Reflecting on Memory, Place and Responsibility:

On Monday the 31st of March and Tuesday 1st of April, Year 10 students embarked on a profound learning journey as part of our Issues Studies “Cities as Wicked Problems” unit, visiting the Melbourne Holocaust Museum and attending a screening of The Lost City of Melbourne. The day challenged students to think critically about the layered complexities of memory, urban development, and the ethical responsibilities we share as citizens and decision-makers in shaping our communities.

Our visit to the Melbourne Holocaust Museum was deeply moving. Through survivor testimonies, artefacts, and reflective discussion, students grappled with difficult truths about our past. As Siena Sotiropoulos wrote in her reflection, “The museum has helped shape the way I perceive injustices in our modern world, and what my responsibilities are to speak out and act for others.” This sentiment echoed across the group, with students recognising how understanding history is vital to making just and inclusive decisions in the present.

Following this, the screening of The Lost City of Melbourne offered a stark contrast — highlighting how rapid urban development and the loss of cultural heritage in post-war Melbourne continue to shape the social and architectural landscape of the city. As Marcus O’Meara-Hayes observed, “The film exposed how Melbourne’s identity has been shaped just as much by what we’ve lost as by what we’ve built.”

This excursion provided a rich foundation for students to explore the intersection of historical memory, civic identity, and urban change. Through reflective writing, fieldwork and critical analysis, students are applying these experiences in their portfolio work — generating creative solutions and informed perspectives on the urban challenges that face cities like Melbourne today.

We are proud of the maturity and thoughtfulness our students brought to the day and thank our learning partners at the Melbourne Holocaust Museum and Classic Cinema for helping make this such a memorable and meaningful experience.To read more student reflections about the excursion please read on below to share in the insights our students took away from the day. 

~ Christopher Man (Head of Humanities)

Student Reflections: 

Melbourne is a city rich in diverse cultures and history, ranging from Victorian-era-inspired buildings to stories about those who migrated here. On Monday the 31st of March, the Year 10 cohort had the valuable opportunity to visit the Melbourne Holocaust Museum and to view the Lost City of Melbourne in the Classic Cinema. 

We began the day visiting the Melbourne Holocaust Museum whose exhibits teach us about World War II and the devastating events that occurred during it. The harsh reality of what happened during those times is often unknown to society, and our visit really opened our eyes to the truth. We also had the chance to talk to Jack Leder, a Holocaust survivor, who came to tell us his story which gives me an insight and personal connection to his experiences. As the last generation who will be able to interact with the survivors, this opportunity was extremely cherishable and dear to us: Meet a Witness. Become one. 

Next, we went on a scavenger hunt along the main road in Elsternwick, observing a mix of modern and historical buildings, with a tram line that connects the community. 

After that, we went to the Classic Cinema and watched a documentary called the Lost City of Melbourne. It was another eye-opening experience that revealed how Melbourne's beautiful architecture in the 1900s was overtaken by modernisation. Only when so many were knocked down did our society begin to recognise the cultural significance of heritage buildings, and so with the ones that remain we have maintained and cared for making Melbourne one of the first cities to do so. 

Overall, the day was insightful with lessons and connections I carry with me into the future.

~Alisa KRIVULIN

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The “Melbourne Holocaust Museum Excursion” served as an excellent opportunity to learn about the roots of Jewish migration to Melbourne during the appalling time of the Holocaust from survivors and primary artifacts themselves. As students, we considered how our motivations and actions could alter the future of our environment, as well as the importance of critically analysing the media we intake. The documentary highlighted the value of preserving our local history through buildings and infrastructure, not solely for sentimental reasons but also to dedicate financial and workforce resources to refurbishment and development elsewhere. These insights gained from experienced historians and urban planners will guide further research and idea-building as the cohort continues to work through our “Cities as Wicked Problems” unit. It was super interesting to connect the content we have been studying in class to tangible issues and realities of our local communities! 

In the future, I will strive to embody the key values we learned about in the museum, including hope, critical judgment, compassion, and more. These qualities are fundamental lifestyle choices that acknowledge that the horrifying Holocaust atrocities can serve as lessons to help us remember our past and prevent it from happening again. Thank you so much to all of the teachers and staff who facilitated this event. It was an insightful experience that provided me with valuable knowledge and perspectives, which I will carry forward and reflect on in the future.

~ Siena SOTIROPOULOS

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Going to the Melbourne Holocaust Museum offered the insightful opportunity of learning the depths of the tragedies and heroics that made up the Holocaust, from the terrible ways the Nazi Germans oppressed Jewish people to those who either openly or clandestinely went against the orders of the Nazi Party, recognising that it is more important to be a good human than conform to the wills of a dictator. We had the privilege of hearing some incredible and moving stories from Dr Jack Leder who survived the Holocaust when he was only a little boy. For me, the most poignant of these stories was his reflection on his mother and the sacrifices she made, the resilience she showed, and the courage she maintained across her whole life after experiencing the Holocaust not only as a mother, but as a wife who had lost her husband.

We also viewed a documentary of a very different part of history, that being the development of Melbourne, in particular the changes of its architecture from ‘Marvellous Melbourne’ and the lavishness of the gold rush era to the deliberately spectacular and innovative designs of the cinemas and hotels that were springing up all across the city during the 1920s right up to the war period, and finally, to the demolition of all this awe-inspiring architecture in the following few decades, and in its place putting in large, chunky, and bland buildings designed only with thoughts of practicality in mind, rather than inspiring imagination. This documentary aimed to encapsulate the importance of preservation and maintaining the heritage of a city, and it managed to do so not only convincingly, but engrossingly as well.

While these experiences explore and inform on wildly different topics, they do share the idea that it is the decisions people make and the way people act upon these decisions in the world that influence how cities, countries and cultures develop over time, and how crucial it is to be aware of our own power in moulding this change for the future. 

~ Marcus O'MEARA-HAYES