The Diocesan Environmental Awareness Team of the Diocese of Townsville.

We are a committee of ten professional educators who work under the supervision of the Townsville Catholic Education Office (TCEO). We provide support to the Diocesan Education Council, the Diocesan Curriculum Committee and the Bishop´s Advisory Council.

Our charter has a four-fold focus:

• “Gumburu”, the TCEO Environmental Centre in the Paluma rainforest. [LINK]
• Environmental Education for schools and parishes across the Diocese of Townsville. [LINK to http://www.tsv.catholic.edu.au]
• More Sustainable Living Practice across schools, parishes, agencies.
• Eco–Spirituality, ecological conversion and ecological vocation development.

Over the past several years, Bishop Michael Putney (Bishop of Townsville), Dr Cathy Day (Director of Townsville Catholic Education Office), have supported the work of Catholic Earthcare Australia (www.catholicearthcareoz.net).

Bishop Michael hosted the launch of the Qld Bishops´ Pastoral Statement on the Great Barrier Reef, “Let the Many Coastlands be Glad ” [ LINK ]. He has initiated environmental auditing for parishes and regularly promoted more care for creation as an ecological vocation – a common goal for all individuals, all schools, parishes and catholic agencies.

“On Holy Ground” is an ecological vision statement for catholic education, we, at DEAT are sponsoring the implementation of “On Holy Ground” throughout the Diocese.

Edition 1:       The first edition was commissioned by the Department of Environment and Conservation, NSW, in 2006 for NSW Catholic Schools and produced under the supervision of Catholic Earthcare Australia an organisation of the Australian Catholic Bishops´ Commission.
Principal authors were Paul Lucas and Col Brown - Education Advisory Committee of Catholic Earthcare Australia.

Edition 2:       The second edition was modified for Queensland Catholic Schools´ use and sponsored by the Townsville Catholic Education Office.
Principal author was Paul Lucas. Dr Cathy Day has sponsored the publication of “On Holy Ground” as well as its accompanying CD – "Towards Environmental Futures – An Environmental Audit". This audit is part of yearly Religious Education compliance for schools in the Townsville Diocese.

Edition 3:       A third modification of “On Holy Ground” for Victorian Catholic Schools is presently being compiled by Paul Dullard in the Diocese of Sandhurst and will be available in 2008.

Environmental Audits:

1. The CD Audit Program (“Towards Environmental Futures”) , that accompanies the booklet “On Holy Ground” can be found on this site.
2. 2. A second environmental audit/planning tool can be found as Appendix 1 of “On Holy Ground” and is now available in an electronic form as part of this website. Take the Audit by clicking here.