Scarecrow in the Perth Royal Show

North Lake Senior Campus Intensive English Centre students proudly created Cecil the Scarecrow for the 2025 Perth Royal Show. Many of these students have come from outside of Australia, and this project provided a meaningful way to learn about the vital role that farming plays in Australia’s economy, lifestyle, and culture. 

With the generous support of John Bradbury from Fremantle Wool, who donated carbonised Australian wool, students were able to touch and work with real wool before transforming it into felted fabric. This became Cecil’s vest, which was further personalised with flags representing the countries our students came from.

As part of the process, students discovered different crafting techniques: tea-dyeing to colour Cecil’s shirt, bleaching denim for his jeans, shaping his head with paper mâché, and folding origami to form the canola crop that Cecil proudly stands in. 

Alongside the creative making, students also explored the diversity of Australian farming - from livestock and meat production, to grain and cereal crops, to vegetables, fruits, and orchards. Cecil is not only a scarecrow but a symbol of shared learning, cultural exchange, and community spirit.