From the steamy and mountainous tropical jungle to the dry and flat Werribee Plains – Nay Kaw’s journey to being a trainee ranger with Parks Victoria has been a long and arduous one.

Nay Kaw was born in the Mae La refugee camp, the largest of several refugee camps on the Thailand-Burma border - a far cry from the manicured grounds of Werribee Park Mansion and the Victorian State Rose Garden where he now finds himself.

Nay Kaw began his traineeship at the start of the year with the Werribee Parks and Gardens team, in a role which offers a hybrid of horticulture and environmental land management as part of an overall pathways program for young adults from local new and emerging communities.

Photo: Nay Kaw, a keen gardener at home, said he is enjoying learning more about horticulture in his new role as trainee ranger at Werribee Park.

Nay Kaw arrived in Melbourne in 2019 with his parents and four siblings. After graduating from Laverton P-12 College (where he learned to speak English) Nay Kaw began working at a local cabinet making factory until he heard about the open trainee ranger program at Werribee Park.

“One of the uncles told me they needed an apprentice here, and I was very interested in the idea of it when I heard about it,” Nay Kaw said.

“He asked me if I like working in the garden, and I said, “yeah I like growing vegetables at home”, and so I thought I’d better jump in first if no one is doing the job yet. After a month, I began working here.”

And while Nay Kaw’s current surroundings are nothing like where he grew up, he still finds himself surrounded by Karen culture every day. 

According to the 2021 Census, approximately 3000 people in the Wyndham area of Melbourne’s west speak Karen at home, so it’s no surprise Werribee Park is a popular place for members of the Karen community to meet.

The Werribee Park community vegetable garden, which began in 2012, is a popular place for older Karen “uncles and aunties” to meet each week, where they’ll often share traditional dishes made with ingredients grown in the garden with Parks Victoria staff.

Photo: The Parks Victoria Werribee Park ranger team work closely with the volunteer Karen uncles and aunties in the community garden.

Werribee Park was also the site for this year's New Year celebrations for the Melbourne Karen community. More than 1500 people attended this year’s event, which included traditional food, crafts, song and dance.

At Werribee Park, Nay Kaw is being mentored by fellow Parks Victoria rangers, including Karen youth leader Hsar Ju, who became Victoria’s first ranger with a refugee background back in 2016.

“He’ll learn a lot of horticultural skills, like propagation, how to pot and plant seeds, pretty much everything,” Hsar said. 

Werribee Plains Area Chief Ranger James Brincat said Nay Kaw was already impressing his managers in his short time at Parks Victoria.

“The local Werribee team was very excited to see a new apprentice drive through the front gate,” James said.

“Although Nay Kaw’s focus will be on Werribee Park and Point Cook, as part of the pathways program he will be buddied up with a mentor and given the opportunity to work right across the district so that he is well and truly packed with hands on experience to enable him to apply for Ranger roles in the future.”

Photo: Trainee Ranger Nay Kaw, Community Engagement Ranger Hsar Ju, and Horticulture Ranger Daniel Grimshaw in front of Werribee Park Mansion.

For now, though, Nay Kaw is happy tending to the Werribee Park gardens, where he assists in watering, mowing, brush cutting, and assisting volunteers.

“There’s a lot of beauty here, so many nice flowers, and there’s a lot of people here who are really nice to work with.”

He’s also hoping to see the elusive Werribee River platypus.

“I’ve only been here two months, so I haven’t seen the platypus yet. Hsar has been here for much longer and only seen it twice, so I really hope to see it one day.”

This week is Cultural Diversity Week, held between March 18-24. This year celebrates the theme of Our Shared Stories Celebrating Together. Parks Victoria would like to thank Nay Kaw for sharing his story with us.