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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
National
James Norman

St Kilda’s little penguin colony to be ‘cherished and protected’ as free public tours return at long last

A little penguin on the beach in St Kilda
Volunteers offer free guided tours twice daily (at sunset and after dark) to see the St Kilda little penguin colony. Photograph: Flossy Sperring

Gordon Watson, 85, remembers penguins living on the rocky breakwater at the end of the old St Kilda pier since he was a teenager. “I learned to sail with the St Kilda yacht club and I remember being with a group of three of us lads sailing around in a dingy going, ‘Oh look, there’s a penguin.’”

Then, in the early 2000s, Watson and his late wife became volunteer guides with Earthcare St Kilda, helping to care for the little penguin colony and manage the public as visitor numbers increased. While “the majority of people were great” there were some “nasty moments” with some members of the public, Watson says.

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