2024 saw yet another impactful year of the Swarovski Foundation Waterschool Australia programming. Our flagship event was held at the Georges River Environmental Education Centre in Chipping Norton, NSW on a lovely October day. Costa Georgiadis, as our official Kids teaching Kids Ambassador, opened the day with a keynote speech and then spent the rest of the day participating in workshops with students from across the state.
Indigenous elder, Aunty Kerrie Kenton, was joined by her family, and all participants, young and old were treated to a magical water ceremony, smoking ceremony and an ochre ceremony before bearing witness to a moving Welcome to Country by Aunty Kerrie.
Students spent the rest of the day moving between peer-teaching workshops such as water conservation, water equity and human water needs and wants, and expert workshops such as AUSMAP microplastic surveys, traditional Aboriginal water stories, making tiles for an art installation along the Georges River with Aunty Margaret Float and Tiny Forest making.
The day was concluded with a closing musical address and a special water ceremony at the Georges River. This was the culmination of a year’s hard but rewarding work for participating schools.
This event concluded a three-year partnership with the Swarovski Foundation Waterschools Program, which has seen almost 8,000 students involved across the state of NSW, over 40,000 participant hours and almost 100 peer-teaching, Kids Teaching Kids workshops. The ethos of head, hand, heart teaching was at the core of this program and proved to be a powerful tool for student voice, agency and action. Many thanks to the Swarovski Foundation, Georges River Environmental Education Centre and Costa Georgiadis for their ongoing support of this program. We look forward to continuing this journey in the future.
The event concluded with a musical performance and a closing water ceremony on the banks of the Georges River—marking not just the end of the day, but the culmination of a year’s dedication and learning.
