Perth Zoo has launched an education program which honours the changing Noongar seasons.
Gwabba Boodja (Beautiful Bushland) has been designed with NAIDOC Week in mind and is targeting pre-primary to Year 2 schoolchildren with the aim of developing a greater connection to the environment through traditional knowledge.
Through costume and storytelling, the program introduces children to the six Noongar seasons and the animals found in the South-West of Western Australia, many of which can be found in the zoo’s Australian bushwalk.
Minister for the Environment, Stephen Dawson said Perth Zoo played an important role in educating Western Australians.
“The zoo welcomes more than 14 per cent of the State’s school children for a formal education lesson every year, so it is important to us that we help our youngest Western Australians discover more about the world around them, thanks to the knowledge of the Whadjuk Noongar people,” Mr Dawson said.
“Unlike the European calendar, there are six Noongar seasons in the South-West region, which are indicated by changes in local plants and animals.”
He said the program would help students to understand that changing seasons were marked by the flowering of many different plants, the hibernation of reptiles and the moulting of swans rather than by looking at dates on a calendar.
“I have no doubt the lessons will be popular and will help inspire students to learn more about Whadjuk Noongar seasons, whilst developing a greater respect for the land on which the zoo sits,” Mr Dawson said.
