Wirraminna Environmental Education Centre

The Wirraminna Environmental Education Centre is a volunteer run, public park that was established in 1995 on four hectares of a disused stock reserve around the old government dam, in Greater Hume Shire, Burrumbuttock, 30 km north of Albury, in southern NSW, Australia. The Centre was names for an indigenous word believed to mean "peace and quiet near still waters". The Centre has walking trails through a native vegetation botanical garden and educational facilities aimed at educating children about the natural environment. The park has over eighty species of wattle, a nelder grove, a frog pond, and garden beds with specific plant groupings ranging from those used by Indigenous peoples (bush tucker), useful for art (having unusual leaves, bark or flowers), intended for native suburban gardens (such as native groundcover and specimen trees), and important to Australian heritage (such as the Woolomai pine and the golden wattle). In 2005 Wirraminna constructed a rammed earth building (Wirraminna Discovery Centre) to house environmental education materials, a native fish display and a Corroboree Frog enclosure. In 2008, the Governor General of Australia, Ms Quentin Bryce, visited Wirraminna Environmental Education Centre to tour the facilities.
Purpose
The main purpose of the Wirraminna Environmental Education Centre is to provide environmental education for children in the Riverina region of Victoria and New South Wales. The educational materials produced by the Wirraminna Environmental Education Centre are made freely available on their website for the use of educators who cannot bring their students to the Centre. The Centre is also used for tertiary students to learn about the process of Environmental Education. The other purposes of Wirraminna is to provide a botanic garden of native plants for gardeners to use to determine which plants grow best in the heavy clay soils of the Riverina region, as well as to provide a public park for residents and tourists of Burrumbuttock. The government dam is used to provide water for the Burrumbuttock Recreation Grounds football and cricket oval.
Environmental Education Programs
Over 2000 primary school children visit Wirraminna annually. In 2000, the Centre received the Landcare national title with a program called Learnscapes. In 2015 the Centre won the Junior Landcare Team award. The Centre has adopted the same approaches to environmental education as the European Eco-Schools and Forest School learning programs.
What Have We Got Here With Dr Dave: Video series with associated worksheets for use in upper primary.
Creative Catchment Kids (CCK): A literacy based program that began in 2010 in which children in selected schools write books along an Enviro-Stories theme. The Creative Catchment Kids program won the NSW category for junior Landcare team award in 2015.
Biodiversity of the Murray Catchment Education Kit
Corroboree Frog Education Resources and the Centre houses eight frogs in captivity for education purposes
Energy and Water Saving Education Kit and Sustainability Trailer The project aims to give landholders financial and technical support to fence and revegetate areas specifically for the squirrel glider.
Other Programs
Wattle Day festivities are held on an irregular basis about the 1st of September. The 2013 celebrations were called 'The Birds and the Bees' and were aimed at teaching participants about improving biodiversity in the garden.
F.ART in the Bush: A farm art event that showcases outdoor sculpture made from disused farm metal and implements. The first F.ART was held in 2014. The second F.ART was held in 2015.

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