'Deadly' Energy

EWB volunteers have just returned from a DEADLY* trip out to Murra Murra for Emu Fest where they ran activities about renewable energy. The educational trip was part of the Kooma Energy Project where EWB and Kooma are working to install a 9.8kW solar power system and reduce their energy consumption by 50%.

Posted by Reiko Yamada to Kooma Energy project, 5th August 2009, 4:02pm

Murra Murra is a property on traditional Kooma country 10 hours drive west of Brisbane that was returned to the Kooma Community for management in 2000. Each year, Kooma run Emu Fest which is a festival for their youth. The festival is focused on coming together to have fun and learn about their traditional culture on their traditional country.

The team of 5 volunteers have put together the trip report below.

The first day involved the young people thinking about and drawing different sources of energy – ‘good’ and ‘bad’ or ‘renewable’ and ‘non renewable.’ While the EWB team focused on the science behind energy Nefertiti and Mudge, active members of the Kooma community, linked the information to the traditional Kooma uses of energy.

Fortunately the second day was sunny allowing for a great workshop focusing on energy conservation behaviors and making solar cookers from pizza boxes and tin foil, which we used to cook patty cakes! Unfortunately, in the excitement of the day everyone neglected to shift the cookers to follow the sun which meant the cakes weren’t fully cooked! Although our experiment was semi-successful: the young people didn't seem to mind that the patty cakes weren't fully cooked and everyone was very excited to be making something that could cook using only the sun’s energy!

On reflection, the workshops went extremely well - “Deadly” as the youth and community members said. We arrived with no concrete plan, as we didn't really know exactly what to expect when we got there. What we did have however were numerous contingency plans and options from our extensive discussions and collating of resources before the event, and an adaptable attitude. With so many variables that could change along the way (and did!), our greatest learning was that this approach of having a variety of options rather than a defined set plan was our strength; the instructions for how the sessions would work changed as soon as we arrived, as did our request for a perfectly clear, sunny day on day one!

The kids were really happy to pay attention and get involved, and were particularly sharp on good energy behaviours! The feedback we received from the adults was also extremely positive, many commenting on how professional we were and it was mentioned that we must have run such activities all the time, which were nice compliments given it was actually the first time for us to run such activities! We also felt really welcomed - the kids without prompting thanked us for making the trip out, and the adults made us feel welcome in so many ways.

There were many moments along the way which were really positive and moving, like one of the elders Uncle Herb telling stories to the kids about his life as a drover. He had worked on Murra Murra when it was a sheep and cattle station and was telling these stories on the homestead verandah, which he was never allowed near as a worker. To see him telling stories to the young people, the way it should be, with that context in mind, was really moving for all of us. We all felt really privileged to be a part of such a special event, giving Aboriginal young people an opportunity to learn more about their own culture and ‘country’ while on ‘country’ with their elders.

The next step in the project is the installation of the solar panels which will involve considerable involvement from the community and the EWB team, and we couldn’t be more excited!

EWB would like to thank the Queensland Sustainable Energies Industry Development Group and the Queensland University of Technology for their support and resources. This includes the use of the Matilda Solar Energy Trailer which contained a solar panel, model sustainable house, wind turbines and other energy efficiency information materials.

*Just to clarify, “deadly” is Aboriginal slang word for “fantastic,” “awesome,” or “great.”

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