Helping to raise water efficiency awareness, improve water literacy, and influence responsible water behaviour.

A live theatre water education program for South East Queensland primary schools has achieved a positive impact by increasing water knowledge and helping students to understand why it is important to use water wisely.

Walter Smart and Friends / Local Water Legends is sponsored by Unitywater and developed by Gibber Educational and The Water Conservancy.

The lively educational performance and workshop follows a group of water-savvy characters who spend their time discovering ways to waste less water every day on a mission to become a Local Water Legend. The concept enables the young audience to explore themes around the water cycle and understand Unitywaters’ key water-saving messages in a fun, engaging way.

The results

In May 2022 23 performances were delivered in 18 schools across Moreton Bay, Sunshine Coast and Noosa with over 5000 pupils participating.

It’s clear from the feedback that the sensory approach of live theatre, film and multimedia is successful in the delivery of its key objectives: to educate children about how we use water, how wasteful we can be and how we can change our water-using behaviour.

Teacher overview

100% rate the performance positively (excellent 81% very good 17% good 2%)

100% state knowing that Unitywater provided the program

100% would like to see more programs like this offered by Unitywater

100% agree that programs like this change their perception of Unitywater (strongly 52% agree 40% slightly 8%)

100% state that the program was pitched at the right level for children (strongly 75% agree 20% slightly 5%)

100% state that the performance linked directly to the curriculum (strongly 71% agree 23% slightly 6%)

78% state they were not aware of Unitywater’s education program and materials prior to the performance.

Student overview

100% rated the performance positively (excellent 85% very good 11% good 4%)

100% state that they learnt who Unitywater is

98% Where water comes from

97% Why we need to save water

99% How to save water

100% What things to we should and should not flush down the toilet

100% state seeing the Local Water Legends logo in the performance (Unitywater logo 98% The Water Conservancy logo 47% Gibber logo 32%)

99%  state they will talk to people at home about the performance and what they learnt

“We would like to thank you enormously for all the amazing team who came for our students. Our students seemed to understand the issues so easily thanks to your fun and lively presentation and they took in new and very valuable information. I know the prep students are still talking about it this morning. We would love to see you all again sometime.”

Margaret Emerson, Head of On-Campus Charlotte Mason College

If you’re looking for an innovative way to deliver your organisation’s key messages, we would love to hear from you. You can also find out more about our education programs on our schools page.