Stage 3 Perspectives on the past - The Rocks
Explore the rich history of The Rocks through a hands-on, engaging mystery hunt where students investigate key colonial people, places, and events of the 1800s, using digital tools to document their discoveries.
About this excursion
This program supports the S3 history topic, ‘Historical sources present perspectives on the past'.
Students will take part in a variety of pre-visit tasks to familiarise themselves with The Rocks' history and heritage. They will then visit various sites in The Rocks to focus on colonial people, places and events during the 1800s. The program takes the form of a fun and engaging mystery hunt for clues about important people, places and events that shaped Australia’s identity during the colonial period. Students will work in supervised teams and use Centre iPads to create a site study journal documenting their investigations of the following people, places, and events. Observatory Hill EEC sends digital copies of the journals to the school after the fieldwork.
Inquiry Question
TBC
Student pre-visit and follow-up activities
Successful excursions have direct links to current classroom learning. Pre-visit activities carried out before the excursion will help students better understand the excursion content and provide a sense of connectedness and relevance to classroom learning.
View the extensive excursion Support Website for information and activities to enhance students' understanding of the excursion content. Students can complete these activities either pre- or post-excursion. Teachers can download the student history journal from the website to engage students.
Activities on the day
- Visit various locations in The Rocks
- Participate in a variety of hands-on activities to describe and explains the significance of people, groups, places and events to the development of Australia
- Complete a History site study journal using centre ipads
- Visit Cadmans Cottage and Parbury Ruins to learn about European colonisation of Australia and the life of convicts
Important information
- Government Schools: $15 per student (GST-free)
- Non-Government Schools: $30 per student (GST-free)
The Rocks and Millers Point.
View the Perspectives on the past excursion map with approximate walking route, meeting location and pick up location.
Please note the bus drop off and pick up point is the bus bay at Argyle Place, at the base of Observatory Hill.
Key syllabus outcomes
- Examines and describes the developmnet of Australian colonies and Australia as a nation using sources as evidence.
Integrating the Sustainability Education, Information and Communication Technology and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories and Cultures’ Cross Curriculum Priorities is a feature of the program.
Skills outcomes
- read respond and write to show understating of historical matters
- sequence historical people and events
- use historical terms and concepts
- locate information relevant to inquiry questions
- explain why the behaviour and attitudes of people from the past may differ from today
- use a range of communication forms including digital technologies
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