Real World Learning – HSIE Geography Sustainability Tour

It was wonderful to experience the power of real world learning through the HSIE Geography Sustainability Tour. Fifteen students from Years 9 and 10 travelled with HSIE teachers Natalie Fairfax and Brigida Zagora to Cairns to experience the UNESCO Heritage Great Barrier Reef and Daintree Rainforest. Students were able to understand the importance of sustainability when snorkelling in the Great Barrier Reef with marine biologists amongst coral, colourful fish and turtles, walking in the Daintree Rainforest with First Nations People and seeing crocodiles, planting trees to regenerate the habitat of the female Myola Tree frog and gathering field work data for university research projects. It was such an amazing learning adventure!
Brigida Zagora
Head of HSIE (Humanities and Social Sciences)

Student Reflections

The HSIE Sustainability Tour was a fantastic experience that helped me develop so many geographical skills and learn so much firsthand about the Great Barrier Reef. My trip highlight was on the reef on Day 2, meeting the marine biologists. I found the lab, (which is actually on the reef), so fascinating. I took particular interest in the marine biologist’s current project surrounding the culling of the Crown-of-Thorns Starfish from the Reef.
Amelia Woods

One of the highlights of the trip was going to Moore Reef. We had an Indigenous guide take us around the reef on a glass bottom boat. We also got free time to snorkel around the reef and saw all sorts of really cool fish and coral and we even saw a tiny little nemo clown fish!
Annelies Notelaers

My favourite activity on the Geography Sustainability Study Tour was snorkelling in the outer Great Barrier Reef with extremely colourful fish and coral. I’d just like to take the opportunity to say thank you because this is an experience that I will never forget.
Evie Little

The whole Geography Sustainability Tour was extremely fun and we all bonded so much over the trip. Our favourite part was snorkelling in The Great Barrier Reef and Fitzroy Island, the Turtle Sanctuary as well as Hartley’s Crocodile Farm.
Abigail Middleton and Emmagen Matheson

I loved the HSIE Sustainability Tour because it gave me a chance to engage, communicate, and make bonds with other people from other year groups and grow my friendship with my friends from my year. The tour also taught us about sustainability in the Great Barrier Reef and Daintree Rainforest and it taught us the significance of the land to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
Olympia Notaras