Jigamy Farm

Rehabilitation and Revegetation Project 2005

The Monaroo-Bobberer-Gudu - The Keeping Place - was established a number years ago as an educational and tourist facility at Jigamy Farm in the Bega Valley Shire on the NSW South Coast.

Its popularity has grown and some serious environmental issues needed to be addressed if the area was going to continue to be sustainable. This included eco-system management, pest and plant control, wildlife habitat and the intense pressure being placed on the fragile wetlands environment.

The Green Corps project at Jigamy brought ten young people together to help restore and build a sustainable environment at Monaroo-Bobberer-Gudu.

The team was made up of five Indigenous and five non-Indigenous participants. Team Leader Dave Pauza says "The group included kids with no ambition, no desire for education and no goals for their future other than to stay in the area caring for their families - at the end of the project two are planning to do environmental science at university." One has a job in the public service, another a managerial job at ToyWorld in Merimbula. One participant saved enough money to visit her estranged father after the project finished. Another learnt about looking after himself, after not having washed for three months.

“There's nothing like complaints from other team members that you stink to get you into a shower,” says Dave.

The team did amazing things. They established a traditional Boora Ring for performing Aboriginal Dance troops - a raised semi-circle with seating for 80, created a gunya (a traditional bark shelter), led local and international visitors on a cultural tour. They planted nearly 6000 plants - many of them bush tuckers.

Their achievements were enormous, and they were given a real boost by the support for the project by the community and the time and money that the Jigamy Cultural Centre and the local Eden Land Council committed to the project.

But Dave says that the real boost to them was seeing the tangible results of the work they did.

“There's nothing like being able to see and enjoy the results of your work. Our Indigenous participants in particular excelled in the hard outdoor work.”

There was plenty of hard work to be done. One participant, who has cerebral palsy, showed what he could do, working past his limits. An Indigenous girl, who Dave says people around the area had written off and warned him that she wouldn't work more than a couple of days, was the most committed one of all. She's now doing her HSC equivalent at TAFE, after leaving school in Year 8.

The whole team have challenged themselves and spread their wings. Talking to Dave Pauza, it's clear that his commitment to each and every participant is huge. He knows what each of the ten is doing, months after the course. He's proud of their work.

“Green Corps is so fantastic for them. Imagine where they'd be now without it. They're great, people, every one of them. They just needed something like this to help get them through.”