Platypus Forum and Afternoon Tea
The New England Rakali and Platypus Group (NERP) warmly invites you to join us for a Platypus Forum and Afternoon Tea.
- Date: Saturday 7th March 2026
- Time: 2pm-3.30pm
- Venue: Armidale & Region Aboriginal Cultural Centre and Keeping Place (ACCKP), Kentucky St., Armidale
- Afternoon tea: Catered for by the Keeping Place Cafe.
NERP has held several events over the last three years including a forum at UNE with platypus researchers, an online session with Geoff Williams from the Australian Platypus Conservancy and a Spring 2024 Platypus picnic at Commissioners Waters.
At the Black Gully Festival in 2025 children made clay platypus and we began ‘weaving the Macleay’ on repurposed hail netting, an ongoing project for the PCYC markets 2026. The Early Years Platypus Kit continues to be well received and will be on loan again for early childhood services and schools (K-2) from March 2026. The Platypus Forum will include the following presenters, and we look forward to some engaging discussions.
- Hazel Vale and Thelma Kelly, Welcome to Country and reflections on river care
- Angus Adair, Co-ordinator of the Armidale Urban Rivercare group (AURG) and local wildlife enthusiast: ‘Two Decades of Dumaresq Creek Rehabilitation: Positive Impacts for Rakali and Platypus’
- Dr Sarah Mika, Senior Lecturer in Aquatic Ecology, UNE: ‘The importance of creating healthy Macleay headwaters’
- Dr Michelle Maloney, from the Australian Earth Laws Alliance: ‘Nature based law and the rights of rivers’(online)
We look forward to seeing you at the Platypus Forum and Afternoon Tea, Bruce Cohen, Andrew Lawson, Elizabeth O’Hara and Sue Elliott
