“Harbour Bridge, Harbour Bridge,” was the chant as the bus headed over the bridge. The Opera House and the huge cruise ship in the harbour whizzed by. Finally, we had arrived at the Museum of Sydney.
There were so many different exhibits to see. One display had models of the eleven ships from the First Fleet. A huge painting showed an Aboriginal perspective of the Fleet’s landing at Sydney Cove. We saw the remains of the first Government House, where Governor Arthur Phillip lived, as well as some of the original pipes and foundations that had been excavated by archaeologists.
We split into groups and investigated objects to learn more about life for Aboriginal people in 1788. They ate many kinds of berries, used paperbark to wrap fish and ground down shells to create fish hooks! We also learned about Nanbaree, an Aboriginal boy whose parents died of smallpox after the British arrival. A game of charades showed us how difficult it would have been for the Aboriginal people to communicate with the British settlers.
For lunch, we headed to the Royal Botanical Garden and it was beautiful. Fortunately it wasn’t too wet or raining. When we finished eating we had a run around and looked at the pretty flowers.
As we were walking to our next stop of the excursion, we walked past Parliament House, the State Library and the Mint, before arriving at Hyde Park Barracks. Inside, lots of displays, models and artefacts competed for our attention. We learned about crafty convicts, sailing ships and putrid prisons. We tried on some convict clothes and they were very different to ours. The clothes had a stamp on them, so if you ran away, they’d know where you had come from! Secondary punishments included whipping with a cat o’ nine tails, wearing thick, itchy clothing, or having heavy chains put around your ankles.
We also had a bricklaying race. My group won! Brick making was one of the convicts’ many jobs. Did you know that they had to make hundreds of bricks each day? They marked each hundredth brick with a finger mark. You can still see these marks on some of the bricks on the walls of the Barracks.
Exhausted, we fell into convict hammocks for a short rest. After looking at some convict indents (a form with information about each convict), we headed back to College after a long, but very fun day.
In the words of Zane, “Best experience of my life!”
By Aaron, Alex C, Alex L, Alexia, Ana, Aynie, Isabella P, Mark, Rico, Zane and Miss Donaldson (Class 4D)
'Best experience of my life!'
"I jumped out of bed and I was so excited! It was Friday, the day of Year 4’s excursion to the city."