It's the low moaning sound of the spray bursting from the whale's blowhole that has Deshuan, 9, excited as he peers through the binoculars at the mother and her calf just 20 metres off the cliffs.
"They keep blasting water out," he says, pointing to the back of his head, as he watches the gentle giants of the sea at the Head of Bight, on South Australia's far west coast.
Forty-five children from the nearby Anangu Yalata community are at the Head of the Bight for "whale day", a school outing that's been held for the past 15 years.
The students point and squeal in delight as a handful of majestic southern right whales (Eubalaena australis) loll, their calves rolling off their backs, in the shallow, turquoise waters.
Just as the Yalata community has strong connections to this country, the whales are also drawn to the safe waters of the Bunda cliffs.
They migrate thousands of kilometres from Antarctica to the Head of the Bight every three to four years to breed, calve and nurse their young.
The Indigenous students have left the confines of a classroom to connect with country and the marine park, and to marvel at their giant neighbours that are 18 metres long and weigh up to 80 tonnes.
The Nullarbor National Park has areas of strong cultural significance to the several groups of Aboriginal people: the Mirning, Wirangu and Yalata, and the whale is the totem and dreaming for the Nullarbor Mirning people.
Anangu Yalata elder Maureen Smart OAM said whale day was important for the community.
"For thousands of years southern right whales have migrated to the head of the Great Australian Bight," she said.
"This place is most important for all of the far west coast and the people of the far north and Western Australia because our dreaming lies across here from the inland out to the sea," she said.
"We used to go and camp with the youth camp along the sandhills up there and talk about stories and do dancing.
"This is so special for us because of the dreaming across this land."
Ms Smart said she shared these stories at the Yalata Anangu school.
"I worked for 20 years at school and I taught those people who have now become the fathers of their own kids and who are working here as rangers and at school," she said.
"We all enjoy this place today as we come and visit what's on this edge of the cliff.
"It's most important for all the tourists all over the world to come and visit this land. It's for everyone to enjoy."
Yalata Anangu School principal Terrry Casey said this year's trip was especially exciting because COVID isolation had meant few outings over the past couple of years for the school's 50 students.
"The importance is for the kids to understand what their land entails … and part of their land is of course the ocean," Mr Casey said.
"Because we're so close to the Bight, we bring them down here to see the whales so they can understand how the whales continue to come back to this country, which is their country."
Indigenous National Park ranger Tammy Cox also has ties to the area.
"I used to spend a lot of my weekends and holidays out here with my family so it holds a really special place in my heart," Ms Cox said.
"There are strong connections with the whales in this area and then also the Nullarbor itself.
"We've got the karst system and the Nullarbor cliffs and then also the caves as well are quite significant [and] the dreaming that goes through here.
"Even when it's not peak whale season, we still get a lot visitors just to see the beauty of the place, the cliffs, the beaches. It's truly a special place."
Whale day involves rangers from National Parks as well as researchers from Curtin University's Great Australia Bight Right Whale Study.
Bridget O'Shannessy is leading the researchers this season to count the whales, and photograph and document births and behaviour.
The southern right whales are identified by callosities on their heads. The unique patterns are similar to fingerprints.
"When we take photo ID we can actually tell which whale it is, how many times they've been here at the Head of the Bight or anywhere else in Australia," Ms O'Shannessy said.
"This study's been running for 32 years. We're seeing whales here that we've seen in the late 80s.
"One of the ones we have here is Dart and she was first sighted in 1986 as a breeding female, so her minimum age is 43 but she could be a little bit older, we're not sure."
Ms O'Shannessy said the whale population was increasing about 6 per cent each year and 1,500 different whales had been identified in the 32 years of study.
The whales drift very close to the cliff edge where hundreds of tourists dot the viewing boardwalks from May to October to see the animals with their newborn calves.
Ms O'Shannessy hopes the school's whale day helps the next generation learn about the importance of marine parks.
"The kids today are super excited and it's a nice little reminder of why we're doing what we're doing, not just for research, not just for scientific journals, but also to bring that information to the general public."
The images of the whales in this story have been taken under research permit M26085-12 and media permit A00003592.NUL.
