Greenthumbs wanted for Indigenous Landscaping Project launch
27 July 2005
Kangan Batman TAFE’s Koori Programs Unit will launch its Indigenous Landscaping Project as part of the National Tree Day celebrations on Monday August 1.
All are welcome to plant native trees in the area surrounding the Gunung-Willam-Balluk Learning Centre, Broadmeadows campus, between 10.00am and 11.30am. Morning tea will be served.
The Koori Programs Unit staff and students plan to create a ‘discovery’ landscape, with informative signs to be displayed in various sections. Only plants native to the Broadmeadows area will be used, in order to recreate the miniature eco-systems of the past.
The landscape will feature a wetland, bush paths and sculptures. Totem poles with animals symbolic to the Indigenous culture are already on display.
Students of the Certificate II in Conservation and Land Management course will have a hands-on role in the landscaping redevelopment. It will provide another educational resource for the students at the Koori Programs Unit. Students will be learning about cultivation, the uses of Indigenous plants, and important Koori history.
The Koori Unit’s Conservation and Land Management teacher, Bruce Partland, says the students ‘will be responsible for planning, quoting materials, programming and completing the works.
‘By participating in this project,’ he says, ‘they are directly transferring the skills learnt in the classroom and applying them in this real-life setting’.
‘We hope that by creating this garden we will encourage the use of Indigenous species and educate many about the Hume area’s rich Indigenous heritage,’ Bruce says.
The project is expected to be completed in mid-2006.
For more information on the launch of the Indigenous Landscaping Project and the Certificate II Land Conservation and Management course, please contact Linc Yow Yeh, Koori Programs Unit Coordinator, on (03) 9279 2357.
