You can rest assured when ABC Gardening Australia’s Costa Georgiadis dubs your program a favourite of his, you’re on to a winner.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The well-known host tipped his hat to the Wirraminna Environmental Education Centre on Thursday after two young ambassadors took to the stage at the Melbourne Exhibition Centre to accept a national award.
The Burrumbuttock centre’s creative catchment kids program won the 2016 Yates Junior Landcare Team Award for the first time.
Billabong High School year 7 students Joely Scott and Charlie Doig, who joined the project in year 1 at Henty Public School, took to the stage in front of more than 700 people to say a few words.
“It felt good when they called out the Wirraminna name, it was pretty exciting walking up to the stage,” Charlie said.
“I said well done to the other nominees and they’re doing good things for the environment.
“We also got to meet Costa, which was good.”
Charlie said the CCK program was up against projects from six other states.
“From WA they had a bushrangers group that was like an elective subject in high school where they would go care for the land,” he said.
Charlie said his favourite aspect about the program had been developing an educational book.
“Six of us were chosen to be part of the CCK and we had to chose a local land hero and write the book about that,” he said.
Senior project officer Stacee Bell said over 50 schools, as far reaching as Wentworth and Tumbarumba, had created resources through the program, of which copies were sent to the National Library of Australia.
“We have done in the past over 20 DVDs for school children, it’s excursions in schools to take Wirraminna’s values into the school and helping them with sites around their town,” Mrs Bell said.
“Henty has a reserve called the five ways, and in the early days we helped them establish that site.
“CCK is not just the books, but all of it.”
Mrs Bell said the program, which began in 2010, would be boosted by the acknowledgement from Landcare.
“We’re hoping now we have national recognition it will help get the program into further areas of NSW and even in Victoria,” she said.
“It means to us all the hard work the children, teachers and schools have put in are being awarded for it.
“We try to get them to think about the farms they live on, where food comes from and why we should care for the environment.
“Connecting kids to their region is the main aim in what we do.”
