Mallee Threatened Birds Project - Tempy Primary School

Community engagement is an important component of efforts to conserve vulnerable and threatened species in the Mallee CMA region. Under the Australian Government’s RDP Threatened Mallee Birds program, funding has been provided to engage the community through citizen science activities.

Tempy Primary School students will undertake Malleefowl and Mallee Birds Ecological Community citizen science activities funded through a MCMA grant auspiced by the Mallee Landcare Group.

As part of this ongoing Project Tempy Primary School have; 

• Been involved in a Seed Collection workshop – Seeding Victoria’s Robert Hall and Dan Frost attended Tempy Primary School from Creswick on Thursday the 8th of May 2025. The students learned about plant identification, seed collection (drying, sorting and storage), germination and propagation.
• Students listened to an interactive presentation from Dan and Robert and then headed out in the field to collect seeds from plants indigenous to our local area.
• The students learned about propagation and had a hands on lesson in transferring seedlings to tubes.
• The seeds collected are currently drying as the students aim to propagate and plant them out with other seedlings as part of their ongoing revegetation work as part of the Mallee Threatened Birds Project.

On Thursday the 5th of June 2025 “World Environment Day” Tempy Primary School travelled to Wyperfeld National Park to undertake a Threatened Mallee Bird Community Field Day. The brilliant day, lead by Explore the Mallee’s Louise Nicholas and Michael Gooch taught the students about the Mallee’s threatened birds, their habitats and threats. The students learned about the Malleefowl, Mallee Emu Wren, Red-lored whistler, Black-eared Miner, Regent Parrot, striped honey eater, pink cockatoos and the Mallee Striated Grasswrens, their preferred habitats, why they are threatened and Louise and Michael had an App on their iPad that showed the children what each bird looked like, the calls they make and their ‘alert’ calls to alert those around them of danger. We were lucky to hear and see Regent Parrots and pink cockatoos on the day.  

Tempy Primary School students undertook a Threatened Mallee Bird Community Field Day on the 8th of October 2025. Students and teachers were bussed out to Hattah Kulkyne National Park by Jeanie and Peter Kelly from Murray Offroad Adventures. The day included a guided tour through the park; meeting with Gary from Mildura Bird Life group to learn more about Mallee Threatened Mallee birds, their habitat, threats, fire and flood plain ecology, native plants, river regulation and environmental watering. The day concluded with lunch at the Parks Victoria visitors centre where the students could browse the maps and artifacts and learn more about the park. 

In 2026 the students will continue to learn more about seed collection, propagation and revegetation.