Phillip Island, off Victoria’s south-eastern coast, is best known for its natural beauty and environmental values. In particular, it is known for the “Penguin Parade,” where little penguins (formerly known as fairy penguins) parade up Summerland Beach each night returning to their burrows. The Bunurong people’s connection to Millowl (the Bunurong name for Phillip Island) extends back tens of thousands of years. But as with most of Australia, the past 200 years have seen a dramatic change to the island’s natural landscape. Nearly 100 years ago, the first tourists began to visit the island, and it has since grown to become one of the state’s major tourist destinations. Over this period, the work of the local community, state and local government has seen the habitat of the Summerland Peninsula, at the island’s western end, (as well as other parts of Phillip Island) protected from overdevelopment, while being shaped to provide significant economic benefit to the local community.
It wasn’t until the 1920s that the island’s environmental values began to be appreciated for their economic benefits. Local residents began taking tourists by torchlight to see the penguins’ nightly arrival. In 1923,
