ARE THEY JUST FACES IN A CROWD?

[Maureen K Clifford]

I do believe that education about land management is the key to the world being a better place and the
Environmental Education centre here seems to be on the right track.



ARE THEY JUST FACES IN A CROWD?


Wambangalang out Dubbo way – postcode two eight three oh
would appear to be a quiet country town.
Population round five hundred, middle aged and middle income
and on Saturday night not much is going down.
Wambangalang means ‘faces of many kangaroos’
For the grey roo calls Wambangalang its home
What better place to teach the children about their environment
than here where roos unfenced still live and roam.

What used to be the schoolhouse has become the dormitory
for the Field studies centre. It’s wooden walls keep
many secrets, many stories, though I doubt the walls will tell
for they now keep watch over children as they sleep.
It’s known as Oorapoora and stands beside the Garewah Hut
they shelter children after busy days
spent bird watching for endangered birds at Wambangalang Pond
and keeping filled with fruit the Possums tray.

There are manmade flying foxes, and the ropes of tall tree challenge
beckoning to the kids to come and have a go.
The walking is precarious with just a rope and harness
thirty feet up in the canopy you know.
Old rabbit trapper Will with his old canine mate Norm
lives in a small tin hut upon the centres grounds.
He tells the kids of many things, how it was years ago
and always has a captive audience around.

Inside the Lab there’s microscopes, binoculars, computers
killing the shadows of the secrets of the land.
There’s archery and worm farms, reptiles of every kind
and local Aboriginal artefacts are close at hand.
But these kids are really learning though they just think it is fun.
These will one day be the leaders of our nation,
and they will move into adulthood with a grounding that is sound
at Wambangalang they learnt of conservation.

And no doubt each one will carry home the new knowledge they found
and it will stay with them forever through the years.
For if we respect the Mother, then she will look after us.
We must show respect – else all will end in tears.


Maureen Clifford © 06/11