Country music superstar Troy Cassar-Daley is urging everyone to keep the streets clean of their own rubbish during the Tamworth Country Music Festival and to bring a reusable water bottle.
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"I played a show with Jimmy Barnes two years ago where there were no plastic bottles allowed backstage and since then, all I've had is a refillable bottle," Mr Cassar-Daley said.
"It saves all that extra plastic going out to that refuse centre and it's great for the environment."
Every year, Mr Cassar-Daley visits a different school in Tamworth in his role as the sustainability ambassador for the Tamworth Country Music Festival (TCMF), and this year it was Timbumburi Primary School on Tuesday, November 5.
The children told Mr Cassar-Daley how they were conserving water, recycling waste, growing their own vegetables, looking after chickens to use their eggs in the school canteen, and have solar panels on the roof.
Timbumburi student Cooper Morgan said his favourite part was growing vegetables, because "we get to water and pick whatever we want".
"It's a really nice way to grow food and it's very healthy for the environment," he said.
Cooper's fellow student Lara Tongue said children at her school have learned that their chickens need clean water and their vegetable gardens need mulch.
"When my sister was in year-four she brought in a huge load of horse poo and spread it all over the garden and that really helped," Lara said.
Mr Cassar-Daley said it was important to encourage the children to learn how to care for the environment because what they learn at school they take home to their families.
The record-breaking 40-time Golden Guitar-winner listened to the children sing the school's anthem to the tune of Waltzing Matilda, later complimenting their musical ability.
He pulled up a guitar and sang River Boy, Born to Survive - a song about drought, and a country music version of the Wiggles' song Rock-A-Bye Your Bear, which had all the kids out of their seats, grooving, clapping and moving.
Mr Cassar-Daley's visit to Tamworth as the TCMF sustainability ambassador, coincides with the Conference of the Parties COP28 being held in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) from November 30 to December 12, where Australia and about 200 other countries will be talking all things climate change.
But back here in Australia with all things musical, the highly anticipated 52nd Tamworth Country Music Festival will be on from January 19 to 28.
Mr Cassar-Daley, a proud Gumbaynggir/Bundjalung man from Grafton will be performing at the Tamworth Regional Entertainment and Conference Centre (TRECC) on January 25.
