Beach To Bush Program Visits Cowra

Surf Life Saving’s ‘Beach To Bush’ program visited Cowra on Tuesday 7th November, with Cowra’s Phillip Hua running the session at Cowra TAFE.

The session in Cowra was delivered to several students who are migrants, and speak English as a second language, aimed to give them an understanding of safety when at beaches in Australia. It was part of a series of sessions in Central Western NSW, which also saw them presented at schools in Canowindra, Grenfell, Gooloogong, Forbes, Eugowra, Bathurst, Orange and Boorowa.

Mr Hua, who splits his time between Cowra and Coogee, Sydney, and volunteers as a surf lifesaver, ran the session in Cowra. He said the Beach To Bush program was aimed at all residents in regional Australia to promote safety when at the beach, but also at inland waterways, places that are rarely patrolled by surf lifesavers.

“It’s the most significant educational initiative of Surf Life Saving NSW and has been delivered to rural schools for 29 years,” he said.

“It began as a result of research which highlighted that 50% of people rescued from the surf live more than 50km from the beach, Today, this statistic sits at 11%.”

“The program is conducted by trained, active and qualified surf lifesavers.”

“Inland children are often at higher risk than coastal children because they are less familiar and unaware of potential surf dangers.”

“The key aquatic safety messages from the program can be applied to rivers, dams, pool and other inland waterways.” The students at the Cowra session were from countries including Syria, P.R. Congo, Sudan and Thailand, and Mr Hua said Beach To Bush was also an important program for migrants, particularly those from landlocked countries.

• Topics:
• TAFE
• Water Safety