24 Feb 2017
On the 29th of November, DEEC helped out with a special Southern Cross School of Distance Education (SCSDE) event at South Ballina beach and Lennox Heads featuring dance group, The Deadly Bunarm's, along with other community organisations. The Deadly Bunarms, translated as "The Deadly Brothers", are a group of young men from the Lismore area who are currently in their last year of studies at the SCSDE and have been dancing together since they were kids. They pride themselves on keeping their Indigenous culture alive through dance. After their performance on the beach, everyone participated in a small marine debris survey near Ballina's South Wall and discussed the problems of plastic pollution, threats to marine wildlife, some of the available solutions and what we can all do to help our oceans.
The event was also attended by Australian Seabird Rescue, Positive Change for Marine Life, Byron Bay Surf Festival, Tangaroa Blue, NSW Parks and Wildlife as well as teachers and students from the school and film crew from New Soul Project.
https://vimeo.com/200619774 This is a short video of our work at Lennox Heads last year when Dorroughby Environmental Education Centre teacher Tamlin Mackenzie and the SCSDE Students were filmed via go pro all day. We have been working with marginalized youth to collaborate on a marine debris clean up of Lennox Heads beach and we were fortunate enough to be there when Ballina Sea Bird and Resuce released a sea turtle! We used kayaks to paddle to multiple sites to test the abiotic factors at Lake Ainsworth and we found what seems to be a Wallum froglet in the marsh on the far side of the lake (endangered and at risk of significant impact if the proposed road changes occur.) Whilst students collected data and had fun getting wet in the lake and the ocean, we also wet their appetite for Environmental Impact Statements and data collecting. Enough for at least one student to choose to do a stewardship Science project around protecting these precious ecosystems for their HSC.....
This day was part of a wider project of Cross Current Collaborative between these local students and students on the other side of the world in Kodiak Island, Alaska. As part of the project, the students used technology to communicate and partake in cultural activities, as well as beach clean ups. The students discussed important global issues such as marine debris and culture.
If your school wants to come and do field work with us in Kayaks please inquire or book your next school excursion at Dorroughby Environmental Education Centre today on 66895268 or email us at
dorroughby-e.school@det.nsw.edu.au