River Guardians partner with local governments, schools and community groups to deliver education programs to the wider community.

 

Read more about our current partnerships and education campaigns.

Students lead the way with ‘Take four for the shore’ campaign

Attadale Primary School students have been working hard to create a series of beautiful posters designed to encourage people to pick up rubbish as they walk along the river. This project was inspired by the tragic deaths of our resident dolphins Highnitch and Splash in 2018, and Moon’s calf in 2019 who all died as a result of fishing line entanglements. We were excited to get the chance to join the school and the City of Melville to support this project by having the student-designed posters printed, which have been adhered to the bins around Point Walter to inspire the community to pick up rubbish!

As part of the school’s Reconciliation Action Plan journey, students and teachers produced a story, artwork and songs to not only share Noongar Culture, but to make the school and community aware of the plastic pollution that is destroying the health of local fauna, flora and marine life in the Derbarl Yerrigan (Swan River). The story “Take Four for the Shore” depicts many of the local species in the City of Melville, Point Walter area and their desire to pick up the litter that threatens their survival. The animals in the story work together to pick up rubbish and their catch phrase is ‘four for the shore, four for the team, four for the planet to keep it clean!’.

Attadale primary student Ailiana with her Tuart Tree poster, and Naomi from River Guardians with the 4 For the Shore book.

It is the hope that with the sharing of this story and posters, we can better help the community understand the plastic pollution that threatens the health of our land and river. The posters have a QR code which links to the digital version of the story. You can read the story here.

As part of the poster launch, students participated in a clean-up along the Point Walter foreshore with staff from City of Melville, the DBCA foreshore crew and Attadale Primary school friends and staff. We are so proud to be part of this wonderful creative campaign, led by the staff and students passion for protecting our important river ecosystem.

 

We’re partnering with the City of South Perth and their Rangers team to educate foreshore goers about the diversity of wildlife in the area, and the impacts visitors are having on this important area. 

We’re teaming up with the city’s environmental staff and Rangers to host a series of stalls along the South Perth foreshore over summer, focusing on educating the public about the importance of:

  1. keeping dogs on leash near the wetlands
  2. not feeding the birds
  3. picking up rubbish
  4. slowing down on the roads

As the foreshore is a popular spot for locals and visitors alike, the wildlife is often impacted by human activities. As visitor traffic increases, particularly during the City’s popular StrEats Food Truck trading period, the local wildlife is at risk of illness and injuries from litter left behind, being fed by well-intentioned visitors, potential vehicle strike incidences and the presence of off leash dogs that may chase the birds.

As part of our ongoing partnership, we intend to educate the visitors and locals about the huge diversity of birdlife (and other animals!) that depend on the South Perth foreshore and surrounding wetlands, as well as inform people of the impacts that we have on these animals when we use this area.

Our first session at South Perth focused on the impact off-leash dogs can have, which you can read more about our here.

Keep an eye on our Events page to see when our next sessions will be!

South Perth and River Guardians staff speaking with dog walkers about the importance of keeping dogs on-leash in the area

Clean Our Rivers

The #CleanourRivers signs are out at popular foreshore areas along the river again this year! The boards have a section with rubbish grabbers and bags, to encourage foreshore users to pick up some rubbish on their morning walk or coffee pitstop. This project is only possible because of the support from local governments and the local businesses who look after the signs. We are so grateful to Veronica McPhail who helped us get this project going again and to Funcats Watersports for being the first to support the project at their location on the South Perth Foreshore. Big thanks to the team at Kerbside Cafe in Mount Pleasant, who look after the sign at Akuna and Kaya’s favourite spot (as they are often seen around the Mount Henry Bridge) and the local governments, City of South Perth and City of Melville for supporting this initiative.

We’ve been partnering with Josh Byrne to deliver gardening workshops across Perth to help residents improve their gardens and help protect the Swan and Canning river.

This year we launched Our Gardens, with Josh Byrne, a brand new event series addressing the latest megatrends in gardening, while providing Perth residents with an understanding of how they can support the health of our iconic Swan and Canning rivers.

Delivered by ABC TV Gardening Australia presenter and environmental scientist Josh Byrne, you will discover how climate change, shrinking lot sizes and affordability is influencing our gardens and gardening behaviours. He’ll demonstrate clever approaches to successful gardening that will contribute to biodiversity and the health of our waterways.

Stay tuned for our upcoming workshops, which will be listed on the Events page