Stories of old inspire students

PRIMARY school students, including those from Cape Clear, celebrated Book Week recently by stepping into the past.

With guidance from Sofia Fiusco, Sovereign Hill’s head of learning, children had the chance to explore the Australian Centre for Gold Rush Collections, discovering old artefacts and the tales they tell.

Ms Fiusco said the idea of Book Week aligns with the aim of the living museum, which is to champion storytelling.

“For every object we have in the collection, there is a story behind who made it, where it came from, how it changed the way we do things,” she said.

“There’s usually a personal connection, and there is a sense of wonder and awe, ‘this is how we did things in the past, so how do we do things now, and why have things changed?’

“Everything has a sense of a time and place. Often we know who and why, but sometimes we don’t, so the students can ask, ‘what do I know, how do I know that, and why do we keep these things so special?’

“Often the children haven’t had a lot of experience with really old artefacts, and today we’ve been looking at things from as far back as the 1860s, right through to the 1920s.”

The groups read the storybook Farmhouse by Sophie Blackall, and after stepping into the collection, had a chance to make a collage inspired by both the book’s themes, and an item from storage.

Nine-year-old Jaxon and 11-year-old Jett from Cape Clear Primary School developed an artwork together, with references to an historic typewriter.

“It was 140 years old,” Jaxon said. “It also had circle buttons.”

Ms Fiusco said the children enjoyed looking at the shelves of fragile, old items in storage and it sparked their curiosities.

“They love it,” she said. “The Australian Centre for Gold Rush Collections has a great new learning space.

“It’s movable, visible storage, so we can move things around, create bigger spaces for people to see, and the children are just amazed that they can see so many things.

“They’re also asking questions about the temperature differences in the rooms, why we have numbers on items, and how we treat these things.

“They’re used to going to an exhibition where you see an object from afar… but this time they can go in and explore.”