Day Three

It was an early breakfast this morning and we had a few reluctant risers at 7 am this morning.

First up today was a visit to Old Parliament, Museum of Australian Democracy. In this beautiful building the students learned more about the birth of Australian Democracy and the links between the Australian and Westminster Parliamentary systems. Oscar gave a rousing speech as Sir Littleton Groom ( First speaker of the house) thanking Westminster for the gift of the speaker's chair. Olivia followed as Joan Child (first female Speaker) and diplomatically explained why the chair would not be moved to New Parliament as it was time for Australian to stamp its own unique identity on the New Parliament. After many objections from the opposition and hear hears from the Government, the matter was settled and it was time for our next event.

At the Ian Potter Technology center we were told about the many creative idea and engineering people who design new inventions for the Questacon exhibition. They shared with us the creative cycle they go through from; need to think to make to test and finally refine stage.

When we saw the robotics on the tables we knew we were in for a bit of fun. Each group were given a task card to design and create a gadget to solve a common need e.g, hang up the washing, collect the eggs, close the door etc. Selecting from a wide choice of bric-a-brac resources the students programmed the robots and used the tools to design their prototype inventions. Wow, wow, wow - every group rose to the task and channeled their collective genius to produce some fantastic ideas. We definitely have some very clever budding engineers amongst us.

Being a creative genius is hungry work and we could see we needed to get some food and fresh air to recharge the grey matter before we headed to the War Memorial.

After lunch we spent 3 hours exploring the War Memorial and gaining a deeper understanding of the human cost of conflict and what so many service men and women have endured to ensure our liberties. As always it was a sombre occasion and the children were genuinely interested and suitable reverent throughout . We were very fortunate to witness the changing of the guard at the tomb of the unknown soldier and to pay our respects by laying a wreath during the last post ceremony - I hope some of you got the text in time and managed to catch it on the live stream.

Finally after another full agenda it was time to head home for dinner, a swim,and a bit of fun and games in our common room. With some hot chocolate and biscuits to round off the day, we packed the cherubs off to bed.

Two more sleeps - one more busy day, stay tuned .

P.S Luke was particularly excited to see his first kangaroos in their natural habitat