Exploring Environments
A Step Back in Time!
Ziebell's Farmhouse
On Wednesday, 24th February, Ms Drohan’s and Ms Neri’s Year 9 Exploring Environments classes participated in the Ziebell’s Farmhouse excursion. The farmhouse was in a historic dairy farming settlement called Westgarthtown (Thomastown/Lalor), which is 16 kilometers north of Melbourne. The pioneering settlement was established in 1850 by Wendish and German immigrants. We had a lovely tour guide, John Fry, who showed us around the farmhouse and explained the history behind it all. John gave us the grand tour inside the museum, Ziebell’s Farmhouse, the cart shed, bath house and the heritage gardens. Our adventure also included a walking guided tour of the surrounding area including the smokehouse, Lutheran church and cemetery.
Ziebell’s Farmhouse was built in 1850-1851 and it is Victoria’s oldest German immigrant building. Ziebell’s Farmhouse was Christian and Sophia Ziebell’s home that they shared with their nine children and the siblings eventually built their own homes nearby. During the excursion we learnt about the family’s long and challenging journey to travel to Australia and John showed us how the pioneering families lived on a day-to-day basis. We were able to see how the Ziebell’s younger children collected water from the water well and hand-pump, how the working men and sons used the tools from the cart shed to construct the settlement and the farmhouse showed us the many difficult chores wives and daughters had to complete around the home. We also learnt how the family entertained themselves without all the technology that we have today. After a long day working on the farm, they would all stand around the family piano, as one family member would play it and the others would sing along. We even discovered Jack Ziebell, a current North Melbourne Football player, is a direct descendent of the Ziebell family!
We would like to thank John Fry for giving us the tour. He gave us a fascinating insight into our local community, the history of the families, buildings and the historic settlement and we learnt about the importance of protecting our cultural and natural heritage. We had a fun time, it was a great experience and we encourage others to attend Ziebell’s Farmhouse!
