Annette and Dean Turner of The Crossing Land Education Centre

Annette and Dean Turner of The Crossing Land Education Centre are #ICF20Years Community Heroes

The Crossing is the kind of place that is inspirational in every way. For 21 years, on a beautiful patch of NSW’s Wilderness Coast by the Bermagui River, Annette and Dean Turner have been teaching young people from around the globe how to live sustainable lives.

“We arrived with an idea to create a place where young people could experience a sustainable way of life that was transferable to their everyday and that included inspiring journeys in beautiful natural places and meaningful practical conservation work,” says Annette Turner.

The ICF has supplied The Crossing grant funding on several projects since 2001, including the conversion of a 1930s Red Rattler train carriage into a bunkhouse (“a beautiful example of reusing and repurposing”), a roof to the Community Hall, and a sustainable food curriculum for older secondary students. The Turners were named IMB Bank Community Foundation Community Heroes in 2019, as part of the ICF’s 20^th anniversary celebration.

“There are so few organisations willing to provide financial assistance for capital works and the ICF helped The Crossing at some critical moments,” says Annette Turner. “Our relationship with ICF felt like a partnership. It gave other donors confidence to support the construction of The Crossing.”

The Turners set The Crossing up as a not-for-profit trust, gifting the land in 2006 “so that the project would continue long after us.” It’s the kind of generosity of spirit that inspires the young people who participate in The Crossing’s programs.

“Over the last 20 years, young people on programs at the Crossing have surveyed hundreds of hectares of bush to learn more about the South East koalas and they have surprised scientists with some new discoveries,” says Ms Turner. “They have planted over 18,200 trees to create a river habitat corridor between two coastal National Parks, and protected the quality of the Bermagui River at the same time. They have physically built a great deal of The Crossing camp, particularly its extensive gardens and water treatment systems. And they have travelled on some amazing journeys, experiencing different landscapes and land management practices.”

For the Turners, The Crossing is designed as an example for another way of living because, as Ms Turner says, “There is only one Earth. What the community needs to grow and thrive is positive and open communication, and future thinking with support to make mistakes in design so you can learn how to innovate. Innovation will move communities towards a circular economy where everything is designed so well that it can be reused or provide the nutrients or materials for something else. This becomes a new definition for growing and thriving.”

Find out more about The Crossing, including its Youth Camps, School Programs and Airbnb accommodation