Scouts in Shepparton: (From left) Emily, Oscar, Xavier, Chantelle and Amy.
Scouts from across Victoria made their way to Shepparton to take part in the Climate Captains overnight expedition at Moira Park Scout Camp this week as part of their jamboree.
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Groups of Scouts headed out from their base in Elmore, where more than 4000 Scouts and volunteers have gathered for VicJam, an 11-day jamboree which happens every three years.
Going up in the world: Scouts at Moira Park in Shepparton.
These expeditions took children to Shepparton Botanical Gardens, Victoria Park Lake, Cussen Park Wetlands in Tatura and Seven Creeks in Kialla, to learn about the local environment and biodiversity of the Goulburn Valley region.
The Scouts studied macro-invertebrates, known as water bugs, in Victoria Park Lake, learned how to help preserve native bees and made bird boxes for native birds to nest in.
Water bugs: Scouts look for water bugs in Victoria Park Lake water at the 1st Kialla Scout Hall.
The trip to Cussen Park in Tatura saw participants investigate a turtle nesting ground.
They also got to see the progress of the park’s revegetation project from a flying fox.
And, on the sweltering hot summer days, the activities led the Scouts to the Goulburn River, where they jumped in for a swim.
The major focus of the expedition was a hands-on education on sustainability, the Scouts blending smoothies with bikes and cooking with solar energy.
Smoothie: Laurence Williams makes a watermelon smoothie with his shanks mare.
Cooking with gas? The Scouts managed to get their solar stoves up to 125°C.
“We have the most abundant fuel source available to us here in Australia and they get to use it to make food, which is pretty fun and a practical way to do it,” Scouts Victoria state commissioner for environment Laurence Williams said.
The CSIRO backed these expeditions and provided one of 14 hydrogen-powered vehicles in Victoria to the group as part of the activities at Moira Park.
Futuristic: CSIRO lent the Scouts one of the 14 hydrogen cars in Victoria for their expedition.
Scout leader Scott Barnes is a CSIRO employee and he demonstrated the applications with small-scale hydrogen cars and hydrogen pop-rockets.
They even produced clean hydrogen with electricity.
“Kids learn by doing. These kids will remember this, I can guarantee you, in five and 10 years time,” he said.
“By teaching them about sustainability ... we have the chance to actually change the things that we were saying we should be doing.”
But the most important lesson the Scouts are taking with them is about leadership.
“We've got 15-year-olds that are here, absolutely managing perfectly with the kids, learning how to be a young leader and pass on skills,” Mr Williams said.
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