Making waves in the battle against waste
By Angela Xiang and Max Britton, Year 5 Round Square Class Representatives, Trinity Anglican School
IN September, students from Trinity Anglican School, White Rock, attended a service trip to Giangurra Beach at East Trinity, which was organised by our Round Square Committee and a parent organiser, Olivia Whybird.
We worked together with Tangaroa Blue and helped protect the environment by picking up rubbish – both recyclable and non-recyclable.
In groups, everyone went to different areas to collect rubbish.
Some students worked on the official 100-metre long government rubbish sample that is collected regularly to compare whether the amount of litter has decreased or not.
There were many interesting discoveries but also some dangerous items that we had to leave as we had been warned earlier not to touch them.
The enormous cluster of rubbish was sorted into piles and there were more than 400 cigarette butts.
It was shocking to see how much litter wasn’t disposed of properly. Various guest speakers also came to speak to us.
One of our TAS student’s grandmothers, Sandy Clague, a local veterinarian, spoke to us about the impact of rubbish upon our local wildlife.
The rangers from the Department of Environment and Heritage Protection talked about what to do if we encountered a crocodile.
Tangaroa Blue spoke about safety and how to sort the rubbish, and indigenous rangers from Mandigalbay Ancient Aboriginal Tours spoke about indigenous connections to the land, flora and fauna, and how to protect it.
Near the end of the trip, we evaluated our day and thought about how our activities linked to the Round Square ideals of internationalism, democracy, environment, adventure, leadership and service.
We greatly appreciate the parents that volunteered, the rangers and the teachers. Thank you for making this trip so successful. THEY don’t call Babinda the wettest town for nothing.
On October 13, Babinda celebrated the 55th Harvest Festival.
This year’s theme was festival of flags.
Everyone assembled at Cootharinga Gardens and we walked in the town parade in the cold, wet rain.
A strong storm had already hit us, so it was extra muddy and wet.
St Rita’s School Babinda chose the theme of “Many Flags, One World”, and our school float won third prize in the parade.
I was dressed as an Italian girl, wearing a long black skirt, white shirt and black, rosetrimmed vest.
During the parade, costumes were melting, umbrellas were flying and the wind was howling. The parade and fun continued, although it was raining.
When the parade ended, all the children ran to the Babinda Showgrounds. At the showgrounds, there were a lot of rides and amusements, live entertainment and food stalls.
My favourites were the mechanical bull and the