Pittwater Life March 2017 Issue

News
Teens swap oceans for opals
For the first time, secondary
school students living
in the former Pittwater
Council area will get a chance
to sample life in the Australian
outback when this year’s
‘Beach To Bush’ youth program
is staged in April.
Northern Beaches Council
is looking for six teens (three
boys and three girls) aged
14-19 who live on or are connected
to the Northern Beaches
to visit the remote north-west
NSW town of Brewarrina from
18-24 April.
This is the first year the
opportunity to help promote
friendships between beach
and bush communities has
been open to young people
the length of the Northern
Beaches, having previously
been confined to Warringah.
The visit to Brewarrina is
part of the Sister City Youth Exchange
program and coincides
with National Youth Week Celebrations
– with applications
closing March 13.
Some of the activities
Country ‘cousins’: (l-r) James Spencer from Davidson, Rachel van Dort
from Dee Why, Monique Wright from Forestville, Rhiannon Marshall-
Witte from Wheeler Heights, Charlie Orton from Forestville and Rupert
Canning from Beacon Hill.
planned include visiting
Gundabooka National Park,
learning sheep shearing, visiting
an outback radio station,
seeing first-hand the worldfamous
opal mines at Lightning
Ridge, learning about the
40,000-year-old Brewarrina
fish traps and interacting with
the local community.
Pittwater Life asked three of
last year’s Youth Ambassadors
to describe their experiences.
Rhiannon Marshall-Witte,
16, of Wheeler Heights, said
the trip was one of the most
rewarding things she’s done.
“I was quite apprehensive
as I had never been more than
four hours up and down the
coast before, and I didn’t know
anyone else who had applied,”
she said. “However, when I met
the five others, and we heard
stories from the previous
year’s group, I immediately
knew this would be an experience
I would never forget.”
Rhiannon said travelling to
the largely Aboriginal town of
‘Bre’ and meeting its people
was an eye-opener.
“It really made me grateful
for what we take for granted
here in Sydney,” she said. “Bre
is probably the size of one or
two small suburbs here on the
beaches. Everyone in the town
knew everyone else, which
showed their strong sense of
community – something that
isn’t as evident throughout the
Northern Beaches.”
Differences in education and
facilities were stark.
“Bre has one Catholic
primary school and one K-12
public school. They also have
a small TAFE program. As
a student, and after having
been to Bre, I understand how
fortunate we are with our large
amount of options available to
us in Sydney.”
Charlie Orton, 15, from
10
MARCH 2017