Extra Curricula News

Year 1/2 Werribee Mansion Visit

On Monday 25th  November, the Year 1/2 Community went on the bus to the Werribee Park Mansion, as part of our ‘Step Back in Time’ Inquiry Unit.

Firstly, we enjoyed our snack in the beautiful State Rose Garden and then walked through the rose maze. Next, we went for a walk around the property and saw the lake and the grotto.

Later, we went to the laundry for a tour. We did laundry rotations and washed clothes just how they did in the olden days. It took them six days to wash clothes! Their clothes line was really different to ours. It was huge and up really high! They had a hedge around the clothesline for privacy, so their visitors couldn’t see their underwear!

Next, we walked to the farm and looked through the old farm buildings. We saw chickens, really tall sunflowers, stuffed animals, old carriages and vegetable gardens. We had a tour around the mansion with a lady dressed in an olden day’s maid outfit. We learnt about the Chirnside family who owned the mansion. They were really wealthy because they farmed sheep and cows, they even had 30 servants.

There were 16 bedrooms, separate dressing rooms for Mr and Mrs Chirnside, an interesting toilet, lots of fancy portraits, a fancy dining room just for important visitors (no kids allowed), a nursery and heaps of other rooms. Their teacher lived at the mansion with the family. The Chirnside kids didn’t experience a school setting until they set off for high school.

We learnt that back then, males were considered the most important and females and males had very different roles. Females weren’t allowed to shower because it was thought to be too hot for them and they might faint!

It was an extremely warm day but so much fun and we learnt lots!

A special thank you to our parent volunteers who came on our excursion!

Year 1/2 Community