Wetlands
Welcome to the Urrbrae Wetland
Located at Urrbrae Agricultural High School, Netherby, The Urrbrae Wetland Project was one of the first urban wetland developments within close range of residential areas to be attempted in Australia.
The wetland was built to mitigate stormwater flooding but is also an important site for education.
Urrbrae Agricultural High School, visiting schools and community groups hold activities and excursions at the wetland to support their learning and curriculum.
Students learn about sustainability, the environment, conservation and urban land management.
School acknowledgement
The Urrbrae wetland has been constructed on land that was used for agricultural education – keeping of stock and growing of pasture. Before this it was Kaurna land and we acknowledge the importance of their cultural use of the land.
Every effort has been made to return the landscape around the wetland ponds and dam to resemble what it would have been like before it was cleared for European style agriculture. We now acknowledge the way the indigenous people farmed the land and cared for the land.
Current practice:
- Planting of native plants that would have been at this site – for more details go to Wetland Plants
- Cool burning of specific grasses to improve soil management and germination of seeds that have evolved to require fire.
- Education – passing down knowledge about how plants have been used by indigenous cultures for tools, food and medicines.