{"id":6840,"date":"2026-06-29T15:15:58","date_gmt":"2026-06-29T05:15:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thebuzz.net.au\/spc-townsville\/?post_type=article&p=6840"},"modified":"2026-06-29T15:24:19","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T05:24:19","slug":"from-the-humanities-department","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/www.thebuzz.net.au\/spc-townsville\/article\/from-the-humanities-department\/","title":{"rendered":"FROM THE HUMANITIES DEPARTMENT"},"content":{"rendered":"

YEAR 8 HUMANITIES<\/strong><\/p>\n

Year 8 Humanities students have been exploring medieval times this term. Although this period feels very distant from our modern lives in Townsville, the Year 8B Humanities class stepped back in time through hands-on activities with original medieval texts, including illuminated pages from the Book of Hours<\/em> (personalised prayer book) from the 1300s to the late 1500s. Students discovered fascinating features of the six hundred year old manuscript pages, including Latin writing and decorative illumination on vellum.<\/p>\n

The class then created their own quills from feathers, and used ink and gold paint to recreate illuminated texts featuring Bible quotations and wise words in English. Cardboard was a practical substitute, as vellum and parchment were in short supply.<\/p>\n

The class then shifted their focus to Gothic architecture. Olivia Miller-Smith led the class through an overview of key features, using examples such as Cologne Cathedral, where construction began in 1248. Students then applied their knowledge to St Joseph\u2019s Church on The Strand which was built in the Gothic Revival style in 1920 – 1921. They sketched architectural features, including stained glass windows and other distinctive design elements.<\/p>\n

The final activity saw the Year 8 cohort exploring the Black Death in a memorable and creative way by writing song parodies. Their lyrics incorporated symptoms, prevention techniques and the sad demise of those affected. Some performances were even accompanied by interpretive dances. Afterwards, students danced to the traditional nursery rhyme Ring a Ring o\u2019 Roses,<\/em> and reflected on its historical associations.<\/p>\n

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Jade Cunningham carefully adds by quill, gold paint to the border of her text.<\/p>\n

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Aria Goldsack, Kelly Nelson and Jade Cunningham.<\/p>\n

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Dimity Nielsen.<\/p>\n

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Olivia Miller-Smith creates her illuminated text.<\/p>\n

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Amahne Wapau.<\/p>\n

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Lily Kylianova.<\/p>\n

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Kelly Nelson handcrafts each quill by hand.<\/p>\n

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Rosa Canning chooses a passage from the Bible for her illuminated text.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

YEAR 8 HUMANITIES Year 8 Humanities students have been exploring medieval times this term. Although this period feels very distant from our modern lives in Townsville, the Year 8B Humanities class stepped back in time through hands-on activities with original medieval texts, including illuminated pages from the Book of Hours (personalised prayer book) from the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":6472,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","article_category":[],"article_tag":[],"class_list":["post-6840","article","type-article","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thebuzz.net.au\/spc-townsville\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article\/6840","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thebuzz.net.au\/spc-townsville\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thebuzz.net.au\/spc-townsville\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/article"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thebuzz.net.au\/spc-townsville\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6840"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thebuzz.net.au\/spc-townsville\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6472"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thebuzz.net.au\/spc-townsville\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6840"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"article_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thebuzz.net.au\/spc-townsville\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article_category?post=6840"},{"taxonomy":"article_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thebuzz.net.au\/spc-townsville\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article_tag?post=6840"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}