Murphy’s Creek students were all smiles in February, when Environmental Management and Science students from the Institute of Sustainable Development & Architecture delivered over 25 new trees to the school to replace a number of trees that were washed away in the January floods.
Bond University Environmental students Amy White, Avalon Hicks, Craig Page, Loren Angel, Thomas Haehl, Chloe de Vries and Professor Tor Hundloe spent the morning touring the school grounds with school Principal Jo Sinclair-Jones who calmly spoke about the devastation of January 10 this year.
“The January flood was like an inland tsunami. It came without warning and has had a huge impact on our community,” said Mrs Sinclair-Jones.
“As a result over 10 per cent of our students have relocated from the area with their families, with some families still living in temporary accommodation”.
“There were many reports of community members found clinging to trees after being sweep away in the floods and sadly, two of our treasured staff members were tragically taken on that day”.
“We are very grateful for the support these Bond students have provided. ‘ she said.
“These new trees will beautify our school grounds and provide shade for our students. The Institute has also provided a very generous financial contribution to help our school move forward again,” said Mrs Sinclair-Jones.
The tree planting project was initiated by Environmental Science and Management PhD student Ms Amy White, who managed to raise an additional $1,000 for the school.
“I witnessed first-hand the damage the floods caused in Brisbane, so when we heard about Murphy’s Creek School we wanted to help out.”
“We collected donations from the Pacific Rim Real Estate Society Conference hosted by the Institute in January and then contacted the Gold Coast City Council who kindly donated 25 new trees.” said Ms White.
Above: Jo Sinclair-Jones, Amy White, Environmental and Murphy Creek Primary School students