Jason Wood (La Trobe, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On 4 October 2006, I attended the opening of Emerald Primary School’s fantastic new frog bog at Emerald in my electorate of La Trobe. On 19 August 2006, a large team of volunteers from the school community generously gave up a day of their weekend to build the frog bog—to excavate earth, to wash stones, to erect fences and to plant new vegetation. It is a fantastic achievement. I would like to mention them all by name: Rob Whitworth, Terry Simpson, Marg Anderson, Helen Key, Simon Farrow, Daniel Jordan, the Johnson family, the Copey family, the Scanlan family, the Fuller family, the Kruithof family, the Kollmorgon family, the Korschan family, the Brock family, the Noack family, the Hehir family, the Woods family, the Tait family and the Wiederhold family. Nearly the whole town was there, and they did a magnificent job.

I must also mention the local businesses and other groups without whom the project would not have been possible: Emerald Mitre 10, which provided discounts and advice; Waterwerks, which provided the pond lining; Emerald Hire, which provided a cement mixer; the Emerald primary parent group; the Emerald Primary School council—and I must congratulate Lee Fuller, who is retiring after doing a fantastic job; everyone else who helped ensure the great success of the ‘Frogs for Frogs’ fundraiser, which raised $2,000; and Councillor Ed Chatwin of the Cardinia Shire Council, who donated $300.

The new frog bog is a wetland area that has been furnished with over twenty indigenous plant species and soft river stones. The project is intended to teach the students how the natural environment will flourish all on its own under the right conditions. But why frogs? The reason is that the presence of frogs in a particular area can be a measure of that area’s environmental health. In this way, the project uses what might be called the Field of Dreams philosophy, from the 1989 film starring Kevin Costner—and I am sure my Labor colleagues will like this: if you build it, they will come. And come the frogs have. I understand that several local frog species are already trying out their new home. It is already becoming a living outdoor classroom. It is tremendous to see local communities in my electorate getting together, getting their hands dirty and teaching by example, especially where the environment is concerned. Like I said to the students of Emerald Primary School on my day there, if I were a frog, that would be my frog bog.