About
The name 'Home of the Yarra, Education' came to me while working with teachers and children at the Melbourne University Early Learning centre (ELC) near Abbotsford Convent. These lucky children are connected to the Yarra through the ELC’s ‘Learning in Nature’ and ‘Community Connections’ programs; the Yarra’s last waterfall - Dights Falls is a short walk from the school and features often in learning, in addition the ELC students have also connected to the mountain rivers with visits to the forest.
'Home' is a special place, indeed a word that resonates in a big way with young growing minds. Let me pose the question for a moment - Where is the Yarra's home? I argue the river’s home is its *mountains – the Yarra Ranges, and from this high rainfall zone numerous small streams join up several times over and tumble down underneath ancient Myrtle Beech and Mountain Ash to charge the Yarra with pristine mountain waters. These mountains are heavily forested and here I argue, is the river’s home.
Historian Gary Presland notes the Yarra as Melbourne’s sine qua non – hence without which there is nothing. Without the wet forested mountains Melbourne wouldn’t have the Yarra and it’s unlikely Melbourne would even exist. It is my vision to connect Melbourne people to the source of its waters. Today this water charges through our lives as pristine mountain waters are supplied by Melbourne Water to 1.7 million homes , via numerous catchment dams in the Yarra's mountains and this is too often taken for granted.
Seek the source of your wonderful water Melbourne.
* Melbourne’s east has mountains stretching from Kinglake, to those behind Healesville and Warburton, further east to Lake Mountain and on towards Mount Baw Baw.
#HomeoftheYarra #RespectforCountry
'Home' is a special place, indeed a word that resonates in a big way with young growing minds. Let me pose the question for a moment - Where is the Yarra's home? I argue the river’s home is its *mountains – the Yarra Ranges, and from this high rainfall zone numerous small streams join up several times over and tumble down underneath ancient Myrtle Beech and Mountain Ash to charge the Yarra with pristine mountain waters. These mountains are heavily forested and here I argue, is the river’s home.
Historian Gary Presland notes the Yarra as Melbourne’s sine qua non – hence without which there is nothing. Without the wet forested mountains Melbourne wouldn’t have the Yarra and it’s unlikely Melbourne would even exist. It is my vision to connect Melbourne people to the source of its waters. Today this water charges through our lives as pristine mountain waters are supplied by Melbourne Water to 1.7 million homes , via numerous catchment dams in the Yarra's mountains and this is too often taken for granted.
Seek the source of your wonderful water Melbourne.
* Melbourne’s east has mountains stretching from Kinglake, to those behind Healesville and Warburton, further east to Lake Mountain and on towards Mount Baw Baw.
#HomeoftheYarra #RespectforCountry
...yes the notion of home and nest always resonates big time with the youngones. I think it's because these two words are primal images that bring out the refuge, shelter and mystery, an intimate component, the reason that human returning takes place in the great rhythm of human life, "a rhythm that reaches back across the years and years and through the dream, combats all absence" (Gaston Bachelard).
#HomeoftheYarra