NAIDOC celebration starts Queenscliff holiday program

THE Queenscliff Marine and Freshwater Discovery Centre was a hive of activity last week, as the Victorian Fisheries Authority launched its winter school holiday program.

The program started on Monday with a well-attended NAIDOC Week celebration, which began with a Welcome to Country and smoking ceremony led by Wadawurrung Traditional Owner and education officer Ash Skinner.

A large group gathered for the event, before heading inside to explore the centre’s marine creatures and interactive displays, with the touch tank proving a hit with both kids and adults alike.

Queenscliff program manager Leanne Gunthorpe said the school holiday program aimed to give children a chance to marvel at the natural world, and to see and interact with animals they wouldn’t typically have the opportunity to get close to.

“We just want people to get out there and be curious and kind and respectful,” she said, noting the importance of stewardship was a key learning the VFA hoped youngsters take away from their experience.

“It goes back to sustainability and looking after country and acknowledging who was here originally, and how they looked after Country, because if they didn’t look after Country, we wouldn’t have the country that we have.

“The Wadawurrung practices of looking after Country and caring for Country, is what we call stewardship, and stewardship’s a central bit of looking after environments and fishing, because if you don’t look after your fish and you don’t care for them and you take too much, you won’t have them. It’s all linked.”

The marine centre’s NAIDOC Week celebration was one of two to take place on the Bellarine on Monday this week.

The other, led by the Wadawarrung Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation in partnership with Barwon Coast, saw more than 450 people come together at the Barwon Heads end of Bukareeyoo for the sunrise celebration.