22 22
AROUND CAMPUS
LETTERS FROM IRONBARK Community, commitment and connection. That is the Ironbark ethos. Correspondence is another element of difference, mainly because it is done with out the use of technology. Over 600 letters are handwritten and delivered to and from Ironbark each year and some of our students have shared their experiences with us here.
C A SSIE T WEMLOW
publications officer
I
ronbark is a St Peters rite of passage for current Year 9 students that has been running for 47 years. The first groups of students to embark on the journey were Year 10 students who attended the outdoor education centre for an entire term. Due to College growth, including the expansion to Springfield, the Ironbark experience is now a five-week program. Aside from the standard outdoor skills that students learn – horsemanship, orienteering, hiking, camping, and general farm skills – students are encouraged to embrace traditional (non-technological) activities. As students don’t have access to telephones or computers, they are expected to write letters home to friends and family once a week via ‘snail mail’. This tradition has stood for over 40 years and parents look forward to hearing from their child whilst away from home for a significant period of time. Likewise, camp students are always watchful of the postal delivery to Ironbark just to get that taste of the outside world. From learning how to cook, to complaining about the cold early morning runs, the letters are often full of excitement, pride and, sometimes, sadness at missing their families and regular routines. 'Not coping with the pig poo. YUK!', and how much they miss music are common themes. More often than not, students explain how they have surprised themselves in fulfilling an activity or chore they didn’t know they were capable of. Here we have a handful of letters from current students and Old Scholars spanning the last 30 years. They make for amusing reading!
Plus Ultra | November 2021
Pictured: Letters from students at Ironbark from 1981 through until this year. Directly above is a photo of correspondence to and from a 1996 Ironbark student.
