Clean Up Australia Day

VCAL Student Reflections

On Friday 4 March, VCAL students from St Joseph’s College Echuca participated in the annual Clean Up Australia Day. The rubbish we collected would have made its way into the rivers which would have had a major impact on the wildlife. Our actions avoided this.

All Year 11 and 12 VCAL students were divided into three groups with three Year 12 students as group leaders. Payton Hearn was in charge of the group that went down to the boat ramp area and along the Murray River frontage. Luke Caine was the leader of group 2 at the Aquatic Reserve. The last group was led by Declan Baker, and they went down to the Campaspe River.

The students set off on a 32℃ day, wearing hats, sunscreen and gloves, and using grabbers, supplied by the Clean Up Australia organisation, to pick up the rubbish. They also gave us bags to gather all the rubbish we collected. The rubbish we collected got picked up by one of the teachers from the school who took the bags over to the school bins. We collected eight large bags in total.

While walking around the boat ramp and the houseboat frontage, the rubbish we collected the most of was Maccas straws and plastic bottles. On our walk to the boat ramp a surprising find was a battery. From our group Noah Martin and Thomas Jeffreys volunteered to carry it back to school. While the boys were walking the battery back to school, a man from our community asked us if we wanted him to take it to the recycling centre. He said he had lots in the back of his car and was going to take them to get recycled. 

We enjoyed the opportunity to participate in the Clean Up Australia Day. It has been an annual event and the organisation has been running since 1998. It has had many other people participate since then. The purpose of this organisation is to encourage people to clean up our local environments. 

Last week was the 24th anniversary of Clean Up Australia Day. Many community organisations participate each year, such as churches, football clubs and schools, like us.

By Macie Free

On Friday 4 March, The VCAL cohort put down their pens and paper and picked up their gloves and rubbish bags to participate in Clean Up Australia Day. We got separated into three groups each with a teacher and a student leader to collect rubbish that can be seen out in the community. We had one group tackle the Aquatic Reserve, one group down the Campaspe and another along the houseboats leading onto the Vic Park boat ramp. This is where we found the most rubbish. As a student of St Joes, you never realise how much rubbish there actually is around you until you are told to look out and pick it up! In the group that walked down to the boat ramp we found an old boat battery that was very heavy and needed two people to carry. 

Someone had just left it to be someone else’s problem.

It was so heavy that a man who was packing his Troop Carrier ready to go home caught us trying to carry it, and offered to discard it for us because of how heavy it was and because he was driving past the recycling centre on his way home. 

This shows us that it is just a minority of people who are producing more landfill while most of us are doing the right thing.

When we got back to the classroom there were bags upon bags and a few very tired faces but everyone was glad to have helped the community get all clean and environmentally safe!

Be a St Joseph’s College Ambassador. Do the right thing. Always.

By Payton Hearn