Thevenard Island

Volunteering at Thevenard Island

The Thevenard Island monitoring program is a unique experience where volunteers stay in cabins located metres away from a medium-density turtle nesting beach. The program runs from mid-November to mid-December each year for four weeks. Monitoring on Thevenard involves both night-time tagging and island wide morning track counts.

Thevenard Island is located approximately 22km off the coast from Onslow in Thalanyji Country, in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. The island is the largest of a group of ten islands called the Mackerel Islands. Thevenard Island is a class C nature reserve but has a resort situated on the eastern end. The island is about 6km long and occupies 550 hectares.

Key points

Summary of research activities

Monitoring on Thevenard Island includes flipper tagging, PIT tagging, morphometric measurements, biopsy sampling, nest marking, and track counts.

Island experience

Accommodation on the island is a resort and volunteers share rooms (two people per room). A kitchen, bathroom and all normal amenities are provided. Phone reception is available but can be limited at times. Volunteers are free to swim, go fishing, or explore the island in their time off.

What to pack

Casual clothing for all conditions, sunglasses, hat, water bottle, sunscreen, towel/sarong, toiletries, medication, personal items, books and/or music, and fishing/swimming/snorkelling gear.