New Living Murray unit welcomed

Murray-Darling Basin Commission (MDBC) Chief Executive Dr Wendy Craik AM today welcomed the inclusion of Living Murray educational materials in the curriculum of upper primary students throughout New South Wales.

“We are delighted that the ideas and projects created by school students from six schools along the upper Murray River, which we helped to fund, will now form a new work unit for pupils across 2000 schools in the State,” Dr Craik said.

The environmental curriculum projects includes a “Living River” education workbook and a children’s river health poster (produced by students for students).

Dr Craik was speaking at one of the six schools – Burrumbuttock Public School – where she launched a new MDBC funded display of native fish species and an educational DVD on the MDBC’s Living Murray program.

This display will be part of the Wirraminna Environmental Education Centre at Burrumbuttock. The materials and the new DVD will be available to schools as well as being downloadable from the NSW Department of Education and Training curriculum website.
The MDBC’s Living Murray program is one of world’s most significant river restoration programs. It aims to achieve a healthy working Murray River system.
“These projects have been made possible through the Murray-Darling Association with funding assistance from the MDBC and the Commonwealth Government’s Quality Teacher Program,” Dr Craik said.

“The Association and Owen Dunlop, Principal of Burrumbuttock Public School who coordinated the development of the work unit and educational materials, are to be congratulated on a major achievement.

“Along with the students who helped create the unit, they have shown real enthusiasm in learning about the Murray River and wanting to do something about it.”
Dr Craik said the MDBC was proud to support educational programs such as these which helped create awareness of the need for environmental sensitivity.
“Since 1993 we have funded a number of environmental education programs, including Special Forever – an innovative and award winning program through which children across the Basin learn about their ecological and natural resources systems through discussion, creative writing and visual art,” Dr Craik said.

“This new work unit will add another dimension to environmental education in NSW.”

Click here to download the approved Living River curriculum from the NSW Department of Education

Click here to visit the Living Murray Project section.

The Living Murray Project Launch

Two partnership projects between the Murray Darling Association, a group of schools near Albury and the Murray-Darling Basin Commission will be launched on Thursday 15 May by the Chief Executive of the Commission, Dr Wendy Craik.

The projects are a DVD of The Living Murray and a display of the Basins’ native fish and are funded by the Murray-Darling Basin Commission.

Spokesperson for the Murray Darling Association, Mr Adrian Wells, said today that students and teachers at youth forums conducted by the Association over the past five years had developed a number of resources to support students to explore a more sustainable future for the Murray River, including posters, curriculum material, student workbooks and teacher resources.

“One of these resources is a DVD on The Living Murray, developed by students and teachers from the Walbundrie Small Schools Learning Group” Mr Wells said.

“While the DVD is primarily about the Murray River, it has relevance to all rivers, all students and all communities across the Murray-Darling Basin”, Mr Wells said.

Mr Wells said that the DVD was developed and filmed with the assistance of students, government agencies and communities the length of the Murray from the mountains to the Murray’s mouth.

“Schools will find this DVD a very valuable and stimulating resource that will encourage students to think about, learn about and respond to one of the great river systems of the world”, Mr Wells said.

“Making the DVD also reflects the enthusiasm and commitment of local students and teachers to clean, healthy and productive rivers”, Mr Wells said.

Dr Craik will also open a new display about native fish that has been developed by the Burrumbuttock Public School and the Wirraminna Environmental Education Centre.

Principal of Burrumbuttock Public School, Mr Owen Dunlop, said today that the school and the Centre had developed the display on native fish to help students and the community better understand the Murray-Darling Basin Commission’s Native Fish Strategy.

“With support from the Murray-Darling Basin Commission, Wirraminna has developed an innovative and exciting display that features many of the fish and their habitats”, Mr Dunlop said.

“Rather than display the larger and better-known fish such as Murray cod and Golden Perch, this display shows many of the smaller fish that students could easily relate to and which are just as vital in the river environment”, Mr Dunlop said.

Mr Dunlop said that the DVD and the native fish display were both partnership projects involving students, teachers, Local Government, the NSW Education Department, the Aboriginal community, scientists, parents, artists and government agencies.

“These projects reflect the partnerships required in the future to improve the management of the Murray River to balance environmental, social and economic demands”, Mr Dunlop said.

Dr Craik will launch the two projects at the Wirraminna Environmental Education Centre in Burrumbuttock at 9.45am on Thursday 15 May.

Following the launch, Dr Craik and NSW Department of Education and Training Staff will meet many of the students involved in the DVD production to view the draft of a student activity workbook on The Living Murray. The publication is an initiative of the Murray Darling Association and Burrumbuttock Public School and funded by the Murray-Darling Basin Commission . When completed, the activity book and associated resources will be available free for all primary schools the length of the Murray River.

For more information:

Mr Owen Dunlop – Phone 0260293253 or owen.dunlop@det.nsw.edu.au

Media interviews/photographs available between 11am and 11.30am

The Living Murray Project

Established in 2002, The Living Murray program is Australia’s most significant river restoration program. It aims to achieve a healthy working River Murray system for the benefit of all Australians. The program’s first step focuses on recovering 500 gigalitres of water for the River Murray specifically for the benefit of plants, animals and the millions of Australians it supports, along with improving the environment at six icon sites. To involve communities and individuals in the program’s implementation, the Murray-Darling Basin Commission (MDBC) , in partnership with the Murray-Darling Association, supports a range of environmental education activities and resources.

In 2007 the MDBC provided funding for the development of a DVD by teachers and students from Burrumbuttock Public School. The DVD is a very valuable and stimulating resource which helps students learn more about the Murray Darling river system and The Living Murray program and to think more about how they respond to their local environment.

The Living River DVD

The Living River video is divided up into 5 sessions, each approximately 5 minutes long. For each session, teachers can download focus questions, suggested activities, related photos and research links. Each segment relates a multi-staged unit of work written by a group of teachers from the Walbundrie Small Schools network. The project was a joint project between the NSW Department of Education and Training Curriculum Directorate and the Commonwealth Government Australian Quality Teacher Program (AQTP).