Melbourne part 2 – Phillip Island, Melbourne Museum, Werribee Park
Phillip Island is a beautiful drive and they are doing a good job preserving it in the last couple decades (more in this later). The wildlife park is mostly free roaming animals.Koalas are in an open air area with some choices of where to be but not able to climb out. They don’t seem very inclined to go anywhere during the day anyway. This guy actually was on the move a bit, which is weird with them being nocturnal, and sleeping 20 hours per day, and pretty inactive overall.But then he settled in to rest again. Eucalyptus leaves are toxic to most and they have evolved to eat them exclusively, which is cool, but it doesn’t give them any spare energy for cavorting or anything.I did not like how many birds they had caged. This was not on the advertising materials. But this guy comes up later in our travels, so here he is: the tawny frogmouth. Lace monitors The kangaroos had a truly huge area to be. And do kangaroo things like roll or dig themselves cooling holes. They even had an auxiliary field to be in through a few trees from the main one. We checked it out and found a Joey in a pouch, but it was pretty clear these guys wanted to be alone so we didn’t stay long. There are also emus in the same field. Ok I didn’t realize that you feed the kangaroos here. Mixed feelings on ethics of this, but they do certainly have a lovely large area to be. And you do get this view of a roo that is at least 5 feet tall when standing up. Also, I hadn’t really noticed how their eyebrows stick out and shade their eyes until now. Red rock beach. And then around sunset, you go to….The Penguin Parade!!!! They gather in groups out in the breakers to come ashore together to have less risk from sea eagles and gulls or other predators. I swear, the main thing I remember (besides it being really neat) from twenty years ago was how cold I was. I literally had to buy a penguin parade jacket for way too much money because it was cold and windy and summer and I was unprepared. This time I brought a big blanket!I had forgotten, that because they have had trouble with flashes, all camera use is banned. But now they at least give you access to their amazing quality photos. So none of these are mine, but at least they aren’t gauging me like I thought they were then. The ranger actually talked about allowing ourselves to put down the phones and really be in the moment experiencing the penguins rather than capturing the best photo. So refreshing to be reminded of this. It is so amazing to see and see these little guys waddling around and climbing the steep sandy hills. And they make such cute noises to find each other. The boardwalks let you get so close to them and it is magic to watch.The top feathers are dark blue so aerial predators can’t see them at sea. And the onesie is white so predators below can’t see them against the light of the sky. In the 1980’s they assessed that they had lost 9 out of 10 colonies on the island and they were about to lose the last to development. And the government actually bought back houses off the owners all along this part of coastline to save this colony! The Nature Park now manages 20% of Philip island’s area; removing foxes, revegetation, and removing roads and houses. And the numbers of penguins have gone from 12,000 in the mid 1980’s to 40,000 now. They have built a new building and it is so well done. I’m more than happy to support such an amazing organization. More Widget time. Zarah really has a way with the animals. On our way to the Melbourne Museum for the Bunjilaka Aboriginal Cultural Center. Yep…”sometimes we choose wrong.”Super well done big museum confronting a very difficult past and current relationship between colonizers and colonized. Clearly many voices are represented and colonizers taking a backseat. It is fascinating the similar and different paths our countries have taken with the original people on the land. Systematically killing and denying of access to lands/country important to them for time immemorial they have in common.Australia has had a reconciliation study with documentation of abuses and effects of child removal policies, a public apology read by the prime minister for the lost generations, and an annual national sorry day to reflect on the ills done. However, they STILL have never given any sovereignty or self governance to Aboriginal people. There is no treaty or recognized entity, like any one of the Native American Nations or any group of them, that is able to negotiate with the Australian government.And there are staggering numbers incarcerated. Aboriginal Australians are fully 33% of the prison population in Australia while they are 3.8% of the population as a whole. Even the US, where 37% of prisoners are African American, they are 13% of the population as a whole. Australia is actually worse. All of the above is from my rabbit hole of basic Google research so take it or leave it. But I find the parallels intriguing and if you want more I’ll send you my notes.They had a great exhibit on Aboriginal Australian fashion design and this was my favorite even though it was inspired by the 2020 bushfires. They had a garden with a long path with native Australian plants and their original uses as well. And a pond with eels as they were important food for people in the future Australian state of Victoria.
Jessica Wandering 
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