Monthly meeting speakers
Meetings are held on the first Monday of the month. Speakers begin their presentation (around an hour) at 7:30pm, before the meeting gets underway. All are welcome, even for the speaker only
To see how to get there, go to this page
To see how to get there, go to this page
6th of March
*there is a small population of common bottle-nose dolphins in the bay
Judy Muir - Port Phillip's Burranan dolphins
Last year the dophins* living in Port Phillip Bay and the Gippsland lakes were determined to be morphologically and genetically different from the common and cosmopolitan bottle-nose dolphin and were given the species name Tursiops australis and a special common name from a koorie word. Burranan
Judy Muir conducts dolphin tours from the good ship Polperro, is an expert on these dolphins and has been instrumental in drafting and implementing a code of practice and penalty-backed boat and jet ski exclusion zones around dolphins
Last year the dophins* living in Port Phillip Bay and the Gippsland lakes were determined to be morphologically and genetically different from the common and cosmopolitan bottle-nose dolphin and were given the species name Tursiops australis and a special common name from a koorie word. Burranan
Judy Muir conducts dolphin tours from the good ship Polperro, is an expert on these dolphins and has been instrumental in drafting and implementing a code of practice and penalty-backed boat and jet ski exclusion zones around dolphins
7th of February
Harry Breidahl - Marine educator
The International Pacific Marine Educators Network (IPMEN) is a developing collective of marine educators throughout the Pacific
Harry was one of the original 6 people that started this network up and is one of the organisers and drivers
He's an expert on Port Philip Bay and the protection of its biodiversity
Harry is a prolific author, particularly of children's educational books and has written about subjects as varied as dinosaurs, extremophiles, frogs and toads, microscopic aquatic life, human skin flora and fauna, the snow country, crabs and heaps more
The International Pacific Marine Educators Network (IPMEN) is a developing collective of marine educators throughout the Pacific
Harry was one of the original 6 people that started this network up and is one of the organisers and drivers
He's an expert on Port Philip Bay and the protection of its biodiversity
Harry is a prolific author, particularly of children's educational books and has written about subjects as varied as dinosaurs, extremophiles, frogs and toads, microscopic aquatic life, human skin flora and fauna, the snow country, crabs and heaps more
5th of December Annual General Meeting
Our AGM will be held at the Hickinbotham Winery at Dromana, after a 6pm BYO food BBQ and will feature a talk by Sean Dooley
Sean is a comedy writer, blog contributor, edits Wingspan magazine and has written a book The Big Twitch, about his successful "most Australian bird species seen in a year" record attempt
7th of November
Wallermeryong (or Main Creek)
An illustrated talk by Gidja Walker
Gidja will conduct an ecological virtual tour of Main Creek from it's rising on the range to it's Bass Strait mouth at Bushrangers Bay, on Monday the 7th of November. See this page for time and place
3rd of October
5th of September
Chisholm Rosebud CLM students in the field
Jacquie Salter on Muttonbird breeding success on French Island
Jacquie has been working with David Nicholls (owner of the hand and head torch at right in this adult-banding picture) on a long-running Short-tailed Shearwater nestling monitoring program
Migratory birds traveling up to 32,000 kms every year, they have been known to fly this remarkable distance in six weeks and can live to around 40 years old
The Short-tailed Shearwater establishes massive breeding colonies off the southern and south-eastern coasts of Australia each year.
Birds arrive at the colonies during the night. The nest is a chamber at the end of a burrow in the sandy ground
Each year around 100,000 "Muttonbirds" are killed for their meat, oil and feathers in Tasmania
Jacquie has been working with David Nicholls (owner of the hand and head torch at right in this adult-banding picture) on a long-running Short-tailed Shearwater nestling monitoring program
Migratory birds traveling up to 32,000 kms every year, they have been known to fly this remarkable distance in six weeks and can live to around 40 years old
The Short-tailed Shearwater establishes massive breeding colonies off the southern and south-eastern coasts of Australia each year.
Birds arrive at the colonies during the night. The nest is a chamber at the end of a burrow in the sandy ground
Each year around 100,000 "Muttonbirds" are killed for their meat, oil and feathers in Tasmania
1st of August
Purple Donkey Orchid - click for photo source
Andrew Dilley from the Australasian Native Orchid Society
Australia has about 1200 native orchid species, many of them under threat
Half of Victoria's 300 or so orchid species are threatened in some way, with many down to a handful of sites or even just a single location
ANOS Victoria's immediate past-president Andrew Dilley is involved in threatened orchid conservation programs with the ANOS Conservation Group and will be talking about the cryptic "forgotten flora" that are native terrestrial orchids
4th of July
Shire Natural Systems Team member Sam Hand on the shire feral animal control program
From the shire website: "A comprehensive predator control program is carried out on an ongoing basis focusing on some of the Peninsula’s biodiversity hotspots. Some of these include locations like the Tootgarook Swamp and surrounds, the Mount Martha Summit Bushland Reserves, Moorooduc Quarry Flora and Fauna Reserve, Earimil Creek Bushland Reserve, Peninsula Gardens Bushland Reserve and Warrangine Park. All these Bushland Reserves have significant native fauna populations that are currently under threat from feral predators such as foxes, cats and the European black rat"
From the shire website: "A comprehensive predator control program is carried out on an ongoing basis focusing on some of the Peninsula’s biodiversity hotspots. Some of these include locations like the Tootgarook Swamp and surrounds, the Mount Martha Summit Bushland Reserves, Moorooduc Quarry Flora and Fauna Reserve, Earimil Creek Bushland Reserve, Peninsula Gardens Bushland Reserve and Warrangine Park. All these Bushland Reserves have significant native fauna populations that are currently under threat from feral predators such as foxes, cats and the European black rat"
6th of June
Gail Rossi on rain gardens
Harvest some of the water from your roof or paving to create a water feature that reduces the impact of your hard surface runoff into streams and storm water outlets
Rain gardens can be permanent water bodies that may need some augmenting when there are long periods without rain, or ephemeral pools that fill up and dry out with the seasons and are stocked with wetland plants that thrive under those conditions, or a combination of both
Gail is an environmental scientist and garden designer, with an interest in both the aesthetic and sustainability benefits of providing micro wetland habitats using indigenous plants
Harvest some of the water from your roof or paving to create a water feature that reduces the impact of your hard surface runoff into streams and storm water outlets
Rain gardens can be permanent water bodies that may need some augmenting when there are long periods without rain, or ephemeral pools that fill up and dry out with the seasons and are stocked with wetland plants that thrive under those conditions, or a combination of both
Gail is an environmental scientist and garden designer, with an interest in both the aesthetic and sustainability benefits of providing micro wetland habitats using indigenous plants
2nd of May
Jenny Warfe
Jenny will talk about her extensive experience of organising a prominent environmental activist group and dealing with challenges and barriers you meet along the way
4th of April
SV Pelican with Pelican Expeditions patron Andrew Denton
Natalie Davey is director and one of
the founders of Saltwater Projects and Pelican Expeditions. She has been
actively interested and involved in multidisciplinary projects in the
Arts and Science for the last 10 years. After receiving a Fine Arts
degree at the Slade in London and teaching and working as an artist in
Germany for a number of years, she returned to Australia to pursue her
interests in Community projects.
This led to becoming involved in the building of Pelican1, a 63 foot Ocean going Catamaran, and working on projects which often combine her passions for the environment, Arts and social justice.
Pelican Expeditions now has a solid 5 year track record of multidisciplinary projects at sea.
Since 2007 the Two Bays program (www.svpelican.com.au) has sought to raise awareness of the extensive natural and cultural values of Victoria's Port Phillip and Western Port, promote attitudes of care, and encourage actions by individuals and organisations to improve bay health. Centred around a sixty-one foot catamaran this marine research and community engagement program builds partnerships providing a space for ‘ocean dialogue' and information sharing on key bay environmental themes.
This led to becoming involved in the building of Pelican1, a 63 foot Ocean going Catamaran, and working on projects which often combine her passions for the environment, Arts and social justice.
Pelican Expeditions now has a solid 5 year track record of multidisciplinary projects at sea.
Since 2007 the Two Bays program (www.svpelican.com.au) has sought to raise awareness of the extensive natural and cultural values of Victoria's Port Phillip and Western Port, promote attitudes of care, and encourage actions by individuals and organisations to improve bay health. Centred around a sixty-one foot catamaran this marine research and community engagement program builds partnerships providing a space for ‘ocean dialogue' and information sharing on key bay environmental themes.
7th of March
Engineer, professional bushland regenerator, naturalist, inveterate hiker and travel author Warwick Sprawson will be talking about the Cradle Mountain - Lake St Clair area of South-west Tasmania
Return to the previous page for time and place details
