Nature calls boys to bush

But surrounded by the sounds, sights and smells of nature, the Canberra schoolboy doesn’t have time, or even an inclination, to log in and tune out.

He’s with nine other boys his age from a range of backgrounds on camp for five days.

They’re given a plate, bowl and cutlery which is their responsibility for the duration.

Their bedding is provided and they can choose where to sleep; a cabin, tent or under the stars. Under the stars is always popular when the weather is good.

To eat they have to cook but there’s plenty of face-to-face and hands-on guidance – just no YouTube how-to videos.

There’s no computers or iPads and smartphones are for ringing home.

No junk food either.

The not-for-profit Boys To The Bush program was set up by three Border men Adam DeMamiel, Richard Leahy and Tim Sanson.

They have a career in education and a rural upbringing.

“We’re starting from scratch,” Mr DeMamiel says.

“Our first camp relied on us borrowing, scratching around and using our own money and sleeping bags and swags and bits and pieces.”

They hope to expand, if financial backing could be found. 

Albury-Wodonga Bendigo Bank branches this week provided some welcome money to buy camping equipment, sold at cost by Great Outdoors Centre, at Lavington.

But with each camp costing at least $2000 a person, it is out of reach for most boys unless there’s financial support.

“The ideal model is we attract the kids that most need it,” Mr Leahy says.

Boys To The Bush is about experiences and skills associated with life on the land, and an opportunity for a “digital detox”.

“From talking to people there’s not really anything like it and for us, because we’ve grown up with it, we think it’s simple and its simplicity is what makes it effective,” Mr Sanson says.

“We don’t preach it to be something that it’s not. We don’t counsel them. It’s just doing things that we grew up doing, that you can easily show kids and teach kids.

“It’s not a theme park. We don’t want it to be thrill a minute. 

“We might show them how to fish and we’ll sit there and fish.

“Just sitting, you get snagged or you might lose your bait, but by just sitting and talking, people become a bit more mindful of what’s happening around them rather than being absorbed in themselves so much.

“It’s about building some relationships with these kids and watch them in an environment where they have to think and they have to work, they have to figure stuff out.

“Some of them really blossom.”

The camp is held on Mr Leahy’s family farm, seven kilometres from Howlong.

He has worked in behaviour management and is passionate about camping, farming, fishing and sports, things he hopes can be used to engage boys.

“Even kids who live in Albury don’t know much about the country,” Mr Leahy says.

Howlong Men’s Shed and district farmers have embraced the program and share their experiences and skills.

Boys tackle fishing, yabbying, cooking, wood cutting, basic mechanics, animal husbandry, basic welding and fencing and more.

​Mr DeMamiel and Mr Sanson have run boys education programs in their own time for almost a decade.

For several years they took a handful of boys to large mixed farms run by Mr Sanson’s family and life-long friend Jon MacRae at Lake Cargelligo in central NSW for a week of hands-on farm life.

They knew getting the boys back to basics left a lasting positive impression.

When Mr Leahy came onboard about five years ago the three tossed around several ideas to expand the concept, seeing a potential to bring inner-city, private school boys out for a real farming experience.

“That’s where we thought our market would be,” Mr DeMamiel says.

“We put out a bit of information and we’ve had thousands of inquiries and emails and phone calls but it’s all been at the other end, country kids and city kids but battlers.”

Armed with that feedback, and some business advice from Crowe-Horwath, the three registered Boys To The Bush as a not-for-profit organisation.

“We can now try to get some funding in to subsidise it and get the right kids in,” he says.

“We can’t charge a heap of money because the families and boys who would benefit the most just don’t have the money, and we have a maximum of only 10 kids on a camp. 

“Other camps can have 60 or 80 on a camp, it might be a bit cheaper, but part of our attraction is we have a maximum of one staff to five kids at all times.”

They’ve held two camps so far and another is scheduled this school holidays, and have attracted attention from across Australia through their Facebook page and website.

Griffith University wants to study the benefits of the program.

The Border not-for-profit’s target is to be fully funded but, at $20,000 a camp for 10 boys, the only way for that to happen is through large-scale corporate and private backing.

“While we’re driving the program we need the community support to help the community kids,” Mr DeMamiel says.

“Any money coming from the community goes back into the local kids. If someone locally funded us we’re not going to then go and offer a spot to a kid from Adelaide or somewhere else. We want local kids.

“They’ll be helping local kids who need support.”

With inquiries from as far as Perth and north Queensland it is clear there is a market for Boys To The Bush.

“There's a lot of camps out in the bush doing abseiling and adventure type stuff. This is more about giving them life skills and real life experience,” Mr DeMamiel says.

With an outdoors back to basics experience in his pocket Josh is asked if he has missed the technology: “Not really cause I’m having lots of fun out here without it.”