Nestled in bushland on the Banksia Peninsula, and with direct frontage onto the Gippsland Lakes, Camp Dowd, Melbourne Grammar School’s 4.8 hectare campsite, offers students a multitude of opportunities to connect with and gain respect for the natural world.
Students are also encouraged to gain a new understanding of the richness and complexity of a human community that is different to their own. They might, for example, visit nearby places of cultural and environmental significance, and directly engage with members of the local community like farmers and other primary producers, Gunaikurnai elders and sustainability experts.
Adventures right from the start
On the very day Camp Dowd was officially opened in April 2000, students were already using it as a base for paddling, sailing, camping and exploring.
A group of Year 10 students attended the Camp’s official opening. They camped on site, using it as a base to learn how to sea-kayak before setting off on a three-day, two-night sea-kayaking adventure. Members of Hone House also attended the event, sailing in during their six-day expedition across the Gippsland Lakes on 10 metre Catalina yachts.
And so set the agenda for Camp Dowd for the 25 years that have followed. Since then, thousands of Melbourne Grammar students – drawn from all campuses – have pitched tents, paddled shorelines, created art works, made their meals with local produce, grown their understanding of sustainable practices and First Nations culture, developed their team building and leadership skills and sat under starlit skies reflecting on what it means to lead a good life.
In recent years, the Camp has evolved again. Trialled over the past few years, as part of an extended 10-day onsite immersion program, Year 8 students now complete curriculum-based ‘classes’ in English, STEM and the Humanities that are integrated into the landscape around them.
The campsite also offers Year 6 students a base from which to commence their final year of primary school. In addition to canoeing, hiking, and participating in environmental and cultural sessions, over a five day stay, students are invited to reflect on what they want to achieve during the year in the peaceful and nurturing setting of the campsite.
A gift that changed lives
None of these experiences would have been possible without the vision and generosity of Wendy Dowd AM and Carl Dowd AM (OM 1954) whose transformative gift enabled the School to purchase the property in the late 1990s. They subsequently made a second gift to fund the site’s kitchen refurbishment in 2012.
“Having confidence is one of the greatest building blocks for any child’s future,” says Wendy. “We wanted to give students another way to gain that sense of confidence in themselves beyond being the best scholar or sportsperson at the School.”
“We visited the site just last year and were really smitten with what we saw,” she adds. “There was a team of outdoor educators who were just mad about what they were doing, and this enthusiasm was clearly being transmitted to the students. We were amazed about how good it was.”
In an age of constant distraction and fast-paced change, this quiet pocket of land remains a place where young people are given the space to slow down, look outward, and think deeply. Camp Dowd will no doubt continue to be a place where challenge, discovery and reflection shape the learning journeys of students for many years to come.
