Doris – It Takes a Village — Norfolk Island's Reef

Out on A Swim

‘Out on a swim’ is a coral reef blog that tells the stories of the characters who live under the waves and what has caught my eye when ‘out on a swim’ in the lagoons of Norfolk Island. It is also a record of the difficulties Norfolk Island’s reef faces, like many others around the world, as a result of the poor water quality that has been allowed to flow onto it.

This page shows the most recent blog posts. For the complete catalogue, visit the ‘Out on a swim index’ page.

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Transformed, Transformational

This morning marked the end of a four-month journey for Doris. From a sick, emaciated turtle with lesions across her shell, and covered with an unhealthy growth of algae, she has been transformed to glossy beautiful health. In a bittersweet moment for all of us who were there and who have been involved in her care, she was released into the waters off Blackbank, to the north of Norfolk Island, not far from Captain Cook’s monument today.

If you missed the beginning of this wonderful story, back in September 2022 Doris was plucked from Emily Bay on Norfolk Island looking sick and sad. You can read all about it in these two blog posts:

In Greek mythology, Doris is a sea goddess who represents the fertility of the ocean – the goddess of the rich fishing grounds found where fresh water mingles with the brine. It seemed an apt name for our little turtle found, as she was, where the freshwater stream mixes with the salty waters of Emily Bay, hiding under a coral ledge, sick, weak and underweight.

Over the last four months, Doris has gone from being quietly submissive, to gradually asserting herself. Her personality quickly became evident and surprised us all; she told us in no uncertain terms what she wanted and didn’t want. Like a child, she would reject her greens, ignore us when she had had enough company, but then love having her back scratched. As she got better she became decidedly cranky, pacing back and forth in a tank that seemed to shrink around her as her personality shone. The call of the wild asserted itself. It was time.

Not only has Doris been transformed to health by a hard-working group of amazing local volunteers, but, I believe, she has proved transformational for many of us, too. The privilege of, and responsibility for, being able to care for a wild animal and to see her blossom into health is an experience many of us will never forget as long as we live.

Doris has taught us all something. She has touched our lives, educated us, informed our opinions, made us all so much more convinced that we can’t let this happen again to another turtle, to other wildlife. She has touched our lives; especially, she has talked to our schoolchildren – our future environmental custodians. Doris has alerted us to a problem in our waters like nothing and no one else could. And for that we owe her a big debt of thanks.

This morning, Hannah and Trish cradled Doris for her last journey, aboard Dave Biggs’s boat to an area of water that we considered would be a good clean habitat for her. We headed out to Blackbank, where we paused while Luca readied himself to enter the water to film this special moment. The ocean breathing gently around us as we waited – the mood quiet, sombre.

September 2022

January 2023

As we soaked in the moment, wildlife warrior, and our resident bird expert Margaret Christian, reminded us of a song her daughter Kath King had written some 15 years ago, presciently about a turtle at Blackbank.

‘Let’s sing it’ said Nat Grube, an islander, Doris volunteer and film crew.

And she did.

It was spontaneous, unscripted, and one of the most beautiful moments of my life.

Hannah slid Doris over the side and back into the bosom of the ocean, her home. We’ll miss her, but as she swam towards Luca, our hearts sang, too. She’s back where she should be, and hopefully she will now find her way in the world and, with luck, mature and breed, doing her little bit for the world’s endangered population of green sea turtles (Chelonia mydas).

Mission accomplished.

And maybe, just maybe, I will be lucky enough to see her one day on one of my snorkels. I hope so. My camera will be ready.

Vital statistics

We believe Doris is around 10 years old.

Her curved carapace length is 48.5cm. And she weighs about 13.5 kg, a marked increase from when she arrived into our care at just shy of 9 kg.

Special thanks

They say it takes a village:

Nigel Greenup (National Parks), Hannah Taylor, Jenny Gildert (from the Cairns Turtle Rehabilitation Centre), Trish Le Mura, Candice the vet, Jamie Donaldson, all the Parks staff, Australian Marine Parks, Natalie Grube, Luca Fox, all the volunteers (so many of you, and such special people), and Dave Biggs. And, of course, every member of the Norfolk Island community who volunteered fish, greens, ointment, water tubs, courier services – and on and on it goes.

This really was a monumental effort for a small community. Thank you.

Hannah with Doris, just before release

Luca waiting to film Doris off Blackbank

July 24, 2026

From ridge to reef: unpicking the Waterway and Wetland Strategy

Norfolk Island’s draft Waterway and Wetland Strategy will guide work for the next ten years. I support its intent, but it needs to be clear, practical and measurable – joining the dots from ridge to reef so we know whether public money is improving water quality and helping the reef.

June 28, 2026

The red seaweed behind low-methane beef

A small red seaweed on Norfolk’s reef has become part of a much bigger story. Asparagopsis taxiformis can look like a delicate red feather duster or, at another stage of its life cycle, like a tiny cottony pom-pom. It is beautiful, easily overlooked, and now being used in the cattle industry to help reduce methane emissions. This post looks at the reef oddity behind the low-methane beef story – and why repeated local observation can be more useful than it first appears.

June 20, 2026

From coral scar to aatuti farm

Aatuti are bold little algae farmers, but how does one of their farms begin? Over the past year, I have been following several coral patches as small white scars became algal footholds, then larger defended patches. I still cannot say what caused the first wounds, but the photo sequences show something fascinating: on a reef where algae is already gaining ground, even tiny changes on the coral surface can become part of a much bigger story.

June 15, 2026

Norfolk’s water quality – when action is reported as outcome

A recent Australian Government media release presents investment, monitoring and catchment works as progress on Norfolk Island’s water quality. Some of that work is useful, and some of it was badly needed. But activity is not the same as proven improvement. This post looks at Kingston sewerage, wetlands, cattle, acid sulfate soils, groundwater and reef health, and asks whether Emily Bay and Slaughter Bay are actually being better protected.

June 14, 2026

How surgeonfishes got their name

Surgeonfish are named for the sharp little scalpels near their tails, but on Norfolk’s reef their more useful work happens at the other end. Pencil surgeonfish, bluespine unicornfish and their relatives help browse algae across the reef – a small daily job that becomes very valuable on an algae-rich lagoon reef like ours.

May 28, 2026

A shrimp storm

While setting my research cams last week, I swam into what looked like an underwater snowstorm. It appeared to be the aftermath of a mass moulting event, with large numbers of tiny, translucent shrimp-like exoskeletons drifting together near the surface.

Kingston dredging: what happens when a reef does not fit the framework

This correspondence with DCCEEW is about more than one dredging proposal. It is about what happens when an ecologically distinctive place is assessed through standard tools that do not always make its most important values easy to see. I am publishing it here because that is something we need to be aware of, both on Norfolk Island and more broadly in Australia.

May 24, 2026

Kingston dredging: the project advances, the questions remain

Kingston dredging is edging closer, and the paper trail is growing. This post brings together earlier correspondence with the Department and the latest media release so readers can see what has been asked, what has been answered, and what still remains unclear about the project, its rationale, and the protections proposed for the reef.

May 17, 2026

The lime-green coral in Slaughter Bay – a 40-year paper trail

Green Mountain – the name I give this coral in my database – is a coral I’ve photographed for years as I swim past. Then I found its backstory in the Norfolk Island National Parks archives: a rough map, reused paper, a note in the margin – ‘still thriving’. That’s how baselines begin.