LINK, LEARN AND LUNCH

The ‘Link, Learn and Lunch’ on 24 May was a lovely event, bringing together community volunteers from across the Cradle Coast region who are caring for our natural resources. We had almost 80 people at the event representing 38 different volunteer groups engaged in a huge variety of activities from native wildlife monitoring to feral animal control, building soil biology through to building community, plus mountain bikers, kayakers and bushwalkers protecting special places. The feedback was consistent: everyone loved connecting with other like-minded people and hearing about the great diversity of activities volunteer groups are tackling and the results they are getting!

We started the day meeting Brendan and Brenton, pakana rangers from the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre, who spoke about how they care for country and community This was an opportunity to think about how the areas we manage were shaped by Tasmanian Aboriginal people over tens of thousands of years Their land and cultural practices were violently invaded as lutruwita/Tasmania was colonised Brendan and Brenton are continuing palawa/pakana culture and land management for the benefits of community and the environment and attendees valued connecting with and learning from them

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