The Coal Loader Guided Tour Field Trip

Join UTS BUILD on an Aboriginal Heritage and Culture Guided Tour and Presentation at The Coal Loader Centre for Sustainability and learn about how Aboriginal people connect with Country.

This event is a field trip and will earn 10 elective points towards the BUILD program. 

Join Karen Smith, the Aboriginal Education Officer for the Aboriginal Heritage Office, on a Guided Tour and Presentation on Aboriginal Heritage and Culture at The Coal Loader Centre for Sustainability. Learn how Aboriginal people lived and connected to Country. Learn about the heritage and history of the land we work and live on.

The tour and presentation will cover a wealth of topics, including: 

  • the Indigenous cultural heritage of the land on which The Coal Loader Centre for Sustainability is located
  • a ‘hands-on' session with traditional tools, weapons and resources
  • discussions around the significance of the rock engraving on site
  • a guided walk through the site’s newly invigorated bush tucker garden to learn about traditional and contemporary uses of native plants
  • a walk to the harbour look-out to learn about the traditional use of waterways, resources gathered from the harbour, local indigenous history and significance of Sydney's harbour islands
  • how first nations' culture embodies sustainability and directly relates to The Coal Loader’s motto: Learn from the past, embrace the future.

Tour Timing and Logistics

Date and time:

1. Thursday 11 April 8:45am - 11:30am

2. Friday 12 April 8:45am – 11:30am

*Please only book into ONE session *

About The Coal Loader Centre for Sustainability

Set on a hectare of spectacular harbourside ex-industrial and now heritage-listed site, The Coal Loader is an intricate mesh of history, culture, industry, nature and community.

Through their indigenous heritage and industrial history, the site has been transformed into the unique sustainability site it is today, and remains a tribute to the different eras of time gone by.

The Coal Loader, together with the Aboriginal Heritage Office, and Koori Kinnections, host cultural tours and workshops discussing how Indigenous culture embodies sustainability and directly relates to The Coal Loader’s motto: Learn from the past, embrace the future.


 

About the Aboriginal Heritage Office (AHO)

Your guide for this tour will be Karen Smith, the Aboriginal Education Officer for the Aboriginal Heritage Office.

The Aboriginal Heritage Office is an award-winning partnership of local Sydney Councils working to protect Aboriginal sites and promote Aboriginal history and heritage in each of Councils’ areas. The AHO’s activities are based on three main areas: site management, Council support and education.

The Aboriginal Heritage Office is a joint initiative by Lane Cove, North Sydney, Willoughby, Ku-ring-gai, Strathfield and The Northern Beaches Council in a progressive move to protect Aboriginal heritage in these areas.

Part of the work of the Aboriginal Heritage office is to monitor these Aboriginal sites on a day to day basis and long term management reports are developed to ensure their preservation and protection.

Another key role of the Aboriginal Heritage Office is to give Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people involved with these council areas an avenue of approach to discuss issues or concerns they may have.

In association with the local councils, talks, walks and activities are conducted to enhance appreciation of Aboriginal culture in the wider community. A selection of information leaflets on various Aboriginal heritage topics are available to download. Find out more about what the AHO offers Councils and the community. Or see our videos. There’s plenty more in our Resources section.

About your field-trip organiser - UTS BUILD

  • This event is hosted by UTS BUILD (Beyond UTS International Leadership Development). BUILD is an extra-curricular global leadership program with a mission to develop self-aware, informed and active global citizens and leaders in service to deliver positive social impact in the world.
  • this event supports BUILD Values of Leadership, Global citizenship, Empowerment, and Social and Environmental Sustainability.
  • This elective session is open to all UTS students.
  • Find out more about UTS BUILD and consider joining - http://bit.ly/JoinUTSBUILD. If you are a Study Abroad and exchange Student you can also join BUILD by clicking - https://bit.ly/BUILDSAEX
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Acknowledgement of Country

UTS acknowledges the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, the Boorooberongal people of the Dharug Nation, the Bidiagal people and the Gamaygal people, upon whose ancestral lands our university stands. We would also like to pay respect to the Elders both past and present, acknowledging them as the traditional custodians of knowledge for these lands.