Australia Melbourne, VIC

The Steve Irwin is currently docked in Brisbane and in need of supplies prior to departure this December.  Please click here for our urgent wishlist for Operation Musashi or call us in the Melbourne office (Tel: + 61 3 9445 0323) for more details on how you can help.

Following is a list of the type of help we will need in your area, but please let us know if you have any specific ideas on how you can help. E-mail: australia@seashepherd.org

• Fundraising - Organize a fundraiser event or concert at your local pub, restaurant, or community meeting place; have a Sea Shepherd house party (show videos and give a presentation); help sell SSCS merchandise; tell your friends about our work!
• Outreach - Assist in manning an information table (or host your own) at special events, festivals, outdoor markets, and/or shopping malls in your area. Be creative! Think of any place where you can set-up a display table and hand out information.
• Education - Visit schools, universities, clubs, and/or organizations to give presentations on Sea Shepherd.
• Information Distribution - You can help spread the word about our mission by distributing printed brochures, info sheets, and newsletters.
• Administrative and clerical work to support the chapter's activities - You can help with telephone calls, answering mail, data entry, computer consultation, and translation work.
• Ship Support - Finding contacts in Melbourne for when the ship comes in, to provide services, parts, equipment, moorage, etc.
• Developing a support network for Sea Shepherd in Australia

An office has been donated free of charge by Phil and Trix Wollen of the Winsome Constance Kindness Trust. The main initial expense will be outgoing phone calls only, so we are fortunate to have this great base to build upon. This chapter of Sea Shepherd will be making its main objective the support of the marine conservation work of Sea Shepherd. This is carried out by mostly volunteer crews on their two vessels Farley Mowat and Sirenian.

Please forward this information to anyone that may be interested in joining/donating to Sea Shepherd and/or volunteering time for the Sea Shepherd Australia.

Sea Shepherd Melbourne

Sea Shepherd Melbourne opened its new office in February this year. It was donated by Phil and Trix Wollen and is located in their multi storied "Kindness House", a building housing mainly animal welfare and animal rights groups.

We hit the ground running with several fundraiser, protest and educational events.

Crane (courtesy of the company Skylift) offloading the helicopter

EVENTS & HAPPENINGS:

(most recent events first):

2007 April 7
Rip Curl Pro, Bells Beach, Australia

by Jonny Vasic

Sea Shepherd attended the Rip Curl Pro Surf Competition at Bells Beach this past Easter weekend. Captain Paul Watson, Captain Alex Cornelissen, and International Director Jonny Vasic teamed up with Sea Shepherd's Tourquey Coordinator Jason Ruttely and supporter Steve Perry to meet with members of the surf community.

Read Jonny's Report

2006 August 6
by Peter Hammarstedt, Ships' Liaison Officer

Support for the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society's mission to shutdown the illegal Japanese whaling fleet spread from the coast further inland as Ships' Liaison Peter Hammarstedt and former Melbournian crewmember Kristy Whitefield were invited to speak at the Ballarat Organization for Animal Rights (BOAR) Annual General Meeting. Local press was in attendance as Peter Hammarstedt provided a history of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, stressing the importance of returning to Antarctica at the end of the year to stop the Japanese from commencing a full-scale resumption of commercial whaling. An incredible interest was shown by the attendees in the role of Australians in ending the slaughter. Peter Hammarstedt emphasized that it was the duty of all Australians to encourage their government representatives to uphold the soverignity of the Australian Antarctic Territory by sending down a warship to order the Japanese out.

Peter Hammarstedt and Kristy Whitefield were presented with a cheque and donation of vegan food by the attendees, who thanked Sea Shepherd for being a group that doesn't just talk, but takes direct action. It is with great pleasure that the crew of the Farley Mowat sees support for the anti-whaling movement spread throughout Australia.

Sea Shepherd would like to thank BOAR for inviting Peter Hammarstedt and Kristy Whitefield to speak at their Annual General Meeting. The tremendous support shown by BOAR stands as yet another testament to the fact that Australians are overwhelming concerned about the welfare of animals and that together we can end whaling in our lifetime. "We are fighting the same war on different fronts", Ships' Liaison Peter Hammarstedt stated before heading back to Melbourne.

Read Peter's report on "An Evening for the Whales" on August 4

Read an article in "The Courier", Ballarat, Australia about the BOAR meeting

2006 July
The Farley Mowat visits Melbourne. You can read about our visit here.

2006 May 22
Jon Sumby together with Sea Shepherd Melbourne, held an educational fundraiser talk, again at RMIT, called "Ocean Life: Overfishing and the marine environment". The talk (photo below), with an array of informative photos and data, was damning of modern fishing industry practices.

2006 April 9
We held a pre-release screening of "March of the Penguins" as a fundraiser. It was a great success with a near full house!

Photos by Michael Williams, "It's a Wildlife", Newport, Vic.

2006 March 15
International Seal Action Day, we held a peaceful protest outside of the Canadian Consulate, raising awareness of the sealing issue with many who had never heard of it, including a few Canadians.

2006 February
In early February, Captain Paul Watson spoke to a large crowd of supporters at RMIT (Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology) about Sea Shepherd's Southern Ocean Campaign to stop Japanese whalers. This year, he and his crew managed to prevent them from killing whales for two weeks.