Buoying our optimism over this particularly strange year at the BBO has been the progress of our Discovery Centre.

We wanted a space to celebrate shorebirds in an interactive and engaging way, that is accessible to a wide range of people. The building that will host the Discovery Centre was first put on site in 2018, a donation from Woodside and Brajkovitch demolition. Plans brewing for the potential this new build could have for the BBO and the community, became more real as we were offered a generous donation by Mr Charles Allen OAM to fund the majority of the internal fit-out. Further support was provided by the Australian Bird Environment Fund (ABEF) and Water Corp & Lions Club Kimberley Community Grant.

Charles has been a strong supporter of the BBO since its inception and has had an enduring friendship with Dr Clive Minton. That being so, following Clive’s recent passing, Charles suggested the Discovery Centre be named in Clive’s honour.

With the name chosen we are now well into the process of fitting-out the Clive Minton Discovery Centre. Our office and shop will move inside and our Perth-based designer has been contracted to create the layout of our interpretive signage. It sounds so stream-lined and straight-forward when written down, but really, the vast majority of this work behind the scenes has been driven by our chairman, Maurice. Maurice simply refuses to relax during his retirement and the BBO is reaping the benefits as he has brought the Discovery Centre from an idea to a fully-fledged project.

So – down to practicalities. The BBO is happy to have a lot of useful supporters and things were fixed, made, destroyed and installed as needed. Our committee member Shane who was visiting and perhaps looking forward to a relaxing stay in Broome in between his stints on Antarctica, was kind enough to put in some long hours putting his building skills to work.

Shane putting together some internal walls

Our Perth-based designer Scott has been contracted to deliver the BBO’s conservation message in an engaging and artistic way. He stayed at the BBO last month and could walk through the centre, see the site in the flesh and share with us some of his ideas. It’s really exciting seeing the interior of the building coming to life and Scott’s design putting our shorebird content on the walls with its best foot forward.

The content for the interpretive signs inside the Discovery Centre have been put together by staff and local shorebird researchers. This build is interactive and has lots of fun hands-on activities for everyone to get stuck into.

The air-conditioning has been sorted and the office area is starting to come into shape while some of the electrics have been installed. We’ll miss working in our current office which has the ‘rustic’ appeal that many BBO supporters are familiar with in. Frogs and geckos like to make their way into our current office which has also famously hosted a Grey Wagtail that wandered in off course, and earlier this year during the cool season, I was working at the computer only to be treated to a glimpse of a Brown Goshawk flying in through the open front door, direct through the office and without a beat straight out the open back door.

As fun as these encounters are, our new office will be significantly less ‘porous’ to the local fauna. There is a lovely large door by the office however that we anticipate we’ll be able to open in the Dry season to allow bird-watching opportunities while we’re doing more administrative tasks.

One of the recent major developments is the placement of a number of beautiful murals by Broome artist Chris Hill. Chris captures the essence of Broome and the BBO – but I won’t say much more, you’ll have to wait and see it for yourself!

Like a lot of things in 2020 the Discovery Centre has been shuffled around, had bits postponed and some things benefited from the quiet. We are looking for an opening in the first half of 2021. We anticipate you could spend hours in the Discovery Centre, learn some more about shorebirds and the BBO’s origins, get another perspective of some of our birds and be able to take something you’ve created away with you. We are genuinely so excited to show you the Clive Minton Discovery Centre – this is one of the biggest projects to occur at the BBO for decades and will expand our potential to support and educate the public about Roebuck Bay’s internationally-travelled shorebirds. We hope to welcome you in 2021!

We’re also getting landscape designers to create a drought-proof garden, funded through Water Corp & Lions Club Kimberley Community Grant.

- Jane

Catch up on the Discovery Centre