Volunteers Celebrated at Phillip Island Nature Parks

The contribution of hundreds of Phillip Island Nature Parks volunteers will be celebrated this week with a program of activities and a special ‘Breakfast with a View’ to mark National Volunteer Week. 

Kate Adams, Community Impact Manager at Phillip Island Nature Parks said the Nature Parks is lucky enough to be able to provide a diverse range of volunteering opportunities. 

“We have over 150 active volunteers that do a broad range of activities including native plant nursery work, Eastern barred bandicoot surveys, wildlife rehabilitation support, heritage restoration, visitor engagement, community events, seal field work and more.” said Ms Adams. 

Some of the highlights over the past year include:   

• Koala Conservation Reserve – Volunteer Coordinator Louise Casey works closely with Ranger Ashley Reed on the Curlew Custodians program with 21 volunteers sharing duties including daily curlew feeding and monitoring, enrichment and educating visitors. The dedicated team provides ongoing support and plays an important role in efforts to return the bush stone-curlew to its natural habitat on Millowl. 
• Churchill Island Heritage Farm – Museum Curator Dr Andrea Cleland, led volunteers Marg Knapton, Jude Adams and Linda Patterson through an intensive workshop as part of the Collections and Community Resilience Project. Volunteers learnt techniques to handle and preserve textiles and lace collected by the Amess family over four generations since 1850. Handling such fragile material involved learning how to check and assess each textile for its condition and best practice for unfolding larger pieces, including one of the earliest pieces, a Limerick lace chemise dating from the 1850s. The volunteers worked diligently to preserve a collection of 94 major pieces in total. A significant collection contributing to Churchill Island’s unique history. 
• In the 2022-23 financial year, there were 321 registered volunteers including 49 new volunteers and contributing 4,547 hours. There were many service milestones achieved during this period including 22 volunteers with five years of service, three volunteers with ten years of service, three volunteers with 15 years of service, three volunteers with 25 years of service and one volunteer achieving an incredible 45 years of service.  

Kerri Ritchie, Volunteer Coordinator at Phillip Island Nature Parks, said diversity of both volunteers and the volunteer activities available at the Nature Parks fits perfectly with this year’s National Volunteer Week theme of ‘Something for Everyone’, which is all about inclusion. 

“The wonderful people who volunteer at the Nature Parks have incredibly diverse life experiences and they bring these amazing qualities to the way they contribute to the Nature Parks purpose of protecting nature for wildlife and inspiring people to act.” said Ms Ritchie. 

For volunteering opportunities at the Nature Parks, please visit penguins.org.au