Secondary students learn to care for coast

Year 10 Oberon High School students Sienna Meaney, Olivia Mills and Aaliyah Hicks with Wadawurrung Traditional Owner Anie Skinner (second left). Photos: SUPPLIED

OBERON High students are emerging as the next generation of coastal conservators through a caring for Country program that’s helping them understand the importance of dune ecosystems and how best to keep them healthy.

The school’s Year 10 students have been getting their hands dirty at Ocean Grove as part of the Dunecare Secondary Schools Program that incorporates on-ground conservation activities with Indigenous cultural heritage education.

Under the guidance of Traditional Owners students have learnt the significance of the dunes and surrounding ecosystems to the Wadawurrung People alongside hands-on experience carrying out revegetation activities like brush matting, planting and litter collection.

Wadawuurung Traditional Owner Anie Skinner educates Year 10 Oberon High School students on important Indigenous plants at a Dunecare site.

“The best thing about the program is that it encourages the students to consider their direct impact on the coast,” Oberon High teacher Kate Anderson said.

“Our students get to take part in lively discussions and learn from Wadawurrung Traditional Owners about the importance of conservation”.

Students Sienna Meaney, Olivia Mills and Aaliyah Hicks said the program gave the class an insight into the real environmental issues facing the dune systems.

“Most of us were unaware of the effects and causes of our actions on these special ecosystems”, they said.

The Dunecare Secondary Schools Program covers the coast between St Leonards and Marengo and is delivered by Bellarine Catchment Network, Ecologic, Marine and Fresh Water Discovery Centre and the Victorian Fisheries Authority, with support from the Wadawurrung Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation.