March 20, 2015
Summer pest or national treasure: documentary reveals the great Australian fly
A new one-hour TV documentary featuring a UOW biologist will reveal how the much-maligned spoiler of the Australian summer, the fly, is in fact a crime solver, healer, pollinator and street sweeper.
Part social history, part scientific study, ‘The Great Australian Fly’, will show how the tiny and misunderstood insects are confounding our scientists, influencing our lifestyle and defining the way we speak.
The Great Australian Fly introduces the people who devote their lives to flies through science, criminology, medicine, as breeders and for love.
And it explains why we might need to stop swatting and start embracing the fly, which looms large in our past, our present and our future.
Viewers will meet Associate Professor James Wallman, from UOW’s School of Biological Sciences, who has been lifting the covers on the secret sex lives of flies.
Professor Wallman has studied insects for more than 25 years and uses the insects to aid missing persons and homicide investigations, including assessing the time of the victim’s death.
Associate Professor James Wallman studied on the courtship rituals and sex lives of the small hairy maggot blowfly to better understand how they choose a mate and continue the breeding cycle.
Queensland Museum’s curator of entomology and avid bug catcher Dr Christine Lambkin is leading a charge to identify and name some of the thousands of endemic fly species still to be classified.
Directed by Tosca Looby and produced by Sally Ingleton, the amusing and intriguing film pays homage to the tiny invertebrate and the influence it has had on our world.
“Most people don’t know anything about flies, they see them buzzing around and the first thing they think is how do I get rid of them?” Ingleton said. “I think there is also a fear of flies – they are seen to be dirty and to spread disease – and I thought it would be interesting to explore the subject.
“Are flies really as bad as people believe? We decided to tell a chronological history story, woven through with stories of the people who work with flies; who study them, draw them, catch them and breed them.”
An expert natural-history filmmaker, Ingleton is interested in the way our wildlife intersects with people and the impact humans have had on its behaviour and survival. She has made documentaries about Little Penguins (Penguin Island), kangaroos (Kangaroo Mob) and Tasmanian devils (Devil Island).
The flies are central to the film and director Tosca Looby along with cinematographers Peter Nearhos and Peter Coleman, used the latest high-speed photography - up to 200 frames per second technology - to capture them in all their glory.
Narrated by John Doyle, The Great Australian Fly is a fascinating and comical exploration into the way our nation has tried to combat, control and understand the humble fly.
The Great Australian Fly screens on ABC TV at 8.30pm on 7 April.
Media contact
Asha Holmes on +61 403 274 299 or asha@ashaholmespublicity.com.au; Grant Reynolds, UOW Media Communications Officer on +61 417 010 350 or grantr@uow.edu.au.