Year 5 Spotlight

Year 5 Sovereign Hill Excursion

On Tuesday 31st May, Year 5 eagerly headed off to Sovereign Hill hoping to find gold. It was a frosty three degrees when we arrived but that didn’t dampen our enthusiasm as we were set for a day of exploring the Goldfields! 

Overall, it was a fabulous day investigating the main street shops, learning about Aboriginal people’s involvement in the goldfields, experiencing the Red Hill Mine tour underground and panning for gold! 

Read below to hear the Year 5 highlights and learning reflections from their excursion experience:

Ben & Jack (5A) 

Our favourite parts of the excursion were buying delicious lollies, going into the underground mine, visiting the bakery and hanging out with our friends. 

We enjoyed learning about gold and life on the goldfields, seeing the loud gunshot demonstration by the police person and experiencing the very cold weather, loud rain and birds around. 

Leila, Asher & Tully (5A)

We really liked hanging out with friends and getting to experience Sovereign Hill with each other. Making the candles was really cool to see how they were made and the dipping of the different wax colours. Panning for gold was super exciting to see if you find gold, even when your fingers are freezing you can heat them up in the warm fire! 

We enjoyed seeing the horses trotting across the wet muddy track and seeing people enjoying the ride in the carriage. Going to the bakery to get warm and drinking hot chocolate was fun. Lining up for the delicious homemade hard lollies was a highlight.

Grace & Nell (5A)

Our day highlights included buying lollies, the Red Hill mine, drinking warm hot chocolates served at the bakery, and hanging out with our friends. 

Throughout the day we enjoyed learning about gold, seeing horses and hearing their hooves clip clopping, hiding from the loud rain and freezing hail. It was cool seeing and hearing the loud clanging of the blacksmith. 

Iris (5B) 

I really enjoyed panning for gold and purchasing lollies! 

Though the frosty water numbed our hands with cold, being released into freezing air afterward, it was really fun actually finding a couple flecks of gold in the river. All of the lollies were delicious and we could buy lots of varieties and even see a demonstration of these delicious gems being made… we even got some samples! They were warm and fresh, like bread straight from a bakery.

I learnt about how hard life was on the goldfields! Things like food, clean water, and fresh clothing were pretty scarce. Also, we got to witness a gun being shot into the air, which was so loud that you had to cover your ears. I was feeling so cold the whole time though!

Stasys (5B)

My favourite part of the excursion was watching the lollies get made, exploring the main street, panning for gold, and the mine tour. Basically everything!

I learnt about the history of raspberry drops, I saw what people dressed like in 1850’s and learnt about their methods of living life on the goldfields. I learnt how hard it was for miners and what it was like.

Haleli (5B)

My favourite part of the excursion was panning. I found a really tiny piece of gold! I also liked watching a man make the raspberry drops. We got a taste test of the freshly made raspberry drops and they were so warm and tasty. I also really liked the lolly shop it felt like I was actually there in that time. 

During our excursion I saw people dressed in clothes that they wore in that goldfields, including a woman who was an actor pretending like she was from those times. She told us some of the things that she was selling and she said, “If you buy one of these things the money would go to a single mum with five children.”

Mia & Alena (5C)

Some of the best parts of the Sovereign Hill excursion were panning for gold, going down the mines, going to the lolly shop, and seeing what it would have looked like being a miner on the goldfields. But the best bit was finding some gold/panning for gold. (~ Mia)

Some of my favourite parts in Sovereign Hill were seeing the horses, patting Blondie (horse), panning for gold, going into the cramped mine and the lolly shop. But my favourite was probably patting Blondie and going to the lolly shop because the sweets are/were delicious and horses are my absolute favourite animals. (~ Alena)

Xavier & Harley (5C)

I loved going down in the mines because it was really fun as a class and really realistic. I also loved the lolly shop as there were so many options for lollies and it was a really cool shop. I also enjoyed learning about aboriginal people in the gold mines and their cultures. Seeing all the tents with all the people (actors) and decorations. Overall my favourite was probably gold panning. (~ Xavier)

It was interesting when we went down to the mine, a hologram showed us how it was down in the mines and that it is very tricky to find gold. We also learnt about the bushtail possum, and that it is used to keep the aboriginal people warm, the aboriginal people got one more layer every year. (~ Harley)

Ruby (5C) 

My most memorable parts of our excursion day were going into to the mines, at first the thought of going into the dark and scary mines was a bit terrifying but once we went in it was a very cool experience. While we were down there, we also learnt about the Welcome Nugget!

And I (and I think most others) also loved getting to walk around the town and buying some souvenirs/ lollies. 

During our education session we learnt about how the Aboriginal people took part in history during those times, we learnt about how Aboriginal people made money by trading items with the English people.

We also learnt how to pan for gold! And I found two (tiny) flakes of gold which was awesome!

~ Year 5 Teachers (Aaron, Lauren & Anna) and Students