Our virtual excursions bring our museums programs right to your classroom. Our programs connect you live with a museum educator, are interactive and curriculum-linked.
Curriculum-linked virtual excursions.
| Program | Stage | Curriculum link |
| Cooking up the Past | Stage 1 | History – The Past in the Present |
| Convict work at the Barracks | Stage 2 | History – First Contact |
| First Contact | Stage 2 | History – First Contact |
| A New Home | Stage 3 | History – The Australian Colonies |
| Solve it with Sources | Stage 3 | Skills – Analysis and Use of Sources |
| Solve it with Sources | Stage 4 | History – The Ancient World Depth Study 1: Investigating the Ancient Past |
COOKING UP THE PAST
During this virtual program students connect live with a museum educator and explore how food was grown, stored and cooked in the past, in the 1820s kitchen at historic Vaucluse House. During the early years of the New South Wales colony, this grand house was the home of the Wentworth family and their many servants.
Students are introduced to the Wentworth family and their ten children. They think about how the way we grow, store, prepare and eat our food today is similar or different to the way this was done in the past. They will see what’s growing the kitchen garden; investigate how technologies for preparing food have changed from the 19th century to today in the kitchen and dairy; and learn how to make butter, so they can make their own and find out how good it tastes on a piece of bread.
CONVICT WORK AT THE BARRACKS
In this virtual excursion, your Stage 2 class will connect live with a museum educator and learn about how convicts lived and worked at the Hyde Park Barracks in the early 19th century.
Students will examine a range of historical sources, including the World Heritage-listed building, and investigate some of the work done by the male convicts who lived at the Hyde Park Barracks. Students will see how the bricks from which the Barracks was built were made by hand; and find clues left behind by convict brick makers.
FIRST CONTACTS
Connect live with a museum educator and learn about first contacts between Aboriginal peoples and colonists that arrived as part of the First Fleet and aboard other ships in the early years of the colony of New South Wales.
Students will examine a range of historical sources including artworks and Aboriginal cultural objects and explore the impact of these new arrivals on the Aboriginal peoples of Sydney and the local environment.
A NEW HOME: FEMALE MIGRANTS AT THE BARRACKS
Connect live with a museum educator and learn about female Irish orphans who migrated to Australia in the 1800s and stayed at the Hyde Park Barracks.
Students will look at the factors that led the women to migrate from Ireland, what their journey was like and what happened to them once they were here. They will look inside the Barracks and see the current exhibition as viewing a range of sources, including some of the objects these women brought with them. Students will also hear from an ancestor of one of the women and consider the importance of oral history. Finally they will complete an empathy activity by considering what they would put in their trunks if they were migrating to another country, in a similar situation to these women.
SOLVE IT USING SOURCES
This history skills based virtual excursion program is focused on analysis of source material to understand historical events and peoples.
It is based at two Sydney Living Museums’ sites, the UNESCO World Heritage-listed Hyde Park Barracks and Susannah Place in Sydney’s Rocks area, and explores the archaeology of both sites as well as other relevant primary sources. At Hyde Park Barracks we look at the public archaeological dig and learn how thousands of artefacts were found underground and under the floorboards at the Barracks, many having been hidden by rats building their nests. Combining this archaeology with source documents, museum educators discuss with students how they could answer questions what they can discover about the lives of the convicts who lived at the Barracks. Finally we use the archaeology of an existing building at Susannah Place and see how the building itself, combined with oral histories and written sources, helps us answer questions about the lives of the people who lived there.
Book a Virtual Excursion
To book a Virtual Excursion program for your school class, please contact:
SLM Bookings at +61 2 8239 2211
or email bookings@slm.com.au
Address: The Mint, 10 Macquarie Street, Sydney, NSW , 2000
Email: education@sydneylivingmuseums.com.au
Website: mhnsw.au/learning/content/virtual-excursions-learning
Facebook: www.facebook.com/museumsofhistorynsw/
Twitter: twitter.com/MusHistoryNSW
Booking Instructions: Both NSW Department of Education and Communities (DEC) schools and non-DEC schools are welcome to attend Sydney Living Museums (SLM) video conferences via DART Connections. Non-DEC schools must contact the SLM for further information prior to booking.
- There is a limit of two (2) schools per session
- To ensure maximum interactivity class size must not exceed 30 students
- Schools with small class sizes may be eligible for reduced rates – please contact SLM for details
- Sessions will generally last for one hour and include time for students to ask questions
- Pre-event material is included in the cost and will be sent to the teacher via email prior to the session. Teachers are asked to ensure that the students are well prepared for the lesson as outlined.
- Schools will be invoiced by the Sydney Living Museums at the conclusion of the booked session
- The sessions, artworks, film and sound clips are protected by copyright and may not be recorded, reproduced or used in any way without the express written consent of the Sydney Living Museums
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Cancellation Policy: SLM requires at least eight (8) working days notice prior to the session for cancellations. Cancellations received less than eight (8) working days prior to the session and ‘no shows’ will incur a charge of the full program price. To cancel call Connections 02 6884 0241 and email bookings@dartconnections.org.au and SLM at education@sydneylivingmuseums.com.au