Barriers Broken on the Bibbulmun Track

In partnership with the Department of Sport and Recreation, the Bibbulmun Track Foundation progressed the CaLD (Culturally and Linguistically Diverse) Community Trails Program.

The program, which was initiated in 2011, aims to:

• Motivate and empower people in these communities to initiate their own walks with friends and family by giving them the necessary tools and basic skills with which to do so.
• Demystify any perceived threats the bush may conjure and reduce barriers that prevent bushwalking through interaction with guides who share their experience, and through learning about the native animals that inhabit the WA bush.
• Broaden the training of BTF guides so that their interaction with CaLD communities is effective and positive for all involved.

The latest family walk was held on Saturday November 7th, 2015 with the support of Communicare. Forty participants from eighteen families walked to a Bibbulmun Track campsite near Kalamunda, where they were introduced to a forest red-tailed black cockatoo, an echidna, a burrowing bettong, a tawny frog mouth and other native animals from the Kanyana Rehabilitation Centre.

Prior to the walk, BTF volunteer guides and others from the outdoor recreation industry took part in a cultural awareness workshop. The workshop, run by Communicare, gave everyone a good insight into our preconceptions regarding those from a CaLD background. Participants learned how to relate to people from diverse backgrounds, understand cultural protocols and potential barriers to participation and received tips on how to overcome these barriers. An outline of the workshop notes are available here.

Lauren Reid-Dornbusch, Communicare’s Get Active Project Officer, said

The Bushwalk proved to be an incredible opportunity for families to experience a new and exciting form of active recreation within an Australian bushland setting. It was a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon of shared cultures and learning for both the families and leaders facilitating the program.

More family walks will take place in early 2016 along with the initiation of a youth leadership program aimed at the same CaLD sector.

The bush walk was a great opportunity to have our (Dar Alaqam Arabic School) families all together; parents and children and teachers. I’ve been in contact with all the families that went on the excursion and everyone was happy with the day. We will talk about the experience, and what we learnt about the plants and the animals, in our classrooms in our Arabic language. It was a good experience for all of us to have such wonderful information about some wild animals, and be able to feel them.

 

I would like to thank everyone involved; Steve from the Bibbulmun Track Foundation, Lauren from Communicare, the lovely ladies from Kanyana Rehabilitation Centre and Khadija from our Dar Alaqam Arabic School for their organisation and hard work who made the day memorable.

 

Dar Alaqam Principal – Rania Kanaan” (SIC)

We thank the Inclusion Unit at the Department of Sport and Recreation for their support.