Year 6 at Canberra 2004

Wednesday, 17th March Our first stop for the day was at Mittagong for morning tea. Mrs Hart practised her movie skills while everyone else stretched their legs. We enjoyed all of our breaks.

Parliament House The highlight of the first day was going to Parliament House. Unfortunately, our local member, Mr Alan Cadman could not meet with us, but that didn’t stop us from having a good time. We all split up and then a tour guide took us into separate rooms. Everyone liked the room where we acted as if we were in Parliament. There was a speaker, a Prime Minister, an Opposition leader, Front and Backbenchers and more. Watch out Mr Howard and Mr Latham - Sean and Rachel seemed well equipped to take over your jobs! We also visited the Senate and the House of Representatives and our cameras were all flashing frantically. Overall the day was fantastic and everyone enjoyed it. We liked seeing all that we had studied at school.

Electoral Education At Electoral Ed we got to learn about the voting system in Australia.  We learnt how the voting system works by voting ourselves. This was challenging for some of us, because it was very hard to choose what our favourite chocolate was. This experience was interesting and fun because little children like ourselves got to vote. We also learnt how our votes are counted. This was a very weird and tricky system, different to how some people thought it would be. We can’t wait ‘till we get to vote. ( Don’t forget to register.) At the beginning of Electoral Ed we enjoyed watching a very informative video about the history of voting in Australia. The thing that caught the eyes of most people was the trick imagery made by putting TV’s under mirrors. Another thing that caught Year 6’s eyes were the moulds of faces talking to us. Another piece of trick photography!

Regatta Point At Regatta Point all of the Year 6 students saw many displays of the early history of Canberra. We learnt about some history of the Aborigines and the different areas of Canberra. The man who designed the city of Canberra was Walter Burley Griffin, who is well known for his brilliant planning and architecture. Part of Canberra’s design included a beautiful, large lake which was named after W.B.G. The lake is called Lake Burley Griffin. We had a very informative guide and we watched a laser show shining down on a mini Canberra.

The Planetarium We sat back and relaxed in lay- back sophas as we watched a 25min movie about our solar system.  We experienced what it is like on the planets Mars, Pluto, Jupiter and many more. We also experienced how cold and hot it is on the planets of our solar system. We watched all this laying back, as a light and sound show, on the ceiling of a dome room. We learnt a lot and relaxed a little at the same time-( we suspect some people even fell asleep-  not mentioning any names….)

War Memorial In Canberra there is a special place called the War Memorial, built in memory of all the soldiers that defended Australia in war. The Remembrance Wall surrounds a pond that has an ever lasting flame in the middle. There were old aircraft and all sorts of machinery there. There were heaps of weapons that looked brand new and everything was used in war. We felt sad and sorry for all of the soldiers but also glad that there isn’t a war now. We learnt that a lot of the soldiers didn’t just die from being shot but from disease and sickness and that the hospitals and nurses could not be attacked. In the Hall of Memory there was the grave of the Unknown Soldier, who represented all of the Australians who died and were buried in other countries in the war. It felt peaceful and we felt thankful because they fought for Australia .The Hall of Memory had a marble floor and the walls and roof were made of  6 000 000 small tiles. At the closing ceremony we felt lucky that we have freedom and free speech. A man played a Scottish song on the bagpipes near the lake. He was being watched by everyone and as he finished he walked into the Remembrance Hall. As he walked in, the doors closed. There were students, adults, teachers and Senior Citizens there

Questacon When year 6 went to Canberra we visited Questacon, the fun science museum.  One of the most exciting activities at Questacon was the 6.7 metre free fall slide.  Our very own Mrs Hart went on the slide. There was even a virtual reality roller coaster ride which felt like you were in a real roller coaster.  Questacon is a thrilling and educational science museum. You should go there!

Australian Institute of Sport The A.I.S is a fun, educational place.  There is a gymnasium, tennis court, basketball court, boxing ring,  volley ball court and a running track. You can see the Raiders home ground. You might even run into some of Australia’s most famous sportsmen.  There is a ‘hands –on’ room where you can find out how high you can jump, test your reflexes and your strength  or watch your rowing progress down the river, on a screen. There are many things to do.  You should definitely go.

National Museum At the national museum we went to Circa and K-space.  Circa is a rotating room with movie seats where we move through different theatres showing different aspects of our land and people. K-space is a centre where you design your own house or spacecraft. Then you go into a  theatre and look at all of the creations in 3D.

Cockington Green We went to Cockington Green at the end of our Canberra excursion It was practically a miniature village.  All of Year 6 had lots of fun controlling the models and we especially loved playing with the trains. There were castles, windmills, houses and even a miniature football game.  Many of the village scenes had something funny. We all loved it!

A big "Thank You" to Mr Fraser, Mrs Kerry, Mrs Hart and Mrs Campbell. We had a great time.