23 Jun 2017
Year 11 and 12 Ancient History students from both Kadina and Richmond River braved the arduous 12 hour train trip to Sydney to be immersed in the Ancient World for 2 days. On arrival, after a rushed breakfast, we headed out to Macquarie University to visit the Museum of Ancient Cultures. We were entertained for a couple of hours by the Museum Director, Karl Van Dyke's, wealth of knowledge. One student, Max experienced being dressed as a Hoplite (Spartan soldier), whilst Karl demonstrated the use of Spartan weaponry. We also viewed the museum's magnificent collection and classified ancient artefacts. After a quick lunch break we visited the Nicholson Museum at the University of Sydney. We were guided through the museum collection – viewing a range of displays from mummified Egyptian remains to a Lego model of Pompeii. We were again fortunate to hold and classify ancient artefacts.
Friday the Year 11 students went with Larry Polak to The Big Dig Education Centre at The Rocks, whilst the Year 12 students accompanied me to the History Teachers Association HSC Study day held at the University of Sydney. The program at The Big Dig involved the students using written and archaeological sources to investigate the lives of people living in The Rocks during the 19th century. Meanwhile Year 12 attended 4 informative lectures relating to their HSC program of study.
We were fortunate to be in Sydney during the Vivid Light display, so after dinner on Friday we took the train to Circular Quay to see the light designs projected on the buildings surrounding the harbour.
Saturday morning before we flew home, we visited a Pompeii exhibition at the Australian National Maritime Museum. The artefacts displayed were awe inspiring – replicas of plaster casts capturing the moments of death, carbonised bread from AD79 and 24 carat gold jewellery. To me this was the highlight of the trip.
Even though we were all exhausted on arriving back to Ballina a fun and educational time was had by all. I would like to thank Larry Polak for accompanying us and immersing himself in Ancient History, even though it is not his subject area, and all the students for their excellent behaviour and maturity throughout the excursion.
Kim Sheldon (HSIE Teacher, Richmond River High Campus)