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Recently Tenison Woods College was lucky enough to win a OneFortyOne grant to plant an edible indigenous garden. Part of the funding was used to gain expert advice and cultural knowledge from Kathy Bell and First Nations Elder Doug Nicholls from Southern Ground.

The project aims to create an indigenous edible garden for use across the school in the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Program (ELC- Year 6), Food and Hospitality classes (Year 7-12), Certificate II Hospitality students (Year 9-12), Certificate II Horticulture (Year 10-12) and BBQ Boss (Year 9).

The garden will be located in a central position within the school, adjacent to Food Technology classrooms, with food grown to be used in cooking and support connections with local indigenous communities. The bush tucker plants will attract native birds and benefit insects to enhance the biodiversity of the local community.

Recently, Kathy and Uncle Doug presented to the Certificate II Horticulture students. They spoke about the aboriginal's strong cultural connection to the land and the importance of introducing indigenous plants to the environment. The students got to propagate some seeds and hear stories about how the landscape has changed since European settlement. Uncle Doug demonstrated how some traditional tools and equipment are used, including starting fire and grounding seeds.

We look forward to welcoming them back next year as we continue to plan for the garden.