Department of Environment and Science (DES) rangers have named and released a 50-year-old turtle into the sea as part of the opening ceremony for the $22 million Mon Repos Turtle Centre.
The turtle (pictured) is the first to be studied at the centre and was officially named as Merlie.
Minister for Environment and the Great Barrier Reef, Leeanne Enoch said the DES had held an online competition calling on the community to name the turtle.
She said the winning name had been suggested by Charlie Lewis, who asked for the turtle to be named after her mother.
“Her gravely ill mother had always wanted to see baby turtles, so they made a special trip to Mon Repos. However, she was too ill to come out onto the beach,” Ms Enoch said.
“The rangers at the centre wanted to make sure that Charlie’s mother would get her wish, so with a heartfelt response, they took extraordinary steps to bring baby turtles to her in the car park.”
She said it was stories like these that highlighted just how important the Mon Repos Turtle Centre was to the Bundaberg region.
“It’s a special place where life-long memories are made,” the Minister said.
She said Charlie’s online submission had related how the rangers made her mother’s wishes come true, and that when she died later that year, she had been happy she finally got to see a baby turtle.
The winning name was chosen by scientist Col Limpus who has been tagging turtles at Mon Repos since the 1960s, making them among the longest studied sea turtles in the world.
Ms Enoch said Merlie had been fitted with a GPS satellite tag to allow scientists to monitor its location when it surfaces for a breath.
She noted the centre had created about 45 local full-time jobs, while Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service had also employed five new rangers to work in the centre during the peak turtle nesting season.
