The entrance to Gooburrum State School’s forestry area has been revitalised with a large artistic sign thanks to some professional design work undertaken by local high school students.
As part of their studies, the Certificate II art students at Bundaberg North State High School were tasked to engage with the community and provide a product that suited the needs of a specific site or the requests of a “client”.
“In our case, Gooburrum State School needed a sign for the forest which is part of their school community,” senior experienced teacher Orinda Martin said.
“Gooburrum asked us to focus on the local Indigenous lores, animals that are familiar to the area, and something that would educate the younger children about the forest and these lores.”
The eight high school art students were asked to focus on the ibis and black cockatoo, which are animals often seen in the Gooburrum area.
The sign also features banksia, which has been planted by students in the forestry area over time.
After creating their proposal and fine-tuning the project, the sign was completed and recently showcased to appreciative Gooburrum State School students.
Gooburrum State School students thrilled with sign
The new forestry sign was a hit with Gooburrum State School students, who said it was the perfect addition to the outdoor area which encompasses a huge part of their every day learning.
“The forest is an important part to all of us at Gooburrum,” Isabelle Geislei said.
“We use it for many things including outdoor learning and forest play.
“It helps teach us to respect nature.”
Holly Buckholz said having an ibis painted on the sign was very important because the bird played a big part in the naming of the area.
“The word Gooburrum means Place of Many Ibis because the traditional owners of the land would name anything after what they saw,” she said.
“For example, if they saw four rocks sticking out of the ground they would name it Four Rocks.”
Partnership makes for a great result
Bundaberg North State High School student Lace Davies said her class completed the project over the ten week school term.
“The best part about the project was probably revealing the board to the students and seeing the look on their faces,” she said.
“It was a really good feeling.
“We enjoyed working with the other school as it demonstrated what working with a client in the real world would be like.”
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