Field of Mars Environmental Education Centre

Experience Engage Enable

Telephone02 9816 1298

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

Local Aboriginal studies excursion program

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Teacher checklist

Location

Classes A, B 

Start - Boronia Park, Park Rd, Hunters Hill  

Finish - Buffalo Creek Reserve, Pittwater Rd, Hunters Hill 

Classes C, D 

Start - Buffalo Creek Reserve, Pittwater Rd, Hunters Hill 

Finish - Boronia Park, Park Rd, Hunters Hill

Wallumedegal Country

View the walking trail the students will be following.
Bus access

Supply bus driver with

Boronia Park bus information

Buffalo Creek Reserve bus information

No bus entry into Buffalo Creek Reserve carpark.
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). 
Risk assessment Great North Walk Boronia Park to Buffalo Creek
Tracks

View the YouTube track overview video.

Boronia Park to Buffalo Creek Reserve track
Welfare

Participants will be bushwalking during the day in rugged terrain.

Limited wheelchair accessibility. Email to confirm with location.

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.
Supporting resources

Digital book Traditional Wiradjuri Culture available free from Apple Books.

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

Classes C, D
9.45 - 10.15

Introduction - Boronia Park

Toilets, crunch and sip or recess, equipment distributed

Introduction - Buffalo Creek Reserve

Toilets, crunch and sip or recess, equipment distributed
10.15 - 1.15
Bushwalk and activities along the Great North Walk
 Bushwalk and activities along the Great North Walk
1.15 - 1.45

Lunch at a bushland site

 Lunch at a bushland site
1.45 - 2.15

Concluding activity and toilets - Buffalo Creek Reserve

Concluding activity and toilets - Boronia Park
2.15 Depart Depart

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Learning activities

Students go on a journey to investigate Aboriginal Culture and connections to Country. On a rugged bushwalk following the Lane Cove River, students will explore the natural environment that provides food, tools, shelter and other resources. Students will learn about cultural sites and ways to care for Country.

Key questions

  • What is the relationship between Aboriginal Peoples and Country and Place?
  • How do Aboriginal Peoples sustainably use the resources of Country?
  • What archaelogical evidence do shell middens provide of the continuous Culture of Aboriginal Peoples?

Fieldwork

Students will walk through the bush and learn to tune in to and connect with their surroundings. They will also identify significant features of the bushland to Aboriginal Peoples. 

Through teacher-led and student-directed activities, students will learn about the history of the bushland, how it is cared for and utilised by Aboriginal Peoples. 

Activities include identifying shell middens and bush resources, creating mini canoes out of natural materials and making an ochre-like paste out of clay. 

To conclude the day students will reflect on and recount what they have learnt.

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Syllabus outcomes and content

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

Geographical information is used to understand the world

Outcomes

  • Describes Aboriginal Peoples’ obligations to Country, Culture and Community HS2-ACH-01 
  • Explains how people care for Australia’s environments and participate in Australian society, using geographical information HS2-GEO-01 

Content

Aboriginal Peoples use and care for the environment sustainably

  • Identify and use appropriate terminology when sharing Knowledges about Country
  • Describe how Aboriginal Peoples sustainably use the resources of Country

History uses sources to construct narratives of the past 

Outcomes

  • Describes Aboriginal Peoples’ obligations to Country, Culture and Community HS2-ACH-01 
  • Explains how people lived in the past, how navigation connected the world, and what life was like in the Sydney Cove penal settlement, using sources as evidence HS2-HIS-01 

Content 

Aboriginal Peoples have the oldest living continuous Cultures in the world

  • Examine NSW sites of archaeological evidence of the oldest living continuous Cultures in the world

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

History K–10 Syllabus (2012) 

Outcomes

  • describes and explains how significant individuals, groups and events contributed to changes in the local community over time HT2-2 
  • describes people, events and actions related to world exploration and its effects HT2-3 
  • applies skills of historical inquiry and communication HT2-5 

Content 

Community and remembrance 

The importance of Country and Place to Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Peoples who belong to a local area.

  • identify the original Aboriginal language spoken in the local area

  • identify the special relationship that Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Peoples have to Country and Place

  • respond to Aboriginal stories told about Country presented in texts or by a guest speaker

First contacts

The diversity and longevity of Australia’s first peoples and the ways Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Peoples are connected to Country and Place (land, sea, waterways and skies) and the implications for their daily lives.

  • identify the original inhabitants of Australia

  • investigate traditional Aboriginal ways of life, focusing on people, their beliefs, food, shelter, tools and weapons, customs and ceremonies, art works, dance, music, and relationship to Country

Other syllabus links

Learning experiences will also support but not explicitly teach the following outcomes and content:

Geography K-10 Syllabus (2015) 

Outcomes

  • examines features and characteristics of places and environments GE2-1 
  • describes the ways people, places and environments interact GE2-2 
  • acquires and communicates geographical information using geographical tools for inquiry GE2-4 

Content

Significance of environments

  • investigate the importance of natural vegetation and natural resources to the environment, animals and people, for example:

    • identification of types of natural vegetation eg forests, grasslands, deserts 

    • explanation of the importance of natural vegetation to animals and the functioning of the environment eg provision of habitats, production of oxygen  

    • discussion of the importance of natural vegetation and natural resources to people 

Protection of environments

Students: 

  • investigate sustainable practices that protect environments, including those of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples, for example:

    • examination of how the practices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples support the sustainable use of environments eg use of resources

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

History K-10 Syllabus © NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) for and on behalf of the Crown in right of the State of New South Wales, 2012

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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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