The Gol Gol School Immersion Centre is located on the banks of the Murray River approximately 4km from Gol Gol Public School. The focus of the Centre is to immerse students in Environmental, Cultural and Agricultural learning experiences and activities.
The Centre sits on 4.8 hectares of land endowed to Gol Gol Public School in the late 1960s by William (Billy) Caffrey of Woorlong Station. As well as the natural environment, 2.8 hectares of land are planted to merlot vines. The vineyard is run by volunteer trustees with income used to support school projects including the Immersion Centre. The support and involvement of the school trustees is invaluable to the development of our Centre. The working vineyard provides another key learning area where visiting schools can learn information about local agriculture.
The location of our Centre is unique. We have access to the mighty Murray River and its natural environment. With a short drive, further access is available to Bottle Bend Reserve. The reserve contains significant black box (Eucalyptus largiflorens) woodlands, stands of lignum and wetland vegetation, which provide habitat for a wide variety of native animals. As well as the Murray River, we are a 30 minute drive to the junction of the Murray and Darling (Baaka) Rivers in Wentworth, NSW. The World Heritage listed site of Mungo is 112 km away. We work alongside CCA Schools to plan short trips to Mungo National Park which involves Discovery Rangers tours of the Walls of China and the Visitor Centre.
The Immersion Centre continues to be a dynamic work in progress. Whilst revegetating the area with native plants we are working on developing learnscapes to compliment our programs. With a continued focus on infrastructure we hope to provide camping facilities for visiting schools. Day programs, curriculum and resources are continually being developed by a team of teachers from NSW public schools, both rural and city.