VOLUNTEERS AT A WINNING SOUTH WEST RESOURCE
By Dave Roberts
Programs at Koombana Bay’s Dolphin Discovery Centre seem to benefit more than the dolphins.
Exciting things are afoot at the Dolphin Discovery Centre on Koombana Bay. The chance to interact with Dolphins is pretty special, and of late, it’s not a secret any more. Much more accessible than many places this kind of experience can be had, people are being attracted to learn, and without getting too lyrical, to marvel at the opportunity to share time and space with some extraordinary creatures. The experience is obviously impressing a lot of others, as the Dolphin Discovery centre won Best Major Tourism Attraction at the WA Tourism awards in 2007.
The discovery centre has a role in research about Dolphins and a range of other marine creatures, and fairly soon there’ll be more in South West Life on that. While I was down there following that up, I noted a sound that I love. All around me were people speaking in a range of accents. That’s not surprising at a tourist attraction, but the accented people were all wearing the centre’s volunteer uniform. I asked Dolphin Interaction Supervisor, Phil Coultard, whether they had a high level of overseas volunteers. |
|
|
Well, yes.
It seems that there is a great deal of volunteer activity at the Dolphion Discovery Centre, certainly more than I would have guessed. In fact, last year volunteers worked twenty thousand hours. There are 46 local people who are long term volunteers there. Pondering it, that’s a big business and these people are doing it either because they love their community or because they love or admire the dolphins.
To add something to that mix though, there are the short term volunteers. The day I was there, the volunteers were from Switzerland, Japan, Denmark, Brazil, Canada, UK, France, and Korea. Sitting at a table getting my head around some of the programs that are underway, and some that are gaining momentum, I found something genuinely astounding. This is a resource that attracts enough overseas visitors to work 8 000 hours at the centre in a year. These workers mainly stay at the local backpackers’ hostel. They party, as you would in a foreign country on a holiday, they learn, they spend money, and they stay at least six weeks in Bunbury, which is a great place for sure, but there are a lot of major cities that can’t regularly hold their tourists for six weeks.
Having to get to grips with what’s good in the region, you think you know what’s going on, but I’m constantly impressed by things that I find right under my nose. We ran a story in December 2001 about the centre, and since then have been back to the interaction zone a couple of times because, let’s face it, hanging out with the dolphins is pretty cool. What it shows is that even though you think you’ve got something sorted out, constant improvement can really change things and without some of the locals knowing, this has become a very special place with great programs focused on conservation of a number of species. Dare we say it, they run a good line in development of a broad range of humans, both domestic and the migratory kind.
Locals and those planning a trip to WA might consider checking out the centre as a place to serve, learn, and enjoy. It’s clearly working for a bunch of other people.
February 2008
