Teaching local students about Local Threatened Species has been wonderful.
The kids had a blast and so did we. Travelling the Riverina with Douglas the Australasian Bittern, Louise the Malleefowl and Goldie the Plains-wanderer, they fought for the front seat but were generally well-behaved.
Having Michael Lyons from Narrandera Sandhills Artifacts was fabulous. Hearing the story of the Bunyip in Aboriginal Culture and making those connections with the deep booming sound of the Australasian Bittern gave the students a deeper understanding of the reasons these stories are told.
His beautiful artwork of the Malleefowl sent a hum of ‘Aww’ through the room when it was unveiled.
We visited the following schools and loved every minute of it.
- Hay Public School
- St Joseph’s, Narrandera
- St Mary’s Parish School, Hay
- Whitton Murrami Public School
- Yanco Public School
- Yoogali Public School
These kids now have a great understanding of the importance of specific habitat for each of the birds and what is required in terms of looking after that habitat. They learnt who are the major players on this quest (Researchers, First Nations People, Farmers, Landcare groups, LLS, Citizen Scientist, Zoos, and of course school students).
The Riverina is home to several bird species that have been listed as endangered.
Riverina Local Land Services through the Australian Governments National Landcare Program, is aiming to protect the Australasian Bittern, Plains-wanderer and Mallefowl.
Murrumbidgee Landcare has developed and delivered an education package to increase the awareness of these birds to the wider community.
Thankyou so much to our Murrumbidgee Landcare Team for jumping in and loving on this project. Threatened Species need lots of loving, we couldn’t do it without #Riverina Local Land Services #National Landcare Program #Murrumbidgee Landcare
