In 2002 a system of Marine National Parks and Sanctuaries was established after over 10 years of community campaigning. In this podcast series we capture the social history that led to the creation of the world-first system of marine national parks and sanctuaries in Victoria.This podcast brings together a number of perspectives to outline how particular natural spaces - in our case the underwater world - entered the public imagination of Victorians and sparked a political discussion that led to their wider protection. We also find out how this newly found and enlivened public concern for the marine environment helped to shape a broader conversation about the protection of biodiversity values, and deeper human and ecological connections.We acknowledge the traditional owners of the unceded land and waters of our terrestrial and marine national parks and sanctuaries in Victoria and pay our respect to their Elders, both past and present.This project is supported by the Victorian State Government.