Welcome to 2022

Purchase tickets here>

Join the team at the Marine Discovery Centre for a morning of interactive fun, marine-based learning and recycled craft activities.

During the session, you will have access to a variety of interactive discovery stations including Kaurna learning, sea aquariums, brand new virtual reality headsets, brand new hands-on games and recycled craft activities.

TIMES

10am - 11.30am - Interactive Centre Activities

11.30am - 12pm - Guided Beach Marine Trail on Henley Beach (if weather permits)

LOCATION

Marine Discovery CentreCnr Seaview Road & Marlborough Street, Henley Beach, SA 5022

INCLUDES

* Aquariums featuring local South Australian marine creatures such as the Port Jackson Shark, Tasmanian horned blenny, Big-Bellied Seahorses, Southern Fiddler Ray, Porcupine Fish, Murray River Turtle and more

* Brand new Virtual Reality Headsets giving you the opportunity to explore under the sea without getting wet. Underwater virtual reality experiences include Australian Sea Lions, Leafy Seadragons, swimming under the Henley Beach Jetty, and Google Expeditions to the Great Barrier Reef

* Kaurna education Room (The Wodli) is an interactive room which highlights the relationship that Kaurna people have with the Adelaide Plains and the coast.

* Interactive models featuring our brand new diving games, brand new beachcombing game plus oceanography, brand new sounds of the ocean game, brand fish schooling experience, climate change interactive, marine debris, marine habitats, touchscreens, sustainable fishing, stormwater, beachcombing, and get hands-on with our microscopes.

* Henley Beach Marine Trail 11.30am - 12pm (if weather permits)

* Each ticket holder will receive a free beachcombing sheet to take home

* Event seeded by Green Adelaide

COST

$10 per person (children 3 and under are free of charge)

REFUNDS

Refunds requested within 24 hours of event will not be refunded

All refunds will attract the small Eventbrite booking fee

Purchase tickets here>

Purchase tickets here>

Join the Marine Discovery Centre's Cultural Educator, for an afternoon of sharing stories and learning about the culture of the land and the people by looking at Kaurna tools and artefacts. A number of these artefacts have been loaned from the Port Environment Centre which were created by James Taylor.

You will learn about bush tucker in our nature playground and visit the Wodli, a dedicated space in the Marine Discovery Centre that highlights the relationship that Kaurna people have with the coastal environment and the Adelaide Plains. This is a hands-on event where you have the opportunity to see first-hand how many Kaurna artefacts and tools were used and how Aboriginals practised sustainable living every day. Karno will also share the ins and outs of how the Yidaki (Didgeridoo) is played.

A short tour of the Marine Discovery Centre which hosts aquariums featuring South Australian marine creatures, specimens, interactive models and coastal and sustainable education will be included.

Please note that this session is aimed at adults however children are more than welcome. The workshop will be 90 minutes followed by a 30 minute tour.

Tickets:

$10 per person (children 3 and under are free of charge but must be supervised at all times)

Location:

Marine Discovery Centre - Corner Marlborough Street and Seaview Road, Henley Beach.

Parking is available on Seaview Road, Marlborough Street and off Foord Ave

Purchase tickets here>

Purchase tickets here>

During the session, children will have access to a variety of interactive discovery stations including Kaurna learning, sea aquariums, brand new virtual reality headsets, brand new hands-on games and recycled craft activities

* Please note: Tickets are only required for children, one parent per child (multiple children are allowed though). Parent's must order their ticket (free of charge) when purchasing tickets for children. Parents must stay with children throughout the session.

TIMES

10am - 11.30am - Interactive Centre Activities & Craft

11.30am - 12pm - Guided Beach Marine Trail on Henley Beach (if weather permits)

LOCATION

Marine Discovery Centre Cnr Seaview Road & Marlborough Street, Henley Beach, SA 5022

INCLUDES

* Materials for recycled craft activities, art can be taken home

* Aquariums featuring local South Australian marine creatures such as the Port Jackson Shark, Big-Bellied Seahorses, Southern Fiddler Ray, Porcupine Fish, native Oysters, Murray River Turtle and more

* Brand new Virtual Reality Headsets giving you the opportunity to explore under the sea without getting wet. Underwater virtual reality experiences include Australian Sea Lions, Leafy Seadragons, swimming under the Henley Beach Jetty, and Google Expeditions to the Great Barrier Reef

* Kaurna education Room (The Wodli) is an interactive room which highlights the relationship that Kaurna people have with the Adelaide Plains and the coast.

* Interactive models featuring our brand new diving games, brand new sounds of the ocean interactive, brand new beachcombing game plus oceanography, climate change, marine debris, marine habitats, touchscreens, sustainable fishing, stormwater, beachcombing, and get hands-on with our microscopes.

* Henley Beach Marine Trail 11.30am - 12pm (if weather permits)

* Each child will receive a free beachcombing sheet to take home

Seeded by Green Adelaide

Purchase tickets here>

Why not adopt one of your own marine creatures? We'll send you an information kit about your creature and you'll be helping us to improve our educational activities.

Our Adoption Package gives you the opportunity to receive updated information and provides the Marine Discovery Centre with financial support. For your commitment you receive:

• A personalised photograph and certificate of your creature
• Signage within the Marine Discovery Centre with the chosen adopted name of your creature
• A marine storybook featuring South Australian marine creatures
• The opportunity to get up close and personal with your adopted creature and feed it

By adopting a marine creature, you are helping the Marine Discovery Centre to:

• Look after the marine creatures with quality care including food, cooling, lighting and filtration of the aquariums
• Educating school groups and the community about South Australia's marine environment
• Provide opportunities for people to observe marine life

Adopt-A-Creature

Watch the introduction video to see what the day includes.

The Marine Discovery Centre has celebrated 23 years of running primary school excursion programs, teaching over 120,000 children about South Australia’s iconic coastal and marine environments since 1997.

Our aquariums feature local marine wildlife species and we provide engaging beachside marine trails to complement the Centre’s indoor educational facilities. 

The team at the Marine Discovery Centre will provide both indoor and outdoor setting for children to engage in interactive learning experiences while empowering them to actively protect South Australia’s iconic coastal and marine environments. Our aim is to connect you and your students with the marine world through our interactive excursions and classroom activities. Learning experiences at the Marine Discovery Centre are facilitated by qualified marine scientists and a cultural educator.

Here’s what educators have said about these hands-on excursions this year:

"Thank you for a wonderful excursion, the students, and adults, all had a wonderful - and informative - visit!" — Educator, Year 2 Class, 2021

"I just wanted to say what an amazing time we had at the Marine Discovery Centre today. Our children have been engaged in an inquiry into the beach since we walked there in term 1 and this was a great culmination to that inquiry. The activities provided were well suited to our age group and the children all enjoyed their day " – Director, Kindergarten, 2021

"Thank you for the wonderful experience you provided our classes.  We were blessed with perfect weather for our excursion and the children really enjoyed their day out.  The Discovery Groups you ran in the afternoon were fantastic.  All the children could talk about when we came back were the VR headsets!!  Of course, they all loved walking along the beach collecting things and doing the sort circle with their bits and pieces.."— Educator, 2021

Click here to download the 2022 Excursions and Incursions program. Teaching resources are available. Programs relate directly to themes in the Australian Curriculum in areas such as Science, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories and Cultures, Geography and Sustainability. Click here for available teaching resources.

Hands-on excursions really bring units of work to life for students.

The Marine Discovery Centre is closely aligned with ACARA (Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority) particularly the cross-curriculum priorities of Sustainability and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories and Cultures. 

*Bookings are essential. Minimum class charge of 15 students (60 max).

**Cost (ExGST): $15.00 per student. Teachers and Adult Helpers FREE.

Click here to download a sample timetable of activities (program runs 9.45am to 2pm +/- 30mins depending on travel flexibility).

Click here for online bookings

Or contact us for further details and bookings

Each year we choose a special way to thank our volunteers for their hard work and dedication. This year we decided on an evening dolphin cruise with Temptation Sailing. What a treat it was for us all.

We have a dedicated team of volunteers and the Marine Discovery Centre has been delighted to be able to provide opportunities for aspiring marine scientists, educators and people who are passionate about our marine environment.

You can meet a handful of our volunteers here>

If you would like to join our team, find out more here>

A wonderful new addition to the Marine Discovery Centre is the oyster tank which was generously donated to the MDC by MOD. at UniSA. The native oysters (Australian Flat Oyster Ostrea angasi) have also been donated by Steve and Gerri Bowley from Pacific Estate Oysters in Stansbury.

Why do we have an Oyster tank at the MDC?

Oysters are excellent water filters - improving water quality through filtering algae, nutrients and suspended matter from the seawater. Just one oyster can clean a bathtub worth of water every day. By feeding the oysters in their different compartment at different times each day, visitors will be able to see in full view the important role oysters have in our ecosystem.

Earlier this month, in partnership with the Port Environment Centre, Karno, our Cultural Educator presented a workshop on the Kaurna tools and artefacts. The tools and cultural materials were made for the Port Environment Centre by James Taylor, which are currently displayed in The Wodli at the Marine Discovery Centre.

Enjoying the outdoor decking, guests were given the opportunity to learn about the culture of the land and the people by looking at the tools and artefacts.

Experiences included fire making, sustainable practices, music and song, string making using the bull reed from our garden, and bush Tucker by tasting the lerps off the gum tree which is crystallised honeydew produced by larvae of psyllid bugs.

Thanks to a partnership with Sivcorp Industries, the Marine Discovery Centre is on its way to zero emissions. Sivcorp Energy & Water donated their time and resources by installing a new 22KW system of solar panels. This is reducing the centre's emissions and saving the centre $10,000per annum in electricity costs.

Blue-Ringed Octopus on Henley Beach in January!

We haven't spotted one of these on Henley Beach before. Today a member of the community found and caught this blue-ringed octopus next to the Henley Beach jetty and called us to safely relocate it. This little guy is now back in his home in the ocean.

The blue-ringed octopus is one of the deadliest marine life in the ocean, they have enough venom to kill 26 humans although they very rarely sting humans. They'll only strike if they feel threatened.

They inhabit depths from intertidal flats down to 50 metres and tend to hide in crevices or under rocks during the day so we recommend beachgoers to keep an eye out.

A brief introduction

Clearbot is an autonomous boat that detects and collects marine litter in rivers, lakes and along the coast. It can also be used to gather marine environment data by accessing difficult to reach areas. Therefore, Clearbot is a useful tool for school students to learn about the fundamentals of marine biology, environmental science and management. As an intelligent robot boat with a well-developed mechatronics system and artificial intelligence, Clearbot is also the all-in-one STEM education solution for primary and secondary students.

How the Clearbot came to fruition

Clearbot was conceived and designed by a team of engineering students at Hong Kong University, and they have produced three functioning models after they started up an engineering company, serving in Hong Kong and Bali waters. Clerabot has since won competitions and received multiple awards from prestigious corporations, including Microsoft and Cisco. The innovative games producer, Razer, was so intrigued by the concept of Clearbot they designed the spacecraft-like body of Clearbot Neo, its latest version.

The Clearbot Project

Thomas Man, an experienced engineer based in Adelaide and a STEM education consultant, is working with Marine Life Society of SA to bring Clearbot into Australia. The project has two components – public/community demonstrations and education programs. The public events are scheduled for October 2022 and features Clearbot Neo as the full-functioning model capable of collecting a large marine litter load with an internal conveyor system. For education purpose Clearbot One, a simpler and easier to handle model, will be deployed. Both Clearbot Neo and Clearbot One are water-worthy and radio controlled. Clearbot One will be available for hands-on classes at Marine Discovery Centre from 1 August 2022.

What the educational takeaways will be

Clearbot is a great way for young learners to appreciate the need for environment protection and management, as well as learning how humanised technology can be put to good use for a better world. It is also a fun and meaningful STEM activity for the disengaged.

The Clearbot Hands-on class provides a safe setting for each student to freely explore the interaction of technology with environment by controlling Clearbot One to search and collect a piece of marine litter. They are also encouraged to come up with any new ideas.

Schools are encouraged to send their students to attend Clearbot Hands-on classes at Marine Discovery Centre from Term 3 this year. Please make advanced booking with Carmen Bishop

Have a question and need to contact us?

Email us via info@marinediscoverycentre.com.au or call us on 08 8115 7402.

We'd love to hear from you.

 If you would like to make a school or group booking now, please complete the online booking form.