Sausage sizzle funds training 'path' ways

Community gardens feature pumpkin, corn, herbs, chillies, native passionfruit, pawpaws, limes, mulberries and bananas.

MDA trainees Belita Bone, Adam Byrne, Josh Montanari and supervisor Sonia Thomas will hold a sausage sizzle at Supercheap Autos on Musgrave Street this Saturday. Picture: Jann Houley

Conservation trainees will hold a sausage sizzle on Saturday to transform a mound of bricks into a rainbow pathway around the Armstrong Street gardens.

Undertaking their Certificate I in Conservation and Land management through Multicultural Development Australia (MDA), the trainees have transformed the community gardens into a relaxing meeting place for locals.

Welcome to the Armstrong St Community Gardens. Picture: Jann Houley

"We get lots of locals walk through, collecting give-away fruit and veges, as well as visits from daycare groups,” said supervisor Sonia Thomas.

"Just last week we got a Facebook post from some people in the US who are visiting friends in Rockhampton next year, checking they could come and take a look.”

Saturday's fundraiser at Supercheap Auto on Musgrave Street from 8.30am to 2pm aims to raise money to paint and lay bricks into a rainbow serpent design as a tribute to the First Nations people.

The Rockhampton Regional Council donated the bricks after they were removed from a Mt Morgan site.

Passionfruit grows among the many species of edibles at Armstrong St gardens. Picture: Jann Houley

The gardens feature indigenous plants and medicine food in addition to other crops including pumpkin, corn, herbs, chillies, native passionfruit, pawpaws, limes, mulberries and bananas.

The trainees have constructed gates and pathways as well as functional outdoors furniture out of recycled timber and metal as part of their studies which are funded by the state government's Skilling Queenslander for Work program.

For Belita Bone, who hadn't worked since 2014, raising two young children alone meant too much time "stuck between four walls.”

She asked help in getting work from her jobseeking agency who encouraged her to apply for a a paid, 12-week traineeship.

The gardens share fruit and veges with locals. Picture: Jann Houley

"MDA was really supportive, especially if I was sick or had problems with daycare,” Ms Bone said.

The mother of an 8-year-old daughter and eight-month-old-son, she said the course not only helped her overcome depression but has also led to a job in the new year.

"It gave me the motivation to get out there and look for work,” she said.

Ms Bone has secured full-time employment in the support sector, providing assistance to people with disabilities and mental illness.

Adam Byrne says he wants to get work on a property "or as a park ranger.”

Armstrong St Community gardens is a shady place to visit. Picture: Jann Houley

He says his MDA co-ordinators have been helpful in giving him work training and resume-writing skills.

The trainees would like to thank the following local businesses for donating to their sausage sizzle: Gracemere Bakery who has donated 20 loaves of bread, Brumbys, and Gracemere Quality meats for 5 kgs of sausages.

Originally published as Sausage sizzle funds training 'path' ways