WEA Courses
The Great Barrier Reef and the Battles to Save It
Politics at Lunch Monday 24 February 2020 12:15pm – 1:15pm
Today the Great Barrier Reef is in crisis from climate change. Earlier in the 1960s it was threatened by oil drilling. Learn about the battles not only to save the Great Barrier Reef but the world’s oceans. Why are our oceans in such a serious shape? Why do many fear their collapse?
Ecotourism in Australia
Date yet to be confirmed – early 2020
Learn about Australia as a flourishing ecotourism destination, especially with its magnificent World Heritage Areas that include the Great Barrier Reef, Sydney’s Greater Blue Mountains, the Wet Tropics of Queensland and much more.
This course will highlight current issues that ecotourism is grappling with such as sustainability, commercialisation, Indigenous tourism, and the emerging problem of overtourism. Ecotourism now represents an estimated 25% of the Australian tourism industry. The Great Barrier Reef alone represents an economic, social and icon asset value of $56 billion. It supports 64,000 jobs and contributes $6.4 billion to the Australian economy’ (Deloitte, Access Economics, 2017).
Lithgow’s Destination Pagoda
Date yet to be confirmed – early 2020
Why is Lithgow on the precipice of being revitalised into a new, vibrant eco-tourist economy thanks to its sandstone pagoda landscape, known as the Gardens of Stone? Learn about the recent Destination Pagoda report that outlines how Lithgow can be transformed into a vibrant and exciting eco-tourist destination because of its internationally significant sandstone platy pagodas that are a win-win for workers and the environment, offering future family-friendly bushwalking experiences. As well view the recent short documentary Gardens of Stone: Living Landscape by award winning film maker Tom Zubrycki that tells the story of the spectacular Gardens of Stone region.
The Workers’ Educational Association (WEA) courses are held in association with National Parks Association of NSW, WEA House, 72 Bathurst Street, Sydney, NSW, a short walk from Town Hall railway station. Tutor: Janine Kitson. Bookings essential. Contact WEA, Sydney Ph: (02) 9264 2781 E:info@weasydney.nsw.edu.au www.weasydney.com.au
U3A Courses
Baytree Greenwich
Tuesdays: 18 & 25 February 2020 10 am -12:00 noon
Part 1: Rachel Carson – Celebrating Nature
Part 2: Rachel Carson – Fearing for Nature
Rachel Carson (1907-1964) celebrated how Nature is intricately and beautifully connected. She also feared for Nature. Why is her message so important to revisit as we confront a dangerous global future with abnormal weather events becoming the new norm? And when our much loved wildlife are rapidly disappearing?
Attendees are required to join the U3A. Booking Secretary Diana Brooks phone: 9933 8031 Course Convenor: Lesley Duffill leslieduffill@gmail.com
Celebrating Sydney’s Destination Pagoda
Thursday April 2, 2020 10 am – 12 noon
Lourdes Retirement Village
95 Stanhope Road, Killara
Discover Sydney’s spectacularly beautiful pagoda landscape near Lithgow that can be found nowhere else in the world and have the potential to transform Lithgow into an eco-tourist destination. Yindya-ma-rra Nganga-dha Walawalang Malang, “Respect, look after this stony rock place” continues to resonate through this ancient Wiradjuri Country. After thirty years of campaigning to protect these ‘Gardens of Stone’ there is now a cadence of hope that the fragile beauty and rare biodiversity of Lithgow’s Gardens of Stone will soon may be protected.
Conservationists keenly await protection of the 39,000 ha ‘Gardens of Stone State Conservation Area’. Once achieved it will help revitalise Lithgow by boosting ecotourism and rebadging Lithgow as ‘Destination Pagoda’.
Attendees are required to join the U3A. Booking Convenor/Leader Lesley Ransley 9880 9949
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