Field of Mars Environmental Education Centre

Experience Engage Enable

Telephone02 9816 1298

Emailfieldofmar-e.school@det.nsw.edu.au

Aboriginal connections to Country excursion program

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Teacher checklist

Main location

Buffalo Creek Reserve, 117 Pittwater Road, Hunters Hill

Wallumedegal Country

Google maps - Apple maps

Supply bus driver with Buffalo Creek bus information.

No bus entry into Buffalo Creek Reserve carpark.
Buffalo Creek Reserve risk management plan

View the YouTube track overview videos.

Sugarloaf Point loop track
Alternate location

Field of Mars Reserve – Pittwater Road, East Ryde

Wallumedegal Country

Google maps - Apple maps
Supply bus driver with Field of Mars Reserve bus information
Field of Mars Reserve risk management plan

View the YouTube track overview videos.

Buffalo Creek track

Doyle and Warada loop track

Strangers Creek loop track
Cost

2025 DoE $25 per student - GST free

2025 Non-gov school cost $35 per student - GST free, minimum charge $750

Term 1 - Catholic school Weeks 3 to 7 cost = DoE cost - GST free, minimum charge $750

Schools are to confirm the number of students and classes at least 7 days prior to attending. Schools will be charged based on the number of students confirmed or number of students who attend on the day (whichever is greater). 
Welfare

Participants will be bushwalking during the day in rugged terrain.

Not wheelchair accessible.

This excursion may not be suitable for people who have recently been unwell.
Bring Backpack, medication, low-waste food, water bottle, sunblock, raincoat, hat, sturdy shoes.

Students wear reusable name tag and sports uniform.
View

Preparing for an excursion.

Social story Buffalo Creek Reserve

Social story Field of Mars Reserve
Supporting resources

Digital book Traditional Wiradjuri Culture available free from Apple Books.

Animal and plant fact sheets
Bin access All student waste to be taken home by students.
Parent/carer helpers Optional one parent per class, no siblings. Closed shoes essential. 
Medical or special needs

Notify Field of Mars staff prior to excursion. 

Students, staff and visitors must not attend if unwell, even with mild symptoms. 
Extreme or wet weather Days predicted to be above 35ºC, high winds, extreme bush fire danger and dust storms may result in the excursion being modified, postponed or cancelled. 
Cancellations

Cancellations with less than 30 working school days notice will incur a $600 administration fee. 

Cancellations with less than 7 working school days notice will incur the full cost for the program based on the original booking. 

Cancellations due to weather or fire danger are exempt from fees. 

Suggested timetable up to four classes

Time

Classes A, B, C, D
9.45 - 10.15

Introduction

Toilets, crunch and sip or recess
10.15 - 12.00
Bushwalk and activities
12.00 - 12.30

Lunch and toilets
12.30 - 2.00

Bushwalk and activities
2.00 - 2.15 Concluding activity
2.15 Depart

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Learning activities

Program

Students explore a variety of landscapes and waterways through the lens of traditional Aboriginal practices and understandings. They’ll identify local plants and their traditional uses, interpret the land through story, and develop an understanding of the deep connections between land, water, and life. This experience fosters a strong sense of custodianship and encourages students to reflect on how they too can connect with and care for Country.

Learning intention

  • We are learning to identify the features of Country.
  • We are learning to describe the relationship between Aboriginal Peoples and Country.

Activities

Students embark on a bushwalk to tune in to their surroundings and use an Aboriginal Dreaming story to interpret the natural features of the land.

Through hands-on exploration, they investigate native plants, create bush medicine, and safely attempt traditional fire-making using the hand drill method.

Boomerang throwing provides an opportunity to safely explore traditional tools and learn about sustainable hunting and survival practices on Country.

Students create scenes in the sand using Aboriginal symbols and natural materials.

An interactive totem game encourages students to explore cultural identity, roles, and the responsibilities involved in caring for Country.

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Syllabus outcomes and content

Human Society and its Environment K-6 Syllabus (2024) 

People are connected to places and groups

Outcomes

  • Describes interactions between Aboriginal Peoples and Country HS1-ACH-01 
  • Describes ways people connect to and care for places, water environments and each other, using geographical information HS1-GEO-01 

Content 

Aboriginal Peoples have a responsibility to Country 

  • Identify how Aboriginal Country is represented in a range of contexts
  • Describe ways in which Aboriginal Peoples use Knowledge of land, water and sky Country in everyday life

Text link

This excursion supports the study of the text Welcome to Country by Aunty Joy Murphy and Lisa Kennedy. Walker Books (2016).

Other syllabus links

Learning experiences will also support but not explicitly teach the following outcome:

English K-10 Syllabus (2022) 

Vocabulary

  • Understands and effectively uses Tier 1, taught Tier 2 and Tier 3 vocabulary to extend and elaborate ideas EN1-VOCAB-01

English K-10 Syllabus © NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) for and on behalf of the Crown in right of the State of New South Wales, 2022

Human Society and its Environment K-6 Syllabus © NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) for and on behalf of the Crown in right of the State of New South Wales, 2024

Geography K–10 Syllabus (2015) 

Features of places

Outcomes

  • describes features of places and the connections people have with places GE1-1
  • identifies ways in which people interact with and care for places GE1-2
  • communicates geographical information and uses geographical tools for inquiry GE1-3

Content 

Features of places  

  • investigate the features of places and how they can be cared for, for example:
    • discussion of the natural features of places identifies in Aboriginal Dreaming stories and/or creation accounts of the Torres Strait
    • consideration of how a place can be cared for eg a park, farm, beach, bushland

People and places

  • Investigate people's connections and access to places, for example:
    • discussion of why people visit other places
  • investiage connections that people, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples, have to local and global places, for example:
    • discussion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples' connections with land, sea and animals of their place
    • descriptions of reasons people are connected to places in Australia and/or countries across the world eg birthplace

Geography K-10 Syllabus © NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) for and on behalf of the Crown in right of the State of New South Wales, 2015

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Field of Mars Environmental Education Centre

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We’d like to acknowledge the Wallumedegal Peoples of the Darug Nation, the Traditional Custodians of the land on which we stand and pay our respects to Elders past and present.

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