Returning: Australian Story, Four Corners, Media Watch, Q&A

In the 2015 season premiere at 8pm next Monday, Australian Story features Dof Dickinson – one of a new breed of business women out to improve the world.

From her glossy high-end advertising agency in Sydney, Dof committed her resources to make a film about an animal she’d never met. In the process, she met a community she’d never forget – the people of Port Hedland.

“Coming from the fast paced world of advertising, I could never have imagined myself arriving in Port Hedland in this incredible heat, the extreme colours. It’s quite overwhelming, actually. And straightaway I’m thinking to myself, wow, how am I going to get this documentary together and not look like an idiot?” Dof Dickinson.

The Flatback Turtle lives and breeds within one of the busiest shipping ports in the world. When the town’s Mayor, Kelly Howlett, realised that their numbers were declining, she started a support group which became the social centrepiece of a hard-core industrial town.

“If it had been all just protecting the turtle and not letting everyone be a part of it, then it wouldn’t be like it is today. But from the start, having that outlook of, this is our turtle here, how can everyone be involved – now, they’re very protective of it, it’s theirs.” Kelly Howlett, Chair, Care for Hedland.

Mayor Howlett commissioned Dof Dickinson to make a documentary to raise the profile of the endangered animal. With only meagre funds on offer, Dickinson soon found that her growing passion for the Flatbacks was outstripping the budget – but she was hooked.

“I think the documentary was just a total love project as clichéd as it might sound, doing something good and just for the sake of doing it. It’s always about the people, the human moments.” James Sutton, film editor.

After going over-budget by around twenty times, Dickinson and her team produced a stunning film which captures not only the lives of the turtles, but that of the people swept up in the passion and joy.

In the process of making the film, Dof Dickinson also discovered one of the causes of the loss of turtle habitat and is now on a mission to find a solution.

Also returning next Monday are Four Corners, Media Watch and Q & A.