At Bushmans we are dedicated to building a sustainable future and giving back to the community. We asked ourselves what we could do to raise awareness of the importance of water conservation, rainwater harvesting and biodiversity. We contacted Landcare and together we created a partnership to encourage a positive change in the community revolving around our mission of Saving Australia’s Water.s
In 2019 Bushmans began working with Junior Landcare Australia to spread sustainable water harvesting practices. In 2020, Bushmans funded fifteen schools in New South Wales, South Australia, Queensland and Victoria. The goals of the grants were to encourage schools to play an active role in ensuring the longevity of their environment and responsibility to the land and help boost community awareness about rainwater harvesting and water conservation and biodiversity.
The schools were funded up to $1000 each to enable numerous projects to be undertaken, teaching the students about sustainable practices, rainwater harvesting and biodiversity, which Bushmans believe will bring positive changes to the community and help save Australia’s water. Bushmans are very pleased with the outcome of the Bushmans Junior Landcare grants and are looking to continue the grants into 2022.
All fifteen schools that took part in the Bushmans Junior Landcare grants reported that the children involved in the projects really learned and engaged with sustainability education. Below is a summary of what the grants were able to accomplish.
Bushmans South Australian State Manager, Andrew Cooke visited the Lobethal Primary School recently to see how the project was progressing. Andrew said, “It was great to see Bushmans be able to give back and seeing the kids smiling and engaged in something that was benefiting the school, the environment and the community felt really good.”
Below is Andrew giving a certificate and checking out the progress Lobethal Primary made with the grant.
Henschke Catholic Primary School in New South Wales applied for the Bushmans Landcare Junior grant in 2020. The school applied because they had an existing vegetable garden that was covered in weeds, unused and in desperate need for some care and attention.
Eighty year three students rolled up their sleeves and got involved in the project and helped revitalise the rundown vegetable garden. At the beginning of the 2021 school year, the previous year three students taught the new year three students the importance of composting, water conservation and sustainability.
This was a perfect project for the grant as it helped the school by cleaning up and creating a sustainable veggie patch and taught the students about water conservation and sustainability. Going forward these students will take this knowledge and it will influence and help them understand sustainability and water conservation. Therefore, this will help the community and help protect Australia’s scarce water!
Check out the video below to see the progress and learning that took place at Henschke Primary!
Bushmans are proud to be a part of the Junior Landcare grants and being able to see the results makes it all worth it! Bushmans are excited to see other projects when they are finished and how these will lead to a brighter future for Australia.
