The annual Scottsdale High School survival camp to Mount Cameron has been a tradition since 1975. COREY MARTIN spoke with founder Jeff Jennings before the 40th anniversary expedition.
FORMER Scottsdale High School teacher Jeff Jennings never imagined four decades ago that his outdoor eduction program would still be running in 2015.
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Mr Jennings, 71, pioneered the famed Scottsdale High survival camp and in doing so the Mount Cameron Field Study Centre with a $35,000 grant from the Whitlam government in 1975.
Mr Jennings taught at Scottsdale High for 28 years before retiring in 2000.
The centre remains owned and operated by the high school and has hosted countless students and national sporting clubs throughout the years — including the Essendon premiership winning squad in 2000.
"I was senior master of social science at Scottsdale High School in 1975 and I have always believed that the best way of learning things is to actually do it," he said.
"They had just introduced a new subject into social science for grade 10, which was called human nature and aggression — basically conflicts throughout history.
"In English they were reading the William Golding book Lord of the Flies and coincidentally the ABC put a program on with about 20 people off the streets in Melbourne and took them out in the bush for a month and made a documentary about how they coped with it.
"There was is also an incident in a film called Survive! around the time where a group of South American soccer players crashed in the Andes, were stranded at the top of a mountain for 71 days.
"All of those things seemed to happen about the same time and I thought it would be a good thing to take some kids out into the bush and set up a situation where there's potential for conflict between two groups.
"They didn't know where they were and it was a simulated plane crash, we tossed stuff up into the bush around where the bus stopped then they had to treat a supposedly broken arm and leg, and at the same time they had to look for anything they could use — if they didn't find it, we didn't tell them.
"They were allowed to take a pocket knife, piece of string and we gave them the recipe for a survival bar, which actually came from the American air force."
And so the camp survival legend was born.
This week, Mr Jennings will attend the annual camp one last time with his grandson Ryan.
Mr Jennings said the camp had evolved over time, but students were still blindfolded and bussed to an unknown location within the Mount Cameron range.
"It ran in the plane crash scenario for a few years and then grade 10 used to run other camps like kayaking and a trip to Flinders Island, but the logistic of running all the camps became a problem," he said.
"So we combined the best features of all of them into a one week program that everybody did at Mount Cameron.
"They do a bit of kayaking, still do the survival and also the Tomahawk Olympics on the final day, from which the student executive for the year is selected.
"One group goes out surviving and one group goes out kayaking and they swap over and then on the Friday they compete against each other."
Survival camp is for year 10 students at the end of a four-year program, which they build up for through year 7, 8 and 9.
Mr Jennings said students were only allowed to take one hat, bushwalking clothes, a pack, survival bar, waterproof coat and a sleeping bag.
He said the program was physically challenging — pushing many students too their limits.
However, Mr Jennings said it helped students develop teamwork, camaraderie, resilience, initiative, independence, leadership and resourcefulness.
"When you go on survival camp, if teachers start giving advice, as quick as a flash students will stop thinking and wait to be told," he said.
"I tell the kids now that it's survival camp but really we should call it camp consequences, because everything you do or don't do will have consequences either good or bad for you and the group.
"The important thing is they have to start taking responsibility for what they do or don't do.
"As far as the students are concerned, they have got to believe they're out in the bush because if they don't, it is not going to work."
Mr Jennings said students learn a lot about themselves and teachers learn a lot about students and vice versa.
"They are senior students and it is not going to be long before they have to look after themselves.
"It also develops a lot of camaraderie, whenever we have our 10 year reunion — one thing that they always talk about is survival camp.
"I know within schools you can create situations where people have to think and develop tactics but it is a bit different when you are out there in the bush."
Any school can arrange camps at the Mount Cameron Field Studies Centre by contacting Scottsdale High School on 6352 2477.
Scottsdale High students to have taken part in the camps can view videos of their year camp on Facebook on the Friends of Mount Cameron Field Study Centre page.