LOCAL LIFE
ONE OF THE HAWKESBURY ’ S FINEST ...
by Greg Martin
A man obviously happy with his lot ! Tsar of Sea Urchins , Ashley Miskelly , operates yet another Hawkesbury hidden gem – his Sea Urchin Science Centre in Kurrajong . Photo : Kathryn Johnston .
Psst ! Listen , do you want to know a secret ? Closer , let me whisper in your ear . Promise not to tell ?
Nah , tell the town crier and let him broadcast the news far and that we have discovered the Hawkesbury ’ s latest hidden gem .
In fact , this gem is probably the jewel in the crown of hidden gems – and that ’ s the remarkable Ashley Miskelly ’ s world-leading Sea Urchin Science Centre in Kurrajong .
In fact , the centre is the only such facility on Earth !
The centre is divided into two touring sections – the Awe-Inspiring Tour and the Phenomenal Tour . Both tours live up to their names ! The Awe-Inspiring Tour , on which 55-year-old Ashley takes his visitors on a three-and-a-half-hour journey , on display are thousands of sea urchin specimens representing over 50 per cent of the world ’ s species .
These , well , awe-inspiring specimens have been collected from around the globe , primarily along the shorelines and intertidal zones of beaches around Australia ’ s 25,760 kilometres of coastline .
But this passionate studier of sea urchins has wandered far and wide in search of these magnificent creatures , including Antarctica , the Solomon Islands , Philippines , Japan , China , Christmas Island and Norfolk Island .
Ashley ’ s one and half hour Phenomenal Tour gives visitors the opportunity to view a huge range of amazing molluscs including giant Triton
6 ISSUE 161 // OCTOBER 2023 theindependentmagazine . com . au THE HAWKESBURY INDEPENDENT