A hobby that grew from John Plant's passion for the outdoors has turned into a worldwide phenomenon after years of creating structures and tools in the bush in Cairns from scratch.
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At the age of 11, Mr Plant was curious about nature and, with no televisions show or books to challenge himself to bring out his survival skills, he began to dabble with anything he could find in the bush.
Three years after he created his Primitive Technology YouTube account, Mr Plant's videos have gained traction, with about 8 million subscribers eager to learn how he makes things with the bare minimum.
Mr Plant said the interesting pastime had many benefits, including improving his fitness and problem solving skills.
"I started when I was 11 and had no real goal other than staying entertained," he said.
"I like inventing things and by not using modern tools and materials, it forces you to come up with solutions you wouldn't normally think of.
"Also, I like the theme of incremental improvement and technological evolution."
Mr Plant, who has no training, said he came up with the idea to create things through trial and error back in the days when the internet was not what it is today and there were no books or TV shows to help him.
He said his hobby challenged him to come up with ideas he had not thought of before, such as making wood ash for cement or a forge blower.
"Most people would think to make a leather bellows to force air into a furnace primitively but I came up with a centrifugal fan made from clay and bark," Mr Plant said.
"It's basically like a super charger in a car made from mud and sticks. A lack of leather or canvas forced me to think of a different way to blow air into a furnace by taking a modern concept and retro engineering it with primitive materials."
Mr Plant said the most labour-intensive project he had done was spending 102 days to complete a tiled roof hut, using firewood and clay to make the tiles.
He said creating his YouTube account was a "spur of the moment" decision made to share his videos, which featured visual bites with no narration.
"I thought there would be a small niche audience interested in the concept of making things completely from scratch in the wild," he said.
Despite not living in the wild himself, Mr Plant said the hobby encouraged him and others to solve problems in a different way by seeing things from another perspective.
"[I hope they can] apply broad, abstract concepts from the videos into their everyday lives," he said.
