Bush Revival event at Rumbalara
By Natasha Fujimoto
USING the bushland adjacent to Rumbalara Aboriginal Co-operative, just off Toolamaba Road in Mooroopna, Ann Louise Walker, or ‘Monty’ as she is more affectionately known, engages her Nangarna Homework Club with the natural surrounds, inspiring them with the native backdrop and its intricate ecosystem to springboard more conventional classroom learning and creative activities.
Having a whale of a time, and hardly aware that they are learning, Monty’s primary school-age class are enthralled when exploring the bushland, learning about the plants and the wildlife they support.
Nevertheless, while the natural classroom is perfect for inquiry based and ecological learning, the club has been appalled by the damage havocked upon the bushland by what Monty describes as ‘illegal loggers.’
Explaining that in their pursuit of firewood, illegal loggers have destroyed hundred-year-old and culturally significant scar trees as well as demolished under scrub, plants and grasses vital for native wildlife, her Nangarna Homework Club has sprung into action.
On Wednesday, May 17 the group is proudly presenting its inaugural Bush Revival Day and is welcoming one and all to attend a fun packed day of planting, ecological education and habitat restoration.
First Nation rangers from Parks Victoria, bug experts from the Land Council and ASHE will be in attendance and will be joined by face painters, the singing talents of Charlie McCosh along with a B.B.Q lunch.
Sowing bush tucker as well as samplings at the event, Monty said, “The children will plant trees that will grow to benefit their grandchildren, and we hope that this will be the first of many annual, Bush Revival days to come, as we work towards rehabilitating the landscape.”
