind frame of why have we done this? Why have we
30:00 - 30:30 stuffed up the very thing that gives us life? Well, I can't do that with the fin. This is a future bad river and we're kind of at the tip of the iceberg with it.
30:30 - 31:00 Imagine being proud of a river. You're proud of something you don't own. You can't give it away or trade it or gain anything other than a feeling. You're proud of it because it exists. And somewhere along the way, you've come to realize its complexity and its health is a must. Benji and Stuart know this. It's not lost on me that my coastal life
31:00 - 31:30 and global travel stitched into heavy industries and an addiction to stuff is the very reason this place is getting warmer. Monumental forces are at play. And it's intimidating because even for someone who's looking, I can't see the biggest threat to the oldest river in the world.
31:30 - 32:00 And that's the trouble with climate change.