Marine Discovery Centre Hastings Point turns one of the Tweed Coast's most fascinating natural environments into an interactive journey of discovery.

Located inside Tasman Holiday Parks – North Star, the Centre combines an extraordinary marine specimen collection with contemporary light and sound technology, digital terminals and interactive marine and coastal science displays.

Its story reaches back to the 1960s, when environmentalist Ted Brambleby began collecting marine specimens and sharing them with beachgoers, divers and ocean lovers from the boot of his car. That collection eventually found a permanent home at Hastings Point and today forms part of an educational facility designed to inspire new generations.

Inside, visitors can explore zones dedicated to Wallum heathland, beaches and dunes, mangroves, rocky shores and temperate reefs. Preserved specimens, microscopic perspectives, audiovisual displays and hands-on interactives help reveal the biodiversity of these environments and the pressures facing them, including climate change, plastic waste, marine litter and pollution.

The experience extends outdoors too. Hastings Point's rocky platforms, estuary, mangroves, beaches, dunes and wetlands provide a remarkable living classroom for structured school and education programs.

Open to the public as well as school groups and resort guests, the Marine Discovery Centre gives families, students and curious travellers a different way to experience the Tweed Coast, by understanding what's happening beneath the water, along the shoreline and throughout the ecosystems connecting them.