Left: Elly Robertson and Ellie Travica planted trees last month to replace burnt habitat at Yellingbo Reserve.

FOUR hills friends are again doing their bit to make a difference.

Twins Ellie and Mollie Travica of Emerald, Kallista’s Elly Robertson and Emma Falconberg, of Berwick, are helping to save the endangered Leadbeater’s possum.

 But they are not strangers to campaigning for worthy causes.

Last October the girls made the finals in the Macquarie Bank Future Problem Solving Program with their bid to raise awareness for kids in East Timor. The Beaconsfield College students formed a group called YES (Youth for East Timor Squad) to highlight the plight of the school, 20 De Septembro.

In the last year of the East Timor guerrilla war, on 20 September 1999, the small school was burnt down. It was reopened a short time later but struggled under poor conditions and the students had little shelter. In 2003, through the Alola Foundation, Beaconhills College in Berwick became a sister school.

Through the school’s fundraising the school was able to open the first of its class rooms in 2006.

The girls had been involved in helping the school since Grade 1 and YES gave them the chance to do something more.

They told the Mail last October they were hoping to build lasting relationships with the school while boosting educational opportunities for kids in East Timor.

The girls raised more than $4000 and put together a scrapbook of photographs of the campaign for the school in the small province of Ermera. But, this year the girls wanted to do something closer to home.

So now they are trying to help save the Leadbeater’s possum. Ellie, Mollie, Elly and Emma all braved cold and wet conditions to take part in a tree-planting day at Yellingbo Reserve last month (2 May).  Elly said the possum was one of Victoria’s emblems and the girls wanted to try to do something to help. They formed a new group this year called HELP (Helping the Endangered Leadbeater’s Possum).

Fewer than 1000 Leadbeater’s possums are left in Australia and the February fires destroyed 45 per cent of their habitat.

Elly said it was now vital to start replacing trees and nesting boxes.

HELP is now calling for donations for nesting boxes that are specifically designed to house the possums and cost $150 each.

“We are planning fundraising to support the nesting box project after many were destroyed in the fires,” Elly said.

Elly said the girls were also getting wrist bands made to sell at school and Healesville Sanctuary to raise awareness and cash for the cause.

She said the sanctuary was also working closely with HELP in a bid to save the Leadbeater’s possum.

Anyone wanting to make a donation towards the cause could send a cheque to the Friends of the Leadbeater’s Possum, PO Box 1175, Healesville or log on to www.leadbeaters.org.au

Elly, Emma, Ellie and Mollie with Totally Wild presenter Natalie Hunter during the filming. Picture: Melissa Banks

A DWINDLING population of Leadbeater’s possums has prompted a group of Beaconhills College students to lend a helping hand.The 12- and 13-year-old girls from Beaconhills’ Village Campus in Berwick formed HELP - Helping Endangered Leadbeater’s Possums - to rejuvenate the possum’s natural habitat and to raise awareness of its demise.

The possum, Victoria’s faunal emblem, is critically endangered since Black Saturday’s fires destroyed 43per cent of its natural habitat.

About 1000 Leadbeater’s possums are left in three known colonies - including the Lake Mountain region, where numbers shrank from 100-300 to just six.

HELP, supported by the Healesville Sanctuary and Friends of Leadbeater’s Possum, planted more than 100 trees in three days in Yellingbo.

Student Elly Robertson, 12, is hopeful a wristband drive and a segment on Channel 10’s Totally Wild will boost sponsorship for nesting boxes made from special recycled plastic and now used as temporary homes for the Leadbeater’s possum.

FOUR Beaconhills College students are heading overseas to promote their campaign to save Victoria’s endangered animal emblem, the Leadbeater’s Possum.

Emerald twins Ellie and Mollie Travica, Kallista’s Elly Robertson and Emma Falkenberg, of Berwick, were recently named grand champions in the 2009 Macquarie Bank Future Problem Solving competition.

They have now been invited to the US to compete on the international stage.

But Emma Falconberg couldn’t go, which led the girls to finding a new teammate. And now Berwick’s Luke McConnell is “one of the girls”.

Elly is thrilled to be flying the flag for the Leadbeater’s Possum in America.

She said that when the winners were announced, she was holding her breath the whole time. And she still can’t believe her luck.

As the finals were held in Queensland the girls went to Sea World to celebrate.

“We all went down the slide in our school uniforms,” she said.

This is not the first time the girls have proven themselves at the problem-solving competition.

Last year, they came third with their project called YES (Youth for East Timor Squad).

They raised more than $4000 and awareness of the plight of children living in war-torn parts of East Timor.

Elly said after coming so close to winning last year, the girls wanted to do even better this year.

“We were more determined to do better this year,” she said.

After the Black Saturday fires, their project became clear – to save the Leadbeater’s Possum.

The fires destroyed more than half the endangered species habitat and fewer than 1000 of the animals remain.

Elly said it was vital to help rebuild the possums’ habitat.

The girls then joined together to from a new group called HELP (Helping the Endangered Leadbeater’s Possum).

In June, the Gazette, reported how the girls braved the weather conditions to take part in a tree-planting day at Yellingbo Reserve to boost the possums’ habitat.

They also sold wrist bands and called for donations to make boxes specifically designed for the animals.

HELP raised $11,500 for the cause, which meant more than 77 boxes could be made.

It now needs to raise more than $20,000 for the trip to America.

They will take centre stage with their possum project in June next year.

Anyone wanting to sponsor the group can log on to www.leadbeaters.org.au

Students Mollie Travica, Luke McConnell, Ellie Travica and Elly Robertson are off to the US to help save the leadbeater's possum

FREE PRESS LEADER ARTICLE

A GROUP of hills’ teenagers are taking their fight to save the leadbeater’s possum global.

Kallista’s Elly Robertson, Berwick’s Emma Falkenberg, and Emerald’s Ellie and Mollie Travica, have formed a group called HELP - Helping the Endangered Leadbeater’s Possum.

The group has spent the past couple of months campaigning and raising money to support the declining leadbeater’s possum population’s fight for survival.

The possums were badly affected by February’s bushfires, which destroyed more than 75 per cent of their habitat in their colonies near Marysville and Healesville.

The Beaconhills College students entered their campaign into the international academic program “Future Problem Solving.”

At the national finals last month they were announced grand champions, beating teams from schools all over Australia.

They will now compete in the US next June against teams from across the globe and present their project on the world stage.

The group sold wristbands to raise enough money to buy 22 nesting boxes for the possums, valued at $150 each.

The girls also planted trees and shrubs to improve the possums’ habitat.

Group spokeswoman Elly Robertson said the recognition the group had received was “overwhelming”.

She said the group was motivated by only wanting to save the possums. “The species could never be replaced,” she said.

Because of the publicity the team had created through their campaign, the leadbeater’s possum is also being considered as the next “face” of car registration stickers in 2010, and a possible new mascot for Cadbury’s Furry Friends chocolates. Because of one of the girls can’t travel to the US, classmate Luke McConnell will join the team.