Black Cockatoo Crisis - The World Premiere

Now, do you say Bor-din, or Bough-din, or Bow-dan, more like the way the French pronounce Baudin, the French naturalist who visited Australia, including our South West, in around 1801-02?

However you like to pronounce it, the Black Cockatoo in question is still Baudin’s Cockatoo/Ngoolyanak and there are still only around 4,000 of them left living in our South West, on current estimates.

Of the much loved Carnaby’s Black Cockatoos/Ngoolyak, there are estimated to be more – around 40,000 – but their existence is also under threat.

And if you add in the estimated 10,000 Forest Red-tails/Karak, then we have around 55,000 Black Cockatoos all up.

Sounds a lot? Not really. Many, many more in Baudin’s time, no doubt. And they are all under threat, for a number of reasons but principally due to loss and fragmentation of habitats.

Jane Hammond, whose career as a social impact film maker we have featured here on the Shipping News, and who made the influential Cry of the Forest, has now made Black Cockatoo Crisis, a film documenting the existential threat our Black Cockatoo friends face.

Jane Hammond kindly met with Michael Barker, our Editor, to discuss the film and its making, and what happens next.

And if you’d like to contribute to the cost of making the film, here’s how you can!