Newsletter

Our meeting will be held at the Conservation Centre, 120 Wakefield Street, Adelaide on Wednesday 19^th February commencing at 7.30pm.

Our speaker will be Jonathan Shankar-Noble a Senior Environmental Education Officer from the DEH who will be discussing their project of publishing a Coast and Marine Education Framework on the internet and its relation with the JOTS kits produced by MLSSA.

After The Encounter Part 2

MARINE WILDLIFE NEWS

Final Dry Land Visit to see the Hobart

New Patron for MLSSA

Volunteer Certificates

MLSSA Christmas Picnic At Victor

This month our contributors are Steve Reynolds, Philip Hall and The BMLSS.

By Steve Reynolds

On the weekend of 16-17^th February I attended an exhibition at the Henley Town Hall regarding the exploration, mapping and development of our coast. The exhibition showed the impact of settlement along the coast of Adelaide’s western suburbs and also celebrated Encounter 2002. It ran from the 16^th to 24^th February.

A scientific expedition headed off on the 16^th February to visit the Nuyts Archipelago in the Great Australian Bight. The 11-day expedition included some of the state’s leading botanists, marine biologists and archaeologists. Dr Sue Murray-Jones and Dr Scoresby Shepherd went on the expedition on board the RV Ngerin.

The Encounter 2002 Regional Events Program moved on to locations such as Memory Cove, Streaky Bay, Elliston and Port Lincoln. On Thursday 21^st February there was a memorial service at Memory Cove to commemorate the first tragedy of Europeans in SA waters. Eight members of Flinders’ crew died after going ashore in a boat for fresh water. The boat was turned over in the surf with no trace of the eight men. Flinders felt that "the men who didn’t drown would have most certainly been eaten by the ‘big sharks’ in the area".

The Streaky Bay jetty art works and jetty platform were opened at Streaky Bay jetty. The new jetty platform apparently included mosaic benches depicting the historical and contemporary marine environment, highlighting the connection between art, science and the visits of Flinders and Baudin. A community wharf concert called "Playground by the Sea" was held and the Blanchebald Art Exhibition was opened at the Streaky Bay Supper Room Gallery there. There were also museum tours, historical walks and roving artists on the foreshore. That evening there was folk singing on the jetty, a shared community meal, Latin dance and jazz music and fire sculptures.

An exhibition called "Sculpture on the Cliffs" was opened at Elliston and the "Meeting of the Winds" community festival there had displays of rope rockets, signal fires, flares and kites. The celebrations continued for 10 days altogether, with a festival of events such as weaving, painting, music and kite-making workshops, art and craft displays, dirt circuit racing and kite surfing demonstrations.

There was a ten-day program at Port Lincoln including a "Youth Afloat" presentation. There was a community event called "Southern Eyre Encounter". The four tall ships were all there and open to the public. There were festivals, music, food stalls, sailing regattas, rowing championships and much more. There were guided walks to Flinders’ monument at Stamford Hill, the opening of the Tulka Trail and Well and the official opening of the Biodiversity and Resources exhibition at Lincoln Marine Science Centre. There was also a performance of "Two Captains" – a musical tribute written by Rosemary Nairn and performed by the 60-piece Unley Chamber Orchestra and the SA Country Choral Association. Peter Webb was the conductor. "Two Captains" is a tribute to Flinders, Baudin and the first Australians.

Between 27^th February and 17^th April the University of SA’s Hawke Centre held a series of public lectures in Adelaide titled "Encounters: Cultural and Scientific Legacies and Visions". The first lecture was by Noeline Bloomfield from the University of WA. Her topic was "A French Australia? Almost!".

The Migration Museum of SA held a display from 1^st March to 31^st May called "Flinders and Baudin – The Pioneers Story". This display showed how the expeditions of Flinders and Baudin impacted on the development of SA and its cultural identity.

There may have been another exhibition at the Migration Museum at the same time since "In The Wake of Flinders and Baudin – The First Ten Years" is said to have also run there until 31^st May. This exhibition apparently focused on the early struggles of the founding European settlers in the 1830s to 1840s.

The Lincoln Marine Science Centre at Port Lincoln held a "Biodiversity and Resource Utilisation exhibition and lecture series" from 1^st to 9^th March.

On Monday 4^th March 2002 there was the official opening of the Flinders’ Marina Park Project at Tumby Bay. 3,000 people welcomed three tall ships including the One and All.

On March 6^th a public debate was held at Flinders University in the evening with the topic being "That SA Should Have Been French". Debaters included Maggie Beer, Anne Levy, Jane Lomax-Smith and Peter Goers. John Bannon was the moderator.

That same night there was a public lecture by Professor Greg Dening as part of the University of SA Hawke Centre’s Encounter lecture series. It was titled "Encounters in Deep Time" and was held in the Old Methodist Meeting Hall in Pirie Street, Adelaide.

An exhibition called "Striving for Excellence – The Art of Scientific Accuracy" was on at the University of Adelaide Waite Campus (Urrbrae House) from 6^th March to 8^th April (The same exhibition that was held at Port Augusta from February 2^nd to 17^th ).

An exhibition of art quilts called "A Contrivance of Nature" was held at Urrbrae House at the same time (6 to 30^th March). The art quilts featured Australian fauna and flora, a theme inspired by the work of scientists and artists sailing with Flinders.

On Thursday 7^th March the official opening of interpretive signage at Mount Hummock was held at Whyalla. About 6,000 people witnessed proceedings at Whyalla where the Flinders Lookout had been redeveloped. Now re-named the Flinders-Freycinet Lookout, it commemorates Flinders and Louis de Freycinet’s roles in the navigation of the Upper Spencer Gulf in 1802 and 1803.

(Also on 7^th March 2002, the 33m-long brigantine Windeward Bound tall ship left Sydney Harbour on a 16 to17-month commemorative voyage around Australia. The ship is sailing anti-clockwise around the country and is due to arrive in Adelaide in April 2003. SA arrival dates are:- Pt. Lincoln 9^th March, Pt. Augusta 3^rd April, Adelaide 19^th April.)

On Saturday 9^th March 2002 Matthew Flinders’ great-great-grand-daughter Lisette Flinders-Petrie officially unveiled a commemorative plaque at Port Augusta where about 15,000 people gathered. There was also an exhibition titled "Robert Brown Botanical Exhibition", comprising species of plants collected by botanist Robert Brown in 1802, along with prints, paintings and maps.

Later that day a re-enactment party, including Lisette Flinders-Petrie, was farewelled from the Enterprize to ascend to the summit of Mount Brown in the southern Flinders Ranges (named after Matthew Flinders). This was the Scientific Expedition Group.

The 5.5m Mount Brown lookout platform at Woolshed Flat was officially opened the next day. The lookout is within sight of the summit and it includes interpretive panels on the naturalist Robert Brown. Flinders’ great-great-great-grand-daughter Rachel Lewis was a special guest. After the ceremony a small party climbed to the summit to meet the Scientific Expedition Group.

Encounter 2002 events then moved on to Port Pirie. About 7,000 people were at Port Pirie on 13^th March for "The Face of Many Cultures" multicultural concert, celebrations and seafood feast.

The Flinders University Art Museum City Gallery held an exhibition titled "The Lost Letters of Ann Chappelle Flinders". Running from 15^th March to 27^th April, it was an exhibition of the relationship between Flinders and his wife Ann.

A community breakfast to celebrate Flinders’ birthday and a sailing regatta were held at Port Broughton on Saturday 16^th March.

The "Tall Ships Chart Relay" started at Point Pearce on the 16^th March. It started at 10am with an official welcome from the Elders of the Narungga people at Point Pearce and a traditional (Significant) dance was performed by Carroll Karpany. Council officials started the relay by handing the chart over to the first runners. A replica of Matthew Flinders’ original chart was carried in a bamboo tube throughout Yorke Peninsula communities. More than 1,000 runners, walkers and wheelchair-bound athletes participated in the relay. It lasted some 11 days as it made its way to Ardrossan. Open Day displays were held in the Point Pearce hall for visitors to inspect.

That same day I attended Matthew Flinders’ (228^th) Birthday Party at Wallaroo jetty. Flinders was born on 16^th March 1774.

Here is a picture of Matthew Flinders (taken from our last Journal).

http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/BMLSS/News2002.htm

Reports of marine wildlife from all around the British Isles, with pollution incidents and conservation initiatives as they affect the flora and fauna of the NE Atlantic Ocean. Full details of these reports and their authors can be found on the BMLSS webpage.

This feature is included from time to time in the MLSSA Newsletter to show the extraordinary and unusual variety of creatures that are being found by people in other parts of the world. It is hoped that reports of unusual sightings in SA will be detailed by MLSSA members or anyone else reading this Newsletter and passed to the Editor for inclusion in future editions.

A Short-snouted Seahorse, Hippocampus hippocampus, is captured by an oyster fisherman in the Solent. In Victorian times, there are records from off Dorset and the Solent.

Another large Common Octopus, Octopus vulgaris, is captured alive off the Channel Islands and brought into Guernsey alive but failed to survive the trauma and injury on capture. This is the third one recorded since the beginning of October 2002.

This fish is thriving in the BMLSS private aquarium (Shoreham-by-Sea). This fish is rarely on display in British Public Aquaria and the only known display of this fish was for several years at Mevagissey Harbour Aquarium.

This specimen appeared live on Meridian TV Southern News on 6 November 2002.

On 10 November 2002, after a week in captivity, the Boar Fish commenced to feed on frozen brine shrimp after being initially encouraged with live daphnia.

On Sunday 3^rd November I followed up my earlier visits to Port Adelaide to see the Hobart. Noeleen and I rose early to be at the Port docks by 8am for the scheduled towing departure of the Hobart. Lots of people were rolling up with the same plan. We saw several divers waiting for the event with keen interest. Cameras and binoculars were the order of the day. Things were slow to happen up to 9am. Marine & Harbors boats, the Police launch and the fireboat were all on hand to assist three tugs with moving the Hobart. Two dolphins even moved up close at the start of proceedings as if they knew what was about to happen. They hung around for a while and the youngest one even did a leap out of the water. By about 9.10am the Hobart was being towed away from the docks and taken down the river towards Outer Harbor. We expected the trip to Outer Harbor to take about 1 hour and were soon there at the fishing landing to wait for the Hobart’s arrival. Sure enough, at about 10.10am the Hobart came into view, only to stop at the wharf there. Nobody knew what was going on and several of the crowd decided to leave then. A changeover of the tugs was mainly what was happening and, once completed, the Hobart was soon moving again. She was a magnificent sight as she slowly crept past us all. TV film crews recorded all of the action for the evening news reports. It was an emotional moment as the Hobart left the safety of the breakwater to enter the gulf’s shipping channel. Many motorboats and yachts followed her as she made her way slowly down to Yankalilla Bay where she was soon to be scuttled as an artificial reef. The evening news reports were popular viewing that night as 10, 9, 7 and 2 all covered the departure of the Hobart. No doubt they all covered the actual scuttling of the Hobart a few days later.

Dr Scoresby Shepherd began his appointment as Patron of the Marine Life Society of SA on 1^st January 2003. Scoresby has been diving for over 45 years and he is well known for marine conservation matters in SA. He is a Senior Research Fellow for SARDI Aquatic Sciences and also an Honorary Associate at the South Australian Museum. When we approached Scoresby regarding the position of Patron he told us the following:-

"My personal philosophy on marine matters is strongly conservationist. After 45-odd years of diving in coastal waters I have seen a long-term gradual decline in abundance of fishes and, in places near population centres, a general decline in marine habitats. So my current interests in research and conservation are to promote understanding and education about the sea, conservation of marine systems and work for sustainable use of the sea and the restoration of pristine ecosystems."

Scoresby was introduced as our new Patron at our January meeting. His first official duty as our Patron was to present Volunteering certificates to Society members.

John Glover, Curator of Fishes at the SA Museum, was our first Patron but he died a few years ago. Scoresby Shepherd is thus only our second Patron in 26 years.

At our January General Meeting our Patron, Scoresby Shepherd presented Volunteer Certificates to several members who have put in a great deal of effort to ensure that MLSSA has been successful in many areas of endeavour.

Margaret Hall received hers in recognition of the untold hours working mostly in the background both in support of the President and helping to stop him from walking away from the job. Generating ideas which usually come from left field, assisting with Calendar and Newsletter production, attending both General and Committee meetings are some of the things she does so well. She is an all round champion!!

Danny Gibbins has made a splendid job of the redesign of the Website and spends untold hours preparing the pictures for the calendar. Our thanks go too to his wife, ex-member Liz Raymond who has done so much in the past for the Society and still assists on occasion when needed.

Geoff Prince was our Diving Officer but is mainly admired for the excellent job he does in ensuring the Calendar is printed perfectly. He spends many hours of his own time checking and correcting errors and sometimes redesigning specific pages. He also works with Philip and Margaret Hall on the proofing, spending much time ensuring everything is correct. He is our assistant SDF Representative.

Chris Hall has been a member of the Committee for several years and has been our representative on the Conservation Council management committee for some time. He has produced many articles for the Newsletter and has provided many splendid pictures for the Calendars.

David Muirhead is another long time member. For some time now he has been a Committee Member and allows us to use his home as a meeting place for these Committee Meetings with generous hospitality. Like Chris he has produced many entertaining articles for the Newsletters and Journals and has provided the majority of the exciting pictures for the Calendar. Several times a year he arrives at meetings with a variety of homegrown native plants to give away to members. David gives talks to other organisations.

Phill McPeake is one of the longest serving MLSSA members and is affectionately known as the "DO" in recognition of the fact that as Diving officer he was, and still is, "Mr Fixit" and widely experienced in the safe practices of diving. He has held most Society positions and is currently the Treasurer in spite of having an extremely arduous personal workload. He spends much time printing the Newsletter and the Journal.

Steve Reynolds, another of the longest serving members, has been a Committee member for many years, serving in all positions with dedication and ability. Presently he is the Secretary and in his "spare" time creates many of the articles you read in our Newsletters and Journals. He organises and catalogues the Photo Index, is our SDF Representative and maintains the Library. He is the recipient of many queries that come to MLSSA for answering.

Philip Hall is one more in the group of longest serving members and has been a Committee member for many years. For several years he has been the President and the Editor of the Newsletter and Journals. He spends much time on the organisational side of the Society ensuring that the Calendar and Newsletters are produced on time, Newsletters and Journals and their associated pages updated on our website, meetings are organised and run correctly, the many emails to MLSSA are dealt with and serves as a phone contact for the Society. He attends meetings and events as a MLSSA representative and gives talks when required to outside organisations.

We were thinking about where we could hold our Christmas picnic when out of the blue came an invite from Ben Brayford to visit the shark aquarium at Granite Island on 8^th December. The aquarium was having its official launch that day. It is now known as the Below Decks Oceanarium. Despite a little hiccup over whether or not we could do a dive down there, a few of us made the trip down to Victor. We used the trip as an opportunity to drop display material into the SA Whale Centre. Noeleen and I met up with Maggie and Tim close to the Whale Centre. The four of us soon managed to deliver all of the material for a seadragon and seahorse display to the Centre. The staff was kind enough to allow us a quick tour before we had to dash off to the island for the Oceanarium’s launch. As we approached the causeway to the island we met Peter Gilbert who had been waiting there with his mother, Dorothy. He said that he would keep an eye out for us returning from the island. We walked over to the island and soon met up with Bennie at the jetty. We were whisked out to the platform that houses the Oceanarium full of sharks and other marine life. We were given a tour of the facility with other members of the public. Even though I had visited the platform twice before, I really enjoyed this visit. Whilst we were on the platform we met up with another MLSSA member in James Brook. Back on the island we said our thanks and good-byes to Bennie and James and walked back to the mainland to catch up with Peter and Dorothy. We all settled for a picnic at the nearby reserve by the beach. It was a good time to pass on some Christmas cards. We then got to enjoy some of Tim’s cooked barbecue and Maggie’s Christmas biscuits and cakes. We drank coffee and wine too. It was, however, soon time to head back home. We bade each other a Merry Christmas once more and a final good-bye before returning to our cars for the trip back. Noeleen and I were home in time to videotape the Channel 10 news report about the launch of the Oceanarium. Peter and his mum Dorothy had not been able to visit the Oceanarium but we were able to show them the videotape eight days later. Many thanks to everyone who took part in our final activity for the year. Thanks in particular to Bennie for allowing us all to visit the Oceanarium.