Shredded tyres, couches, rusted out oil drums and soiled mattresses were among the countless items of rubbish found dumped on an otherwise pristine bush block, as part of a clean up event last week.
Students, staff and parents from Carey Baptist College’s Forrestdale campus took part in the ‘Big Walk Emu Stalk’ event last Thursday, which saw the whole school community roll up their sleeves and get to work to rid the bush block of rubbish.
Principal Nigel Wise said the 20-hectare block contained plenty of household rubbish, some of which had accumulated on the site for decades.
“The students learnt so much from this event through education sessions before the day around recycling, caring for our environment and safety around collecting rubbish,” he said.
“The students are immensely proud of the positive impact that they have made on restoring our block to its pristine natural condition.
“They know that this hard work will impact generations of students who will enjoy it in years to come.”
The workload on the day was shared among students from kindergarten to year seven, while a number of parents and grandparents volunteered their time to drive cars and tractors to pull the larger items from the site.
Mr Wise said while there is still much more to be cleaned, the college is proud of the efforts of the entire school community.
“Local authorities that were involved on the day commented that they had never before seen a clean up exercise by a school of this magnitude,” he said.
The college is hoping the event will become a crowd-favourite on the school’s calendar.
