Green Team News 

The students participated in 4 online workshops during lockdown; learning all about our big blue backyard – Port Phillip Bay! They discovered the bays many habitats, food webs, key stone species as well as understanding the threats such as plastic pollution and unwanted pests like the northern pacific sea star. 

The final workshop was an excursion to the St Kilda foreshore and breakwater with Alex from the Port Philip EcoCentre last Wednesday 8th December. The breakwater at the end of St Kilda Pier is home to a colony of about 1400 Little Penguins and is the only human-made structure in Australia (and perhaps the world) to be home to a Little Penguin colony. 

The students assisted the penguins with habitat restoration activities such as:

• Transporting sand and seaweed from the beach to the breakwater beyond the locked gate into the protected area of the colony
• Planting penguin habitat species
• Reducing human impacts
• Gathering citizen science litter survey data.

The group have lots of ideas to implement back at school such as ongoing litter audits, banning plastic soy sauce bottles for Sushi orders on Fridays and creating a recycling hub which aims to educate our school community about rethinking our waste because our everyday actions at home and school have an impact on our Bay.

Did you know?

• Phillip Bay is home to over 1300 plant and animal species, over 82% of which are found nowhere else on earth except here on the southern shores. 
• Port Phillip Bay consists of 264km of coastline and includes 5 smaller bays. It has a variety of habitats including reefs, coastal shores, soft substrates, seagrass meadows, sponge gardens and open water. 
• The bay was once grasslands and woodlands and marshes. The Boon Wurrung people have stories from the time that it flooded thousands of years ago. 

Humans have long been entrusted to protect Nairm (Port Phillip Bay). N’arweet Carolyn Briggs, Boon Wurrung Elder, shares the Time of Chaos story which tells how Nairm was formed and why we must continue to protect it. Watch it here.