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Workshops support Black Summer bushfire recovery in Coffs Harbour of New South Wales.

Workshops support Black Summer bushfire recovery

In the aftermath of the Black Summer bushfires that devastated large parts of NSW’s North Coast region, Bushfire Education Workshops are being delivered in primary schools to help kids feel less anxious about bushfires.

The workshops funded by the Australian Government are to be held in 13 primary schools in the Coffs Harbour Local Government Area (LGA) from July 2022 until October 2023. Each workshop will consist of a presentation by the NSW Rural Fire Service and an opportunity for children to participate in building nesting boxes.

Prosper Coffs Harbour Limited, an organisation that promotes protection and enhancement of the natural environment, recently held the first of the workshops at Gumbaynggirr Giingana Freedom School – the first bilingual Aboriginal language school in NSW.

Workshop facilitators, Jamie Bertram from the NSW Rural Fire Service and Nathan Brennan from Bularri Muurlay Nyanggan Aboriginal Corporation, took the children through the ecology of bushfires, cultural bushfire practices and wildlife preservation.

Students learnt about ‘good’ and ‘bad’ fires, the behaviour of fires across the Australian landscape and cultural bushfire practices. The presentation helped to create a greater understanding of bushfires and ease student anxiety around the concept of bushfires, with greater knowledge of bushfire preparedness and how to mitigate risks.

As part of the workshop the children used creative arts to build nesting boxes for a range of native animals such as brush tail possums, small parrots, and kookaburras. The nesting boxes will help to provide homes for wildlife displaced due to habitat loss. Once installed, children can monitor visitors to the nesting boxes through a surveillance camera, meaning that they will be able to stay connected and engaged with the program.

Our locally embedded NEMA officer who attended the workshop, spoke about how the Black Summer bushfires impacted the North Coast region of NSW and the benefits of the workshops that went beyond the children to include their families and broader community.

“Not only will this program increase young people’s knowledge about fire ecology and preparedness it will also allow them to learn about native animals and their habitat. They can then take this knowledge home and share it with their families.”

These workshops were made possible through funding under the Australian Government's Black Summer Bushfire Recovery Grants Program.

 

About this Project

Who: Prosper Coffs Harbour Limited, Coffs Harbour, NSW

What: Bushfire Education Workshops

Disaster Funding: Black Summer Bushfire Recovery Grants Program

Funding received: $22,086

Benefits delivered: This project will improve primary school aged children’s awareness of the impact of bushfires and nesting boxes will be constructed to provide refuge for native wildlife displaced by the bushfires across the 13 schools.