Scenes from under the sea at Mount Barker Community College as students create metal garden
![Year 12 students Jye Williss and Harrison Rout.](https://images.thewest.com.au/publication/B881689614Z/1602728789396_GA52VO3M7.1-2.jpg?imwidth=810&impolicy=wan_v3)
A new metal garden at the Mount Barker Community College looks something like an under-the-sea edition of Transformers.
Impressively, it has been created by the students.
The garden features metal interpretations of some of the ocean’s most spectacular creatures — a marlin, a seahorse, a turtle, a whale shark, a swordfish and an octopus — which have been crafted during school lessons.
Different age groups were involved, from the Year 7 students, who designed and created the stepping stones, to the Year 11 and 12 students who fabricated the creatures.
![A marlin in the garden.](https://images.thewest.com.au/publication/B881689614Z/1602728789396_GJQ2VO6JS.1-0.jpg?imwidth=810&impolicy=wan_v3)
Teacher Linda Drage said the college wanted to showcase students’ metalwork and share the history of metals.
“We created the stepping stones first with the Year 7 students,” she said. “The students were given 22 different metals.
“They made concrete stepping stones and put a story on each stepping stone to do with the metal.
“For example, copper has a copper pipe, uranium has an exploding bomb. Each stepping stone has the symbol in the centre.
“The stepping stones are matched with a write-up in the garden about when it was discovered and by who, and what it is used for.”
![A seahorse in the metal garden.](https://images.thewest.com.au/publication/B881689614Z/1602728789396_GKQ2VO6JT.1-0.jpg?imwidth=810&impolicy=wan_v3)
The project was guided by trainer John Wright, with students thinking “outside the box” to come up with their creations.
“John is a keen fisherman so I think that has influenced the theme,” Ms Drage said.
“There is room for a few more little ones which are also going to follow the sea life theme.”
![The metal garden.](https://images.thewest.com.au/publication/B881689614Z/1602728789396_G852VO3M3.1-0.jpg?imwidth=810&impolicy=wan_v3)
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