On Monday the 25th of July, the Harbour Centre staff and students travelled to Sydney to visit the Hyde Park Barracks, as part of our history unit where we studied Colonial Australia. The Hyde Park Barracks was originally built in 1817 to house male convicts who arrived in Australia. Today it is a museum that allows us to experience a day in the life of a Convict in Australia. We saw first-hand how they lived, what they wore, what they ate, the tools they used and the jobs they performed. Towards the end of our tour we were able to lie in the hammocks that the convicts slept in, before finishing the day outside in the garden where we recreated the solitary confinement room that was used as part of psychological punishment for the convicts back in the day. After the tour ended we walked through Sydney sightseeing some of the iconic landmarks the city has to offer. We got on the bus and were starving after a huge day, so the teachers took us to McDonald's to fuel up before heading back to school. Overall, we thoroughly enjoyed the day out of school at the Hyde Park Barracks.
Written by
Caitlin Worldon (on behalf of the Harbour Centre students)
