Kids go ‘bush’ at St Cecilia’s to help drought victims

Sydney
1 Dec 2002

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Kids go ‘bush’ at St Cecilia’s to help drought victims

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Kids go ‘bush’ at St Cecilia’s to help drought victims

The farmyard was a hit with St Cecilia’s students

By Marilyn Rodrigues

Forget sausage rolls and sandwiches for these cuties. They line up for damper, Anzac biscuits and ‘witchetty grubs’ at their Sydney school tuckshop.

Gumboot throwing wins over hopscotch for playtime value, and bush dancing is way more fun than a game of bull rush or handball.

Well, it was true for a day anyway.

The children at St Cecilia’s Catholic Primary School, Balgowlah, got right into the country spirit of things to get a taste of rural life and they raised $1000 for the Farmhand appeal at the same time.

Pretty good for a school with only 178 students.

They dressed up as drovers, bushrangers, jackeroos, swagmen and animals for the day, which was also the school’s celebration of the Year of the Outback.

The students have been learning about rural and Outback Australia in class, and along with the fun, they took in the serious message of how the drought is affecting children who live in those communities.

Nine-year-old Caitlin Lacy says it gave her “a lot of satisfaction to help the people suffering the drought in the bush”.

Also, it makes her sad to think that the drought can cause animals to die, but, she says, by raising the money, the school can help some stay alive.

Eleven-year-old Phoebe Vidler wrote a poem about what she imagines bush life is like for children her age (see below).

“I’ve been to the bush,” she says.

“It’s so lovely because you can relax and play with the animals and also sit under a tree and read a book.

“So I wrote my poem after hearing about the people suffering from the drought.”

The school canteen donated all the proceeds from its ‘Aussie Tucker’ specials board to Farmhand.

“Our children are lucky when you compare them with many country children who are being affected by the drought,” says Leanne Nicol, St Celicia’s principal. “So, in order to make them more aware of the plight of country children, we went a ‘little bit country’ for a day and raised money for the Farmhand appeal.

“Although we are a city-based school it does not stop the children being concerned about families in the country.

“Many of our children have friends or family in rural areas who are all being affected by the drought in some way.

“We may be a small school but we hope our contribution may help children in the country in some significant way.”

The Farmhand Foundation was launched on October 3.

The Farmhand appeal, concert and telethon have already raised $13.5m to provide relief and promote long-term strategies to help farming families affected by drought.

‘We’d all like to lend a hand’

I’m a kid from the city
Don’t know much about the bush
‘cept for what I’ve seen on TV shows
and what I’ve read in books.
I read that in the morning
While I’m still fast asleep
You’re out collecting eggs from chooks
And rounding up the sheep
And drinking milk
Straight from the cow
Instead of from a carton
And picking corn or maize or wheat
From your great big country
garden.
And while we’re dodging traffic
In the three K drive to school
You’re travelling down a long dirt road
Trying to stay cool
I know it’s dry were you are
And hot and dusty too
So next time I’m down at the beach
I’ll spare a thought for you
It must be really hard sometimes
Out on the sunburnt land
And us kids down in the city
We’d all like to lend a hand.
Cause even though we’re different
in lots of little ways
I think there’s things about us
That are more or less the same
Like, we’re big on fun and friendship
And giving a fair go
So when we meet somebody new
We like to say hello
Us Aussie kids are lucky
We help each other out
And I hear that things are tough out there
Because of the big drought
So if there’s something I can do
I hope you’ll let me know
Because you and me together
We can help this country glow.

PHOEBE VIDLER