2023 Excursion to Flagstaff Hill

Last week our Year 2 classrooms visited Flagstaff Hill Maritime Museum to find out more about the history of Warrnambool and how life has changed since the 1800s. We were very interested in the changes in Technology over time and were surprised to find out how different our lives are as a result.

We went in two groups, with B7 & B8 going on Wednesday 23rd of August and B5 & B6 on Thursday 24th of August. We traveled by bus with our parent helpers and were very excited to be met by our volunteers at the gate. We had so much to explore in the village so we split up into groups. We were shocked to find out what life at school was like in the 1800s and that it was not like life at St. Joseph’s is now! We dressed up in clothes that children wore to school and they were very different to what we wear now. We sat in straight rows and weren’t allowed to talk to anyone unless the teacher asked a question. We had to call the teacher ‘Ma’am’ and she made all of us write the alphabet on the slate boards with our right hands, which was very hard for some who normally write with their left hand. Ma’am even demonstrated the strap and we had some very brave volunteers who went out the front to pretend to be in trouble. We found out that boys and girls weren’t even allowed to talk to each other inside the classroom!

We all came away very pleased with our school life in 2023!

We were very lucky that the sun was shining and we could enjoy our guided tour around the village with Gerard telling us all about what we saw, including the Lighthouse, how the ships would find their way, the cannons on the hill and we even saw the maremma dogs.

We went into the shops in the Village and they’re not what we see when we go down Liebig Street. When we went into the Bank we were even given a 1 pound note each to keep. We saw the Fire Station where there was a cart with a water hose instead of a Fire Truck like we see now. We watched the labels being printed for the lolly shop and it is much slower than the printers we use at school.

We finished off with lunch on the grass and played some olden day games before getting back on the bus to go back to school.

We had a wonderful time on our excursion.