The National Genestreaming Sculptures Trail so far

Conceived in Albany (WA) in 2017, the sculpture design was developed at the Australian National University (ACT) in 2020 and launched in the Porongurups (WA) in 2021. By 2025, we successfully established a regional tourism trail in the South West of Western Australia, and a documentary capturing this journey has been created. The initiative blends public art with immersive augmented reality, bringing communities together with contributions from First Nations artists, field naturalist artists, schools, Elders, scientists, and visitors through shared cultural, environmental and deep-time experience.

The proposed Northern Territory's Genestreaming Sculpture Tourism Trail promotes an awareness of the major bioregions of the state utilizing public art to connect communities through three core pillars:

Conservation

Promoting deep awareness of each unique region’s ecological biodiversity and environmental importance.

Culture

Celebrating and elevating the artwork of First Nations artists who hold profound, ancestral connections to each region.

Science

Exploring the ecology, ancient geological origins of the landscapes and tracing the shared deep-time ancestry of local species.

Using Visual Literacy to engage with Conservation, Culture & Scientific concepts

Genestreaming Sculptures feature 15 petals that represent different groups of animals, plants & fungi. Each petal connects to an ancestral line on the base plate which maps shared ancestry through geological time. When the viewer enters the sculpture they represent all of humanity & can see when humans share common ancestry with the other species represented in the sculpture. The physical design blends two distinct artistic perspectives who share a common interest in conservation. - The Outside: Features vibrant artwork by local First Nations artists, highlighting deep cultural knowledge. - The Inside: Showcases Field Naturalist art reflecting local ecosystems, geology, and endangered species. Together, these elements tell a powerful story of ecological custodianship and deep-time shared ancestry.

Genestreaming Augmented Reality Sculptures for Schools

The physical sculptures link to Augmented Reality Genestreaming sculptures that feature the nature journaling art from contributing schools alongside animated paleo creatures which inhabit the era that they lived in millions of years ago…. including Dinosaurs! Through a combination of nature journaling resources with cutting edge augmented reality technology this is an educational & environmental initiative shaped by young people’s nature journaling about their region -- capturing how children see, feel, learn and connect with the natural world around them. Schools may choose their own nature journaling themes for their posters.  Schools may choose their own nature journaling themes for their posters. We encourage themes that connect with First Nations artists and inspire students to explore their surroundings such as “What is in our backyard”.

Adopt a Petal to contribute in bringing a Genestreaming Sculpture to your Region with an associated Documentary

There are 15 petals in a sculpture. To fund a sculpture and the associated documentaries we offer the Adopt‑a‑Petal program. Petals are adopted for $12,000 each including GST. Each 15-petal sculpture celebrates local biodiversity, First Nations culture, and deep-time history while fostering community connection. By blending art, science, and regional tourism, this initiative builds a nationally significant cultural asset across Australia.  Group, Club, Business or Corporate Sponsorship: To assist groups in fundraising efforts we have a broad range of merchandise that, via a printed QR code link to the Genestreaming Augmented Reality Sculptures. The merchandise can also feature the groups logo. Funding supports: - First Nations art - Field Naturalist art - materials & sculpture fabrication - galvanizing  - printing - signage design - webpage development - Augmented Reality Sculpture linking - field naturalist studies - phylogenetic tree research - baseplate design - project documentation - founders team consultation - auspicing body - sculpture delivery - sculpture and signage installation oversite - a documentary - filming & editing - travel & accommodation

Nature Journaling for all Ages

All patrons receive access to Explore Nature Journaling with activities designed for everyone — from young learners to adults. Encouraging lifelong learning this flexible program nurtures curiosity, creativity, and outdoor discovery. Learn the art of nature journaling, create new memories whilst exploring deep time.

Genestreaming Sculpture

Each Genestreaming Sculpture is designed as a unique ecological, cultural & deep-time signature of the specific region — shaped by the local First Nations artists, endemic species, geological history, phylogenetics, environmental character and mapping of that place documented through nature journaling.

Creating a Documentary

A short documentary clip will be made about the artistic and scientific inspiration behind Genestreaming Sculpture as well as the opening of the Genestreaming Sculpture. This footage will, in time be included in a documentary about the sculpture trail. 

Why Communities Participate: Future-Focused Education

The Explore Nature Journaling Resource Kit bridges the gap between field naturalist art and active community contribution. Built on years of close collaboration with school teachers on STEAM initiatives and extensive experience running adult workshops, this multimodal resource accommodates all age groups. It seamlessly integrates science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics (STEAM) with our national sculpture trail, allowing school input to drive local conservation, science, and First Nations cultural awareness. As part of a global educational movement, our program champions nature journaling as a cornerstone of future-focused learning. This approach actively explores: - Environmental sustainability and deep ecological care - Active community engagement and collaborative teamwork - Direct participation in a nationally significant public artwork - Deep meaningful connection between students and the natural world - Real-world learning experiences outside the traditional classroom - Creative expression and visual literacy skill development Our program emphasizes the importance of nature journaling because, as a global educational movement, nature journaling is about contributing to future-focused education which explores: - environmental sustainability - community engagement - participation in a national artwork - students connecting with nature - real-world learning - creativity and expression When expressed through a community Genestreaming Sculpture nature journaling combined with field work: • Connects Science, Culture and Sustainability through Art • Strengthens creativity and visual literacy • Creates opportunities for community engagement • Encourages outdoor learning and careful observation • Supports environmental awareness and future-focused thinking • Builds community pride through participation in a national project

What teachers, science communicators & community leaders are saying

This project is about connecting the next generation to the environment through nature journaling and new technology. Discover how teachers, families, and educators are bringing outdoor learning, observation skills, and creative exploration into everyday education.

”
“You should have seen the students, they just erupted! It just goes to show how interactive education is very important for our younger generation”.
Douglas Kichen.

Capel Shire President

"In the Genestreaming Augmented Reality Sculptures ..          a whole new world of discovery awaits you".
Gary Muir.

Wow Wilderness Eco-Projects

”
"I think that the involvement with the children now brings it down to another generation of people who understand the earth, who can walk on it, who can go into that sculpture look at a petal follow it down and follow the timeline through I'm amazed at how the children have connected very well with it, it will never leave them".
Cr. Sue Leighton

Ravensthorpe Councillor

”
My background is in teaching, and my passions are art and science. Taking the kids out into the Bush and learning about the flora and fauna, by having the kids drawing what they find or photographing it, looking at it in detail, helps embed that knowledge deeply. The Genestreaming sculpture is such a rich learning tool for children because it has so much embedded in it, it offers a lot, it's a very powerful tool for learning and its beautiful form.
Kier Douthie

Principal of Jerdacuttup Primary School (retired)

"This program is self-motivating fostering a growth mindset that inspires a curiosity lead investigation of the natural world. It offers the highest quality teaching, with the results shared in the most unique form that new technology can supply us with".
Ben Price

Teacher, Tour Guide, Lecturer

Explore Nature Journaling Resource Kit

17 Chapters · 119 Lessons

  1. 1

    Welcome to Explore Nature Journaling Resource Kit

    1. (Included in full purchase)

      Welcome to Explore Nature Journaling

    2. (Included in full purchase)

      Poster Specifications & Key Dates you need to know

    3. (Included in full purchase)

      The What, Who, Why, When, of Nature Journaling

    4. (Included in full purchase)

      Different Approaches to Journaling with Mali & Ben

    5. (Included in full purchase)

      Introducing the 2 Minute Tips for drawing, painting, photography and journaling

  2. 2

    Resource Kit 1: Nature Journaling Activities with Children

    1. (Included in full purchase)

      Overview of the Nature Journaling Activities with Children

    2. (Included in full purchase)

      Introduction to Nature Journaling for kids with early childhood specialist Ros Beeton : 8min

    3. (Included in full purchase)

      Nature Activities 4-6yo for teachers and parents - with early childhood specialist Ros Beeton : 20min

    4. (Included in full purchase)

      Nature Activities 6-10yo for teachers and parents - with early childhood specialist Ros Beeton : 9min

    5. (Included in full purchase)

      Nature Activities 7-12yo for teachers and parents - with early childhood specialist Ros Beeton : 16min

    6. (Included in full purchase)

      Cartoon Memory Mapping our Adventure - Making a Map from Memories : 23min

    7. (Included in full purchase)

      Colouring our Cartoon Memory Map : 3min

    8. (Included in full purchase)

      Progressive Maps with 9 year old Pearl : 6min

    9. (Included in full purchase)

      Beach Holiday Journalling with 9 year old Pearl : 14min

    10. (Included in full purchase)

      Painting with Pearl after a nature walk : 12min

  3. 3

    Resource Kit 2: Easy, quick and fun. Sketching, colouring and painting techniques for Nature Journaling

    1. (Included in full purchase)

      Overview of Easy Fun Journaling

    2. (Included in full purchase)

      Art Materials List for Nature Journaling

    3. (Included in full purchase)

      Fast & Easy 'tracing' tips with Acacias + Plant pressing in your Journal : 9min

    4. (Included in full purchase)

      Quick & Easy 'copy' drawing a Grevillea flower with colour notes : 8min

    5. (Included in full purchase)

      Fun Scribble Sketching with a Biro from a look-out point : 15min

    6. (Included in full purchase)

      Colouring Feathers using Watercolour and Watercolour Pencils : 15min

    7. (Included in full purchase)

      Easily Practice Sketching Birds : 6min

    8. (Included in full purchase)

      Sketching Quick & Loose shapes of Kangaroos and Wallabies : 18min

  4. 4

    Resource Kit 3: Expressive Drawing Tools and Techniques

    1. (Included in full purchase)

      A Drawing a Day : 5min

    2. (Included in full purchase)

      2-min Tip : Drawing a Tree using a collection of marks

    3. (Included in full purchase)

      2-min Tip: How to make a fascinating mark

    4. (Included in full purchase)

      2-min Tip : Drawing flowing lines

    5. (Included in full purchase)

      2-min Tip: If you make a mistake repeat it

    6. (Included in full purchase)

      2 Min Tip : Drawing a bracket of time with feeling

  5. 5

    Resource Kit 4: Fun Collaborative Drawing for Friends & Families

    1. (Included in full purchase)

      Overview of Collaborative Drawing

    2. (Included in full purchase)

      Draw Together Black Gloved Wallaby, Twin Creeks : 8min

    3. (Included in full purchase)

      Draw Together Yellow Billy Buttons, Mount Magnet : 2min

    4. (Included in full purchase)

      Draw Together Python Snake, Twin Creeks : 3min

    5. (Included in full purchase)

      Draw Together Mouse Spider, Twin Creeks : 10min

    6. (Included in full purchase)

      Draw Together Lemon Grass, Mount Magnet : 2min

    7. (Included in full purchase)

      Draw Together Spinifex Hopping Mouse, Mount Magnet : 2min

    8. (Included in full purchase)

      Draw Together Western Bowerbird, Mount Magnet

    9. (Included in full purchase)

      Draw Together Thorny Devil for the Mount Magnet Genestreaming Sculpture

  6. 6

    Resource Kit 5: Refine Your Drawings and Paintings

    1. (Included in full purchase)

      Overview of Refining Your Drawings and Paintings

    2. (Included in full purchase)

      Introduction to Botanical and Natural History Art Lessons : 2min

    3. (Included in full purchase)

      Botanical Art Materials List

    4. (Included in full purchase)

      Lesson :: Measured Drawing : 20min

    5. (Included in full purchase)

      Lesson :: Measured Drawing Transfer : 6 min

    6. (Included in full purchase)

      Lesson :: Tonal Drawing : 20min

    7. (Included in full purchase)

      Lesson :: Perspective Drawing : 15min

    8. (Included in full purchase)

      Lesson :: Botany for Artists : 18min

    9. (Included in full purchase)

      Lesson :: Watercolour Painting. Wet Washes & Dry Brush : 15min

    10. (Included in full purchase)

      Lesson :: Watercolour Painting Part 2. Tips & Tricks.

  7. 7

    Resource Kit 6: Colour Recipes & Colour Mixing Theory

    1. (Included in full purchase)

      Overview of Colour Recipes & Colour Mixing Theory

    2. (Included in full purchase)

      Mali's Mixing Greens - Natural & Exquisite

    3. (Included in full purchase)

      Celia Rosser's Banksia Green - Colour Mixing Formulae

    4. (Included in full purchase)

      Colour Mixing Theory using only 6 colours : 24min

    5. (Included in full purchase)

      Colour Mixing Theory Guide

  8. 8

    Resource Kit 7: Innovative Fun with Photography on your Phone

    1. (Included in full purchase)

      Overview of Innovative Fun with Photography on your Phone

    2. (Included in full purchase)

      Tips for effectively cataloguing your photographs and short films : 4min

    3. (Included in full purchase)

      'Insectoid Viewpoint' technique : 7min

    4. (Included in full purchase)

      Multiple Landscape Approach : 3min

    5. (Included in full purchase)

      Impressionistic Photography Technique : 6min

    6. (Included in full purchase)

      Arial Photography Possibilities : 10min

    7. (Included in full purchase)

      Overlaying Drawings on Photographs Approach : 2min

    8. (Included in full purchase)

      Photography and Digital Art in Forests : 4min

    9. (Included in full purchase)

      How to Create Reflections : 2min

  9. 9

    Resource Kit 8: How to Mind Map Connections in Nature

    1. (Included in full purchase)

      Overview of How to Mind Map Connections in Nature

    2. (Included in full purchase)

      An introduction to the SciArt Connectivity Web : 2min

    3. (Included in full purchase)

      Art of Natural Systems Connectivity Web SciArt Version

    4. (Included in full purchase)

      Art of Natural Systems Connectivity Web template for students to develop

    5. (Included in full purchase)

      How to Create a Connectivity Web on a Walk at Wave Rock Pt 1 : 18min

    6. (Included in full purchase)

      How to Create a Connectivity Web on a Walk at Wave Rock Pt 2 : 18min

    7. (Included in full purchase)

      Artist Residency (1) - Examining an Ancient Landscape at Broken Hill 01

    8. (Included in full purchase)

      Artist Residency (2) - Impressions at Fowlers Gap

    9. (Included in full purchase)

      Artist Residency (3) - Hill End Traces of Great Southern Rifting : 7min

    10. (Included in full purchase)

      How to create the foundations for your own Connectivity Web : 2min

  10. 10

    Resource Kit 9: Introduction to Botany

    1. (Included in full purchase)

      Overview of the Natural Sciences

    2. (Included in full purchase)

      Introduction to the Natural Sciences for beginners

    3. (Included in full purchase)

      Botany of Strawberries : 6min

    4. (Included in full purchase)

      Botany of Figs : 9min

    5. (Included in full purchase)

      Botany of Flowers : 27min

    6. (Included in full purchase)

      Botany of Leaves : 16min

    7. (Included in full purchase)

      Introduction to Plant Classification : 20min

    8. (Included in full purchase)

      Introduction to Reading a Plant Key : 10min

  11. 11

    Resource Kit 10: Flower Pressing, Collecting and Eco-Dyeing

    1. (Included in full purchase)

      Overview of Flower Pressing

    2. (Included in full purchase)

      Flower Journalling / Collecting with Prof. Hopper : 5min

    3. (Included in full purchase)

      Professional Plant Collecting Techniques at Menindee Lakes : 4min

    4. (Included in full purchase)

      Pressing Flowers Techniques link

    5. (Included in full purchase)

      Overview of Eco Dyeing

    6. (Included in full purchase)

      Demonstrating an application of Eco Dyeing into Nature Journaling : 4min

    7. (Included in full purchase)

      Eco-Dyeing Techniques link

  12. 12

    Resource Kit 11: Writing & Turning Your Nature Journal into an E-Book

    1. (Included in full purchase)

      Overview of Writing & Turning Your Nature Journal into an E-Book

    2. (Included in full purchase)

      Nature Writing: Views Tips and Suggestions

    3. (Included in full purchase)

      Digital Journaling: How to turn your Nature Journal into an eBook : 8min

    4. (Included in full purchase)

      Red List: How we turned Mali's Art Exhibition into a digital eBook : 5min

  13. 13

    Resource Kit 12: Deep Time Nature Journaling - Behind the scenes in creating inspired murals

    1. (Included in full purchase)

      Overview of Deep Time Nature Journaling

    2. (Included in full purchase)

      Expand possibilities of your Nature Journaling experiences : 6min

    3. (Included in full purchase)

      How to render Atmospheric Sunsets and Night Skies with pastels : 4min

    4. (Included in full purchase)

      Discussion on how to draw Fury Animals and Marsupial Eyes : 7min

    5. (Included in full purchase)

      Contour Mapping into Art : 6min

  14. 14

    Resource Kit 13: How to Draw Australian Wild Life & Sea Life

    1. (Included in full purchase)

      How to Draw Australian Wildlife

    2. (Included in full purchase)

      How to Draw Australian Sealife

    3. (Included in full purchase)

      Nature Kids How to Draw Tasmanian Wildlife

  15. 15

    Resource Kit 14: Colouring in Australian Wild Life

    1. (Included in full purchase)

      Colouring Book Australian Bushlands

    2. (Included in full purchase)

      Colouring Book Australian Seashores

    3. (Included in full purchase)

      Colouring Australian Wetlands

  16. 16

    Resource Kit 15: Dot to Dot Nature Activities

    1. (Included in full purchase)

      Dot to Dot Australian Wildlife

    2. (Included in full purchase)

      Dot to Dot Australian Sealife

  17. 17

    Bonus Section: Genestreaming Sculptures Public Art Program

    1. (Included in full purchase)

      Overview of the Genestreaming Sculptures Public Art Program

    2. (Included in full purchase)

      An opportunity for Local Governments to Participate in the National Genestreaming Sculpture Tourism Trail Initiative

    3. (Included in full purchase)

      Genestreaming Sculpture for Singapore Gardens by the Bay – Bunya Mountains to the Boyce Gardens Toowoomba

    4. (Included in full purchase)

      Twin Creeks Genestreaming Sculpture link

    5. (Included in full purchase)

      Mount Magnet Genestreaming Sculpture Project link

    6. (Included in full purchase)

      Bonye Biar (Bunya Mountains) Genestreaming Sculpture link

    7. (Included in full purchase)

      Kellerberrin Augmented Reality Genestreaming Sculpture

    8. (Included in full purchase)

      Alice Springs Augmented Reality Genestreaming Sculpture

    9. (Included in full purchase)

      Northcliffe Genestreaming Sculpture

    10. (Included in full purchase)

      Denmark Genestreaming Sculpture

    11. (Included in full purchase)

      Bremer Bay Genestreaming Sculpture

    12. (Included in full purchase)

      Ravensthorpe Genestreaming Sculpture

    13. (Included in full purchase)

      Wave Rock Augmented Reality Genestreaming Sculpture

    14. (Included in full purchase)

      Wave Rock Mural featured on SciArt link

    15. (Included in full purchase)

      Capel Augmented Reality Genestreaming Sculpture