The Kimberley coast

Following the hugely popular lecture on Kimberley rock art in March, Sandy will take us on a journey to the Kimberley coast.

For most of his working life Sandy lectured in science education at University of New England. He has strong interests in plant and animal biology, agriculture, plant ecology, geology and geomorphology, and how these relate to the origins of continental Australia. These interests are supported by his wide Australian and worldwide travel experiences to 52 countries.

Sandy has visited the Kimberley coast annually for the last 24 years as a Guest Lecturer on Coral Expeditions ships. For those who have been fortunate enough to visit the Kimberley by sea they find it to be fascinating with a plethora of landscapes which provide an abundance of rocky landforms including bays, islands and estuaries along with diverse structures, shapes and colours.

To most people much of the Kimberley coast remains out of reach for road travellers and so it has remained remote and little understood by other than the Traditional Owners who call it their home country.

Sandy’s illustrated talk provides a context for this abundance of diversity explaining features of the local rock formations, how these have been altered to make the landforms, how the landforms have influenced some of the local biota, and finally some examples of how landforms have influenced lifestyles of the Traditional Kimberley coastal clans.