Interview with Lana & Flossy from Earthcare St Kilda
Welcome to another showcase podcast episode, where we interview people who are making real world changes everyday for a better future.
This time we were lucky enough to speak to Earthcare St Kilda, the people who look after the colony of Little Penguins in St Kilda. We spoke to Lana, the president of Earthcare St Kilda, and Flossy the vice president and research coordinator.
The penguins in St Kilda live in the breakwater at the foreshore at the start of St Kilda pier. They go out fishing every day and return home shortly after sunset, and have been attracting crowds that love to come and watch the penguins come home every night.
The penguin viewing experience is not open at the moment due to the pier redevelopment, and Earthcare St Kilda needs the community to have their say so that they can work out the future of penguin viewing.
Thank you to Earthcare St Kilda for the penguin & viewing videos and photos.
Podcast Interview- Video & Audio Versions
Interview Transcript:
NB this transcript has been edited for smoother reading (removed filler words & repeated words)
Lana: One of the things that I love most about Earthcare is the community passion that is out there in St Kilda and surrounds.People love these penguins so much and we feel so lucky that we get to be a bridge between the community and these beautiful birds.
Because of the new design of the pier we think that a ticketed system would be the most sustainable and best way to manage the experience for tourists. So we’ve released a survey
where we’re asking the community to tell us what they think about ticketing.
Zachary Phillips (voice over): G’day mate and welcome to the Sustainaroo Travels Podcast,
where we showcase the ways real people are making real world changes to live, work and travel sustainably.
Lana: Hi my name is Lana, I’m the president of Earthcare St Kilda.
Flossy: And I’m Flossy, I’m the vice president and the research coordinator. So Earthcare was first formed in 1986, back when a researcher from Monash University named Mike Cullen started up a research program here at the colony. Earthcare were very involved in that program and eventually we went on to be the leaders of that program, and have been running a research program in the colony ever since.
At a certain point in 2008, we started to notice that there was a lot of people starting to view the penguins. And so the research volunteers then started to become Penguin Guide volunteers as well. And they would be out here every weekend in summer. Just talking to visitors about the penguins, and making sure they weren’t using any white light. Or they weren’t touching any penguins, or getting in their way.
And eventually, just prior to the Covid 19 pandemic, we were getting crowds of thousands of people out here every single night. And so we would have volunteers out every night as well
including Christmas and New Year’s.There’d be about 10 volunteers each night.
And again primarily, just making sure people weren’t using white light and educating the visitors. But also because the crowds were so big the penguins weren’t able to actually cross the paths, because there was too many people in the way. And so eventually the penguin
guides learnt how to sort of separate the crowds and end up having penguins walking through. And that became big part of our role before the breakwater closed.
Lana: So before the pier closed down, before covid lockdowns and subsequent pier redevelopment, there were so many people coming out here. Over 1,000 per night and that was a real challenge for our penguin volunteer guides.They did the best that they could but it was too much.
So we’re really thankful for the new pier design, which will have a viewing platform for community members. And the penguins will be separate on the breakwater, so that will be really excellent.
Flossy: So Parks Victoria are the land managers down here and they’re responsible for the whole pier redevelopment and the design of the new boardwalk. We’ve been really important stakeholders involved in the conversation, making sure that the new design of the boardwalk
is safe for penguins.
And the primary thing that we’re looking for is, we wanted to make sure that penguins and people were not sharing the same path anymore. And we’re really grateful for Parks Victoria
and architects for designing a boardwalk that does that, so that’s a huge win for the Penguins. And throughout the whole construction process we’ve also been really involved
making sure that the penguins are safe during the construction works.
So we’ve been out here when they were piling and doing other sort of invasive works that could be an issue for the penguins. And just been out here making sure that penguins stay safe. And Simpsons Construction have been really incredible at communicating with us
and always putting penguin safety before the construction.
Lana: One of the things that I love most about Earth Care is the community passion that is
is out there in St Kilda and surrounds. People love these penguins so much and we feel so lucky that we get to be a bridge between the community and these beautiful birds.
Penguins aren’t the only thing that we do, but it’s one of the things that we’re most proud of,
because it helps people feel connected with their place. And if they have that connection with the penguins here they then care about the environment that the penguins live in. And a more broader concern for the environmental welfare.
And that’s so important for people that live so close to the city, to have something that is accessible, that’s beautiful and awe inspiring. When they can just get off the tram and come and look at some beautiful birds. I feel really privileged and I know Flossy does as well that we can be a part of facilitating that and making sure that, that continues into the future.
Flossy: On that I think it’s incredibly important that the local community have access to visit the Penguins. That it’s financially accessible. Being an urban colony, the local community don’t have access to that many natural spaces around them. And this is a beautiful opportunity for people to connect with nature.
And when people have that opportunity to connect, they care more and when they care more that has positive impacts for the environment as well. So it’s just really important for everyone that the community has access to view the penguins. And we’re really passionate about community involvement and making sure the community get to have these great experiences as well as penguin protection.
Lana: Because of the new design of the pier, we think that a ticketed system would be the most sustainable and best way to manage the experience for tourists. So we’ve had discussions with St Kilda Sea Baths. Who’s a business at the start of the pier here on the foreshore. And what we are in early discussions about is St Kilda Sea Baths managing the ticketing side of things.
So people can go to St Kilda Sea Baths, buy their tickets and then the tourist can walk up to the penguins and view them. Being guided by Earthcare volunteers. So what
our proposal is that the tickets will be a really affordable price and we’re especially looking at keeping it affordable for local people. So within the Melbourne region, with concessions available for students and healthcare card holders.
Flossy: As a not for profit local organisation, a big part of our role is to be advocates for the community. And we wanna make sure that whatever we are advocating for is in line with what the community wants.
So we’ve released a survey where we’re asking the community to tell us what they think about ticketing. So that comes down to should it be ticketed at all? How much should people pay? Who should be receiving concessions? Whether it should be locally run?
And we’re hoping to get as many responses as possible so we can get a great picture of what people think, so that we can then pass that information on. And make sure that we’re getting the best outcome for the community.
Lana: So the pier redevelopment should be finished by the end of 2024. And it’s for that reason that Earthcare is seeking an endorsement to continue being the managers of penguin visitation, conservation and protection.
Flossy: One of the really great things about our Penguin Guide Program is the volunteers themselves actually provide such amazing authentic experience. When you go and view the penguins each of them is doing it out of the goodness of their heart and they just love
what they’re doing. And their love for viewing the penguins is infectious and you just can’t help but kind of fall in love with the whole experience when you’re out there talking to them.
Lana: Yeah I think it’s something that really adds to a tourist’s experience when they come out here. Some of our volunteer guides have been doing it every week for 10 years.
Flossy: Everyday even.
Lana: Yep like some people are really, really dedicated so those people we don’t want to lose through the cracks if the management of ticketing and visitation and research, if that was to change hands. We’re really deeply concerned about losing that real deep seated local stewardship of the colony.
Flossy: Yeah and a lot of the volunteers know a lot of the visitors that come out here as well. Because it’s not just the volunteers who are out here most nights but there are certain people who, this is just on their doorstep, it’s part of their nightly walk.
And they want to come and see the penguins and have a chat to the volunteers
and it’s a whole kind of community experience.
Lana: Yeah and even recently, I brought a young man out here to propose to his fiance and for me that was so special because this colony will forever be a part of their love story. That sounds so lame, but it’s true, it’s a part of their story and we feel so pleased that we can be part of that. And that couple will always care about the care of this colony and you know they’ll tell their friends and their family about how important this colony is.
Flossy: So when people come down here to view the penguins, often what used to happen is that they would arrive about an hour before sunset. Because they wanna watch the sunset
at the end of the pier. They would be greeted by our penguin guides, who would tell them that the penguins don’t actually come in for another hour and a half.
So the penguins usually arrive about half an hour after sunset for that time during the day
the penguins are all out in the bay. They’ll be foraging, hunting for fish when the penguins start to feel a bit more safe, as the lights going down, that’s when they start to return home.
And at that point, you might get to see some rafts coming down between the Marina and the breakwater.
Usually by the time the penguins get to the sort of penguin viewing experience, the raft is sort of broken up and then they only be sort of 4 or 5 penguins per raft. But that’s still really nice for the visitors to get to see the penguins swimming around and then hopping up on the rocks to greet their partner.
Or if it’s the breeding season they might be greeting their chicks which would be desperately looking for them, making all kinds of noises trying to get fed. And then you also get to see the penguins try and hop up these rocks which with tiny little legs can be quite an experience to get to watch.
They can be pretty clumsy and oftentimes we would have penguins fall down the rocks and then you’d hear a big gasp from all the visitors, who were concerned about the safety of the penguins but are they pretty robust little guys. And generally they end up being okay.
And when the penguins start to come in in their rafts that’s when all the penguins
start calling to each other. Because penguins have got really good recognition
of their own chicks or of their partner. And so their partner who has maybe spent the day um
on the break border with their chicks, or looking after some eggs.
And that partner will start calling out to the one that’s just returned home. And so it can get really really noisy here on the breakwater around that sort of half an hour after sunset time.
And that’ll last about an hour where they are just making all kinds of noises to each other.
If there is a bit of a turf war, if a penguin tries to go over to another penguin’s area
they’ll certainly let them know about it, and and you’ll get to hear all the drama that goes on
as well.
There’s other wildlife that you can see out here as well. So just behind me are a couple of little pied cormorants sitting on the rocks. We’ve also got a pair of pied oyster catchers
who breed out here every year.
And if you’re lucky you might also get to see the native
water rat our rakali. You might even see their mittens, which are just like the leftover bits of food that they’ve been eating. So mollusc shells if you find a little pile of them sitting on the rocks. That’s from the rakali they take it there and and eat their food that way.
But rakali here in Australia basically feel the role of an otter. So they’ve got webbed feet
and they’re really good at swimming. And they’re really cool if you get to see those.
Freddi: Thanks for tuning in we hope you enjoy this episode. The survey mentioned will be open until late June 2024. The link is in the description. You could also support Earthcare and the St Kilda Penguins by becoming an Earthcare member, joining their range of incredible events, donating or of course coming to visit the Penguins when the redevelopment is complete at the end of the year in 2024.
Don’t forget to check out the full show notes for this episode and all our episodes
for more in depth information and incredible resources at sustainarootravels.com.au
Thanks guys we’ll catch you in the next episode.
About the Penguins in St Kilda
There is a colony of little penguins (also known as fairy penguins), living in the breakwater at the St Kilda Breakwater next to St Kilda Pier. There are over 1400 penguins living there and boy, are they cute.
The St Kilda penguins nest in burrows between the volcanic rocks of the breakwater. Check out the virtual viewing page on the Earthcare St Kilda website, where they share the trail camera footage. It shows the nests, and the breeding cycle from egg to fledgling. The cutest videos you’ve seen in awhile we promise!
Every day many penguins go out fishing, and come home to the breakwater at sunset. They have to cross the foreshore area to reach their nests.
Flossy told us the story of how In 2008, Earthcare research volunteers started to notice that a lot of people were starting to gather in the evenings at sunset next to St Kilda pier to watch the penguins coming back from fishing. At this point the research volunteers began to be guide volunteers as well, and now have the name Penguin Guides.
Every weekend in summer, the volunteers would come to the pier and chat to the visitors and let them know not to use any white light as it hurts the penguins eyes, and encourage people not to touch the penguins or get in their way.
In 2019 before the Covid pandemic, the crowds became thousands of people every night, so ten volunteers would come down every night to guide and chat to the visitors, even on Christmas and New Year’s Eve.
When the crowds got very big, the St Kilda penguins would struggle to get to their nests with all the crowds in the way. So the Earthcare volunteers ended up learning how to separate the crowd to make pathways for the penguins to get through.
Lana shares that one of the things she loves the most about volunteering for Earthcare St Kilda is the sense of community passion that’s here in St Kilda. People love the penguins, and the volunteers feel lucky that they get to be a bridge between the community and these beautiful birds.
Getting to know the penguin colony helps people to feel connected with their place, and that connection with the penguins encourages people to care about the environment that the penguins live in. This seeds a broader care for the environment in general.
Lana believes this is so important especially for people that live so close to the city. This penguin colony in St Kilda is the closest penguin experience to Melbourne CBD. It is a tram ride away, so people from the city find it accessible, beautiful and awe inspiring and close to home!
Lana and Flossy feel privileged to be facilitating such a wonderful experience for locals and visitors, and they want to make sure this can continue into the future.
Earthcare St Kilda
Flossy told us about how Earthcare St Kilda was first formed. A researcher named Mike Cullen from Monash University started a research program at the colony of penguins at the St Kilda pier in 1986. Earthcare originally were formed to help but eventually took over the running of the program, and have been running a research program at the colony ever since.
The Penguin Research Group has been recording information, microchipping and understanding patterns of breeding over the years.
You can see their data and more information here.
Earthcare St Kilda helps to enhance and protect the land and marine environments of the City of Port Phillip and Elster Creek.
Apart from the work they do with the penguins, they also do other projects including revegetation, northern pacific seastar removal, removal of litter, seagrass surveys, and other local projects to protect the environment.
Earthcare St Kilda also run a penguin program every year for St Michael’s Grammar School for the grade 3 students. They teach the children about the penguins, and about plastic pollution and how it affects the environment and the penguins. They tell the children how important it is to keep waste and litter away from the beach, and how picking up litter on the beach stops the penguins from taking the plastic into their nests.
The students of 2023 made drawings about the penguins which are displayed on the pier, so make sure to have a look next time you’re there. You can buy one for $1.50 and the proceeds go towards the penguins.
When the pier is reopened, Earthcare St Kilda wants to extend the program to other schools.
Follow Earthcare St Kilda on Facebook and Instagram to keep up to date with their work!
You can also become a member of Earthcare St Kilda or donate. Members receive regular emails about Earthcare St Kilda’s activities. Membership is $20 for a year, $10 concession or $30 for a family.
Donations can be made here to support their programs
Also come along to their community events and get involved!
St Kilda Pier
St Kilda pier closed down during the Covid pandemic in 2020, and has stayed closed as the council decided to redevelop it. St Kilda pier is still currently closed and it is hoped that it will reopen later in 2024.
The amount of people coming to see the penguins every night became so large that it became a real struggle to manage making sure that the penguins were not disturbed by the volume of people watching them.
The restoration, when it is complete, will include a viewing platform that runs into and above the water, parallel to the breakwater.
This will mean that you will be able to see the penguins returning to shore, but you won’t be on the same path as them. This keeps the penguins safe and makes sure they can easily get to where they are going, as the penguins will be on the breakwater and the community members will be on the viewing platform above.
St Kilda Pier Redevelopment
Due to the pier redevelopment project, the pier and breakwater are currently closed.
Parks Victoria are the land managers at St Kilda pier, and they are responsible for the whole pier redevelopment, and the design of the new boardwalk.
The new pier will be 450 metres long, and will have a special viewing area which will mean more people can view the penguins comfortably – for both the penguins and the people.
Earthcare has been involved in the conversation about the design of the new pier, and making sure the design is safe for the penguins.
Lana was telling us about how Earthcare has also been making sure that the penguins are safe during the construction of the new pier with the works going on.When there are potentially invasive works going on, Earthcare volunteers come along to check on the penguins, make sure they are okay and communicating with Simpsons Construction. Together they make sure penguin safety is more important than the construction.
Viewing the Penguins in St Kilda
So Flossy talked us through what an evening looks like when the penguin viewing is open. What would usually happen is people arrive at St Kilda pier about an hour before sunset. They would be greeted by the Penguin Guides who would tell them about what to expect on the night.
The penguins usually arrive about half an hour after sunset, as they have been out foraging and hunting for fish. After the sun sets, the penguins in St Kilda feel safe to return home.
At this point you might see rafts of penguins coming between the marina and the breakwater. A raft is a group of penguins swimming in the water. As they get closer to the shore, the rafts break up into smaller groups, so as they reach the shore there might be 4 or 5 penguins per raft.
As they reach the shore, they hop up on the rocks to greet their partner. If it’s the breeding season, they might be greeting their chicks. There’s lots of noise as the chicks try to get fed.
It’s also very interesting watching the penguins climb the rocks with their tiny little legs. They can be clumsy, and sometimes you’ll have a penguin fall down the rocks to gasps from the crowd. The penguins are pretty resilient though so they are usually okay.
As the penguins are coming into the shore, they start calling to each other and it can get quite noisy. They have good recognition of their chicks and their partner. Their partner who has spent the day on the breakwater looking after the eggs, or the chicks, will start calling out to the returning partner. This lasts for about an hour as the penguins greet each other, get back home and have the occasional turf war if one penguin goes over to another penguin’s area.
You also might see some other wildlife while you’re there as well. Pied cormorants, pied oystercatchers and our native water rat (called a rakali) are often seen at the St Kilda pier. You might see the rakali’s mittens, some leftover piles of mollusc shells from food that they have been eating. In Australia, the rakali are like an otter, they have webbed feet and are good at swimming, and it’s very interesting if you get to see them when visiting.
The Future of Penguin Guiding
At the moment it is not certain what the future looks like for the way that viewing the penguins in St Kilda will be organised.
Flossy and Lana explained that Earthcare St Kilda is urging the Victorian Government to endorse their bid to continue to be the management body for the conservation, protection, visitation and research for the St Kilda penguins.
Earthcare is having discussions about what might be the future of penguin guiding. Flossy and Lana believe it is important for the penguin viewing experience to continue, and also for it to be financially accessible for the community.
As it is an urban colony, we know that the local community doesn’t have a huge amount of nearby spaces to connect with nature. The penguins in St Kilda really give us that experience. Flossy reminds us that when people have the opportunity to connect, they care more not only for the penguins themselves but also for the environment in general. It is good for the people and it is good for the penguins to make sure the community has access to seeing the penguins in a safe way.
Earthcare St Kilda is passionate about community involvement as well as penguin protection. Lana explains that because of the design of the new pier, a ticketed system would be the most sustainable and best way to manage the experience for tourists.
They have had early discussions about the possibility of St Kilda Seabaths managing the ticketing side of things for the penguin experience. St Kilda Seabaths is a business located on the foreshore at the start of the pier. It is a complex that includes restaurants, cafes, bars, a gym, a sea water pool, and bike, kite and stand up paddle boarding experiences.
So when you arrive, you would buy a ticket at St Kilda Seabaths, then walk up to the penguins, and view them while being guided by Earthcare St Kilda volunteers.
Earthcare St Kilda’s proposal suggests keeping the tickets affordable, especially for locals and including concessions for students and health care card holders. They take their role of advocating for the community seriously, and want to make sure that what they are advocating for is what the community wants.
Community Survey – Have Your Say!
Please do the penguin viewing survey!
Earthcare St Kilda is asking the community to have their say about ticketing. The questions include should it be ticketed at all, how much should people pay and who should receive a concession, and whether it should be locally run. It’s important to have your say so that Earthcare St Kilda can pass the information on in its discussions, and that we get the best outcome for the community.
Please fill out this survey before the end of June.
Lana told us that having Earthcare St Kilda continue to manage the penguin experience means we can continue to have the local Penguin Guide Program guides, who love what they do, and each bring their own authenticity and love for the penguins to the penguin viewing nights. Some of the guides have been doing it every week, or even every day, for many years and bring so much knowledge and joy to what they do.
They are concerned that if the management of the penguin viewing experience was to change hands, some of these volunteers would fall between the cracks. Lana tells us that Earthcare St Kilda is deeply concerned about losing the real, deep seated, local stewardship of the penguin colony. The Penguin Guides have so much love for the penguins that it is infectious and you can’t help but fall in love with the penguins too, when you listen to them talk.
Flossy explains that a lot of the volunteers know a lot of the visitors that come to see the penguins as well. Many locals have a nightly walk and come and see the penguins almost every day, and have a chat with the volunteers, and it’s a whole community experience. Earthcare St Kilda hope to be able to continue to do what they love out there at the breakwater and are looking forward to reopening the penguin viewing experience.
Follow them on social media to stay up to date, or become a member to receive their emails. This way you’ll be the first to know when we can see the penguins in St Kilda again. We can’t wait!
