Immigration Museum

Tully – I think was a great learning experience because we got to learn about immigration and the different things involved. I also think it will be a primary knowledge source for later in the term. I feel more confident about our inquiry unit now which is History. I connected with some of my family’s stories that are similar to the ones at the museum.

Piers – I think that yesterday was one of the best learning experiences ever! Here is why: We were split up into 3 tasks so it wouldn’t overload our brains with all the information at once, everything we read was easy to understand. When I saw the video with the man on the tram it made me question racism because why do we have to do this to black people? We are all the same inside.
Natalie – We went to the Immigration Museum to learn more about racism and migration, and what causes them. The Immigration Museum was good because I could connect to how those people felt about moving to Australia and how they might have felt. I learnt more about how people can be racist and how other people feel about and what we should do when someone’s being racist

Jenny – I thought it was a good excursion as we got to see the Yarra River and when we got inside the Immigration Museum we went to a place that looked like a tram and showed how people deal with racism. This man walked on to the tram and a man moved over for him to sit down but the man would not sit down because he had black skin and he had white skin which is rude and racist then the man who had black skins phone rang and the rude white man said can you keep it down so a lady stood up and sat next to the man with black skin. To me I found what the white man did was rude and cruel but the girl who moved showed respect and dignity.

Natasha - I felt disgusted when I watched a video of a man being nice, who moved over for another man but the man refused because the other man was different and he was being racist so the lady who was watching sat next to the man and the rude man left.
Zach – It was interesting how we learnt about the historical immigration objects that were used then and now. I also learnt about racism and that you shouldn't be racist. I thought today was a successful excursion, as we could split the classes into different sections. I learnt that most people who are teased is caused by racism and that migration is the same as refugees.

James – I thought the tour of Melbourne was a great way to learn things because we could travel around and learn things, not just in pictures.

Natalia – Our excursion to the immigration museum was very interesting. It was quite confronting when we saw a few homeless people, living under a bridge. We were freezing cold at ten o'clock in the morning. How would we manage sleeping all night there, it was probably the temperature was probably sub zero. I thought of the early settlers and the gold miners, they probably slept in similar conditions. They slept in tents or under the open sky when they first started living in Australia. I really enjoyed the remake of the ship that migrants would have gone on. It was helpful to imagine what it would have been like to travel to Australia, in the 1850’s to the 1950’s

Lochie- I thought the excursion was good because when we went around Melbourne we saw where the ships would have come. I thought how crazy it was how America had two different drinking taps because of racism.
Oliver - We watched a video about an African man on the bus and an angry white guy named Rob, rejected his offer to sit down and told the African man to be quiet when he wasn't even loud, then a lady called Susan stood up and sat next to the African man and Rob crushed a can in an aggressive way. It was a good example of some racist situations on public transport.

Cooper T - I enjoyed the excursion because I thought that all the exhibitions told stories. Each of the stories meant something, I think that all the stories had a meaning to someone. The story that meant the most to me was the tram, because my family are very loud and they always get told to be quiet, I thought this excursion was a very factual excursion

Jessica - I thought it was nice of Sue to stand up for the man on the tram, and I was surprised how much the City changed from the past till now.

Ava M - At the Immigration Museum my class first went to explore around the museum and around the city near the museum. I learnt from doing that, that we didn't have certain buildings and shops and restaurants. Next we went and learnt about different people coming to Australia and I learnt a lot and had fun.

Cooper M - I think it was a really good day yesterday, I connected to when there was a tram room and there was people reactions to someone not sitting next to someone else because, they were from a different race. I connected to that because that happens in our every day lives.

Pat - On Monday we went to the Immigration museum. There was lots of things to do like walking to the Yarra river and making a book about the history around the Yarra river and collins st. I thought that is was a great way to learn about immigration and migrants. it was better than sitting on the floor and watching a news report on the immigration Museum. There was one thing that was meant to be inside a tram and you were watching a video on a guy called Rob being racist to an African man then after the video we got to hear about their feelings. In the last thing we went into was a thing called leaving home I thought is was good because there was a ship that had bed and kitchen it showed you what it used to be like on a immigration ship it also showed you what animals migrated to Australia.

Tom - I feel that the Immigration Museum was a really good experience. I particularly connected with the timeline that wrapped around the room because it was really in depth and it showed how people thought of the migrants and how their attitude improved. This got me thinking that our attitude has been slightly improving, until now because we’ve dropped our standards once more.

Isabella - I connected with when we went into the fake tram, there was a guy who was just minding his own business and then another person came on and would not sit next to him because he had a different skin colour. Then another women moved and sat next to him. I then got to see what each person was thinking, I couldn’t believe the way some people think and something as small as that video is enough to make you think. Usually someone would consider it not a big deal but if it were to happen to you, you would have a completely different perspective.

Tia - The Immigration Museum was a fantastic experience and had some truly amazing facts about Australia's history. But the thing I connected to most was the video about migrants emotions and their reasons for migrating, because I have been a migrant and I can imagine their feelings and feel them as my own.

Madison - I think that the Immigration Museum really opened a door about Aussie history and it had great explanation in the Passport Exhibition, the Identity Exhibition and the Heritage tour. It not only shared History but also showed the effects of Racism. I really enjoyed this excursion and my favourite part of the Museum was when we went in this massive life size boat model that we got to go in and see what it was like of the first fleet ship.