Outdoor Education Australia
15th National Outdoor Education Conference
20 - 23 September, 2007
Ballarat Lodge,
Victoria
The 15th National Outdoor Education Conference was held from the 20th to the 23rd of September, 2007 and was hosted by the Victorian Outdoor Education Association (VOEA) on behalf of Outdoor Education Australia.
Use the links on the left or below to navigate through the conference website.
Conference Theme: Sustaining our Spirit of Place
Spirit of place refers to the unique, distinctive and cherished aspects of a place. It’s the invisible weave of culture and the tangible physical aspects of a place, and it’s the interpersonal aspects of our relationships with a place.
It’s the urban and the rural, the domestic and the commercial, the local and the global. It’s the indigenous and the non-indigenous.
In short, it’s the very stuff of which Outdoor Education is about.
In using the term ‘sustaining’ we’re embodying a number of concepts:
- We’re linking to our past: what have we done before?
- We’re linking to our future: what can we do next?
- We’re linking to our environment: how can we protect this place and encourage others to do likewise?
So, for the 15th National Outdoor Education Conference, we’re encouraging delegates to consider: What have we done in the past that will help us in the future – for us, our students and our world? What are people doing, teaching, learning? What will our students need to help them in this uncertain world? How can Outdoor Education help this place, our world?
Sustaining our Spirit of Place (pdf)
Reflections on 'Spirit of Place'
"Lore of the Land is designed to encourage us to live in harmony with each other and with the land we each call home. Through deepening our knowledge of who we are and where we are together, we can create a new story." More
“I knew that unemployment in Skidegate and Masset, the two Haida communities, was very high, that some of the loggers were Haida, and that the non-Haida forest workers often spent money in the two communities. If economic opportunities were desperately needed, one would think the Haida would welcome forest companies; yet Guujaaw had been a leader in opposing logging. When I asked him why, he answered, “Our people have determined that Windy Bay and other areas must be left in their natural condition so that we can keep our identity and pass it on to following generations. The forests, those oceans, are what keep us as Haida people today.” More
Place is crucial to all Australians. It is fundamental to the human sense of self, sense of community, sense of mortality and sense of destiny, argues Hugh Mackay. More
"Spirit of place refers to the unique, distinctive and cherished aspects of a place; often those celebrated by artists and writers, but also those cherished in folk tales, festivals and celebrations. It is thus as much in the invisible weave of culture as it is the tangible physical aspects of a place." More
Photographs have the ability to capture the season, the sensations, the memories and, most importantly, the spirit of place and of life. More