Glenelg Hopkins Case Study

The Winda-Mara Junior Rangers school holidays program is a long running partnership between Winda-Mara Aboriginal Corporation and Glenelg Hopkins CMA’s water resources team,
helping young people learn about the catchment on Country.

The Winda-Mara Aboriginal Corporation is an organisation whose key focus is to provide opportunities for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and their families to access culturally appropriate services and community activities. Winda-Mara reached out to Glenelg Hopkins CMA’s Water Resources Team several years ago to run healthy catchment activities as part of their Junior Rangers School Holiday Program.

The focus for the program organisers was to contribute to their program goals of getting kids out on Country. Through Winda-Mara, the activities are planned to support the holistic nature of caring for Country; that healthy Country makes healthy people and healthy people make healthy Country. The environment is ever variable and flowing, and similarly we attempt to deliver different, hands-on opportunities for children to engage in nature depending on
how they are feeling on the day.

Over Winter when activities are based indoors, elements of the environment are brought inside. More recently, the CMA also partnered with small regional businesses (Nurture in Nature and
Black Snake Productions) to bring further skills and resources. Many of the Junior Rangers attend multiple program days, and often when there is a recap of previous messaging, they will jump in to answer the questions. Additionally, these Junior Rangers have been able to use these days to share their own experiences and knowledge such as the times of the First Nations seasonal calendar when they can catch crayfish, that the presence of a certain flowers blooming means they’re entering their birthday season, or seeing eagles in the sky and commenting there must be lots of fish in the river for Bunjil to eat.
Throughout the years, activities have included learning about how an estuary works, native animals, how a catchment operates, native plants and trees, and the importance of water to Country. Activities run through the program are often hands on, with the Junior Rangers handling native animals, walking through native grasslands and forest areas, participating in building items to support learning and learning through art such as drawing, painting and photography.

The Winda-Mara Junior Rangers project brings learning on
Country through a partnership between the Glenelg Hopkins CMA and Winda Mara Aboriginal Cooperative.

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