Shedding light, and dust, on Australia's European art

Australian light has a strangely compelling quality. I can usually identify an Australia-based TV production by the natural lighting in outdoor scenes. Sometimes I can even distinguish the region where the program was filmed; southern light is different from tropical light, for example.

I don't know how I can do this. I grew up in southeastern Queensland, on Australia's east coast, but have also lived in Melbourne, near the southernmost point of mainland Australia, where the distinctive local light has played an important role in the country's cultural development.