During the Term 3/4 school holidays, 35 Year 9 students and five staff members embarked on a wonderful educational tour of our national capital Canberra and the city of Sydney.
Our first stop was Sydney, where we stayed for three nights at the Sydney Harbour Youth Hostel in the historical Rocks area of the city. The view from the top of the Hostel to the Sydney Opera House and the Harbour Bridge was awesome, and being an actual dig site for archaeologists made it even more interesting. While in town, we explored the Sydney Opera House and Circular Quay precinct, as well as the Harbour Bridge and the Rocks area.
Our coach driver and tour guide, Colin, did a fantastic job in taking us further afield to the National Maritime Museum and Bondi Beach, also giving us insight into the old and the new of Sydney. As well as travelling by coach, we also spent half a day walking around Taronga Zoo and took to the water with a ferry to Manly and a night-time ferry tour of the harbour.
Then it was on to Canberra for four nights. All of the students had the opportunity to participate in a variety of educational programs with a focus on Australia’s history, culture and democratic tradition. We managed to pack in visits to the Australian Institute of Sport, the National Museum, the National Portrait Gallery, the Australian War Memorial, Questacon, Parliament House, the Museum of Australian Democracy, the Royal Australian Mint, the National Capital Exhibition and a road tour of the Embassy district. In the evenings and during free time we had card games, ten pin bowling, played laser tag, had a session of electric go-kart racing and glow-in-the-dark mini golf and saw what retail-therapy opportunities Canberra had to offer!
It was certainly a busy week together but the opportunity to be immersed in so much culture and history of our beautiful country was well worth it and I am sure that many friendships were formed, to be carried into this coming Term.
The Australian Government recognises the importance of all young Australians being able to visit the national capital as part of their Civics and Citizenship education. To assist families in meeting the cost of the excursion the Australian Government is contributing funding of $510 per student under the Parliament and Civics Education Rebate program towards those costs in 2024. The rebate is paid directly to the school upon completion of the excursion.
Mr Greg Newell
Canberra – Sydney Study Tour Coordinator.
