BeakerStreet@TMAG presents the Hobart premiere of PUSH DAY, a short film directed by Fraser Johnston, followed by a Q&A with the director and some of the cave diving team. 

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PUSH DAY follows a caving team on a single cave diving expedition to the edge of the known world in Australia's deepest cave. In the time of Google Earth, Push Day examines what it takes to go beyond the edge of the map and stand alone facing the unknown. 22min.

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Immediately following the film, join us for a Q&A with director Fraser Johnston, cave diver Stephen Fordyce, and speleologist Stefan Eberhard. This team recently grabbed national headlines by setting the record for the deepest cave in Australia, connecting Niggly cave in Tasmania’s Junee Florentine with Growling Swallett.

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About the Team:
 

Melbourne based caver, cave diver and engineer Stephen Fordyce has completed some of the most challenging cave dives in Australia. The 2006 Australian Geographic Society Young Adventurer of the Year has stepped foot in places that nobody else in history has ever been, and maybe none will ever return to. On solo expedition dives beyond the known limits of some of Australia’s deepest cave systems, Steve is truly and utterly cut off from the outside world in a way that not many other people will ever experience, and help is a long way away.
Steve will be talking about the ongoing project to explore the unmapped flooded passageways of Australia’s deepest cave, Niggly cave in Tasmania’s Junee Florentine features in the short film Push Day.

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Dr Stefan Eberhard has been exploring and researching caves for almost 40 years, and is one of Australia’s leading researchers in the fields of speleology and subterranean ecology. In the 1980’s, with other members of the Tasmanian Caverneering Club, he spearheaded the exploration and mapping  of numerous deep caves including three Australian caving depth records.  He is an experienced cave diver and has participated in numerous expeditions in Australia and other countries. Stefan is the founding Director of Subterranean Ecology  Pty Ltd, an environmental consultancy that specialises in scientific research and environmental management of caves, karst, and other subterranean ecosystems.  He has a deep and holistic appreciation of environmental systems and processes, and enjoys sharing his knowledge and understanding with others. 

 

Fraser Johnston Is a film maker and Emmy nominated cinematographer who has been documenting the exploration of the Junee Florentine cave system in Southern Tasmania for the past three years. Fraser has learned vertical caving from scratch before joining expeditions into the country’s deepest and most challenging caves, filming and working along side cavers and cave divers as they explore and map the huge cave system, searching for undiscovered sections of the near mythical Junee Master Cave. 
Fraser will be talking about the challenges of filming underground, and his in development caving feature film Tartarus.

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Photo Credit: Stuart Donn