Rhiannon Mitchell wants you to see marine life from under the water

Rhiannon Mitchell from Coffs Harbour in northern New South Wales is an ABC Heywire Trailblazer with a passion for the marine environment that is driving her future.

‘Since I was a child I have always been in nature,’ Rhiannon said.

‘My family would take me to the rivers or to the beach which was half an hour away from our home. I got really interested in marine life and science when I moved closer to the beach a couple of years ago.’

Rhiannon is in her second year of a marine science course at the National Marine Science Centre in Coffs Harbour.

The proud Mununjali woman said that her first scuba diving experience informed her future plans.

‘When I started scuba diving I wanted other Aboriginal girls and women to be able to feel the way I did, which was really connected and grounded by the ocean,’ Rhiannon said.

‘I wanted them to see all the amazing marine life in the deep blue and to learn tools that would help them for life.’

To this end, Rhiannon began a series of workshops that educate and raise awareness of ocean conservation.

‘I have been running workshops for about two years. Sometimes they go for 1 hour, sometimes 3. I run them monthly and would like to run them more regularly via a program I’m starting soon.’

The workshops are for Aboriginal girls and women from eight years and above. They involve activities such as beach clean-ups, lessons on marine ecology and human impacts on the ocean.

Workshop participants go snorkelling, explore the coastal environment and learn from elders and other ocean warriors.

Her knowledge of the marine environment has come from her formal education, from her experience while scuba diving itself, scuba diving centres and from elders and community.

After her formal education, Rhiannon wants to be a marine scientist teaching the whole community about ocean conservation and marine life.

‘I want to travel around Australia teaching at schools and to also write a book with an Elder about our ocean,’ Rhiannon said.

‘I want to do more research and conservation work and I have just signed up to learn how to sail. Sailing around Australia or getting a van and travelling around to visit all of our beautiful Aboriginal countries would be a dream.’

Now that really is blazing a trail.