News & Events
What’ll Happen to the Wattle??! (at St Paul's!)
St Paul’s College has been selected as one of 150 schools nationwide to plant Wattle seeds, which are currently travelling in space!
One Giant Leap Australia Foundation sent native golden wattle seeds to the International Space Station in early December, 2020.
In collaboration with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) the seeds will live in space for six months, returning to Australia in time for Science Week 2021.
A community panel judged the applications that included 200 words and a short video, explaining what the schools would do with the wattle once it had grown.
St Paul's College is delighted to have been selected as a winning school.
One of the panel members said, “We have spent 5 days watching videos. Entries from all over Australia. From a single teacher in a face mask in a school in Victoria to a small school in remote Northern Territory. It has been an amazing opportunity to laugh and cry our way through them.”
St Paul's will receive wattle seeds that have flown to space, plus seeds that have not. The seeds are from the same seed lot. Students are asked to germinate and grow their seeds, recording data about the germination and seed growth. Data will be uploaded to the ‘What’ll happen to the wattle??!’ app.
Throughout the programme, One Giant Leap Australia Foundation will run teleconferences and provide educational support to participating groups.
The 12-month to 2 year project will result in the creation of a nationwide map identifying the location of Australia‘s 'space wattle’ trees.
The project is an historic opportunity for Australian schools and students. Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) media announcement: