Year 7 History Excursion – Friday 12 August

Year 7 History Excursion – Friday 12 August

On Friday 12 August 7I, 7O and 7T History classes, accompanied by their teachers Mr de Bres, Ms Wark and Mr O’Neill, visited Hyde Park, the old Fort Street Girls’ High School at Observatory Hill and ‘The Big Dig’  Archaeological Centre in The Rocks. After the excursion students were asked to reflect on their experiences by answering a few questions.

EXCURSION REFLECTION – Lilly Butler

Hyde Park North

Hyde Park is a tranquil, expansive recreational area in Sydney. It is split into two parts: Hyde Park North and Hyde Park South. Hyde Park North is bordered by Saint Mary’s Cathedral and St James Station can be entered through this area. It is dotted with memorials, commemorating and celebrating important events and people throughout the history of Australia since European colonisation.

Three things I learnt about Hyde Park:

  1. It is split into two parts.
  2. It is supposed to replicate Hyde Park in England.
  3. I learnt about many organisations/industries such as Mr Walker’s frozen meat industry and the Oddfellows Society.

 

Fort Street Girls High School

Fort Street Model School became a single-sex school in 1916 when the school began to overpopulate and the boys school was moved to Taverners Hill. It is a well-preserved building atop a hill that gazes out over Observatory Hill and the The Rocks. It is a yellow colour featuring many arch-shaped windows and doors, with the three flags out the front and a crest at the top of the building featuring a lion and a unicorn.

Three things I learnt about the Fort Street Girls High School building

  1. It was originally a military hospital.
  2. It became Australia’s oldest government school.
  3. The school is situated on Upper Fort Street.

 

The Big Dig

The Big Dig is an archaeological site where a convict had been living around two hundred years previously. The house of this butcher was marked out with red stones, and many other areas had models of animals to represent what that area may have been used for, for example, a metal horse where the freed convict kept his racehorses.

Three things I learnt about the Big Dig:

  1. A convict named George Cribb lived there
  2. People were paid to catch rats during the rat plague
  3. They have uncovered more than a million artefacts on the site

 

Favourite part of the excursion

My favourite part of the excursion was learning about the artefacts at the Big Dig because it was interesting to see how much people can learn about the past from a single artefact.

 

EXCURSION REFLECTION – Dhruv Singh

 

Hyde Park

  1. Hyde Park North is towards the eastern part of Sydney in a rectangle-like shape. It is surrounded by Liverpool, College and Elizabeth streets near St. Mary’s Cathedral. Hyde Park has many famous statues, gardens and monuments like the Archibald Fountain, the Dalley State, the Oddfellows Memorial, the Sandringham Garden, the Lachlan Macquarie Statue, the John Baptist Fountain and the Walker Fountain and Statue. All of these contain the history of the oldest park in Australia.
  2. Three interesting things that I learnt about the history of Hyde Park were that it was the oldest park in Australia; that the Archibald Fountain commemorates the association between Australia and France in WW1 and that during the early years Hyde Park was the site of open air art shows, royal visits, art, festivals, rallies and protests.
  3. My favorite part of the excursion was when we were allowed to walk around Hyde Park and compete a site study treasure hunt of the statues, memorials and gardens. It was fun discovering and learning about the past of Hyde Park in small groups.
  4. I enjoyed everything about visiting Hyde Park.

 

Fort Street Model School/Fort Street Girls High School

  1. Established in 1849, Fort Street Model School was the oldest government high school located on the highest ground on Observatory Hills. Later on this school became Fort Street Girls’ High School when the boys were moved to Taverners Hill in Petersham because of overpopulation.
  2. Three things that I learnt about Fort Street Model School was that it was previously an old military hospital, that it was the first government public school in Australia and that it symbolised the future prosperity of the fledgling colony.
  3. My favourite part of visiting Fort Street Girls High School was sitting outside of the school, enjoying the view and taking a break.
  4. I loved visiting the site of old Fort Street Model School and Fort Street Girls’ High School – there was a great view although the site was on quite a bit of elevation which I didn’t love.

 

The Big Dig Archaeological Site

  1. The Big Dig Archaeological Site is a place that contains remains of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the time of Australia’s first European settlement. It is located near The Rocks on Cumberland Street.
  2. Three interesting things I learnt about The Big Dig is that some of the items that people used like torpedo bottles, bottles that stored carbonated water, were deliberately designed so that they couldn’t stand straight. I learnt that lots of convicts actually had better lives after being moved to Australia and that over 1.5 million artifacts were discovered here.
  3. My favorite part of visiting The Big Dig was seeing the many artifacts that were collected on the site. I was surprised that they were real artifacts that showed lots of history and told us about the lives of many of the convicts and settlers there.
  4. I enjoyed everything about visiting The Big Dig Archaeological Site.