Public-school students in the Penrith region have signed up to become advocates for the local platypus population and their wildlife “friends” who call the Nepean River home.

The students are taking part in a Taronga Zoo education team initiative, Project Platypus, which kicked off with a “Habitat Day” designed to raise awareness of potential threats to the platypus environment and educate students on ways to counter them.

Held on the banks of the Nepean River, Habitat Day saw 127 students from Regentville, Mulgoa and Llandilo public schools; and Cranebrook and Kingswood high schools, gather for the first stage of a term-long learning program.

Over the course of the next 10 weeks, the students will design STEM-based conservation solutions to protect the future of this iconic species and their animal friends, the wombats and abundant bird life, who live around the Nepean River.

The aim of each project will be to design practical solutions to protect and preserve the platypus and other local wildlife whether it be from predators, like foxes, dogs or cats, or from pollution and debris that often ensues from floods.

The project will culminate in a Platypus Expo Day event at Regentville Public School on 14 September whereby each school’s individual “solution” projects will be displayed.

On Habitat Day, the students participated in a number of expert-led activities designed to improve platypus habitats including interactive workshops on the problems facing the platypus, river water quality testing and water invertebrate dip netting.

They also participated in planting rows of native grasses and trees.

In welcoming the students to Habitat Day, Penrith Mayor, Todd Carney, said planting more trees and native grasses helped mitigate against the risks posed by flooding.

“We’ve seen generations of people being able to look after our river, the Nepean River or the Dyarubbin, as it was called by the traditional owners,” Mr Carney said.

“It’s great to be able to come together today to understand our environment, how we look after it; whether it’s our waterways, whether it’s our platypus population, whether it’s our wombat population, whether it’s planting trees to be able to make sure we’re protecting the riverbanks so when we do have the floods, it’s not washing away.

“They’re really important things we can do to make sure that this great river is here for generations to come, and I think that’s going to be an important thing. When you’re older and you’ve got kids and grandkids, and being able to walk down here and say: ‘I planted that tree which has helped create a better environment for our community’.”

Project Platypus 2026 is proudly supported by Lead Partner, Taronga Conservation Society Australia, Project Partner, Penrith Lakes Environmental Education Centre, Supporting Sponsors, Croft and SE Paper NSW and Supporters, Mulgoa Valley Landcare, Penrith City Council, Water NSW and Western Sydney University.