namanu rruni | Hive Tasmania

namanu rruni : Albatross Island

Central Coast Council ArtEx Collection

Saturday 21 September – Sunday 10 November 2024

‘Science must find new ways to communicate with the world. Facts alone are not enough in the struggle for the public’s hearts and minds. Together we seek to make connections with an audience that is unable to visit the island for themselves. Ultimately, we believe that when people are informed, they will care’ – Matthew Newton

Albatross Island, known as namanu rruni in palawa kani, is a tiny island northwest of Hunter Island. It is home to colonies of Tasmania’s endemic and endangered shy albatross, Thalassarche cauta, and is one of only three Tasmanian islands on which these reclusive birds breed once they reach the age of three or four years. They spend much of their lives at sea and travel vast distances, returning to the island as adults each year.

Systematic hunting as well as plundering of guano in the 1800s led to the decimation of the population. A conservation monitoring program was initiated by the Department of Natural Resources and Environment Tasmania in the early 1980s and the end of the last century saw approximately 5000 breeding pairs on the island. Scientific monitoring of the population is now undertaken each breeding season in efforts to understand the population trends and environmental drivers of this small but important island colony.

In 2014, artists were involved in the expedition, including cinematographer Matthew Newton. He documented this incredible scientific effort to conserve the colony in the face of anthropogenic climate change impacting on habitat and accidental deaths via fishery practice. This collaboration between science and art has produced a stunning array of imagery to communicate the need for the public to care about the continuing efforts to save our albatross.