Junior Landcare

On Wednesday the 2nd of May 2012, The Kowree Farm Tree Group began it's Junior Landcare group, full of fun Landcare activities, to encourage younger people to participate in our local region’s Landcare. The Junior Landcare program is full of fun free Landcare activities that demonstrate the wide-ranging impact Landcare can have in caring for our local environment.

Junior Landcare is about encouraging young people to play an active role in ensuring the safe future of their environment. Launched in May 1998, Junior Landcare recognises that the contribution of young people is vital if the land they are to inherit is to be in the best possible condition. Junior Landcare also encourages young people to develop a sense of responsibility to the land and other natural resources.

The following is an outline of the Junior Landcare events that have taken place since 2012. 

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Look what we did!!!
don't forget to check out the landcare blog to read in more detail about landcare activities

November 2020 Indigenous learning in Assisted Playgroup

​Thanks to a Landcare grant, supported playgroup was very privileged to have Wotjobaluk Elder, Ron Marks, attend recent sessions to teach the children about his family's history and customs.
Ron gave the kids an opportunity to work with materials that had been used for tens of thousands of years such as the 30,000 year old grinding stone to make face paint. He helped them to identify Echidna diggings in the Edenhope Flora Reserve and pointed out the native Yams used as traditional food. He also explained the rules of only killing animals for food and taking what was needed and no more. We were most interested to learn that Ron’s culture is matriarchal.
After the sessions with Edenhope and Harrow playgroup Ron also held sessions with children from St Malachy's school, Apsley Primary School and Edenhope College.
It was quite timely too that these sessions coincided with the 2020 #NAIDOC week. #AlwaysWasAlwaysWillBe
Thank you Ron!

Insect discovery Garden at Edenhope Kindergarten

In October 2020 the Edenhope Kindergarten was successful in their application for a Junior landcare and biodiversity grant to establish an insect habitat discovery garden at their entrance.  The garden was planted with local native plants that will attract insects as they grow and flower. The garden has been established to be interactive with stepping stones throughout the garden, and a special magnifying glass installation for the children to use to examine their discoveries.  The garden will also have an opening in 2021 with a local Wotjobaluk Elder, Ron Marks. From this a book will be produced that the children can read to learn more about the plants and insects.

 February 2020 - Communities Environment Grant nature discovery walk

In Febrary 2020 the Grade Foundation/ one students and their teachers Mrs Thomson and Mrs Robinson joined Edenhope Field Naturalists president, Gloria Freeman, at the Edenhope Flora and Fauna reserve. The students had a great time with Gloria learning some bush skills such as damper cooking and participating in a nature treasure hunt. The students also went on a walk where they learned about our native plants and animals, including looking at echidna diggings and being followed by a flock of Red-tail Black cockatoos. The students were keen to learn more about the Red-tail Black cockatoos and in addition to seeing them, they found evidence of broken seed pods where the birds had been eating, and learnt about their favourite food trees the brown stringybark tree and buloke trees. Thank you so much to Gloria for volunteering her time to make the day a lot of fun!

February 2016 - Henley on Lake Wallace

Nest box building at Henley on Lake Wallace was a huge hit, with 60+ kids and their parents spending 4-5 hours building and painting over 30 nest boxes. The duck/possum and rosella boxes were extremely popular. It is great to hear that many of the nest boxes have been installed in backyards and on farms. Chris Humffray further promoted the event by encouraging kids to come build a nest box and explained the importance of providing nest boxes for hollow-dwelling creatures. Overall, the day was a huge success and I would like to thank Stuart Lloyd, Melva McLachlan, Keith McLachlan, Andrew Lloyd and Gloria Freeman for all their help running and setting up the event, and the WCMA for supplying the Landcare Tent.

November 2015 - Edenhope Show
Once again, the northern end of the Chook Shed at the Edenhope Show was transformed, with giant 3D fish and flower artworks from Edenhope College. A number of families enjoyed building and painting nest boxes, which were later installed either in their backyards or farming properties. A fact sheet was included in each nest box kit to help kids and their parents understand why hollows are important and how next boxes create short term homes for many Australian hollow-dwelling animals.

Photo Credit: Toni Domachenz, West Wimmera Advocate

February 2015 - Henley on Lake Wallace
On Saturday the 14th of February Chris Humffrey's Wildlife zoo come to Henley on Lake Wallace. His show was a huge hit not only with the kids, but also with the parents. Landcare provided activities such as native plaster animal paining, necklace making and bug hunting in the WCMA's
Water Watch Trailer.

November 2014 - Edenhope Show

The Chook Shed was transformed this year at the 2014 Edenhope Show, with a wonderful display of student's artwork, and information on Red-tailed Black Cockatoos and natural resources. Kids activities were run from 12:45-3:30 with mask making, dragonfly building etc. 

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January 2014 - Naracoorte Caves

The Junior Landcare group enjoyed a fun filled day at the Naracoorte Caves. The day included two tours into the caves and an activity to finish the day off. 

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Junior Landcare 2012 

May – Launch of Junior Landcare in Edenhope

The launch of Junior Landcare was a fun afternoon with an afternoon tea, quiz, a quick talk about what Junior Landcare is about and a visit to see the frogs in the drain in Lions Park.  A great way to kick start our group.

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May – The Red-tailed Black Cockatoo count

In May the Junior Landcare group went for a drive through Meerek forest to listen out for the amazing red-tailed black cockatoo as part of the annual count. Although we didn't actually see or hear the cockatoos a lot of fun was had and it was a great learning experience.

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July – Frog Fun

In July the Junior landcare group had the chance to learn about frogs and their habitats; with a particular focus on local frogs. The group also took a bus ride out to one of the West Wimmera’s best frog habitats to listen for frogs.

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September - 'Returning Frogs to their Bogs'

In September the Junior Landcare group hosted a free children's workshop session about storm water quality, wetland habitats, our local frogs and wetland restoration. The day was held in order to plan a wetland re-vegetation project for May next year. The speakers were excellent and loved sharing their knowledge with those who are interested in wetland re-vegetation projects.

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December 2015 - Threatened Species Grant

Photo Credit: Toni Domachenz, West Wimmera Advocate

In November 2015 the Kowree Farm Tree Group was successful in gaining funding for a 'Kids creating habitat for Cockies' project.

The students were visited by the South-east Red-tailed Black Cockatoos Recovery Team Project Coordinator Bronwyn Perryman and KFTG's Iestyn Hosking to learn about the SERtBC and how to grow native seedlings. The students showed great enthusiam and shared many of their own SERtBC stories.


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​The students became builders for a day and helped put together the shade houses that would help their seedlings grow. The schools have done a great job at looking after the seedlings, which are growing really well and they are looking forward to planting them later in the year.

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April 2014 - Creatures of the Night

Junior Landcare hosted a Creatures of the Night Event for families. There was a great turn out on the night with the kids enjoying the bat box building, bat cave, bat biscuit decorating and many more activities. The night was finished off with a walk along the Golf Course in search of bats, only to find a Tawny Frog-mouth.

A big thank-you to Wendy and Emily McInnes, the Lloyd Family, Andrew Bradey for all their help, Gloria Freeman for getting her students to make brilliant bats from recycled materials and everyone else who made the day possible and helped pack up. 

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2012 September - Wildflower walk

In September the Junior Landcare group had a fantastic opportunity to  learn more about the wildflowers of the West Wimmera through going on a bushwalkadventure in the Edenhope Flora and Fauna reserve. Special thanks go to Gloria Freeman for sharing her amazing knowledge of our local wildflowers.
Earlier in the day the children had the chance to create artwork for the 'Garden of Earthly Delights Exhibit'. Some fantastic exhibits were made. Thank you to Adele Booth, Gloria Freeman and Bindy Lees for their hard work in getting this activity running. Lots of fun was had by all.

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2012 November - The Garden of Earthly Delights

In September the Junior Landcare group created artworks to participate in the 'Garden of Earthly Delights' a fantastic art exhibition to celebrate our local environment, 150 years of the Edenhope show and the Year of the Farmer. This exhibit took place on the 17th of November to the 8th of December 2012.
Well done to Adele Booth and Gloria Freeman for coordinating such a wonderful exhibition!!!!

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November 2012 - Karak at the Show

Karak is a Commonwealth Games Icon.

Karak, a South-eastern Red-tailed Black-Cockatoo, wandered around the Edenhope show this year to promote what can be done to save his species. Bronwyn Perryman, of Birdlife Australia, accompanied Karak and took part in the Junior Landcare display giving people the chance to ask questions about this endangered species.

The Kowree Farm Tree Group, Birdlife Australia and the Junior Landcare Group have been working with Edenhope College to collect stringy-bark seed to be planted at the Edenhope Show. Gloria Freeman’s Grade 5/6 class recently visited a Powers Creek property to collect seed, which has been dried and stored ready for the show. People visiting the Junior Landcare display at the show had the chance to grow their own stringy-bark tree for the cockatoos. This seed will now be grown and planted back on the property from which the seed was collected.

Whilst visiting the site, you could also see the art displays by local school children and take part in the art activities hosted by Bindy Lees, Adele Booth and Gloria Freeman. Thank-you to everyone who made this possible.

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