Supporting climate action and cultural learning through poetry
Our new partnership with Red Room Poetry is supporting their ‘Poem Forest’ program. Poetry workshops started in May at the Australian Botanic Gardens with local schools including Eagle Vale High School and Robert Townson Public School.
This partnership aligns with our ‘Healthy and Inclusive Places’ and ‘Climate Resilient Places’ sustainability objectives, aiming to support children to connect to culture and climate through being immersed in nature and learning about poetry.
The workshops started with a traditional smoking ceremony and discussion on culture and caring for Country with local Elders Uncle Ivan Wellington, Uncle Eddie Burge, Aunty Verna Barker and First Nations poets, artists and musicians Kirli Saunders, Luke Patterson and Lyndsay Urquhart. Students then listened to poetry in language while developing their own poetry, and learnt about traditional bush foods and how to propagate plants, before touring the new National Herbarium.
Feedback from students has been really positive. One student said “it made me see a whole new side of nature and I’ve seen why Aboriginal people truly wanted to protect it.”
