WHILE it may have raised a few eyebrows when parents first noticed the name in the newsletter, the visit to Thirlmere Public School by Deadly Australians recently was actually an educational presentation which focused strongly on student safety.
Deadly Australians is presented by Marc Dorse, a Queensland-based herpetologist and toxicologist who has been visiting Australian schools for more than 20 years.
He gives students the opportunity to handle non-poisonous creatures such as lizards and turtles while teaching them about the venomous and dangerous ones which are found in Australia.
Being located in a semi-rural environment like Thirlmere, principal Steve Lord said the visit was not only a fascinating educational experience to teach the students about some of our intriguing native wildlife, but also a valuable and very practical lesson in safety.
“Luckily we’ve only had one instance of a snake visiting the school, and we took immediate steps to ensure the safety of students, but with summer and the holidays approaching it’s a good time to reinforce safety messages for the children,” he said.
Mr Lord said he would recommend the presentation to all schools to better educate their students about how to deal with potentially dangerous creatures in their environment.