She put the letter down, declaring, ‘But I couldn’t go away to boarding school and leave the turtles.’
‘Not yet perhaps,’ Mum murmured. ‘But in a year or two you might be ready,’ Dad added.
Chellie nodded slowly. ‘I’m like a turtle still growing inside its egg, still incubating in the warm sand of Home Beach. But the hatching time will come, and then I’ll have to take to the ocean too.’
Mum and Dad hugged her.
‘That’s about it. But it’s not time yet. Now, what about that other envelope?’
More letters came sliding out, addressed to Chelonia Green, School of Distance Education, with a little note from Miss Howe: Here’s your fan mail!
Chellie blushed, then started to read the letters. Several were from students with whom she shared lessons. One wrote, Chelonia, you’re a champion! Two were from other kids – one in New South Wales, one in Canberra – who had read the story in the paper.
There were a couple from adults, too, praising her efforts. The rubbish may seem to go on and on. But persevere with what you’ve started. Never underestimate what one person’s actions can achieve, wrote an 85-year-old lady from Adelaide. A West Australian man campaigning to protect the turtles on Ningaloo Reef also urged her to keep up the good work; and a student from Western Australia sent a poem she had written when she was a volunteer at a threatened turtle colony in South America.
Chellie was overwhelmed. Caretta’s death had brought all these letters to her island, all these people into her life. With so many persons caring about turtles, surely one of Caretta’s babies had a chance of surviving. Chellie resolved that when she was a marine biologist she would come back with her children in thirty years time and welcome Caretta’s daughter home.
Meantime there was still a job to be done. ‘See ya, Mum, see ya, Dad.’ Turtle Beach was calling. How many plastic bags would she find today?
You can help look after the environment, just like Chellie. Here are some resources to help you get started.
National Threatened Species day is held every September.
www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/threatened/ts-day
World Wide Fund for Nature
Threatened Species Network.
http://wwf.org.au/ourwork/species/tsn
Coastcare volunteers identify local environmental problems and
work together to achieve practical solutions.
www.coastcare.com.au
Learn more about how you can help endangered turtles.
www.environment.gov.au/coasts/species/turtles/conservation.html
Clean Up Australia
www.cleanup.org.au/au/
Australian Conservation Foundation
www.acfonline.org.au
The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority
www.gbrmpa.gov.au
Mon Repos Conservation Park, Queensland
www.epa.qld.gov.au/projects/park/?parkid=83
Australian Marine Conservation Society
www.amcs.org.au
The Wilderness Society
www.wilderness.org.au
CHRISTOBEL MATTINGLEY has always loved the sea and its creatures. She was born at Brighton, South Australia, within sound of the sea. She lived by the beach until she was eight and loves beachcombing. Christobel also loves islands and has visited many off Australia’s coast. She was enchanted by the sight of turtles swimming in the clear waters off Broome in Western Australia and has spent months in Queensland watching the turtles which come to Great Barrier Reef islands to lay their eggs. Chelonia Green, Champion of Turtles was inspired by visits to a special island off the Capricorn Coast, where she was shocked by the amount of jetsam from passing boats which littered the beautiful beaches. At school her headmistress taught the students not to litter, and ever since Christobel has always picked up other peoples’ rubbish when walking on the beach or in the bush.
Christobel’s writing career began with her love of nature and she was ten when her first pieces were published in the children’s pages of the magazine Wild Life. Her first book, The Picnic Dog, was published in 1970. Her first story to be accepted, Windmill at Magpie Creek, runner-up for the Children’s Book Council Book of the Year Award in 1972, has appeared in four editions and two translations. Her belief that one person can make a difference also shows in many of her books, as in The Battle of the Galah Trees, and Lizard Log.
Battle Order 204, the moving story of her husband David’s experiences as a bomber pilot in World War 2, was published in 2007 to great acclaim. Chelonia Green, Champion of Turtles is the 47th book from this award-winning, well-loved author.
Chelonia Green, Champion of Turtles Page 6