Left to Right: Robyn Nelson and Wendy Woodward from the NSW South Coast fundraising committee, Bravehearts Ditto the Lion Mascot, Coolaroo Foundation Chair, Janie Forrest and Alison Geale, Bravehearts CEO.
15 SEPTEMBER 2026. Bravehearts' Ditto's Keep Safe Adventure Program has reached over 1.6 million children across Australia — and on the NSW South Coast, that reach is growing thanks to the work of a dedicated local team.
The Bravehearts South Coast Committee, supported by the Coolaroo Foundation,has spent the last several years helping establish a permanent education team based in Nowra, in the Shoalhaven on the NSW South Coast. From there, the team has been doing the hands-on work of bringing personal safety education to early learning centres and schools across the region.
As Janie Forrest, Chair of Coolaroo Foundation, puts it:
"Our local children need to have these personal safety messages delivered. It is so important that we, as a community, do all we can to keep our children safe."
Rebuilding and Reaching Further
Over the past year, the South Coast team has been working hard to establish relationships with more early childhood services and schools across the region — reconnecting with services Bravehearts had worked with before, and making inroads with new ones for the first time.
That work is paying off. Between April 2025 and March 2026, the team delivered 72 shows across 72 early learning centres, reaching 2,069 children on the South Coast — achieved in roughly six and a half months of active delivery.
Expanding Across Eight LGAs
The team's outreach now spans eight Local Government Areas across the South Coast:
Wollongong
Shellharbour
Kiama
Shoalhaven
Wingecarribee
Eurobodalla
Goulburn Mulwaree
Queanbeyan-Palerang
With 71 shows already confirmed for 2026–27, including a growing number in schools, the team is steadily extending Ditto's reach into communities that haven't had access to the program before — attending school network events, building relationships with Local Education District contacts, and inviting principals to see a show firsthand.
The Work Ahead
The team's focus now is on reaching underrepresented communities across all eight LGAs, strengthening parent and carer engagement, and working alongside the Bravehearts South Coast Committee to keep pushing personal safety education further into local schools and early learning services. It's steady, relationship-by-relationship work — and it's how Ditto keeps finding his way to more South Coast kids.
