In his latest project, Mark Coles Smith wants to put the incredible – and increasingly under threat – natural wonder of the Kimberley in the starring role.
Mark, who made his name as an actor in hits including drama Mystery Road: Origin and Netflix series Apple Cider Vinegar, spent his childhood happily playing along the banks of the lower Martuwarra in the Kimberley.
“I was throwing nets and falling off paperback trees into crocodile-infested waters,” he tells The Weekly. “I was riding dirt bikes through the back ends of the savanna and doing a lot of my schooling with the Kimberley School of the Air. It wasn’t until I left that I realised how different a childhood I’d had.”
Traversing 700 kilometres through savanna, mountain ranges and desert in Western Australia’s Kimberley, the Martuwarra – also known as the Fitzroy River – is one of the last great free-flowing river systems on Earth. It’s also one of the most pristine.
But this incredible force of nature – and the flora and fauna that depend on it to survive – is increasingly under threat. The impacts of cattle farming, mining, water retraction, fracking, the introduction of cane toads and feral cats, the cessation of traditional land management practices, global warming and more are all taking a toll.
And Mark, a proud Nyikina man whose mother’s family have dwelled on these lands for generations, isn’t about to let destruction happen without a fight.
So the actor, writer, musician and producer has joined forces with film company Wild Pacific Media to spend a year documenting the six tropical seasons that cycle through the 400,000 square kilometres of the Kimberley from the coastline to red desert country – and the importance each has in keeping the biodiversity and ecosystems alive. These six seasons are defined by natural events, rather than times of year, unlike the better-known quartet of summer, autumn, winter and spring.
“This is a place unlike any on Earth,” Mark says. “And it’s a place within isolation. It’s so far from anywhere else and that’s really been to its benefit. The Kimberley has been impacted by the cost of modernity, but those impacts are quite recent, so we still have a chance as a national and global community to decide to what degree we want those impacts to continue and what is worth protecting, investing in and preserving.
“It’s easy to take what we have for granted. In order for us not to do that, the best thing we can do is tell the story of the Kimberley, of all the animals that live here and the country that exists.”
Starting in the scorching dry heat of Lalin, the documentary doesn’t hold back in showcasing both the beauty and the savagery of nature.
Thirsty wallabies and their joeys brave saltwater crocodile-infested waters and predatory eagles to take a drink, while frill-neck lizards engage in battle to find a mate as the unforgiving season of Jirrbal – when skies are lit up with spectacular electrical storms with wildfires sparking in their wake – takes shape.
“This is the Kimberley: Not everyone makes it,” Mark says of the necessarily confronting scenes of wildlife filmmaking, “but everyone gets a chance.”
During Wilakarra, torrential rainstorms erupt to begin the new season as Mark is joined in the series by fellow members of the Martuwarra Fitzroy River Council – a coalition that his mother, Dr Anne Poelina, formed along with other traditional owners and First Nations leaders.
The group white-water rafts through treacherous waters to reach places even helicopters can’t safely reach, recording what wildlife they find there as well as what has sadly gone missing since their last visit.
“I did my first rafting trip from Barnett through to Fitzroy Crossing in 2021 and that was when the cane toads had arrived,” Mark recalls of his first official visit as part of the council several years earlier.
“It was me seeing them for the first time on the river and saying, There’s barely any sign or evidence of the goannas, the big [Kimberley rock] monitors and some of the quolls that I’d witnessed years previously. It was a night and day difference. It was a disappearance of what I’d been used to when I had previously visited that part of the country. But there are a lot of people working really hard on a number of different projects and programs, doing good work. It’s such a huge region and it definitely takes a village.”
As Wilakarra is replaced by the breezes of Koolawa, Mark heads downstream where migratory shorebirds arrive to feast ahead of their flight north to the high Arctic. Later, during the cool dry season of Barrkana, humpback whales make their way to the offshore waters and traditional fire management is undertaken to reduce the risk when Jirrbal next returns.
As the seasons change, Mark brings in the knowledge of different traditional owners, ecologists and other experts to talk about what their challenges are and what they are doing to stem the tide.
“Dr Skye Cameron of the AWC [Australian Wildlife Conservancy] speaks wonderfully,” says Mark. “As do some of the ranger groups throughout the Kimberley about the wonderful projects that are getting traditional owners back on their country, to be front and centre in spearheading a lot of the preservation. As do First Nations elders from the communities.”
The final season, Wilbooroo, sees the water shrink again from the landscape, with territorial crocs battling for a spot in the dwindling wetlands ahead of the return of another season of Lalin, when only the hardiest creatures can survive the dry savanna and desert.
Throughout his journey, Mark travels to far reaches of the Kimberley – places where native animals have evolved to withstand both the elements and the encroaching threats to their environment. It’s estimated that there are around 65 species of endemic wildlife – native vertebrate fauna found nowhere else in the world – as well as 309 endemic plant species, and it’s now up to us to make sure they can stay there.
Mark first moved to Broome at age 10, where the acting bug bit when he was 14 years old. Later, he migrated to Melbourne to ply his craft. Then, in the final stretch of the COVID pandemic he returned to the Kimberley to make his home and to be closer to family and community.
“And also,” he says now, “to reconnect with country and my mother’s culture. I’m leaning further into a sense of cultural obligation for things happening here … I’m kind of working as a media officer.”
For the past few years that has seen him writing and hosting factual series as well as making music inspired by the soundscapes of the Kimberley under the name of Kalaji – some of which features in the documentary.
Mark hopes that, in watching the show, viewers will be inspired by the rich tapestry of the region – both human and non-human. And equally, be keen to dive further into how they can also play a part in protecting our unique and biodiverse land. Recently, he tells The Weekly, The Martuwarra Fitzroy River Council finished up a heritage project, building an interactive map that delves deeply into the area.
“If any of your readers are wanting to learn more and support the work of the River Council, that would be huge,” he urges.
This article originally appeared in the June 2025 issue of The Australian Women’s Weekly.
Explore the interactive heritage map at livingwaterheritage.org
The Kimberley starts on Tuesday, May 13, 8pm on ABC TV, and ABC iview.
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