global citizenship
YEAR 5 CAMP SYDNEY
WALKING IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF OUR EARLY SETTLERS We recently spoke with Julian Mutton, Deputy Head of Junior School, about the Year 5 camp to Sydney in Term 3, 2019, where students learned about Australia’s history of colonisation. Can you tell us about the purpose of the Year 5 camp? Sydney is a fascinating historical experience, as it allows us to understand the challenges for the Indigenous people and the European settlers, while visiting the first significant places of European settlement. What moment or experience do you think deepened the students’ understanding? Discovering that our accommodation in The Rocks was built on top of an archaeological site, with buried historical items found such as remnants of houses, plumbing, artefacts etc.
You stayed at Cockatoo Island. Can you tell us more about its significance? The camp wore two hats – it was about history; touring Cockatoo Island to learn about the island and its meaning to Indigenous people, and its use as a ship building factory and prison by later Australians. Also, the camp was about personal development. The girls rose to the challenges of sleeping in canvas tents with a bed on the ground; it definitely built resilience, courage and independence.
The NSW Government historians guided us and pointed out artefacts. The girls also got to dig in the sand and analyse the artefacts, understanding more about what life was like.
WE HAVE A RESPONSIBILITY TO TEACH STUDENTS ABOUT WHAT REALLY HAPPENED IN THE PAST, AS IT INFORMS OUR FUTURE 20
the ruyton reporter
