On the 9th of August at the start of the school day Wendy Murphy and I along with other supportive members of the Wedderburn community turned up at Wedderburn College for a day of coordinated activities designed to raise environmental awareness of the plight of the nationally threatened malleefowl. A small isolated population of these endangered birds inhabit some of the areas of bush around Wedderburn. Wendy and I were to be the introductory ‘act’ and depending on the age levels of the students Wendy would read a story or give a short talk then I would show a short film illustrating aspects of the malleefowl life cycle that Peter Watts (a WCMN member) had filmed in the Wychytella NCR.
One of the points that we were trying to get across among others was that there are quite a few endangered species closer to home than the whales and tigers of distant and exotic climes. In fact many were the ooh’s and ah’s when Wendy revealed the stuffed malleefowl in a glass fronted box, the only sight many had ever had of a malleefowl. The students asked many questions concerning the birds including why the birds were in danger of extinction in this area.
Depending again on their ages the students then went on to be involved in a variety of activities including dance organised by Thais Sansom in which they were encouraged to incorporate any of the actions of the birds that they had seen on the film into their malleefowl boogie. The day was filled with painting, model making and mask making all assisted by Margaret Holtham, Margaret Van Veen, Jude ------ and the student’s teachers.
Margaret Van Veen is to be especially thanked for her great efforts in coordinating this fine day.
Article – Michael Moore
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