Cooma Schools Indigenous Bush Garden project
Cooma Schools Indigenous Bush Garden project
Supporting Cooma primary schools to establish native bush gardens to enable the children to grow and use native plants for food and medicine.
Community Participation -
LP034-005
The issue
The Australian bush has supported Aboriginal people for generations, providing food, medicine and materials. Passing this knowledge onto today’s generation is a priority for both our Elders and our schools, however there is limited opportunity through the current curriculum. Extra support from organisations like Landcare, are essential to facilitate this learning.
The solution
Upper Murrumbidgee Landcare combined with Cooma Landcare, Upper Snowy Landcare and Greening Australia to deliver the Cooma Schools Indigenous Bush Garden project. With support from the Landcare NSW Working Together Aboriginal Communities Engagement Program, Adam Shipp of Yurbay spent 2 days with Cooma preschool and primary school students. He taught them which plants can be eaten, which are useful for medicine and what you need to make your own bush rope. After a bit of smelling and tasting, the kids then got their hands dirty as they were shown how best to plant a number of the different native plants in their very own gardens. Everyone had a wonderful time and a parting gift by Greening Australia of the Ngunnawal Plant Use field guide will ensure the children can explore our native flora uses further.
The impact
Over 300 of our Cooma children engaged with Adam to learn about how aboriginal people traditionally used bush plants. Each school now has their own gardens, where the children can care for the plants, watch them grow and try using them as food or medicine. Having the hands on sessions allowed the children to touch and taste and we look forward to see what tasty treats can be made with what they grow.
Learnings
The interest showed by the children over these two days demonstrates the appetite our community has for engaging with our Indigenous heritage. Through Landcare and Greening Australia’s support, we have enabled the Cooma schools to embark on their Indigenous bush foods journey.
Key facts
- Three bush gardens with hundreds of native plants have been established within Cooma schools.
- Making a bush rope from Lomandra is harder than it looks!