17 May 2021

A Batemans Bay woman deeply moved by the impact of bushfires on her local environment has turned to TAFE NSW to help her give “100 per cent of her being” to the bush regeneration effort.

Local schoolteacher, storyteller and passionate environmentalist Anna Jarrett bore witness to the devastating bushfires in the summer of 2019/2020 and emerged fiercely determined to support the rebuilding effort.

The Black Summer bushfires affected about 80 per cent of the Eurobodalla shire - or approximately 271,000 hectares - and destroyed about 500 homes.

“As I watched the local area being burned, I could only think about the loss of biodiversity, from trees that were over 100 years old to the loss of homes for birds, frogs, kangaroos and all the other animals that are part of our community and environment,” Ms Jarrett said.

“It really hit home to me that a lot of people would not get the opportunity to see it again in their lifetime.

“This is not a ‘green’ issue but a community issue and it was a really profound experience for the whole community in appreciating what we have here.”

Shortly after the fires, Ms Jarrett, who had previously been a discovery guide and shorebird educator with the National Parks and Wildlife Service, joined Landcare as a community volunteer.

She enrolled in two TAFE Courses, a Certificate of Attainment in Bush Regeneration with TAFE Digital and a Farm Fence Construction short course with TAFE NSW at Moruya. These were part of a suite of fee-free courses offered to South Coast residents, to help with the bushfire recovery efforts.

“I didn’t know what to do or say after the fires hit and I had to dig deep into my heart and ask – where to from here?” Ms Jarrett said.

“I decided to work at the grassroots level and TAFE NSW seemed the best starting point to get the hands-on skills and knowledge I needed.”

Ms Jarrett is now completing a Certificate III in Horticulture at TAFE NSW Moruya.

“My teacher has been so supportive and is incredibly knowledgeable about the local environment,” she said.

“She’s worked in horticulture most of her life and knows a lot about the job possibilities for graduates.”

Ms Jarrett hopes to use her TAFE NSW qualifications in the future to create community conservation, wellbeing and education programs that upskill young people to build community gardens, to create native habitats and to care for country.

TAFE NSW Moruya Head Teacher of Horticulture Gabriele Harding said the industry was growing and TAFE NSW graduates were increasingly attractive to employers.

“Certainly there’s a growing demand in the horticulture industry and I get contacted regularly by employers looking for great graduates,” Ms Harding said.

“In the regions, those jobs are often in fields like parks and gardens or landscape management.

“The Certificate III in Horticulture is a generalist course that offers something for everyone, regardless of what strain or stream of horticulture they want to go into.”

To find out more about studying at TAFE NSW, phone 13 16 01 or visit www.tafensw.edu.au.

Media contact: Daniel Johns, TAFE NSW Communications Specialist, (02) 6938 1441, mobile 0477 722 428