Student Recounts of their Canberra Excursion

Parliament House – Matthew Pease

We stood in the entrance of the second most expensive place in the southern hemisphere, the Australian Parliament House. The building was, in itself, a grand design. According to the guide, whom followed us around and gave us information, the building cost billions to make. The building was enormous, it stretched over an extremely large distance, and the flag, which flew so brilliantly on the top of the building, was the size of two buses.

To get into the building, we had to pass through the security, which was a series of metal detectors and security guards. Any items which we had in our pockets had to be placed into the metal detectors, we then would walk through another metal detector, this one checking we were not hiding any items.

We got through security quite swiftly and moved into the first room. It had great designs on the floor, and pillars made of marble. The walls were solid and made of more marble. We moved up the stairs and into an open area with portraits of important people in Australian history, like prime ministers, governor generals, and the queen. Some of these people were: Queen Elizabeth II, John McEwen, Robert Menzies, and Gough Whitlam.

We then moved as a group into the elevator, which took us to the top floor. We stayed up there for a while, we had to wait because we had arrived early, but most of us ran around and took pictures. The flag, up close, was amazing. It’s size was colossal, and it was held up by a giant metal pole. There was a sign that clearly stated ‘do not step on the grass, fine: $10,000’ I found that it was humorous as boys stepped on the grass without knowledge of the punishments. There were security cameras everywhere and they probably caught some of the boys walking on the grass.

We then moved back down the elevator and into a room, where we were given a drink, and a muesli bar. Once finished, we broke off into groups and moved around parliament house. My group first travelled through the vast corridors to get to the upper house, also known as the Senate. Our tour guide gave us a quick explanation of how the senate worked and told us who was currently in the Senate.

We moved to the lower house, also known as the House of Representatives. Our tour guide again gave us an explanation of how the lower house worked, and let us take pictures. I was hoping that parliament would be sitting on the day, but to my disappointment our Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, was not there on that day. We then travelled back into the courtyard of parliament house where we waited to be taken back in.

It was late at night and parliament was closed. But we were allowed to enter and we moved into some of the substitute parliament rooms. Once there, we commenced a mock debate, we picked our party leaders and thought up speeches, the government was arguing that the school day should be lengthened to 5:00 PM, while the opposition argued against that. Surprisingly, the opposition won and the bill was discarded.

Finally, we finished, and left the parliament house to get back on our bus and move to our cabins. It was a great experience and I enjoyed it a lot. It was probably one of the best experiences that I will have in my life.

Laying of the Wreath – Jack Alscher

Wind, rain, and cold encountered the Newington College spirit on the third day of our Canberra Excursion, as Year 6 laid the wreath to give our bit to the ANZAC souls who fought for Australia. It was unpleasant weather, but nothing could dampen our fierceness to repay those who fought for us. We stood outside the Australian War Memorial, with thoughts of what we had just experienced replaying in our mind, and all that we had learned, we faced the Remembrance Stone with determination.

Mr Morphew said a Prayer as the two School Captains from Lindfield and Wyvern walked in unison forward, laying the brightly coloured wreath, a bundle of white flowers against the grey of the sky.

We all stood silent, just for a minute, our force conquering the weather and just for a minute, the rain stopped, and we remembered the ANZAC’s who died for us. Wyvern and Lindfield were a united force that day when we remembered the ANZAC’s and nothing could separate us.

We all enjoyed the War Memorial, but probably the best thing was when we could go back inside, away from the weather! We left our wreath standing there, radiant and proud, the ribbon fluttering wearing the words “Lest We Forget”.

Old Parliament House – Dale Schlaphoff

We entered the Old Parliament House also known as The Australian Museum of Democracy through the side entrance. We were ushered into a large, polished room filled with chairs. On the chairs was a pair of white gloves, which we were asked to put on. Our 2 guides explained that the gloves were used to protect the ornaments and objects from the oil found on our hands.

After we were told some information about the historical building we split up into 2 groups. My group went off into the discovery section. This room was filled with information on every prime minister to be in office in Australia. Under each of the 27 prime ministers lay a highly sensitive touchscreen. We were requested to move into groups with a maximum of 3. One representative from each group was given a card to activate the touch screens. The touchscreen gave a quiz on each prime minister and then directed us across the room to a different prime minister.

Parliament House – Nico Maclean

On 5 September, our first day in Canberra, we visited the current Parliament House. After seeing it so many times on TV it was amazing just actually being there.

The flag (which is as big as a double-decker bus) fluttered high in the wind above us as we looked off into the distance down ANZAC Parade all the way to The War Memorial. Off to the left was the magnificent, colourful and alien-like Telstra Tower. The weather was quite chilly!

Inside were the fascinating chambers. The Senate (the Upper House) and the House of Representatives (the Lower House). The first place we visited was the Senate. This red masterpiece contains 76 senators when Parliament sits. The red represents the blossoms of the eucalyptus tree. The colour is lighter the higher you look and deeper the lower you look.

Next we went to the House of Representatives. This place had lush Green colours everywhere. Like the Senate the colours change from lighter to darker depending on where you looked. This chamber is where Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott sit. It contains 150 ministers and politicians when Parliament is in session.

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