Marine National Parks Podcast

The Bay is our point of departure into the creation of Marine National Parks and Sanctuaries in Victoria. Our first episode looks broadly at at a wider environmental context including the bay's social and geological time -- because Port Phillip Bay is very rich in both.

Graham Patterson, a local historian and avid bushwalker, will talk and walk us around Port Philip Bay. Explaining its geological as well its more recent European Settlement history -- while he introduces us to some of the current environmental threats facing the bay. We also will hear from Sandie Webb speaking about her special connection to the Jawbone Marine Sanctuary, an ecological gem just out of Williamstown in Melbourne.

Interviewees:

- Graham Patterson, local historian and author of "Coastal guide to nature and history: Port Phillip Bay"

- Sandy Webb, Jawbone Marine Sanctuary Care Group

Photo credit: Kade Mills

This episodes brings together a number of perspectives to outline how particular natural spaces - in our case the underwater world - entered the public imagination of Victorians and sparked a political discussion that led to their wider protection.

We will chat with Mark Rodrigue from Parks Victoria, who looks after our Marine Parks and Sanctuaries in Victoria before we're actually embark on a short boat ride across Port Philip Bay and to go swimming with dolphins. Judith Muir, from Polperro Dolphin Swims, will join us and share with us her experience with the Bay as educator and eco-tourism operator

Interviewees:

- Mark Rodrigue, Parks Victoria, State-wide Leader - Marine and Coasts

- Judith Muir, Eco-tourism operator, Polperro Dolphin Swims

Photo credit: Phil Watson2012

In this episode we celebrate the achievements that the Victorian community has initiated over the past decades including the creation of our system of Marine National Parks and sanctuaries in 2002. We pay our tribute to the political legacy of previous community activism, so we'll look closely at the community-led campaign that lasted more than 10 years leading to the creation of the world-first system of Marine National Parks and sanctuaries. We will hear from two of the community organisers, who got the ball rolling.

Interviewees:

- Tim Allen, former coordinator of the Coastal Community Network

- Chris Smyth, former VNPA coastal campaigner

National Parks are one of the few mechanisms that we have that protect "whole ecosystems," which is different to looking at individual threatened species. From a natural resource management perspective our Marine National Parks and Sanctuaries are sites of complex interactions and multiple interests. Many researchers and land managers have dedicated their working lives to the protection of our beautiful National Parks. Their work on environmental awareness connects to the work of community advocates, who are often driven to dedication through passion.

Interviewees:

- Joan Lindros, Geelong Environmental Council and former president of VNPA

- Shannon Hurley, Coastal Campaigner VNPA

- Mark Rodrigue, Parks Victoria, State-wide Leader - Marine and Coasts

90% of Victorian coast is public land, and community organisations like the Victorian National Parks Association are committed to keep it like this. In this episode we further explore which role political processes have played in protecting nature as well as the ongoing threats we will need to address when it comes to managing marine National Parks and Sanctuaries. We will hear (among others) from Geoff Wescott, who has been deeply involved with shaping coastal and marine environmental policies in Victoria. In 2015 he chaired the expert panel that advise our current 2018 Marine and Coastal Act.

Interviewees:

- Geoff Wescott, board member of the Victorian Environmental Assessment Council and Honorary Research Fellow at Deakin University

- Shannon Hurley, Coastal Campaigner VNPA

- Mark Rodrigue, Parks Victoria, State-wide Leader - Marine and Coasts

Photo Caption: Celebrating the establishment of MPA at Ricketts Point

From left to right: Mark Stone (Parks Victoria Chief Executive 1998-2010), Dianne James (chair of Victorian Coastal Council), Sherryl Garbutt (Minister for Environment and Conservation, 1999-2006), Sylvia Earle (well known around the world as a marine biologist and advocate) and Chris Smyth (marine campaign officer VNPA).

In this our final episode on the marine environment of Victoria, we take a seat inside a workshop that took place in 2019, focused on partnerships between organisations and groups that are caring for country, Sea Country. We'll explain what is known as 'NYAMAT MEERING' -- referred to in the phrase 'sea country' -- as we work towards understanding roles and definitions of rightsholders, stakeholders and the many different modes of engagement for local inhabitants in this watery space. In order to do that we will be visiting Gunditjmara country and will speak with Damein Bell, CEO of Gunditj Mirring Traditional Owners' Aboriginal Corporation, and group of Gunditj Mirring staff. Gunditj Mirring represents the Native Title interests of the Gunditjmara people

This episode is copyright of Gunditj Mirring Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation. It was produced in collaboration with Federation of Victorian Traditonal Owner Corporations (FVTOC), Gunditj Mirring and VNPA.

Photo credit: Phil Watson 2012

Interviewees:

• Damein Bell, CEO, Gunditj Mirring Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation

• Uncle Denis Rose, Project Manager, Gunditj Mirring Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation

• Tyson Lovett-Murray, Gunditj Mirring Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation

• Ben Church, Gunditj Mirring Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation

• Aaron Morgan, Ranger, Windamara Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation