Coast Guardians Poem

GORCC’s Coast Guardians program is a special, ongoing program created for year 9 students from four local and regional schools. Each school works on protecting and enhancing a local coastal area. Here is a poem written by the Lorne Aireys Inlet students which they presented at the 2016 Coast Guardians Forum

COAST GUARDIANS PROGRAM POEM

By Lorne Aireys Inlet P-12 students 2016

GORCC tries to educate us and help us understand

Just how to look after our very special land.

Hilary and Georgie  – their knowledge is really neat,

They are an excellent replacement for the much-loved “possum Pete”

We learnt about marine life, just what is in the sea;

Crustaceans, limpets, plankton and more crabs than you’d believe.

Hilary taught us lessons on sustainability

Our “ecological footprint”-what’s left by you and me.

We started clearing tea-trees to let in more sunlight,

The whole group dressed in orange-it was a breathtaking sight.

Georgie mulched the branches with her tree-eating machine

And we spread it on the garden as a weed repelling screen.

With our clippers and our saws, we pruned a lot of trees,

What a difference it made to the branches and the leaves.

Some cut through the small stuff, that wasn’t all that tough

But others worked on great big logs, they found that pretty rough.

We are so very lucky to live on the Ocean Road,

Caring for the coastline is an overwhelming load.

We need to play our part and educate the young

So the beauty is preserved for many years to come.

An environmental journey aimed at building expertise,

A voluntary workforce-twenty students pruning trees;

A spectacular piece of coastline we are desperate to maintain

And a moral obligation to ensure it doesn’t change.

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GORCC offers schools and groups the opportunity to engage in hands on learning opportunities that will equip them with the knowledge and skills to work with, understand, respect, protect and enhance their beautiful coastal surroundings.

Our environmental education program is free for schools or groups of ten or more.  For all the details, or to register your group visit our website.