In 2005 I was so thrilled to be chosen as 1 of 7 teachers from WA to be sponsored by Woodside to participate in the Earthwatch Expedition “Echidnas and Goannas of Kangaroo Island”, run by Dr Peggy Rismiller and her partner Mike McAuley.

Pelican Point, Kangaroo Island South Australia

We lived in tents – a little chilly at night - and could only shower every other day! Due to tight water restrictions all the loos had little signs “If it’s yellow let it mellow, if it’s brown flush it down”. We all happily adhered to these restrictions.The days were gorgeous allowing us to do a lot of field work – looking at the habitats of echidnas and goannas, learning the plants and undertaking transects and quadrat sampling.We looked for signs of echidnas, and as I was the first to find echidna poo! We have echidnas in the Exmouth and Cape Range region and during Black-footed rock wallaby monitoring I had learnt to recognise echidna poo. It is brown and looks like it has been squeezed from a toothpaste tube and cut with a knife at each end!

The Earthwatch Scientists

Peggy and Mike were such inspirational people – they only had solar power and rainwater on their research station, and they built their own research station out of recycled materials. Although I have a research science background prior to becoming a teacher, I learnt so much on Kangaroo Island.

One of the most exiting was learning to radio track echidnas. We also learnt to use I-button temperature loggers that look like little flat metal batteries. These little gadgets can be programmed through a USB attachment via a computer to take temperatures at pre-set intervals eg every 15 minutes for days on end. I was the one elected by the group to learn how to program the I-buttons and download the data. In pairs we had to chose micro-habitats to place the I-buttons, allowing us to detect temperature differences between places that were close, but had subtle differences (eg in the shade longer) that caused differences in the micro-climate.

Inspiring New Ideas

It was an experience of a lifetime, but more importantly I found the experience and my time with Peggy and Mike so inspiring that when I went back to Exmouth and the school, I decided to implement some of the things I had learnt, to involve the students in real science.

I ordered I-buttons (we now have 12) which the students use in experiments. I also decided to set up Echidnawatch, managed at the school but involving the whole community, including tourists. We ask anyone who spots an echidna to let us know through the dedicated e-mail echidna.watch@student.det.wa.edu.au or fill in simple forms and hand in to the Department of Environment and Conservation, which then passes them onto the school. It had to be simple so that people knew what data to record so I came up with Who? (observer) What? (was the echidna doing) When? (date and time) Where? (eg on the track to Sandy Bay) and it works. We have had over 300 sightings ( not necessarily 300 different echidnas).

I also managed to obtain funding to buy radio tracking equipment and we are now waiting to find 2 echidnas close to town, so we can attached the radio transmitters. The Year 9 students have been taught radio tracking and will be radio tracking the echidnas as part of their field work.

I was so inspired by Mike and Peggy’s low eco-footprint, that I came back to the school determined to see the school become more sustainable. I managed to obtain funding from a corporate sponser to install a 2.1kW photovoltaic system and help establish the school’s environment centre. The pV system has been running for over 2 years, has saved tonnes of greenhouse gases and saved the school money.

The Environment Centre

The environment centre is used by both the school and community groups. My Year 10 students have just started putting together the shade house and with some of the funds a shed will be erected some time this year for aquaculture and hydroponics . Funding from the National Solar Schools Program will allow the addition of guttering running to a rainwater tank, and solar power for the shed. We are trying to make the environment centre as sustainable as possible.Last year my students in Years 9 & 10 grew vegetables. This year many more classes in primary will be growing plants. We also have 5 chooks that eat the scraps from Home Economics and the canteen and the eggs are sold - the chooks are mainly free-range and are looked after by the Year 5s. We also have a worm farm and one of the primary classes sells the worm juice. Our compost will be used on our gardens.

Photo: The environment centre in the background with Year 10 students preparing the vegie garden.