KANAWINKA
GLOBAL GEOPARK: DUCATIVE LANDSCAPE IN SOUTH WEST
VICTORIA
JOANE
MCKNIGHT
Kanawinka Global Geopark
Abstract: The
Kanawinka Geopark is defined by its distinctive volcanic landscape. It covers
an immense area of Southwest Victoria and southeast South Australia, and since it is listing in
2008 has developed an impressive program of recreational, ecotourism,
educational and community arts opportunities. A major step forward is the
engagement of Deakin
University to assist the
Kanawinka Geopark community to strengthen the identity of the Geopark. The
proposal is to brand the Geopark as a world first educative landscape, using
strong research partnerships to create a broadly-based knowledge economy that
makes a decisive contribution to the social revitalisation, green economy, and
environmental sustainability of the region. The Warrnambool Campus of Deakin University
is located at the coastal hub of the Geopark. In addition, two of Deakin's
other campuses, Waurn Ponds and Geelong Waterfront, lie close to the eastern
edge of the Geopark (whose typical landforms and associated cultures extend, in
fact, through parts of the Geelong region).Research will be increasingly
decentralised, project-based and regionalised, and the successful universities
of the future will be those that can develop strong knowledge economies through
the relationships they form with the human and non-human hinterlands.
In
this context, the geographical connection between Deakin University
and the Kanawinka Geopark represents a unique opportunity to create a 'real
world laboratory' where the region's cultural and social capital can be
utilised to build the regional knowledge economy. The opportunity is both to
integrate the University's existing raft of regional partnerships and to bring
new expertise (in entrepreneurship, in social media, in creative economy) to
bear on the creation of a unique 'educative landscape', where the Kanawinka
Geopark becomes a net knowledge producer, exporting its services to other
regions and (through the international Geopark network) to educational,
cultural and creative communities worldwide.