09 Dec 2024
On Friday the 6th of December, Yr 12 students from Earth and Environmental Science, Biology and Geography travelled to Taree to take part in a Koala Hackathon.
The Koala Hackathon, envisioned by Uncle Will Paulson, is a district wide collaborative effort to support local koala populations. This one day event, hosted at Taree Universities Campus, connected our youth with country and inspired them to think big when it comes to the future of koala conservation across the MidCoast region.
Teams of senior students from seven different school across the region were given the task of coming up with innovative and creative solutions in order to answer the following question:
“How might we increase the koala population in our local area?”
Students were tasked to approach the problem from one of four different angles,
- How do we get people to report koala sightings and / or participate in koala surveys?
- How do we better engage people to look after habitat and biodiversity in their local area?
- How do we get locals to protect koalas as kin (family)?
- How might we protect koalas as they come in contact with people? Including safety signage, escape routes, alternative pathways and injured wildlife.
The teams of students were then given 2 ½ to 3 hours to come up with an innovative solution. Throughout this process various mentors would wander the room and provide guidance to the students. Each team was then given a very tight three minutes to present their solution to a panel of judges, the judges were then given two minutes to question the presenters on their proposal. Some tough questions on feasibility, community engagement and finance were asked by the judges to ensure that each proposal could actually be implemented.
Proudly the Great Lakes College Senior Campus team, "Koala Quest" were judged to be the winners on the day. Koala Quest's proposal was to utilise an app that would record the levels of biodiversity on private landholders' property. The more species that you had on your property, the more points you would score. Endangered species would be worth more points, as would plant species vital to Koalas. You would also be able to compete with your neighbours, and government funding would be awarded to the winners, as well as prizes from local businesses. This innovative solution would help to preserve Koala habitat, collect data and also to record sightings of Koalas, something that is essential to seek funding.
For many of our students who wish to move into different avenues of environmental science and management, to have the opportunity to participate in a multi agency and stakeholder think tank such as this was an invaluable experience. This event was generously supported by Hunter Local Land Services and MidCoast Council.