about us

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PROJECT HISTORY

Since 1997 under the banner of Saltwater Projects Ltd we have been conducting projects at sea with an environmental and social focus. In 1999 this work culminated in the broadcast on SBS of our television series “If It Doesn’t Kill You” the critically acclaimed 5 part documentary series about a group of troubled teenagers who crewed Redbill (a traditional Broome pearling lugger) on a voyage around the Bass Strait Islands. This voyage was also featured in Australian Geographic magazine (Feb 2000) and received significant press coverage in Australia. In 2001 the series screened in Britain, the Netherlands, and Norway. After this early success we decided to design and build a vessel to accommodate our future projects.

The design and construction of Pelican was originally undertaken by Saltwater Projects Ltd a not for profit company. When the scope and cost of the vessel was fully appreciated we realised we needed a commercial entity to manage and finance the vessel. Pelican Charters Pty Ltd was established for this purpose and took over the project in 2000. Pelican Charters retain most of the same people including sponsors, employees, and supporters. Saltwater Projects Ltd is now unencumbered by the task of building and running a commercial vessel and is free to do what it was established for, which is to initiate social, environmental and youth projects at sea. Saltwater Projects own a ten percent stake in Pelican Charters Pty Ltd and the revenue from this holding will directly support their environmental and social programs.

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Pelican Charters Pty Ltd is a business which like any other aims to prosper, to provide good service, and a comfortable income for employees and investors. But for the people behind Pelican, she provides something more. For us, the vessel is a means to an end, a way for us to be involved directly with inspirational projects and to contribute directly to the growing awareness of environmental and social issues.

We believe that until this awareness is manifested internationally, in government and corporate policy, there is little hope of averting what has the potential to become a global disaster. Some of our close neighbours from low lying islands in the Pacific are already negotiating mass emigration in the knowledge that their countries will soon disappear due to a legacy of climate change, coral bleaching and rising sea levels. From their perspective a lack of sustainable environmental policies by developed nations has already created a disaster. We must find ways to influence and support our leaders to make informed decisions about our future. Our task with Pelican is to inform, inspire and motivate people, whether they be primary school children on a science excursion, eco-tourists on the holiday of a lifetime, or the international audience of a television documentary.

Pelican Charters Pty Ltd will provide a unique range of services aimed at clients with a concern for environmental and social issues. In a highly competitive market we have two primary strategies to attract the kind of clientele whose work or sphere of influence may extend or complement our own.

Firstly the vessel Pelican. She is an inspirational craft, elegant, highly efficient, low maintenance and designed for minimum energy consumption with safety, comfort, and space at sea. Purpose built she will simply be the best vessel available in her class and the first choice for many prospective charter clients involved in research, film production, education or eco tourism.

Secondly a team of people with experience and enthusiasm who are united by a love of the sea and concern for the environment. Our team includes employees, clients, shareholders, sponsors, consultants and interested parties who have worked with or supported our previous projects. In addition to vessel management this team brings expertise in film and television production, environmental monitoring, coastal ecology, marine sciences, fishing, scuba, education, social work, information technology, communications, music, performance, visual arts, promotion, and much more.

Pelican’s presence in the media and her association with research and environmental issues will help her develop a high profile. By working on projects with positive environmental and social agendas Pelican may help raise their profile and will simultaneously promote herself to like minded clients. Pelican will become a focus for a range of constructive projects and will help bring resources and information to bear in the service of working together for a more healthy environment to pass on to our children.

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ENVIRONMENTAL OBJECTIVES

To minimise the environmental impact of our operations in all areas. To continually develop the vessel and work practices towards this end. To achieve this we will undertake the following :

• Reduce energy consumption
• Use sustainable energy sources
• Recycle
• Minimise the environmental impact of all projects and voyages
• Use products made by companies with positive environmental and social policies
• Use non toxic products
• Plant trees
• Educate, Inform and Inspire

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PROJECT PERSONNEL

Garry McKechnie is a sailor, (Master Class 5, Off-shore Yachtmaster) and film maker with a background in the performing arts, community development and teaching. Growing up in Melbourne’s beach side suburbs in a boating family he has been involved with boats and the sea all his life. Since he was a child Garry has dreamed of sailing away to a life of adventure on the high seas. In the last decade he has moved steadily towards making this dream a reality. This project focuses his diverse experience and provides a vehicle for his work in the coming decades. Garry has surrounded himself with a skilled and competent team of people who share his love of the sea and his concern for the environment.

Peter Malcolm is an expedition leader, change facilitator, public speaker, adventurer and father of five. Peter has led several expeditions to Antarctica and has visited the continent over a dozen times. He has sailed boats and square-rigged ships doing unique projects all over the world. He was owner of 'Redbill' the much loved vechicle of many of our former projects for 11 years. Peter has designed and run youth and corporate programs including youth at the World Summit in Johannesburg in 2002 and two recent Antarctic corporate environmental expeditions. One of these helped clear out 1000 tonnes of rubbish from a Russian Antarctic Base. Peter specialises in thinking and speaking from ‘outside of the box’ with an emphasis on achieving long term positive goals by doing small achievable steps. He has a passion for taking people safely into extreme wilderness areas, particularly under sail.

Natalie Davey is the managing director of Saltwater Projects Ltd, the not-for-profit company that holds a 10 % stake in Pelican Charters. She has long been a driving force behind the project. Her support has been instrumental in the realisation of our television series, the building of Pelican and our other projects in recent years. Natalie is motivated by a concern for the environment and social justice and has often been the voice of reason in the background, the one who brings us back to earth when we lose sight of the fundamental principles that inform our work.

Damien Cook Botanist / Wetland Ecologist. Damien has worked as an ecologist for the past 14 years. He is a co-director of Australian Ecosystems, a business specialising in ecological restoration and revegetation. Australian Ecosystems supplies, plants and maintains over 3 million plants annually. He is a major shareholder of Pelican Expeditions. He has participated in a range of projects, recent examples being the overseeing of the establishment of 40 hectares of wetlands terrestrial vegetation at “the Waterways and research for a project to restore vegetation and fish habitat on the lower Snowy River. Damien is an integral member of the Pelican team and has also been on many of our expeditions, most recently to the Solomon Islands to look for the Blue whales breeding ground.

Mike O’Mullane is the Managing Director of Suburban Management Pty Ltd, one of Victoria’s oldest mortgage origination companies. Suburban Management has recently introduced its Green Home Loan to the market place. This loan is designed to encourage borrowers to think more about sustainable environmental living. Suburban Management’s has been helping people finance their homes for 30 years and started as a Co-operative Housing Society Group in the early 70’s. Co-operative Housing Societies were supported by Federal and State Governments to assist low to middle income earners achieve home ownership. Mike has always been interested in protecting the environment and is an active supporter of The Wilderness Society and has raised his children with a similar philosophy. Mike’s son, Marcus, has contributed his own time to assist with the construction stage of the Pelican. Suburban Management is a major shareholder in the Pelican project.

Brendan Condon Environmentalist - Brendan is a major shareholder in Pelican. He has been a keen environmentalist for many years and during the 1990s he ran programs with young offenders restoring the creeks and waterways around Melbourne. In 1995 he began specialising in wetland restoration work with Damien Cook and in 1997 he established the Australian Ecosystems Nursery at the Eastern Treatment Plant at Carrum in the South East of Melbourne. Brendan has overseen over 400 ecological restoration projects in Victoria involving the seed collection, propagation, planting and maintenance of over 15 million plants since 1992. In response to his growing concern about climate change and the huge risks this poses to the world, he established not for profit global warming solutions organization Climate Positive in 2006. He is also the Director of the proposed Cape Paterson Ecovillage project in South Gippsland, which hopes to set a benchmark as a sustainable low emissions housing project.

Murray Isles has been working as a consultant Naval Architect since 1985. Based in Hobart much of his recent work has focused on design of specialist vessels for the marine aquiculture industry. Murray is well versed in traditional, as well as modern vessel design, both power and sail, including multi hulls and experimental designs. He is also a lecturer in vessel design at the Shipwright’s Point School of Wooden Boat Building in Tasmania and TAFE of Western Australia . Murray has been ultimately responsible for incorporating our crazy ideas into a workable design. He has been a model of patience and flexibility, drawing perhaps on his background as a childcare worker, an ideal qualification for a person in his profession.

Graeme McKechnie is a designer and builder of fine furniture who has always preferred to build boats. He has been a keen amateur naturalist all his life as well as a boating and fishing enthusiast and has a post graduate degree in Marine Aquiculture. Graeme’s ideas on vessel design led in no small part to our adoption of a Polynesian concept for Pelican. The skills and techniques that Graeme has developed in a life time of building and design work are beautifully reflected in the structure of Pelican. As well as managing the construction process Graeme has been part of the design team along with brother Garry and marine architect, Murray Isles.

The workshop team has included Tony Downie, Danny Fraser, Tim Oddie, Phillip Wright, Andrew Margetts, Nick Kelly, Paul Roderick, Stephen Gale, Marcus O'Mullane, Guiseppi Prestia, Gratten Fraser and others without whose work Pelican could never have become a reality. Their skill and care is evident in the structure of Pelican which represents in excess of 34,000 person hours.

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