penguinsunited.com

September 2, 2019
Mickey Friedman
Guest Human Poster and Friend of Penguins United

Current Events. The only time in school we actually talked about what was happening in our world.

These days I can’t bear the bad news descending upon us like the worst of Berkshire fogs. Enveloping us. It’s like driving through life with limited vision. What we should really do is pull off the road but, of course, there’s a really good chance a driver behind will just plow into us.

As if kids in cages wasn’t enough. Comes the heartless slaughter of Latino/Latina shoppers in El Paso looking for a bargain at Walmart. Or ordinary folks eating out and drinking in Dayton. The abominations pile up and my brain, heart, soul is overburdened. At the same time, I lost my amigo mio, Captain Frank Tortoriello, he of the oh so many McGuidos at The Deli, the egg, bacon, and cheese sandwich with which I started my days making films on Railroad Street, then later in the day half a Johnny Fever for lunch/dinner. Life so less bright without him, our book I now have to finish without him.

All of which brings me to temporary salvation: Little Penguins. Fairy Penguins. And some good news at a time when we humans are pushing enormous numbers of other species over the cliff into extinction. A story of redemption, a living example of the humane way forward.

This is a story of the aboriginal peoples of Australia, a suburban development, and the Little Penguins. The Australians called it Phillip Island, Victoria. It sits 85 miles south of Melbourne. To the Aboriginal and Torres Island Strait Peoples, it was Millowl: “Bunurong Country and part of Victoria’s Kulin nation. Our Country is highly significant, every square inch, every rock, every leaf, every dune and every artefact … Over 2,000 generations of our people have been here before us.”

Also the home to a small breeding ground for the Little Penguins, the smallest of the world’s penguins, about thirteen inches tall.

Penguins the Australians found so cute that beginning about 1920 they’d come to watch with torchlights what they called the “penguin parade,” the arrival each day of the penguins after a busy day of fishing and swimming.

Beginning in the 1920s the area was subdivided for homes, blocks created, trees planted in the Summerland Estate. While Spencer and Alexandrina Jackson gave about 10 acres to the ‘people of Victoria’ for the protection of the Little Penguins. By 1940, there was a nine-hole course, and more land subdivided. In 1955, the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, recognizing the impact the Summerland Estate was having on Little Penguins, established a large reserve over the penguin colony. Fences were erected and viewing stands were built by Summerland Beach.

The penguins did the best they could to survive amongst the cars, and the residents of the development and their penguin-unfriendly pets, and the occasional predator. But it wasn’t easy and their numbers declined and declined. While once they were 10 colonies, there was only one.
And the possible extinction of penguins on the island.

And here’s where the typical deeply depressing story takes a major unexpected and inspiring turn. Because the state government decided to save the penguins.

Now I know in the Age of Trump in America where environmentalism has become a burden those in power can’t afford, won’t permit, this is a story almost impossible to believe.

But here goes: in 1984, after much study and the creation of a Phillip Island Penguin Reserve Committee of Management, the Penguin Protection Plan was announced. Which included scientific research, a fox control program and the buyback of the Summerland Peninsula.

And so, in 1996, the Phillip Island Nature Parks was created by the State Government of Victoria comprising over 4,460 acres of Crown Land. Land set aside under the provisions of the Crown Land (Reserves) Act 1978 “for the conservation of areas of natural interest or beauty or of scientific, historic or archaeological interest.”  

Let me emphasize the extraordinary part of the story. A buyback of private land and homes to provide a safe space for the Little Penguins. It took many years and many millions to buy back the land. And prompted a reconciliation plan with the “Traditional Custodians of the land on which we live, work and learn, the Bunurong people.” With respect “to their Elders past and present.”

Others beside the Little Penguins benefit: “hooded plovers, short-tailed shearwaters and other international migratory bird species, and mammals such as koalas, possums, wallabies, Australian fur seals and bats.”

This year a $58 million visitor center was built for the more than a million visitors from around the world to experience the Nature Parks. And, in addition: “Our position as a renowned conservation and ecotourism destination ensures we can authentically present and celebrate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures …”

And so I say “long live the 1,400 Little Penguins!”

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For more information:

“To Save Tiny Penguins, This Suburb Was Wiped Off the Map”
Besha Rodell, August 8, 2019, New York Times
https://nyti.ms/2yUBoAJ

Phillip Island Nature Parks
https://penguins.org.au/about/our-story/our-history/