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Hello there.
My name's Emily and you're listening to Newstime.
Hello, Emily.
Hey, Emily.
Hello.
And hello to Newstime listener legend, Willa.
Hi, my name is Willa and I live in Thoreau, which is on the south coast of New South Wales.
Hello from the lands of the Dharawal people.
And hi, Emily.
My sister and I love listening to your Newstime.
If you'd like to be a listener legend like Willa, find out how to apply at the end of the podcast.
But before we get there, we have five fantastic stories to explore.
We'll meet some marine biologists saving endangered seagrass meadows and hear about a new board game that's helping people build confidence and their dragon knowledge.
We'll hear our wow of the week a story guaranteed to make you say wowza.
Are you ready?
Take it away, Emily.
Story number five.
The fight is on to save endangered seagrass meadows around Sydney Harbour.
Posidonia australis is an underwater plant native to the southern Australian coastline.
It's a type of seagrass that provides a great home for little fishes, while also helping to make the water healthy.
However, due to human activity like boat traffic, shipping and pollution, it's become endangered and is rarely seen in the Sydney harbour anymore.
So scientists and boat owners are teaming up to help the seabed where the seagrass grows by trying out an environmentally friendly way of docking ships in the harbour.
That's their home.
Yeah, that's right.
The harbour is kind of like the ship's home, where they rest at night when their owners go back to the shore.
But how do you think people make sure their boats stay still and don't float away?
There's like some rings that secure it, like an anchor.
One way people stop their boats floating away is a process called traditional swing mooring.
It's where they attach their boats to a buoy floating above the water.
That buoy is chained to a weight that sits down below on the seabed.
But the problem is, the chain is pretty heavy.
Maybe the chain's more heavy so it doesn't let anything drags along the seabed.
It will damage the coral and all the other animals that live there.
It sure does.
The constant drag along the seabed means it's harder for seagrass to grow.
However, scientists have invented an environmentally friendly mooring.
It's designed without a heavy chain.
Instead, the buoy is attached to a rope that doesn't drag across the seabed.
The rope sticks up for, like, animals and seagrass to go around.
Yep, it means the seagrass can live happily underneath the mooring device, and probably some other things too.
Seaweed, sharks, a bunch of fish, coral.
Ten of the new moorings have been put into the harbour, and to give the seagrass that extra little bit of help, some seedlings have been growing in a lab, and they'll be planted too.
The team of scientists say if this works, they hope to take the new inventions to other harbours across Australia.
Six native title holders from Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory are making a stand at the High Court in Canberra to protect their land and their groundwater.
Native title holders are Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who have rights and interests in their land and waters.
These rights come from their traditional laws and customs, which have existed for thousands of years and are recognised today under Australian law.
The six from Emperumpura Aboriginal Corporation are standing up to a business that wants to take water from their land.
Pretty sad and a bit mad that they would think they could do that.
Not knowing why they need the water.
The business wants to take water for farming.
They say they need the water to grow fruit and vegetables that will eventually be sold overseas.
In fact, they actually received permission to do this, but not from the traditional owners of the land.
So now traditional owners are speaking up.
And it's a big moment in history because it's the first Aboriginal groundwater rights case to be heard in the High Court.
The High Court is the final and top court people can go to to review decisions made in Australia.
I'm pretty sure there's big bodies of water in underground caves in the middle of Australia.
There certainly are.
There's also desert water systems, and these underground water supplies are really important in Aboriginal culture.
The traditional owners are particularly concerned.
As they say, the business wants to take 40 gigalitres of groundwater from the land every year for the next 30 years.
What is a gigalitre?
A lot.
It sure is a lot.
Taking 40 gigalitres every year for the next 30 years is equivalent to draining the Sydney Harbour twice.
Sounds like a lot of water to be taking just to grow plants.
I'm wondering how they would transport it.
Very dehydrated.
The land could be very dehydrated and that will impact the locals too.
Kind of taking away some of their culture.
Could also die off some animals.
The removal of this water could have an impact on sacred sites and yes, possibly harm plants and animals that are very special to Aboriginal people.
The traditional owners warn that when groundwater levels drop, they can't reach the roots of sacred trees and plants.
I think it would be pretty hurtful.
The group feel hopeful about the High Court hearing.
They say they'll continue to fight for sacred sites and their culture.
Story number three.
New surf programs are rolling out, making water safety more accessible for more Aussies.
When you visit a metropolitan beach, you'll often find surf, lifesavers and sometimes even nippers there.
Surf Lifesavers make sure everyone at the beach is safe.
They monitor the beach and keep an extra careful watch on anyone near the water.
Nippers are younger Surf Lifesavers.
They learn water and sand safety, beach awareness and some first aid skills too.
Some of these nippers may even become Surf Lifesavers when they're older.
I've done Surf Lifesavers with my friend.
Water safety is super important and something everyone should know about.
Like safe swimming, never entering the water without a grown-up.
If you get trapped in the water and you're really far away and the lifeguards can't hear you or see you, then you have to learn how to swim back to shore.
Yeah, it's great to know what to do if you get caught in a bad situation in the water.
But these programs aren't always accessible for everyone in Australia.
Like for those who live inland in Australia who aren't anywhere near the coast or beach.
How do you think they might learn about water safety?
Maybe have a pool that they can practice in.
They do some swimming lessons.
Rivers or lakes.
Yeah, that's right.
There are also clubs that provide training for children living regionally in inland Australia.
The Canberra Browlee Nippers Club has a club based in Canberra, 150 kilometres away from the beach.
They train for three weeks in a pool and every fourth week they travel to the coast to do patrol there.
It's a great way to make sure children living inland still get the experience to learn about ocean water safety.
And in Victoria, a specialised nippers program is being rolled out called Starfish Nippers.
It's tailored for children with disabilities and follows the standard nippers course, with some adaptions like how things are taught and a focus on the sensory experience of being at the beach.
Think it would feel much nicer to feel more like you're in a community?
It sure would.
Both programs are helping water safety training become more accessible Story number two.
There's a new board game in town and it's helping children and young adults build confidence and make friends.
Adelaide psychologist Will Ellison knows how powerful board games can be for one's confidence.
So, drawing from the popular board game Dungeons and Dragons, he created DOTS, short for Dragons on the Spectrum.
The game is for neurodivergent children 10 years and older to help develop their social skills and friendships.
Strategy.
Being kind to people.
Discussing it before you actually start playing.
Yeah, you can learn heaps of skills while playing.
Will says one of the main skills in DOTS is teamwork.
For some people, social interactions are difficult, like chatting to your friends or people you may not know.
DOTS creates a safe and fun environment for people to learn and practice skills they may not be super confident with.
So, why do you like playing games with your friends?
Um, safe.
Some games are really good because you can communicate with your friends.
They make you laugh.
Playing and having fun with your friends is so important for our physical and mental health, and it can help build communication skills which can boost your confidence.
It's super important to have friends and people that you can chat to.
Feels comforting because, you know, you can talk to that person about things in your life.
This year, dots will be rolled out across Australia to regional and metropolitan cities.
And now it's time for... Wow of the Week.
This story made me go wow, because I thought they were extinct and didn't know they were actually a thing.
A Western Quoll, Joey, has been born in the wild for the first time in more than a century.
Western Quolls are marsupials and native to Australia.
It's like a possum slash rat slash cat rat.
If I were to see this animal, I'd probably think it was like a deer.
Western quolls are smaller than deer.
They're about the size of a small domesticated cat.
But what's extraordinary is the Western quoll was actually extinct in New South Wales.
It means you can't find it, but you can only find its fossils.
But a conservation program led by Indigenous trainee zookeepers has seen the population return to outback New South Wales.
In 2024, 16 quolls that were bred at Taronga Western Plains Zoo were released into New South Wales' Sturt National Park.
The park is 100 square kilometres.
That's the size of 11,000 football fields.
And as the quolls are pretty small, they had a lot of space to roam.
But that didn't mean the quolls were guaranteed to survive.
With roaming comes danger.
Probably from large predators.
Large predators are a big threat to quolls, so rangers have been managing the predators to help the native animals survive.
And it seems to be working.
Indigenous trainee zoo ranger Vincent was the first to spot the quoll joey, which is believed to be the first of the species born in the wild in over a century.
Vincent says it was a young male quoll.
They took his measurements and some fur samples for researchers and then released him back into the park.
Vincent feels very lucky to have spotted the little joey.
Really excited, joyful and maybe start like squealing.
Now I'm going to be the first one in like over 100 years to get to see this animal.
The program is continuing with hopes to introduce more quolls into the park to boost population numbers.
The Indigenous trainee zookeepers working on the program say being on country and working with these endangered species has been incredibly eye-opening.
It shows how the country would have looked back in the day when quolls thrived in the wild.
And it's quiz time.
Let's see how much you remember.
Question one.
Where are they trialling the environmentally friendly mooring?
Hmm.
The Sydney Harbour.
Question 2.
How many gigalitres of water does the company want to take each year?
40 gigalitres.
Question 3.
How far is the Canberra Browley Nippers Club from the beach?
150 kilometres.
Question 4.
What is the new board game called?
Dot.
Or dragons on the spectrum?
Question five.
How long had it been since a quoll joey had been born in the wild in New South Wales?
Oh, that's a tricky one.
A century.
And that's a wrap.
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Thank you.
Thanks, Emily.
Bye, Emily.
You're very welcome.
Catch you next time.
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