Viewing 2020 through a Saltwater portal.
Our Saltwater crew certainly had no idea what was in store for 2020. I do remember thinking 2020 had a good ring to it. 2020 vision.. etc.
Saltwater Projects had a busy time from mid to late 2019, planning a sound walk and Saltwater forum for the Festival of Sails in January 2020 and developing the 15th Two Bays project. From the perspective of the pandemic year we have had, it seems amazing we managed to do both events this year. We ran the last day of Two Bays on the 15th March this year, possibly the last moment to be able to do that before our hitherto protected shores were introduced to the reality of a global pandemic.
Soundwalk in Geelong Jan 2020- strangely pre-figuring social distancing.
During the period of late 2019 to early 2020, Australia was basically on fire. The fires were only extinguished on the 10th Feb 2020, having burnt approximately 191,000 hectares (471,971 acres) over 79 days. Today we are still counting the costs and feeling the impacts. Many people died and/or lost homes and animals. Forests that were once considered too wet to burn were incinerated. Up to 3 billion animals perished. In fact, over that period, Pelican1 became a resource for people who resided in Bermagui. Twice the fires threatened to overwhelm the town and twice the locals who stayed went and waited on Pelican1 in the harbour. Captain Garry would’ve had to set sail at the first sign of the fire reaching the town. Bermagui was lucky though and had winds that favoured its survival, often changing just at the point we all thought the town was gone.
Pelican1 in happy days during the Four Winds festival in Bermagui harbour. Photo: Sandy Scheltema
Sailing home to Bermagui in a storm.
When we first began building Pelican1 in 1998, climate change was one of the drivers that certainly impelled our group to act. A seemingly crazy project by artists to build a boat and create sea projects to share ocean issues and beauty with the broader community seemed a really good idea. Engagement with science and Indigenous Culture being core themes. And sharing knowledge of the threats to the health of the Ocean from pollution, climate change and overfishing etc. We were inspired to work closely with First Nation people, connecting to Sea Country and be a platform for collaborative, inter-disciplinary projects with social justice as a core ethic.
Working up North on Cape York with community from Wujal Wujal - Eastern Kuku Yalanji
We made a five year plan and we basically instituted that plan over the last 15 years and 85,000 sea miles. Over that time, programs that began as one or two relationships, developed into multi-stakeholder, long term research and engagement programs. We did a lot of straight science too. And film projects. Pelican 1 worked all around Australia, mainly on the East Coast though and out as far as Tonga and Vanuatu.
But at the end of 2020 Pelican1, our beautiful vessel, changed hands.. Half way through the year it was very clear that we would not be running a Two Bays 2021 during this current phase of the pandemic. Pelican1 is a complex piece of equipment and most of our resources have been spent to keep her ship-shape. Our team is small and we have all been working on or around her for 20 years and it seems that now is the time to dream (and work) in a slightly different way. Captain Garry Mckechnie has worked tirelessly to keep everyone safe at sea and manage the main load of keeping Pelican1 in excellent condition with support from Nick Kelly. Pelican1 was built with the financial help of a broad range of people who then allowed us the freedom to develop her work in the way we saw fit. And I do hope that they are satisfied with what we managed to achieve on her. I want to say a huge thank you to Mike O’Mullane, Brendon Condon, Damien Cook, Peter Gill and Jenifer Nicholas for all their incredible support. I need to mention here Peter Malcolm who was instrumental in our first project at sea on Redbill, envisioning building Pelican1 and developing our partnerships particularly with the HopeVale Aboriginal community until his too early death from cancer.
Pelican1 memorial sail for Peter Malcolm with the Hope Vale community.
Good ideas never die, they just shape shift and in that spirit, Saltwater Projects is continuing as a not-for-profit with a vision to keep developing projects that engage people with the Ocean and catchment environments. Many of the issues that inspired us in the first place are even more pressing now. We will share a lot more about new people coming on board and ideas in the works. But now, I just want to extend, on behalf of Saltwater, a deep thank you and gratitude to all of our crews, partners and individuals who trusted us and came on board Pelican1 to share knowledge, experiences and skills. We are planning an event next year to gather Saltwater Projects people and partners to have a big thank you party but at this stage the coronavirus still rules. From my perspective, Pelican1 taught me all the good lessons of life. I know that you can do terrific work if you deeply collaborate, trust and listen to others and Sea Country as much as your own inner urging. Pelican1 travelled all around Australia, out into the Pacific and traversed the entire East coast, almost annually, in the time we worked her, meeting incredible people along the way. Australia has vast Sea Country which is incredibly beautiful, biodiverse and still largely unknown. I wish Pelican1 many, many more sea adventures and we will miss her terribly. We built her to last at least 100 years and hopefully more. Boats have their own spirit and it is now imbued with everyone who has been aboard and she is entwined in mine in ways I am only really sensing now that we have to let her go. She is deeply connected to Guugu Yimithirr Sea Country and there is a good possibility her future work might bring her back to the Cape. And I am sure she will grace our local waters of the Kulin again too. There is also the possibility that we may in future be able to charter her for future projects… Till then we wish her happy and safe sailing.
Wishing you all a very Happy and Healthy New Year! As we enter into the The United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development it is clear there is much, much more collaborative work to be done. It is one ocean after all.
