It’s A Small World

SkillsOne visits Canberra, to chat to Mark Sarah, the general manager of Cockington Green. Cockington Green is a miniature village, which attempts to recreate life of countries across the world, in miniature.

We also chat to Derek Sarah, Mark's son, about what is involved his work, maintaining the grounds at Cockington Green.

Cockington Green was created by Marks' parents and opened to the public in 1979. Doug and Brenda Sarah came up with the idea while on an extended UK holiday in 1972, where they visited a number of miniature village displays. It is one of Canberra’s landmark tourist attractions.

The accurate miniatures – which are created to scale by Doug and the family - are surrounded by spectacular landscaped gardens. The park has grown over the years from the Original display area (housing the English model-villages) to the International display that was opened in 1998.

About Mark:

Mark began as an apprenticeship green-keeper in 1980. He then worked his way up to Head Greenkeeper and later Grounds Manager, before becoming the General Manager in the last year. He comes from a family of tradespeople, and was always encouraged to learn a trade.

His grandfather was a fitter and turner and his father was a carpenter. His family has always worked with his hands.

In turn, Mark encouraged his son Derek to pick up a trade. Derek now works with Mark at Cockington Green.

He believes trades are a fantastic place to start as the world will always need tradespeople and it can lead to many other great things.