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Indigenous peoples’ and non-Indigenous peoples’ ways of

knowing outdoor environments, including the meaning and use of
terms such as Kinship, nature, Country, outdoor environments,
private land, wilderness, managed parks, urban environments, built
environments and outdoor experiences
 Ways of knowing outdoor environments
• To ‘know something’ is to be aware through observation or
investigation and to have learnt about and to possess information
and an understanding of it.

• This means to know outdoor environments, we need to observe

and enquire about them, spend time in them, and gather information
and learn about them in order to understand them to some degree.

• We can experience outdoor environments in many ways – through

recreational activities; in media such as television, the internet and
social media; in literature such as research studies, books and
poems; and in education.
 Ways of knowing outdoor environments
• It is through their everyday experiences living with the land and
listening to the ancient Dreaming stories that Indigenous peoples
developed their knowledge of their environment.

• Knowing the environment was key to survival!

It was important to know their outdoor environment as it sustained their
lives in every aspect: spiritually, physically, socially and culturally.

• Indigenous peoples’ ways of knowing is best described through

Kinship, Country and Songlines.
 • Kinship is at the heart of Aboriginal
KINSHIP and Torres Strait Islander societies.
DEFINITION:
An Indigenous person’s relationship and • Dreamtime stories demonstrate
responsibilities to other people, to their Country Indigenous Australians’ deep spiritual
and to natural resources. attachment to the land and Kinship
connection to Country
• A person’s position in the kinship
system establishes their relationship to
others, to their Country and to the
universe.
It outlines their responsibilities
towards other people, the land and
natural resources.

COUNTRY
DEFINITION:
The term often used by Indigenous
peoples to describe the lands, waterways
and seas to which they are connected.
The term contains complex ideas about
law, place, custom, language, spiritual
belief, cultural practice, material
sustenance, family and identity.
• Non-Indigenous cultures often see land as
something that is owned, which they can
buy and sell, or as a resource for making
money.
• For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
peoples, the land is an integral part of their
identity, both as individuals and as
communities.
• The following quote helps explain this
connection to Country from an Indigenous
Australian perspective.

“For our mob we see the land as our mother. Our Elders have taught us that
we were made from the earth and our mother (the land) provides us with food,
clothing and shelter and therefore we must treat her with respect and care for
her as we would our family.”
 SONGLINES • Songlines contain essential cultural knowledge,
including creation stories, historical events,
DEFINITION: sacred rituals and the relationships between
different parts of the landscape.
Songlines are ancient paths that
crisscross the land, often spanning vast • They are called songlines because they were
distances, and are believed to have been essentially, knowledge passed down through
created by ancestral beings during the songs and stories that are sung or recited while
Dreamtime or creation period travelling along the paths.

• Songlines are a means for Indigenous people to

maintain a deep spiritual connection to their
• The landmarks, natural features and ancestral lands
other elements in the songs help
guide travellers on their journeys.
 Ways of knowing outdoor environments
• To ‘know something’ is to be aware through observation or investigation and to
have learnt about and to possess information and an understanding of it.

NATURE • The word nature often appears in our

discussions in OES, but its meaning
DEFINITION: is fluid.
The living things, the
• Nature often comes in a kind of
ecosystems and the
processes that form them, continuum – such as when we talk
and the places in which we about something that is natural or
find all of these something that is unnatural, or even
something that is artificial.
 Natural, Unnatural and Artificial
The Nature Continuum

Natural Unnatural Artificial

Something that is
‘natural’ is said to
occur ‘out there’
somewhere or comes
from nature itself.
‘Unnatural’ usually ‘Artificial’, at the end
refers to an object or of the continuum,
process that humans refers to things that
have influenced in are created by
some way. humans.

Examples: the introduction of rabbits to

Examples: a eucalyptus Australia, the European plants in someone’s
Examples: a car, a computer or
tree, an echidna or a garden or a downhill ski slope are all examples
the chemical sweetener
tropical rainforest are all of unnatural things- each of these only occurs
aspartame in a diet soft drink are
examples of natural because of human impact or interference.
all examples of artificial things
things.
 OUTDOOR ENVIRONMENTS
DEFINITION:
Areas of the natural world, as a whole or in a particular geographical area
• Outdoor environments (OE) can be simply defined as locations that are outside of a building.
• BUT- in OES we associate OE as areas of the natural world.
• Non-permanent structures such as tents may also be considered as part of an outdoor environment.
*There is a difference between the comfort of a temperature controlled environment, like a building
and the shelter afforded by a tent!
• In OES, we consider OE to be learning environments, enabling immersive learning experiences
where you can develop key knowledge authentically and tangibly.
• There is a wide range of outdoor environments - ranging from those that have experienced minimal
human influence through to those which have undergone significant human intervention.
• In Victoria, we have access to a very wide range of types of outdoor environments. The most
common way of describing and distinguishing these is by their biome.
 OUTDOOR ENVIRONMENTS
DEFINITION: Biome
A biome can be defined as a large, naturally occurring community of flora and fauna occupying
a major habitat. Biomes are differentiated by their climate, geological features, the plant and
animal communities found within them, and the spacing of plants, among other things.

• We look at these in more detail in Term 1- investigating the features and range of each of the
main biomes that occur in Victoria. Including:

o Alpine o Arid o Coastal o Forest o Grassland

o Heathland o Inland waterways/ wetlands o Marine

 OUTDOOR ENVIRONMENTS
Like the natural–unnatural–artificial continuum, there is also a sort of progression of places to
which we give the label ‘outdoor environments’.
For Example:
 Outdoor environments such as local parks might have
native Australian plants mixed with gardens of non-native
flowers, shrubs and trees. They may have a man-made or
natural water feature. They might also have some
sportsgrounds or ovals, as well as nearby car parks, a
bike path and perhaps a children’s playground.
 Beyond these are the larger and ‘wilder’ protected places: the state and national parks.
These are what we normally think of as
outdoor environments.
 Historically, Indigenous peoples modified OE on a small
scale, but since colonisation, much of the Australian
environment has been altered to meet commercial,
recreation and conservation needs.
 PRIVATE LAND DEFENITION:
Land that is not owned by a government.
• The total land area of Victoria is
22 744 400 hectares, plus a further
1 021 300 hectares of coastal area.
• The majority of this (60%) is
privately owned.
• The remainder is referred to as
public land, or Crown land, and is
managed by various government
authorities.
• In total, public land covers around
39% of Victoria.
 PRIVATE LAND
While ultimately controlled by the land owner, the management of private land is also
influenced by government policies and regulation.
For example:
There are rules about land clearing, controlling pests and introduced species, use of
natural water sources, and fire mitigation.
● Since non-Indigenous arrival,
approximately 66% of Victoria’s
native habitat has been cleared,
mainly for food production, with
most of this occurring on private
land.
● This has led to a significant
reduction in native biodiversity.
 WILDERNESS
DEFINITION:
An environment that is big, remote and untouched (or
relatively untouched) by humans.
Avon Wilderness
• In everyday usage, the term wilderness often refers to
natural, untouched places – wild places.
• A wilderness environment is:
o big
o remote Big Desert Wilderness
o untouched, or relatively untouched,
by humans.
• Each of these are so specific that we only have three
wilderness areas in Victoria.

Wabba Wilderness
 WILDERNESS The criteria for wilderness:

• A wilderness area needs to be big enough to be self sufficient in

maintaining its ecosystem processes and biological diversity.
• The size required to be considered a wilderness is often set at about
BIG 2000 hectares.
• For example:
o Avon Wilderness Park = 40,000 hectares
o Big Desert Wilderness Park = 142,000 hectares

1 hectare = 0.01km2
So...
142,000 x 0.01 = 1420km2
 WILDERNESS The criteria for wilderness:

• Remoteness refers to the ease with which

humans can access a place.
• We would typically expect a remote place
to be some distance from large population
REMOTE centres such as Melbourne and other large
cities or towns.
• We would also expect that a remote place
doesn’t necessarily have easy
transportation access- you probably have
to drive – likely on unmade roads.
• To access a wilderness, you may also
need to walk or cycle to get the last part
of the way.
 WILDERNESS The criteria for wilderness:

• There are some places on Earth that humans have yet to

travel to, live in or alter in some way – but there aren’t
many.
UNTOUCHED • In Australia, there aren’t any of these places – Indigenous
peoples, European settlers and more recent generations of
non-Indigenous Australians have walked, ridden or driven
pretty much everywhere across our continent.
• The Wilderness Society (Australia) defines wilderness as
follows:

A wilderness area is defined as an area that is, or is capable of,

being restored to be:
• of sufficient size to enable long-term preservation of its
natural systems and biological diversity;
 MANAGED PARKS
DEFINITION
:
Areas of public land that are controlled by and
are the responsibility of governments.

• As well as wilderness areas, we have a range of other types of protected areas.

• Managed parks are areas of public
land that are controlled by and are
the responsibility of governments.
• In Victoria, managed parks fall within
the responsibility of the government
agency called Parks Victoria.
MANAGED PARKS
• Parks Victoria is responsible
for managing more than 4
million hectares of public
land, including 3000 land and
marine parks and reserves.
• This makes up 18% of
Victoria’s landmass.
• Victoria’s parks are home to
more than 4300 native plants
and around 1000 native
animal species.
Park Type Description Aim/Purpose
World Areas deemed so significant they • Preserve areas of worldwide importance
Heritage receive a level of environmental • x1 in Victoria: Budj Bim cultural landscape in South West Vic – 6700
Area protection beyond the borders of year old fish traps, the worlds oldest example of aquaculture.
state or country

National Extensive area of land, nationally • 45 NP and 25 SP in Victoria

Park significant because of flora, fauna,
archaeology, geographic features
State Park Similar to NP, but smaller, scenic
landscapes and land types
complementing
Marine Park Highly protected area with no
extractive activities allowed
Wilderness Large area, relatively unaltered by
Area European settlement of Australia
and free of extractive processes
• Protect and conserve native species
• Protect water catchments
• Recreation and education
• Limited areas of development
• Protect and conserve native species
• Recreation and education
• Represent a range of marine environments
• Maintain undisturbed nature
• Maintain and protect natural processes
• Allows isolated, self-reliant recreation
• No facilities provided, no vehicles permitted

Local and Small scale recreational parks and • Opportunities for large scale public recreation
Metropolitan conservation reserves • Protect remnant vegetation/flora and fauna
Parks • Provides facilities for more intensive recreation in fairly natural
surroundings
 URBAN AND BUILT ENVIRONMENTS
If you think of ‘artificial’ as the opposite of ‘natural’, then ‘urban
environments’ and ‘built environments’ can be considered to be the opposite
of natural environments.

DEFINITION: DEFINITION:
Urban Environment Built Environment
Areas of permanent Areas that have been created or
infrastructure designed to modified by people, including
support higher population buildings, parks and transport
densities, such as cities and systems.
towns.

Classifying things into one of these two groups can

sometimes get difficult…
URBAN AND BUILT ENVIRONMENTS Examples:

● Indoor rock-climbing centres? These are all examples of built

● Artificial surfing reefs? environments that attempt to re-
● Whitewater parks? create conditions found in natural
● Indoor snow-skiing centres? environments.
 URBAN AND BUILT ENVIRONMENTS Examples:

• Think of the school yard – the garden is heavily planted with natives… Is this urban
environment or a natural environment?
• A school is clearly an urban, developed place, although you could argue that it also
could be a natural environment if it’s big enough and has a variety of plant species in
it.
• Outdoor built environments cost a lot
more to maintain than natural
environments.
Timber, asphalt, concrete and many of the
other materials used in built environments
degrade over time and need to either be
replaced or repaired. $$$.
 OUTDOOR EXPERIENCES
DEFENITION:
• By participating in a range of outdoor experiences,
you learn to respect and value the environments In OES- Activities
you use, visit and engage with. completed outside, most
commonly in natural
• These experiences are examples of experiential settings.
learning, the foundation of VCE OES.
DEFENITION:
• Outdoor experiences refer to activities completed
outside, most commonly in natural settings. An engaged learning
process whereby students
‘learn by doing’ and by
The OES Study Design states that outdoor experiences reflecting on the
may include guided activities in areas such as farms, experience
mining or logging sites, interpretation centres, coastal
areas, rivers, mountains, bushland, forests, urban parks,
cultural and historical sites, and state or national parks.
 OUTDOOR EXPERIENCES
• There is a vast array of activities that can be considered to be outdoor activities,
including bushwalking, surfing, cross-country skiing, caving, fishing, canoe touring,
rock climbing, orienteering, conservation and restoration activities, marine
exploration, running, photography and participation in community projects.
• By spending extended periods of time in outdoor environments to support
experiential development of theoretical understandings, you will learn to assess the
health of, and evaluate the importance of, healthy outdoor environments.
• Outdoor experiences allow the development of understandings of outdoor
environments from various perspectives, including through:

• experiential knowledge
• environmental and natural history
• ecological, social and economic perspectives
 EXPERIENTIAL KNOWLEDGE
• Experiential knowledge is essentially obtaining knowledge and understanding
through actively engaging in an environment.
• It is a personal experience, such as visiting a location and
/or getting involved in an activity.
These hands-on experiences are extremely important
in allowing us to form a relationship with the
environment, and feature heavily throughout the
VCE OES course.
• People who come to know the environment through
their own individual experiences often have a deep
and clear understanding of it.
Example: A Mt biker and a bushwalker both use
the same environment, but have very different
experiential knowledge of it.
 ENVIRONMENTAL AND NATURAL HISTORY
• Environmental and natural history is based on land formations,
climate and weather events, changes to the landscape and the
animals that inhabit it, and a basic knowledge of what has
occurred in a
specific environment throughout a period
of time.
• Those who encounter outdoor environments
through the discovery of history have the
ability to reflect on what has changed and
why it might have changed, and then try to
make predictions about the future.

Example: Investigating how Emerald Lake has a

long and rich history.
 ECOLOGICAL, SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC PERSPECTIVES
Ecological - perspectives relates to the interrelationships between living organisms and their physical
surroundings. It plays an important role in ensuring the adequate functioning of ecosystems within an
environment. Ecological perspectives can lead to a level of knowledge and understanding about how an
environment ‘works’ and how it can be impacted by human uses.
Social – perspectives are influenced by interactions with OEs. –
ur
They refer to the actions of society as a group. By encountering to c all
t i
the environment through a social perspective, we can gather boa conom
m E
knowledge about which activities and behaviours have been Pro l and
successful and which ones have not. ple: Socia !
m l, e
Exa logica erienc
Economic - perspectives are directly linked to profit, and are Eco ne exp
therefore associated with what the OE offers in terms of its in o
resources. This can include tourism, farming, mining, timber
harvesting, water harvesting, and commercial fishing.
People who come to know the OE economically may be
driven by profit, but many also understand the value of
protecting the very asset they require – the environment itself.