Winning entries, which highlight “amazing creativity, energy and amount of work” include the competition’s first wannabe turtle, showcasing caring for country, and a disco jiving koala who warns our planet is burning 

The 2020 winners of the world-renowned schools program Kreative Koalas, where students paint a blank fibreglass koala to depict a sustainability theme, have been unveiled 

In a year full of challenges, the winning category entries from the schools illustrate extraordinary talent, determination and effort, said judge and globally-renowned community change expert Les Robinson.

“I’m gobsmacked by the amazing creativity, energy and amount of work put into all of the projects,” said Les, adding that the students thought logically and introduced concrete actions for change in their school and community.

The winners include St Brigid’s Primary School in Raymond Terrace in the NSW Hunter Valley with their unique “Hunter Bila Guraa”, which scooped the Best Digital Learning Journey prize. 

Sitting on a river depicting one healthy, green, tree-lined embankment that turtles need, and one drought stricken burnt side which makes them so vulnerable to predators, his head is decorated with the Aboriginal flag colours to represent caring for country. 

The animal, whose name means “Hunter River Turtle” in the Gathang language of the Worimi people, is a koala who wanted to become a turtle and has a large version of the latter painted on his back.

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“The yellow lines coming away from his nose portray him as a warrior, as we have become biodiversity warriors through this journey,” said the students, who also wanted to represent four of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with their entry. 

Sporting a shirt literally off a farmer’s back, “Dusty Paddocks”, co-winner of the Best Artwork prize, is the environmental superhero brainchild of Caragabal Public School in Caragabal, central west NSW, who have suffered a three-year drought and were last year featured on ABC Behind the News

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His shirt, donated by a local family, is coated with pot fragments to evoke visions of a parched earth. But it opens at the front to reveal a Superman suit, representing the power that kids have to save our planet.

 “It is about the hope for a better future for their land and their families,” said the students.

Annangrove Public School in Sydney’s west are co-winners of the Best Community Action Project with their project to “transform our food systems to transform the world” to help out the hungry, educate others, and reduce their “food footprint”. 

The ongoing legacy of their Kreative Koalas journey sees students hold “Waste Free Wednesdays”, share regular tips on sustainable practices in the school newsletter, and donate eggs and vegetables from a new garden to a nearby community kitchen, who they sponsor.

“The surprising thing for us was how easy it became to incorporate sustainability into our everyday lives, and not just in terms of food,” said the students

Raymond Terrace Public School in the Hunter Valley, who are co-winners of the Best Artwork award, came up with a cool koala with a disco mirror ball for a head who jives to “Burn Baby Burn”. 

But “Disco Inferno” also carries a grim warning: we will continue to see the extreme and unsustainable effects of global warming, including horiffic bushfires, devastating populations and native species and environments unless action is taken.

 “As the Kreative Koala project evolved, we journeyed more towards the awareness of what was occurring globally with bushfires and responded reflectively to the experiences of Australian communities in 2019/2020,” said the students.

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Co-winners of the Best Community Action project, Medowie Christian School Primary in the Hunter Valley, took a multi-pronged project approach, starting a kindergarten garden and foodway tin drive later.  The students also participated in the OzHarvest FEAST program, through which pupils learnt how to prepare food and cook sustainably. The students’ efforts where featured on ABC radio and in local paper the Port Stephens Examiner. 

“Its just extraordinary what is happening in our schools. I take my hat off to all these committed teachers and their problem solver students. They make us all proud of our education system” says Action for Agriculture program director Lynne Strong

 Martha Atkins from Medowie Christian School shares her Kreative Koalas journey tips and tricks here

 

“The schools were chosen as winners because they started with big global problems, for example hunger. Then they logically drilled down to identify realistic actions students could really do to make a real difference. 

This was backed up with research, and creative reports which were clear and enjoyable to read. 

The projects were hands-on, for instance the ones that involved growing and cooking your own food which is the best way to make a change because you don’t just tell people why, you show them how,” says project judge Les Robinson.

The Kreative Koalas school program is one of Action for Agriculture flagship initiatives and we look forward to bringing together the winners for a celebratory event, where the Grand Champion will be announced, when COVID restrictions are lifted. 

See all the artwork finalists here

See all the Community Action Project finalists here

Mega thanks to our supporting partners growing tomorrow’s leaders today

There is no denying teachers and students participating in Kreative Koalas in 2020 are champions

Today we are excited to share with you our artwork judge Wendy Taylor has selected her Top 5 koala canvases

This is what Wendy has to say about her Top 5 ( in alphabetical order)

Caragabal Public School

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s a very Kreative Koala.

Dusty Paddocks is an environmental superhero.  He is dressed in a drought landscape with a shirt literally from a farmer’s back. The dry caked earth has permeated everything and is overwhelming him.

However, glimpsed beneath his shirt is a hope for a better future for the land. The abundance of green life sprouting and barely contained beneath the shirt is due to good environmental and sustainable practices. They help the environment endure and recover from droughts, as well as helping to educate local communities.

The unique concept of life on the land and important messages behind Dusty Paddocks is very interesting and captivates the viewer.

Carlingford West Public School

Atlantis is a utopian ideal.

It depicts an idyllic view of the planet we live upon, where beauty and interconnectedness are paramount. Water, which is intrinsic to all life, runs through the design, connecting all elements. It looks at both the little details and the big picture.

It highlights the need for us to work harder to preserve this beautiful and delicate ecosystem as there is quite literally no plan B (or in the words of Atlantis, “no planet B”).

Our planet is one of a kind just like this unique Atlantis.

Emu Plains Public School

Big Barry shows us life below the water.

Beautifully capturing the shimmering and fractured quality of light through water, Big Barry is a clever collage of coral and creatures.

The multitude of colours and textures highlight the many integrated and complex elements which combine to create a coral reef. They show the importance of all elements being in harmony with each other. When there is an imbalance within a delicate ecosystem such as the Barrier Reef, events such as coral bleaching can occur.

Big Barry teaches us that what we do on the land can have far-reaching impacts.

Gol Gol Public School

There is a distinct buzz around this Kreative Koala.

Queen Koala Bee leaves no doubt as to her theme. She is a hive of activity with swarms of busy little bees feasting on her nectar. The importance of these workers cannot be underestimated.

Varieties of bees are cleverly shown as they comb the beautiful gum foliage and flowers for pollen. They teach us about their importance to our community and to the environment, not just through the honey they produce, but also through pollination.

Be careful you don’t get stung, and watch out for her gorgeous claws!

Raymond Terrace Public School

Disco Inferno is a puzzle.

Made from many interconnecting pieces, he is a mix of disco mirror ball and aboriginal dot painting. At once, both modern and ancient in technique and materials.

This is also true of the story being told. The beautiful story about traditional methods of firestick farming and being custodians of our land, is balanced with modern issues around bushfires and the plight of the koala. It highlights the need for a holistic approach to conservation practices and shows that the choices that we make in our local environments collectively impact the global picture.

Disco Inferno’s mirror ball allows the viewer to see their own reflection and ask ‘what can I do to help?’

Extraordinary pieces of art that leave a life long legacy reminding everyone who see them the importance of caring for our planet and each other

#KreativeKoalaKids #YouthVoices #TheoryofChange

Find out about the Top 5 Community Action projects here 

It all begins by empowering teachers to engage their students in the theory of change

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We are very excited to announce the judge of the 2020 Kreative Koalas Best Community Action Project Reports has announced his Top Five

See the Top Five here 

The Judge

Les Robinson is the author of Changeology. He’s an internationally acknowledge leading expert on the design of community change projects towards sustainability. His website is full of interesting resources: www.enablingchange.com.au

Overall Les says:

“I’m gobsmacked by the amazing creativity, energy and amount of work put into all the projects. These kids are brilliant creative koalas!”

Les shared with us why the Top 5 schools excelled

1) They thought strategically

They started with a big global problem, for example ‘hunger’. Then they logically drilled down to identify realistic actions students could really do to make a real difference in their school or community. And they backed the case with research, including data collection via surveys and audits.

2) They implemented substantial actions for change

Once they identified strategic actions, they followed through with real life efforts that touched many people.

For example:

Annangrove Public School: set up chickens, worm farm and composter; created a vegie garden, grew vegies and supplied them to Windsor Community Kitchen. They also established waste-free Wednesdays, and ran a school feast.

Medowie Christian School: created a kindergarten garden, ran a Foodway tin drive, and cooked up a whole school feast.

St Brigid’s Catholic Primary School: took a whole of school approach. They  started with a survey of what their students were passionate about – that’s a great way to start because everyone has a chance for input. Then they  chose not one, but three (!) projects. The steps for each project were logically set out so every team can see the strategy. And each project was implemented. The projects were hands-on, especially growing and cooking your own food – that’s the best kind of change-making, because you didn’t just ‘tell people why’, you ‘showed them how’.

St Marys North Public School: Created a bush food garden, and ran a nude food day that involved the whole school.

3) They were creative

They were fun, innovative and brought out students’ creativity.

For example:

Gardeners Road PS: ‘unplugged’ hour without power’ event, supported by a TV and poster campaign

4) They wrote clear reports that were easy and enjoyable to read

The winning schools wrote short, simple, eloquent reports that were a pleasure to read. They also followed the format (which means they remembered all the important pieces).

Annangrove PS stood out in this respect because they set out simple ‘theories of change’ that logically described the necessary ingredients to achieve each goal. This was impressive project planning.

For example:

Watch this space for the announcement of finalists in the 2020 Kreative Koalas artworks

Mega shout out to our partners who are empowering the #changemakers

Become a Kreative Koalas Changemaker School in 2021. Expressions of Interest forms can be accessed from our website here

In a year when a global pandemic has changed our way of life, students participating in the modified 2020 Kreative Koalas competition were still profoundly impacted by climate change (Sustainable Development Goal 13) and its effect on life on land (Sustainable Development Goal 15). The most obvious example of this was bushfires.

In 2019 Raymond Terrace Public School won the title of Grand Champion Koala for their exploration of climate change and bushfires. They continued this theme in 2020 with the creation of a brilliant mosaic koala called Disco Inferno.

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Disco Inferno has no paint but is covered in glass and plastic tiles and buttons. Iridescent tiles forming a Rainbow Serpent circle the koala. Flames are depicted around his base, he wears an Ambassador 2020 sash and beneath his eyes are tears cascading down his large cheeks and covering the lower half of his face, as the students asked the question: would a river of tears quench the land ablaze?

“We created a design which literally reflects (due to the mirrored tiles) our ideas and exploration of Aboriginal stylised design and our bushfire theme. Our koala will form the centrepiece of our new Aboriginal cultural garden at Raymond Terrace Public School, and should last the test of time with many small hands touching across its vast surface when they are drawn to explore and consider the story telling embedded within our creation.”

Disco Inferno is stunning, bedazzled and jewelled.

At first glance Kevin, the koala from Emu Heights Public School does not seem to have a connection to fire, swathed as he is in beautiful blues depicting the natural environment of the Blue Mountains.

But even Kevin has a fire story:

“In the hot Australian summer we had a lot of bushfires that burnt many trees around our school that had to be cut down. Due to the loss of these trees many koalas and other Australian animals and plants lost their homes. As a grade we decided we would help our native animals and plants by giving them a new home!”

Kevin represents the school’s new sustainable garden with its native bees, birds and butterflies, and Kevin inspired the students to build a butterfly house and a bird house from scratch. Bee houses were purchased and painted and Kevin now sits proudly in the garden amongst bottlebrush.

Climate Clive, the koala from Launceston Church Grammar School – our sole Tasmanian entry – reminds us that life on earth is fragile, and bushfires feature prominently on his body.

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Clive’s base is an underwater scene but his body soon transforms to the oranges and blacks of a bushfire inferno. One small piece of green is on his nose.

“The students wanted Climate Clive to tell a story of the human impact on our environment both under water and on land. The narrative the children illustrated included the devastation of recent bushfires, pollution and the spiral effect on our animals and plants. The symbolic representation of the germination on the koala’s nose signifies regrowth and hope for the future.”

Clive is representative of all bushfires that impacted Australia at the beginning of 2020 and shows the effects the fires have on our young students.

The effects of fire on students and their communities was dramatically illustrated on Gula (the Gundungurra language name for koala), the entry from Exeter Public School in the Southern Highlands. The most striking feature of Gula is the 3D-printed Glossy Black Cockatoo flying out of the flames in a scene that creates hope and resilience.

“In January 2020 our local area in Exeter was impacted by the Currowan Bushfire. Our town was evacuated in the middle of the night. It was a very unnerving and scary time for the children of the local area.”

Gula is a split personality koala illustrating both the devastation of bushfires and regeneration. He features photos of the fire and writing from the students describing their experiences. The words hope, resilience and regeneration are written upon his body.

 “The stories from the children allowed them to express their feelings and emotions about the bushfires as it affected them and then focus on the positive aspect of the bush coming back alive. It is also defined by the resilience shown by the students. Little did they know that further resilience would be needed with COVID.  It has been a very challenging year, and as a school we are very proud of our students and many ways they have overcome the impact of the fires and the courage they are displaying in looking forward positively towards the future. Kreative Koala certainly has been a wonderfully informative and healing project to be a part of.”

Our 2020 Kreative Koala Kids have done a health check on our planet and made decisions about what global issues are in their control to take local action on

They have devised action plans and put them into practice. We look forward to checking in with them in 12 months time to see how they have maintained the rage and delivered permanent behaviour change in their schools and communities.

#Changemakers #KreativeKoalaKids #GlobalGoals

In the third of our Kreative Koala kids artwork showcases we introduce you to the Young Australians who are thinking deeply about water and energy

With young Australians  being highly aware the country they live in is the hottest. driest inhabited continent  its not surprising that they are very focused on ensuring we have access to clean water and renewable energy

The United Nations has created 17 Sustainable Development Goals.  Several of these encapsulate our attitudes to water SDG 6: Clean Water and Sanitation, SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production [including water use] and SDG 14: Life Below the Water). SDG 7 looks at affordable and clean energy.  Five of our 2020 Kreative Koalas chose to explore these themes.

A tap sprouting from his head is the most arresting feature of Marang Galing Barrandhang (Good Water Koala) from Grenfell’s St Joseph’s School. Every other element of their koala flows from this tap.

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Marang Galing Barrandhang is a kaleidoscope of activity . The wetlands of Lake Cowal are featured, as is the Murray-Darling river system. The students have used a combination of bright and dark colour schemes to illustrate different water use practices and the oranges of droughts through to the blues of their recent rain.

Looking at water use has inspired St Joseph’s to change its own water use practices.

“Our school has recently implemented a new, more sustainable, school watering system for our playing oval, green spaces and garden beds. To achieve this, we connected to the local council’s reticulated wastewater system. We installed tanks at our school to store the treated water. The water from the tanks was then connected to our existing pipework. This will ensure our students have green spaces to play on, even during droughts which are common in our area. This offers far better water sustainable practices!”

Watch the students talk about their Kreative Koala journey here

Water sustainability was also the theme for Carlingford Public School who created a koala named Atlantis.

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“When you look the Koala in the eyes you are confronted with the view of our Earth. This flows into a waterfall as water is essential for life on Earth. From the water grows our strong trees representing life on land and this links to the back legs showing the oceans and life below water; the land and water are linking. The contrast of the sunset and starry night creates a feeling of planet Earth travelling through space. This heightens the fact that our planet is precious – there is no Planet B! Our artwork aims to highlight how special and unique our planet is and how we must all work to save our amazing home!”

180 Year 6 students from Carlingford connected with fellow KK participants Gol Gol Public School to learn about the Murray River and take inspiration from this for Atlantis.

Watch Carlingford West Public School learning journey here

From the Murray River our KK schools turned their attention further north when Emu Plains Public School created Big Barry to spotlight coral bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef. Big Barry is a riot of painted paper collage, as bright and vibrant as a healthy reef.

“Most of the reef is bright, colourful and full of diverse species living in this habitat. This represents both the past before the seas had an increase in temperatures and the future, of what we hope to preserve and keep if we make the right changes today. A small portion of the reef is pale, white and brown to represent the bleached coral.”

Portals on Big Barry give the viewer a deeper insight into this water story: one portal shows trees that absorb excess carbon dioxide, another shows deforestation and just below Barry’s heart is a portal showing a light bulb, a direct reference to energy consumption.

“Students have learned that small actions of theirs can have a domino effect for our planet. It matters if they leave the lights on all day. It matters if they make a conscious effort to turn it off. It matters if we cut down trees. It matters if they plant more trees and shrubs in their own backyard.”

Caragabal Public School, between Wagga and Parkes, looked out their own back door and chose to look at water in another way – the lack of it. Their community has been affected by hard drought in recent years and so the students created a koala named Dusty Paddocks and researched drought sustainable farming practices.

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Dusty Paddocks features a weathered hat with 3D agricultural machinery and a brown shirt coated with pot fragments to represent parched earth. Both the hat and shirt were donated by local farmers. The shirt overlies a beautiful blue koala and opens at the front to reveal a Superman suit, because these kids can save the planet.

“Dusty Paddocks was designed by kids who were just coming out of an incredibly harsh three-year drought. These students were able to put all their pain and stress of farming in drought into their designs to make something that was truly authentic and cathartic for them. The students’ names are each written on a claw of the koala to show their ownership. It is about the hope for a better future for their land and their families.”

Watch Caragabal Public School on Behind the News

Being the only school to look solely at renewable energy makes Gardener’s Road Public School unique in the 2020 KK competition and their koala Windston shows off the sun and the wind, representing both solar and wind power.

“The artwork includes three dimensional structures, representative of Gardeners Road Public School, solar panels and wind turbines (students found solar panels to be one of the most easily accessible energy sources within Australia, even in a built-up, suburban areas like the city of Sydney) and symbolises the connections and partnerships formed between diverse communities, including rural farming areas and inner-city areas.”

As part of their journey into energy use they initiated “Unplugged” where the entire school turned off electricity for an hour. This in turn encouraged students and their families to be more conscious of their energy consumption, or as one student commented:

“I have learnt so much about energy, you could almost call me Einstein. We have spread so much awareness, so hopefully more people will be interested in making changes too.”

Students created their own TV channel to raise awareness about energy efficiency and promote life changing habits

Our next post will share with you the impact of the bushfires on our young changemakers

#Changemakers #KreativeKoalaKids #GlobalGoals

In our second post sharing our 2020 Kreative Koalas entries we connect with you the big ideas and the call to action from the schools who chose to focus on how we can work together to save Australia’s threatened species.

Life on our planet, whether that be on land (Sustainable Development Goal 15) or below the water (Sustainable Development Goal 14) is affected by our production and consumption (Sustainable Development Goal 12). Students in our Kreative Koalas competition recognised this and highlighted the plights of threatened species on their imaginative koalas.

Koalas have been headline makers throughout 2020 and Penrith Valley Learning Centre chose this topical avenue to look at urbanisation, land degradation and destruction of habitat as they asked: Can we save the koala? The result was this super impressive koala named Urban Connection.

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Urban Connection has 3D sculptures protruding from all over his body, representing buildings and road encroaching on the koala habitat. He has building waste representing land degradation and a bundle of sticks representing loss of trees. He has burnt bark representing fires from last year and a red cross representing the Port Macquarie koala hospital. He even has a coin and note slot for donations to help save the koala.

“This [the coin and note slot] allows students, staff, family and community members to contribute money that will be donated to the Koala Hospital, or a like organisation. It is our hope that these creatures will be here for future generations.

When you hear the wind rustling the leaves high up in the trees, stop and listen, for it is the spirit of the koala calling to you.”

Dungog Public School in the Hunter Valley designed a superhero koala named Gydgy to highlight the cause of local endangered animals, in particular the Red Goshawk that is on the brink of extinction.

“We decided we should split the koala in half and represent things that are destructive to our environment and the endangered animals in our area on one side and the things that protect it on the other side. On one we placed things like hunters, pests, pollution and bushfires. We felt these had the biggest negative impact on the environment in our area. On the good side we placed some of the endangered animals in our area, a beautiful lush forest, and some people working on planting trees. We felt these showcased the biggest positive effect we have on our area. We wanted to give the koala a superhero mask so that he felt like he was ready to fight for our endangered animals!”

Gydgy also features a film-strip representing the ‘heroes and villains’ movie the students made with heroes including Eucalyptus Woman and Red Goshawk.

Also looking at endangered species in the Hunter Valley was St Brigid’s Primary School who focussed their attention on the Hunter River Turtle and gave their koala the Gathang language name for turtle of Hunter Bila Guraa. So this creation is half koala, half turtle!

Hunter Bila Guraa’s head is the colours of aboriginal flag making him a biodiversity warrior. The school vegetable garden is strategically placed on his tummy, his sides represent the good and bad outcomes for threatened species, his front legs are the local Hunter and Williams Rivers and the Hunter River Turtle (and new school mascot) straddles his back.

“Our koala is unique as he is the only koala who wanted to become a turtle. We researched lots of designs to ensure we did something original. With his large turtle back and a Gathang name to identify him, we think our turtle is one of a kind. The situation of the Hunter River Turtle is dire and we feel passionately about changing this.”

Through their fundraising efforts St Brigid’s was able to donate $300 to the Australian Reptile Park for specific use on their new Hunter River Turtle enclosure.

You can watch St Brigid’s digital learning journey here

Two schools chose to research the impact of our actions on bees. They were Gol Gol Public School and Primbee Public School. Queen Koala Bee was the entry from Gol Gol Public School in Mildura.

Queen Koala Bee, with her grey head and dark green body, is lovingly covered in a swarm of hand-made bees – both European Honey Bees and Australian Native Blue Banded Bees. Together the bees form a crown on her head.

 “Queen Koala Bee sits majestically in our school office to welcome guests and visitors. Her loyal swarm of bees are hard workers and keep up the important task of educating the importance of bees to our community and environment. Students are now excited when they see a bee, especially a native Blue Banded Bee and they thank them for what they do.”

The Gol Gol KK project incorporated putting together seed packets and ‘how-to-make’ bee hotel instructions in a sealed packet. A packet was then given to the youngest sibling of each family. The students are excited to watch their flowers grow and attract their own bees.

Primbee Public School in Warrawong (Wollongong) cheekily combined their school and suburb names to come up with Warrabee, the rainbow coloured koala championing bees.

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Primbee students participated in OzHarvest’s FEAST program growing and cooking their own food and realised the importance of bees in their own garden.

“On the back of our koala we have a silhouette representing our gardens. Every class has a session where they go out to our playgrounds and contribute to making our gardens more presentable. Above the silhouette, we have a selection of colours that represent our classes. pink at the top for Grevillia, red for Bottlebrush, yellow for Wattle, green for Eucalyptus, blue for Bluegum and lastly purple for Jacaranda.”

Bees represent the sustainability initiatives Primbee Public School is undertaking including worm farms, gardening, collection and recycling of food waste, and the construction of a wooden bee hive. Warrabee illustrates their ideas on sustainability and shows their true colours!

#KreativeKoalaKids #GlobalGoals #SDG12 #SDG15