Recently appointed National President of the Murray Darling Association (MDA) Ken Rogers from Dubbo City Council, and Upper Murray Darling Catchment Manager, Adrian Wells, attended the 2009 NSW Landcare Awards where they accepted the Local Government Partnership Award.
The award was presented at the 2009 NSW Landcare
Catchment and Management Forum held at Port Macquarie.
“The award is to celebrate our initiatives over the last three years in developing a range of school curriculum materials – poster, DVD, student handbook, curriculum package and teacher handbook,” Ken Rogers said.
These materials, developed by a team of primary school students, teachers and MDA, are now used across the Murray Darling Basin, in coastal schools, at a university, and in five European countries.
The award was sponsored by the Commonwealth Government’s Caring for Our Country program. Adrian Wells made a presentation on the award to the NSW Landcare Catchment and Management Forum the next day.
MDA sees this award as significant for several reasons:
- it is a project by Local
Government in an area
that Local Government
doesn’t normally become
involved in - it clearly demonstrates that
rural students in small
primary schools can
be creative, surprising and
innovative - it reflects a true partnership
approach - it shows that rural teachers
and students can develop
worthwhile and lasting
products (as creative as
consultants).
The award means that the Murray Darling Association will now be offered the opportunity to represent NSW at the National Landcare Awards next year.
MDA National President Ken Rogers said that the efforts of MDA staff and the former National President Bill Gorman have shown that the association was able to deliver a product that has demonstrated its ability to lead in the vital communication between city and country, by developing this curriculum material.
He also thanked the Murray Catchment Management Authority for its assistance in developing the award application.
Ken Rogers comes to the position of National President with a wealth of experience in rural and urban Local Government policy and implementation programs during his career of 42 years.
After spending 16 years with the City of Toowoomba, Ken Rogers took up his role with Dubbo City Council in 1995, and is currently Director Parks and Landcare Services.
For further details contact the MDA General Manager, Ray Najar, on 0408 502 393.
