Students go out on country

Whether you call it the Munkayarra Wetlands, the Duck Swamp or Kakaderby, this natural habitat, 20km south of Derby, has proved an amazing experiential learning environment for 200 local school children.

Primary science teacher Barbara Sing and her colleagues from Derby District High School recently took students on a four-day excursion out onto country, to explore the wetland environment, potentially sowing seeds for careers in land are management.

This permanent fresh water body is rich in bird and animal life and alive with macro-invertebrates the students were able to capture and indentify on site and take back to school for further study in the classroom.

Digging up buckets of mud, they revealed an extensive range of specimens, including beautiful red and blue “dragonfly nymphs”, indicating the wonderful water quality.

Not so lucky are fields of water lilies which have been decimated by horses and other livestock eating their bulbs.

No zoo enclosures or catalogued exhibits here, just local kids exploring living water, real-life, hands on learning. “Ooh” and “aah”, and squeals of delight were heard as they came across something new and interesting.

In an ongoing capacity the Derby Bushranger Cadets have been working with community partners such as local indigenous ranger groups, “twitchers” Beryl and Wally Ah Chee, and visiting beetle specialist, Mark Golding. They were using this site as well as others to monitor iconic species in a longitudinal study.

“I really want our cadets to see there are future employment opportunities working on country,” Mrs Sing said.