Bindaree Outdoor Education Services commenced taking students out into the outdoors in 1990. Its founder, Brendan Layh, initially trained as a teacher and worked in a variety of country, metropolitan, state and independent schools for over two decades. 

As a teacher, he quickly realised that he could expand the normal subject based classroom learning by offering his students a series of carefully crafted practical experiences in an outdoor setting. By taking students out of their comfort zone, away from their normal school and family routine, he found that students could be both challenged and encouraged to develop important personal life skills - leadership, team work, initiative, responsibility etc - so necessary on their journey to adulthood. 

Combining his knowledge and love of the outdoors with his attention to safety, Brendan collaborated with faculty heads and parent bodies within schools to create a series of unique outdoor programs across a variety of natural environments - marine, forest, mountain, aquatic, alpine - that enabled students to engage in challenging and potentially life changing program experiences outside of the classroom. 

Observing the immediate effects this method of learning had on his student's health, personal growth and sense of worth, Brendan used his twenty years of teaching to hone a series of outdoor programs, activities and experiences built around safety, risk management and student welfare. 

In 1990, rather than providing these opportunities within an individual school, Brendan left teaching and created Bindaree Outdoors to enable any school across Victoria to access these programs and adapt them to meet their own particular school and age group focus. 

Over the past 35 years, Bindaree has continued to grow from a small family business to a leader within the outdoor education industry. In 2015 Bindaree complimented and extended its traditional journey based outdoor programs within National Parks by purchasing and developing a hard top camp at Toolangi. Camp Toolangi, being located on the edge of the Yarra Valley close to Melbourne, enabled both primary and secondary schools to engage their students in these practical forms of experiential learning. 

Today, Bindaree remains a family owned and operated business led by its Managing Director, Gemima Weiler. Its programs continue to inspire both students and adults to create meaningful lifelong connections through challenging activities and experiences within a variety of natural environments across Victoria. Bindaree's vision is to provide access to practical based experiential learning through the outdoors for all schools and students across Victoria and beyond. Bindaree prides itself on providing these group based programs in a safe and secure format where each participant can feel challenged, rewarded, included and always accepted.