17 September 2024
This time last year, Pomonal Primary School was just getting started on a Junior Landcare Grant funded collaboration with Jallukar Landcare. The students would be regularly visiting the Landcare's native nursery over the following year to learn how to grow and plant native species around their school. But only two weeks before the students second visit to the nursery was to take place, Pomonal was affected by a devastating bushfire. Dozens of homes were lost in the fire, and while the area around the school was scorched, the school buildings miraculously survived. The Landcare nursery however, was completely lost. The Jallukar Nursery has gotten right back to it, and the nursery rebuild is well underway. But in the meantime, the school had a Junior Landcare Grant that needed to be rethought. So they came up with a lovely idea - they would use the grant to pay for buses and invite their 4 sister cluster schools to Pomonal for a fire ecology themed field trip!
Pomonal PS planned a massive day of activities for this fire recovery field trip. The day began with a traditional smoking ceremony, led by Tya, Allira, and Wilem Lovett, warmly welcoming our visitors and setting the tone for a meaningful and educational day. Then it was time to break up into groups and rotate through three fire ecology themed activities.
The first activity was a guided walk with Tammy Schoo from Parks Victoria. Tammy took the kids along Millers Creek and taught them all about the dfferent ways that plants recover after fire. For example, some have seeds that specially open after a fire, and while some may look totally burnt above ground, they resprout from the healthy roots down below. Tammy taught the kids to play a fun, active game based on these different ways plants return after fire.
The next session let the students get really creative! Landcare facilitator Nick Moll of the Upper Hopkins Land Management Group led the kids to the burnt woodland behind the school on a hunt for the perfect pieces of drawing charcoal. The kids collected all different manner of charcoal - from thin black sticks perfect as a pencil, to big chunks perfect for shading. Then the kids used these found art supplies to create their own drawings of the habitat returning to Miller's Creek.
The last activity was a scavenger hunt down Robin's Road - which is a road in Pomonal that is known for its stunning wildflower diversity in the spring. It was also one of the most intensely burnt spots in Pomonal. We were eager to see what was growing back! The local Landcare group, Jallukar Landcare, had visited the spot a few days before our field tip to take photos of the little native plant seedlings that were sprouting. Local Landcare Facilitator Elia then created little flags that had a photo of the seedling as it looks like now, and of what the plant will look like when it grows up and flowers. On the cluster day, each kid was given a flag and the task of finding the seedling depicted on their flag as we searched along Robin's Road. Once they found their plant, they could plant their flag! We left all the flags up at the end of the day, so that locals walking along the path could learn a bit about what native plants are growing back.
Elia Pirtle
Landcare Facilitator and Communications Officer