A garden of trees commemorating Queen Elizabeth the Second’s Platinum Jubilee were unveiled in an intimate ceremony at Cannonvale State School last week.
The end-of-project event - which received funding from the State Government’s Planting Trees for the Queen’s Jubilee Program - saw students, teachers, Parents and Community Association (P&C) representatives, and Whitsunday Regional Councillor Jan Clifford plant the project’s last tree: a lychee.
Led by the school’s Principal Angie Kelly and Health Teacher Erin Moore, the event concluded the planting of the Cannonvale State School’s “Queen’s Jubilee Fruit Forest”, which hosts 26 various species of plants.
“It’s time - not tomorrow, not well into the future – but now that we rewrite the future we have, and the future we have for our children, and our children’s children,” Principal Kelly said.
“We know there is no place better to start than here. It seems so little – this garden – but to me it is so big.”
The Garden stretches between the school’s pool and tennis courts and was spearheaded by Health Teacher Erin Moore.
Ms Moore said having an active garden of fruits coincided with the school’s ecological message of sustainability.
“It is a great privilege to receive this very worthwhile government grant which will honour the Queen for her remarkable 70 years of service,” Ms Moore said.
“The Queen represents longevity, and I hope these trees will experience that too. My hope is, in another 70 years’ time, these trees will continue to provide shade, beauty, purification of the air, and a range of delicious fruits for school children.”
The completed Garden also aligns with the school’s Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden – a hands-on learning program delivering food education to primary students.
“A lot of the fruits are things the students may not have tried before. It exposes them to a range of foods now and shows them the growing process,” Ms Moore said.
“Already, we’ve been making food in our Kitchen Gardens from fruits grown at the school, and this will only improve that.”
Councillor Jan Clifford presented a lychee tree as the final addition to the Queen’s Jubilee Fruit Forest on behalf of Whitsunday Regional Council.
Cannonvale State School P&C President Sabrina Mitchell, Whitsunday Councillor Jan Clifford, Cannonvale State School’s Enviro Captain Airlie Fisch, Health Teacher Erin Moore, and Principal Angie Kelly unveiling one of 27 trees in the school’s new Queen’s Jubilee Fruit Forest
Councillor Clifford and School Enviro Captain Airlie Fisch planting a lychee, donated by Whitsunday Regional Council
