Year 11 Earth and Environmental Science Excursion 2022

In 2022, Year 11 Earth and Environmental Science took a trip to the Blue Mountains and Central West NSW for 2 nights. We bordered the train in Sydney and made our way out to Blackheath to tour the community’s environmental protection work and the Blue Mountains National Park. Students froze as they witnessed the edge of the Sydney Basin while standing on Govett’s Leap Lookout. We then met our coach and made our way to chili Oberon for our first night.

In the morning, we made our way into the heart of Wiradjuri Country. In Bathurst we visited the only full Tyrannosaurs Rex skeleton in the country at the Australian Fossil and Mineral Museum. Students discovered the formation and use of various precious minerals and explored fossils from around the world.

Next, we left the townships and explored soil and water management on farms in the Mid-Lachlan region. In particular, we saw first-hand how the latest scientific methods of reducing salinity in agricultural land are successfully applied.

Another fossil visit at the Canowindra Age of Fishes Museum was a must. The local fossil formation, which included many specimens of placoderms and the unique Canowinrda grossi, from a time when vertebrates were first moving onto land. This find has high importance to both science and to the local community. After this we headed up to Wellington for the evening, where we explored much more recent, but no less important, fossil beds from the Australian Megafauna, including the massive Diprotodon.

In the morning, we headed underground into the Cathedral Cave – a 400-million-year-old limestone cave with a massive stalagmite towering above our little class. This was a humbling experience, looking into deep time as we contemplated the unimaginably slow process that built this grand structure before us.

This was a fantastic trip, not without its crises, which took our city kids out of their familiar classroom to experience the land from which their food and water comes from, the land that has been built by tectonic forces for billions of years, and the land that has been occupied by fantastic creatures in eons past.

Thanks to all students for their fantastic engagement and behaviour and thank you to Ms Thompson for accompanying our little group on this adventure.

Please see Mr Guy for more information about Earth and Environmental Science in 2023 and beyond.