Hervey Bay Whale Festival – Creating Waves
Join us for ‘Creating Waves’ – a night of personal tales hosted by UniSC in the Main Lecture Hall on August 1. Meet Hervey Bay academics researching our majestic creatures as they migrate past our coast. Traditional owners will explain the importance of the whales to the Butchulla people and how whale songlines connect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders along the entire east coast of Australia. Learn how citizen scientists are contributing to the “Happy Whale” fluke identification system which is extending throughout the oceans of the world.
Tickets $5.00 – Get your tickets here.
Main Lecture Hall, Building B
5.30pm doors, 6pm start – 8pm
Proceeds of this event go to Turtle Rehabilitation and Research Centre
Event Schedule
6pm- Aunty Veronica Bird
Welcome to Country and cultural importance of whales and connection to sea country.
6.15pm – Dr. Kathy Townsend
World Whale Heritage Steering Committee & UniSC
Introduction to The Whale Heritage Site Steering Committee and Hervey Bay’s Vision to be the World’s Pre-eminent Whale Heritage Site.
6.20pm – Dr Jodi Edwards
Vice-Chancellor Indigenous Research Fellow University of Wollogong & Dharawal woman
Whale Songlines that connect First Nations along the East Coast of Australia.
6.35pm – Holly West
Turtles in Trouble Rescue
Troubling Time for Turtles.
6.50pm – Jessica Blackmore and Naoko Ouki
Lady Elliot Island Eco Resort
Lady Elliot Island Eco Resort’s environmental efforts – leaving a legacy.
7.05pm – Georgina Hume
University of the Sunshine Coast
Dolphins of the Great Sandy Straits.
7.20pm – Julia Lennan
University of the Sunshine Coast
Contemporary abundance of and, environmental impacts on, humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) in Hervey Bay, Queensland, Australia.
7.35pm – Dr. Barry McGovern
Pacific Whale Foundation
Update on PWF dolphin line transect and humpback whale body condition research.
7.41pm – Ticiana Fettermann
Pacific Whale Foundation
Humpback whale scar assessment research.