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Year 5 Port Arthur excursion

On Thursday 31 May, Year 5 visited Port Arthur as part of their history unit entitled "Convicts: Victims or Villains?"

As the original excursion had to be cancelled due to recent floodwaters, the students had their fingers crossed for forgiving weather. Fortunately, they enjoyed wonderfully sunny conditions on the day! Year 5 participated in an educational tour, a cruise on the harbour and an afternoon spent searching for historical clues as part of The Amazing Race competition.

Here are some of the students’ favourite recollections:

I really liked the museum because it had all the items that the convicts used back when Port Arthur was being used. I saw a statue made by a convict stonemason and a convict whip called a cat-of-nine tails. Lucas Hoare 5B

I enjoyed seeing the Separate Prison at Port Arthur where the convicts had to be silent and separate from each other. In the chapel, the convicts weren’t allowed to sit near each other – they had doors between them that were shut. Isabel Rolls 5B

I loved going on the cruise where we saw the Isle of the Dead which had convicts buried on it. We also saw a seal’s fin near the rocks. It was windy and absolutely freezing outside at the front of the boat! Evangeline Morrison 5B

I loved seeing the huge penitentiary close-up. The two lower floors contained cells for prisoners and that explained why there were bars on the windows. If you were good in convict times in the penitentiary you would live on the top floor and get a warm bath every night and get a warm, cosy bed. Noah Riddell 5B

I loved the massive guard tower because on our Amazing Race worksheet we had a fun activity to do. We had to find out words that matched the sentences on the sheet. I think my group worked very well together and that’s how we found out lots of answers. Taylah Bernes 5A

The hospital was where the convicts used to go if they were sick or if they’d been punished really badly and they got hurt. In our Amazing Race we had to find an object in the hospital and guess what it was used for. The answer was that it was used for hanging lanterns. Caitlin Stevanovich 5A

We visited Port Arthur and I saw a weird brown building. I didn’t know what it was at first, then I figured it out after a while. It was a church. I could tell by the cross that was up above the entrance. It seemed smaller than the churches that we have today. Ben Weeding 5A

I really liked the Commandant’s House because it was fancy and there were lots of rooms. The rooms were quite small and they had lots of furniture in them. The furniture looked very old-fashioned and in the cool-room there were lots of different pickled items. Charlie Goodman 5A

You can see more photos on our gallery: Year 5 Port Arthur excursion.

Ms Beth Graham & Ms Michelle O’Grady - Year 5 Teachers