Published on: 22 November 2013



As a prelude to Venture, the Year 10 outdoor education experience, boys took part in the Add-Venture program last week. During Add-Venture teachers across core subject areas and electives give boys three days of Walpole-focused learning experiences prior to their departure this week.

Venture is an 11-day journey, which places 14 groups on walk routes through the bushland and coastal setting of Walpole-Nornalup National Park. It is the pinnacle of Christ Church’s outdoor education program, which begins in Year 5 at Kooringal.

Head of Humanities David Proudlove, who instigated Add-Venture four years ago, said the program ranged from discussions about the inspiration behind some of Tim Winton’s bestsellers (set along the Southern Ocean coastline of South West WA) to listening to international conservationist and raconteur Gary Muir, widely regarded as ‘Mr Walpole’.

Gary, who is the eighth generation of his family to live in and around Walpole, has developed an ecotourism business, which offers eco tours in the Walpole-Nornalup National Park. “Gary tells tales of sharks, spiders, snakes and falling trees – leaving us all wiser and very excited about the experience to come and one that for many Christ Church boys, forever remains their most cherished and significant memory of their school days,” Mr Proudlove said.

Other Add-Venture activities this year included handling snakes with the Snake Man; learning about the spirits that occupy the ancient landscapes of the Bibbulmun tribe’s ancestral home from Noongar elder Simon Forrest; tying knots and hoochies in Design and Technology; creating Indigenous, South-West inspired artworks in Visual Art; and carrying backpacks with steel weights up to 20-25 kg in PE.