The Bookend Trust

The Bookend Trust is a not-for-profit education initiative that seeks to inspire students and their communities with the environmental careers they can build making the world a better place. Bookend is financially housed within the Pennicott Foundation and is physically hosted by the University of Tasmania in the School of Biological Sciences and at the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS).

Some of the Bookend Trust’s projects include:
Expedition Class – a collection of K-10 programs created to inspire and motivate students in science and environmental education through a unique model of adventure learning. Annual expeditions, ranging of 1-8 months, are beamed live into classrooms through satellite linked field updates. Teachers have access to free educational resources, including a printable workbook guiding students through curriculum topics. Past expeditions have studied caves, river systems, water catchments, albatross, volcanoes, marine debris, extreme environments and much, much more.

Fiji Power – an online educational competition to engage Australian high school students to create innovative renewable energy solutions for Fijian medical centres. The winning students are sent with an expert team to install their renewable power solutions in remote areas in Fiji, learning on the ground and reporting their experiences back to online school audiences watching in Australia.

Cattle for Wildlife – an innovative program that is helping to protect the critically endangered northern white rhino and endangered black rhino in Kenya, through the Ol Pejeta Conservancy. Donor funds buy and raise cattle in Australia on behalf of the communities in Kenya who are guarding the endangered rhinos. These communities earn the proceeds from cattle raised and sold on their behalf in Australia, in exchange for ensuring ongoing rhino protection and conservation.

SIXTEEN LEGS is an inter-linked suite of projects focussed around the world of antipodean caves and cave biology. It reports on the results of a 23-year scientific research project, 2 years of filming, and hundreds of millions of years of evolution, from the break-up of Gondwana to the present day. The SIXTEEN LEGS documentary was launched by Neil Gaiman and George RR Martin in Santa Fe on October 3, 2016.

The suite includes a travelling exhibition (Enter the Cave), making-of documentary (16 LEGS: Spider Love), coffee-table books (A Visit to the Queen of the Dark and Kinky Love) and an education program (Cave Search). In addition to presenting an interesting and inspiring story, all proceeds from Sixteen Legs are reinvested to support Bookend’s education programs into the future.