By Jennifer Marohasy
It is often reported that the Great Barrier Reef is half dead, specifically that the corals are bleached, and the water quality is degraded with pesticides and plastics. If I didn’t know better, I might never want to visit a coral reef, lest I be confronted by this reality – apparently all our fault, because we drive cars.
Except the coral reefs on the way to Myrmidon made me feel so alive. Every day, I dived into crystal clear warm water, to be greeted by little fishes. Every day, I wondered if we would make it all the way to Myrmidon – an ancient and detached coral reef that juts out into the South Pacific Ocean on the eastern edge of the Great Barrier Reef.
I tell this story in my film Finding Porites.
If you live in Perth, you will be able to watch Finding Porites on the big screen with me at the Windsor Cinema in Nedlands on 1st December. Tickets here: https://perthbleachedcolourful.eventbrite.com.au
This film premiered at the Majestic Theatre, Pomona, near where I live in Noosa, last year. It was then released by the Institute of Public Affair on the internet, to their YouTube channel. Just last week a new version, re-rendered to 24 frames per second to better suit for the Windsor Cinema on 1st December 2022, was upload by Stuart Ireland to his Vimeo channel, ’tis here: https://vimeo.com/766755037 .
Dr Jennifer Marohasy
Researcher & Writer