Oxley Creek Catchment Association

The Oxley Creek Catchment Association, also widely known as OCCA, has been working with St Aidan’s since 1996. This year, we received a Brisbane City Council Grant that helped facilitate several activities in conjunction with OCCA, to assist us in taking care of our beloved Ambiwerra.

St Aidan’s hosted community events and educational sessions which allowed students, staff, and parents to engage in sustainable practices to ensure that Ambiwerra is well looked after now and well into the future. The community events included:

• over 2000 trees, ground cover and shrubs planted

• lessons about native wildlife and fauna

• professional development regarding the future upkeep of the area

• weeding

• night spotting of nocturnal species

• picking up litter.

We are also fortunate to be working alongside Old Girl, Camilla Duff Burford (2002), who is the Partnerships and Education Manager at OCCA. Camilla graduated from St Aidan’s in 2002 and completed a Bachelor of Environmental Management (Sustainable Development) at the University of Queensland. She spent the first six years of her career working as an environmental consultant with Golder Associates, before becoming an environmental manager within the construction and resources industry. A lot of her work has focused on assessing and mitigating the impact of development on our local ecology and waterways. Camilla commenced her role with OCCA in 2017, with a focus on community and corporate volunteering programs, environmental education, and research projects. Camilla really enjoys working with the community, including St Aidan’s, seeing the impact firsthand of small, positive changes on the environment.

“I can remember OCCA visiting our Geography classes during my time at St Aidan’s. It’s been great working with Mrs Anne Page over the last few years to help students explore our catchment and learn more about the role of creeks in providing habitat corridors within an urban environment. It definitely feels like I’ve come full circle to now be providing environmental education to young geography students at St Aidan’s.”

Camilla is looking forward to seeing what the future brings for the OCCA and St Aidan’s partnership. “Our recent ecological restoration and weed management project at Ambiwerra has been a great success. While the habitat along the boundary of Ambiwerra is quite narrow, it still plays an important role in protecting the mangroves of Oxley Creek, reducing pollution within the waterway, and providing a corridor for fauna movement. I’m thrilled that we can help St Aidan’s take a handson approach to conservation.”

A heartfelt thank you to those groups who participated in the OCCA Program for Ambiwerra this year. These include: Duke of Edinburgh students, the St Aidan’s Maintenance Team, Earth Angels in the Junior School, the whole Year 7 Cohort, Year 8 Geography students and our Under 8s Day students. Thank you to the teachers who assisted in facilitating these events along with Camilla Duff Burford from OCCA.