School students across Victoria have skipped class for a lesson in climate change activism.
Thousands of school-aged children packed the steps of Melbourne's Old Treasury Building and a nearby intersection.
Lewis, eight, and his friends said they were happy to be at the protest.
"We're here to support all of us and to save our future," he told AAP.
The primary school boy carried a sign saying "please save our reefs".
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His mate Ethan, 11, was excited by the protest.
"I'm happy to be here," he said.
Schoolgirl Isobel Gilbert, 13, said she was protesting against Adani, the Indian-based company with substantial mining plans in Queensland.
"I don't want our north coast to be full of oil," she said.
At regional Ballarat there were reports of hundreds of students gathered for a similar protest.
