On Thursday 5th September, the Year 4 students on the Melton Campus had a wonderfully engaging learning experience. The students participated in “The History Box” incursion, which focused on the time of the first fleet arrival at Sydney Cove.
The students dressed up in costumes representing the clothing worn by the early settlers and the Eora people, the Indigenous people of Gadigal land, the land also known as Sydney Cove. The students learned of the life of the Eora people before European Contact and the impact that Europeans had on that life. The students made a game called Ngaka Ngaka, similar to Tic Tac Toe, and created a small clay figure similar to an Indigenous ‘doll.'
The students also learned what life was like for convicts and early settlers: their hardships, hopes, failures and successes. They made ‘love tokens,’ similar to those made by convicts to give to those they were leaving behind, and blended spices, a commodity that became an important economic motivation for Europeans' settlement in Australia.
The day was interactive and engaging and some memorable and important information was learnt and experienced by the students. The students appreciated the experience of the Eora people and the people of the First Fleet.