Environmental education and biodiversity improvements are continuing at Mt Burr Swamp, thanks to the recent support of Responsible Wood – Australia’s largest forest certification scheme.
Responsible Wood oversees sustainable forest management in Australiaand launched its new Small Grants Program last year to support collaborative projects that connect communities to their local certified forests.
The Mt Burr Swamp Restoration Reserve is embedded within a Responsible Wood certified forest and, with annual support also coming from OneFortyOne, we were successful in obtaining funding to continue education and biodiversity improvements over the past eight months. The project was about creating a walking trail linked to Boandik culture, Indigenous use plants, and bushfoods while depicting Creation stories and involving Indigenous and non-Indigenous community.
The project commenced in November 2020 and was recently completed. The aims of the project were to:
- facilitate a cultural camp experience for year 7 students lead by local First Nations Elders and/or experts;
- create carvings to display Boandik Creation stories;
- coordinate contractors to make improvements to the education facility increasing suitability for holding education activities;
- grow and plant Indigenous use and bushfoods along a trail weaving around the creation stories carvings;
- encourage Indigenous and non-Indigenous community members to be involved during the camps experiences, trail development and planting; and
- paint stepping stones with local flora and fauna and/or interpretation of Culture by students to line the trail.
Numerous participants attended working bees, a 3 day cultural camp, day excursions, and planting days from November 2020 to June 2021.
The cultural camp, held in late November, saw 90 year 7 students (45 boys and 45 girls) from Tenison Woods College come out of the classroom to set up tents, throw boomerangs, listen to campfire stories, learn basket weaving, paint stepping stones of significant plants and animals, and learn about local biodiversity – with activities led by experts in their fields.
Future camps will further develop displays highlighting the restoration site, First Nations peoples’ values, and significant flora and fauna.
Acknowledgements
The Nature Glenelg Trust (NGT) would like to thank our First Nations people who participated in the project especially the Brookes family for their energy, enthusiasm and ideas around this project, the carvings which tell some important stories and developing the annual camp program; and OneFortyOne (OFO) for support with education centre improvements, the removal of the ex-pine plantation area (earlier in 2020) which we then developed into the walk area for this project, and for the donation of OFO staff time to participate in our winter working bee.
A huge thankyou to:
Tenison Woods College (especially David Mezinec, Chris Lloyd and Nick Patzel) for their education and on-ground support towards this project and for arranging assistance to undertake the planting of the Indigenous use and bushfoods along the walk at short notice.
Our amazing NGT nursery volunteers for your weekly assistance to Ryan to prepare our plants for the planting day.
Responsible Wood for encouraging and accepting the project into their funding program – thank you Megan Graham (Small Grants Coordinator) and Jason Ross (Marketing and Communications).
Nature Glenelg Trust is a mission-driven, not-for-profit organisation that believes in positive action, and working with the community and our partners to achieve real results on the ground. Nature Glenelg Trust works on a wide range of biodiversity related projects in south-eastern Australia to benefit our environment and local communities. To find out more about Nature Glenelg Trust please visit www.natureglenelg.org.au
Covered by Byran Haywood, Senior Ecologist at Nature Glenelg Trust
Title Caption: Bryan with Boandik descendants Sarah Wilson and Matthew Brookes after laying stepping stones painted during the 3 day camp by Year 7 students from Tenison Woods College
Caption: Story telling and campfire show and tell (with tents in the background)
Gallery Captions
Caption 1: The Creation stories walk burning with help from NGT volunteers
Caption 2: The grated flooring was removed over the course of several working bees. A big thankyou to our volunteers. The grated flooring was then replaced with boards by local carpenters Chris and William
Caption 3: Some of the amazing artistic creations by the Year 8 students on the stepping stones from the winter excursion; each stepping stones was then placed into the trail with bushfoods and Indigenous use plants in background
Caption 4: Year 8 students planting along the trail (Photo courtesy of Tenison Woods College)
Caption 5: 15 carvings depicting Boandik Creation stories carved into the trunks of trees left behind from an ex-pine plantation – artist Matthew Brookes (local Boandik descendant)
Caption 6: Uncle Eddie assisted Bryan with the biodiversity session at Mt Burr Swamp (Photo courtesy of Tenison Woods College)
