A beautiful bush tucker garden and an Australian native stingless beehive was set up at Mitre 10 in Gympie as one of many new initiatives launched to educate young people about preserving the land and helping preserve Indigenous culture.
Anglicare Southern Queensland’s Gympie Children and Families partnered up with TECKnology Indigenous Corporation (TECK.I.C) to deliver a range of activities from building Native Beehives, making boomerangs using traditional and modern day methods, assembling and learning how to fly drones and planting native bush tucker plants such as raspberries, limes and bauple nuts (macadamia nuts).
The Cats Claw Creeper project, a partnership between HQ Plantations and Landcare was launched in late 2019. It was established after it was identified that a creeper was strangling native lime trees in Gympie.
Anglicare Southern Queensland Cultural Support Worker Russell Bennet, who is also the Director of TECK.I.C said the programs were “one of a kind.”
“We really concentrate on the bush tuckers as the young people really enjoy that stuff, so much so, you have to make sure they’re eating the right things,” Mr Bennet said.
“When I get the kids started, they are usually a bit shy and withdrawn, but after a couple of hours, they start to engage and break down the barriers and once those barriers are down, they can really start to learn and participate in the programs”.
“From all the feedback received, they absolutely love getting out on Country, they love learning about bush tucker and sharing in on our culture. We also teach them about our environment and the evasive weeds that are here, particularly the cats claw creeper.”
Mr Bennet said his goal one day is to get a BioTent to breed the bugs which will be used to educate young people.