Treasure hunting is back in style, with the launch of a family-friendly, marine-based web app, The Deep Blue Treasure Hunt on 8 August 2020.
Like most people, the global pandemic has meant more time at home for me and my family. Gardening, home improvement, cooking. There are two things at my house no longer contained-my waistline and my recycling bin. Loungewear is a comfortable solution for my personal spillover, but the other is a bald-faced testament that I am not as eco-savvy as I like to think.
Our newest additions to the Marine Discovery Centre creature family are two Frayed Fin Gobies. These fish are bottom dwellers and can be found in seagrass beds and shallow sunlit waters of eastern and southern Australia.
The Kids Marine Scientist Club is a weekly drop-off club for primary school children aged 7 to 13 years. The Kids Marine Scientist Club encourages independence and self-growth and allows the students to discover a love and appreciation for the marine world around us. 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.
I walk into the centre at 9am, the taste of an apple crumble muffin and iced long black for breakfast still lingering on my lips, to be greeted by three friendly faces. Georgie Kenning, Marine Scientist and caring educator, introduces herself and proceeds to feed the South Australian fish in their tanks. Karno Martin, Cultural Educator and genius with children, immediately strikes up an easy conversation with me. Carmen Bishop, the Partnerships and Marketing Manager passes me a fluorescent vest and laminated sheet full of marine creatures and minerals found on Henley Beach, and welcomes me to the centre. We wait outside and watch as a school bus full of children pours out of the front of the centre. It’s going to be a busy day!
You may have heard about the Marine Discovery Centre through your children's visits, but did you know that we host corporate functions? You have the opportunity to see the centre with your own eyes, and educate yourself and your co-workers on Kaurna knowledge, marine life and sustainability in the process.
When Dinosaur University, Dean of Science, Professor Flint, called in to the Marine Discovery Centre, at Henley Beach, South Australia, his good friend, marine biologist Georgie Kenning, was on hand to help introduce the Prof to some of the delightful sea-life that dwells there. Along the way, the Prof was shown some of the important lessons we can all learn, about how to better look after the world's oceans.
Adelaide’s coast was once a vast sand dune system formed over thousands of years. Waves and currents in the gulf pushed sand northwards, eroding the southern beaches, and the dunes supplied replacement sand as well as a buffer for much of the wave energy.
I open my sleep crusted eyes, and feel the warm sunshine dripping down my skin. I remember that today is the day our school is going to the beach – and I leap from my bed with excitement. Mum fixes me breakfast and fusses about my uniform like a clucking hen, getting me ready for the day, and drops me off at the school bus with a parting “tell me all about your day later sweetie”. I’m in the school bus and my friends and I buzz with anticipation of the day ahead – we’re finally visiting the Marine Discovery Centre!
Spanning across the length of The Pages Islands in South Australia and Houtman Abrolhos off the Western Australian coast, Australian Sea Lions, Neophoca cinereal, are a species to behold. They are one of the rarest species in the world, and 85% of them live herein South Australia, while the other 15% lives in Western Australia. In the entirety of Australia, only 9900 – 12,500 remain, with this number diminishing each year.
