The Warrumbungle Environmental Education Centre is wanting to commission a Year 11 student to make a lifesize sculpture of a kangaroo or dingo to place in the Centre's grounds in the Warrumbungle National Park.
The successful applicant will receive $500.00 in payment for the sculpture which will become the property of the WEEC.
The WEEC is keen for a student to make the sculpture as their major work for 2010 HSC. The WEEC understands they will not receive delivery of the sculpture until after HSC marking in 2010 (or if its really good, until after Artexpress finishes in 2011). You do not have to make the sculpture your major work.
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- Application deadline is COB Friday 31st July 2009.
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- All students will be notified of their success or otherwise via their DET email address on Friday 15th August 2009.
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The Kangaroo
Kangaroos are prevalent in the National Park due to the removal of the dingo as the top line predator in the woodland food chain. The number of kangaroos is affecting biodiversity in the Park. Tourists love them and they are constantly being photographed. The WEEC is after a sculpture of a kangaroo to make people do a double take, to ask 'is that a kangaroo?' And to have to look harder. The kangaroo will need to be kangarooish in gesture and posture for this to occur but not necessarily realistic.
It is also a contradiction to place a sculpture of a kangaroo in an area that has so many anyway and I rather like the idea as reflective of some sort of over-consumption / over-population.
The Dingo
I believe this to be the harder option but as an educational tool, more gutsy. Dingoes are much maligned in our woodlands mostly by property owners as a scourge to be eradicated. They have an interestign history being the species that took the place of the Thylacine on mainland Australia as they were more successful with people. Their pack behaviour and social order is really fascinating and explains why they were able to fit so well into the Australian ecosystem.
The removal of this top line predator along with the introduction of the fox has led to the devastation of many populations of smaller marsupials. But recent evidence suggests the re-introduction of the dingo could limit fox populations and the damage they do. So a sculpture of a (friendly looking) dingo in a National Park (where there are none) could be a really strong educational tool.
