Discover Melbourne
Throughout Week 4 of Term 3, Year 8 students embarked on a ‘Discover Melbourne’ excursion as part of their studies. A different learning theme was assigned for each day and a variety of activities were planned around each theme. Students compiled their findings from each landmark and discussed these with the group.
On Monday, the theme was ‘The Bones beneath the Skin’. Students visited Eureka Tower to view the geographical landscape of the city and its surrounds; next they visited the Yarra River to discuss Aboriginal heritage, land use and urban renewal. Finally, a walk through Birrarung Maar and a tour of the MCG capped off an interesting day.
On Wednesday, the theme for the day was ‘Going Back’ where students visited some of Melbourne’s oldest buildings and delved into Victoria’s past. Students were given a tour of Parliament House, one of Australia’s oldest and most architecturally distinguished public buildings. The next stop was the Melbourne Museum where the students learned about the First Peoples as well as a walk through the Exhibition Building and Gardens. After lunch there was a tour of the Old Melbourne Gaol and finally a visit to the Old Treasury Building, which hosts the original gold vaults that stored gold during the gold rush era, as well as historic documents from Victoria’s history.
The theme for Friday’s group was ‘Commerce and Culture’ and the students commenced the day at the Queen Victoria Market, one of Melbourne’s most historic landmarks. After lunch it was off to the National Gallery of Victoria to view the Italian Masterpieces, which featured artwork from Spain’s Royal Court.
The Discover Melbourne excursion provided the students with an insight into the city’s diverse culture and history, as well as an opportunity to enhance their learning with ‘real world’ case studies.
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