Humanities News

By Jayne Carrigg - Faculty Coordinator: Humanities

Art, Culture and Politics

Since our last newsletter article the Humanities Faculty has been engaged in many activities with our Loreto Community and with our broader Ballarat Community.

During the last week of Term 3 each of your Year 9 Humanities classes were fortunate to have the opportunity to participate in a workshop with Dr Deanne Gilson. Dr Deanne is a Proud Wadawarrung woman and artist who has exhibited extensively around Australia including at the Koorie Heritage Trust, the Art Gallery of Ballarat, the Melbourne Museum, the Ballarat Photo Biennale and Melbourne Fashion Week. The students explored First Nation’s art connected to the Lake Wendouree precinct and Wadawurrung/Ballarat region; drawing & painting with ochres; language words, storytelling and cultural artefacts. They each painted an eel and part of an eel trap which became part of a larger artwork that the year level created.

During the September school holidays, members of the Unit 2 Politics class had an afternoon tea with Juliana Addison MP in her electoral office. This was an afternoon of sweet treats and conversations about local and international matters of concern. It provided students with a valuable insight into the diverse and often challenging work of our local political representatives as they strive to represent all members of their electorate regardless of political perspective. We thank Juliana and her staff for generously hosting this event. 

While most of our students have been relaxing in the September school holidays our VCE students have been preparing for their final exams. Students completing VCE Humanities subjects such as Business Management, History: Revolutions, Legal Studies, Politics and Sociology have also been participating in Student Revision lectures provided by experts in the subject such as the History Teacher’s Association Victoria (HTAV), Social Education Victoria (SEV) and The Commerce Studies Hub. These lectures provided valuable subject specific exam writing strategies, subject specific revision and opportunities for students to ask questions.