| On Tuesday 3rd of September, Stage 3 left for our exciting overnight excursion to Old Mogo Town. We have been learning about the Australian Gold Rush and we went to learn more and to see what life was really like on the goldfields. We arrived at school VERY early, at 6.00am. 46 excited children boarded the coach and headed South. Our first stop on our adventure was at the Kiama Blowhole. You could hear the waves coming and knew when it was going to spray. It was very beautiful, but, unfortunately the waves weren't very big, so the Blowhole wasn't as exciting as we hoped. |  |
 | We got back on the bus and started the very windy trip to Mogo. Some of us didn't like the bends and got a little sick. We arrived at Mogo just after 11.00 and were very excited to wait in the camp kitchen to find out who we were sharing a cabin with. We had some free time to settle in our cabins and decide who got the top bunks. Some of us played necomb ball, soccer or football. |
| After our free time and lunch, we were split into 2 groups and began our tour of the Historic Old Mogo Town. All of the buildings were real buildings from the Mogo Gold Rush that had been moved from the main street to the camp. We went into a real mine shaft that was 5 metres underground. We went into a 5 star gold rush hotel. It was awful! There was a sign saying 'No more than 5 people in one bed', and they told us that they only changed the bath water after 10 people bathed in it. |   |
| One of the most fun activities of the afternoon was when we learned how to pan for gold. It took AGES, and all we found were tiny little specks of gold that were practically worthless. It helped us to understand how difficult it would have been for people in the goldfields. We also saw real mining tools like a cradle and a massive machine used for crushing quartz. It was really loud and it made people deaf who worked on them in the past. They also got mercury poisoning. |  |
We went into the post office, the jail, the blacksmith and the police station. We were shocked to find out that the barber was also the doctor, surgeon, dentist, chemist and undertaker. We found out that the red and white striped posts at a barber represent blood and bandages! There was also a terrifying death mask, made after someone was executed. The mask looked very real and was wearing the person's favourite hat and shirt.
We went into a hut that was where wealthy people would have lived. The fridge looked like a bird cage. People would only build a hut if they were staying in that area, but many people moved around searching for gold.
In the afternoon we had a pretend 1850's school lesson in the chapel. 6 students were chosen to be his student teachers. They ran a spelling test then there was a pretend argument between Frank and Sausau. Sausau caught Frank passing a letter and Frank threatened him and was told he would be hit 9 times with the cane. Just as he bent down to be hit, the bell rang. Saved by the bell!
We went into a hut that was where wealthy people would have lived. The fridge looked like a bird cage. People would only build a hut if they were staying in that area, but many people moved around searching for gold.
In the afternoon we had a pretend 1850's school lesson in the chapel. 6 students were chosen to be his student teachers. They ran a spelling test then there was a pretend argument between Frank and Sausau. Sausau caught Frank passing a letter and Frank threatened him and was told he would be hit 9 times with the cane. Just as he bent down to be hit, the bell rang. Saved by the bell!
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