School Visits
A MUSEUM IS A MYSTERIOUS PLACE FOR A BUDDING DETECTIVE TO INVESTIGATE THE PAST!
- HOW CURIOUS & IMAGINATIVE ARE YOUR STUDENTS?
- ARE YOUR STUDENTS LITTLE HISTORIANS?
- WHAT DO YOUR STUDENTS KNOW ALREADY?
- WHAT WOULD YOUR STUDENTS LIKE TO KNOW?
- HOW ARE YOUR STUDENTS GOING TO FIND OUT WHAT THEY WOULD LIKE TO KNOW?
- WILL OPINIONS CHANGE OR STAY THE SAME?
INFORMATION FOR TEACHERS
Visits are offered each year from the beginning of April to end of October.
Please note: For assistance with transport costs, please refer to the Ipswich City Council's website "Grants" section.
Take your students back in time with interactive and immersive excursions at Cooneana Heritage Centre!
Students are invited to mince carrots, play historic games, write on slates, do the washing, explore coal mining, check out classic motorcycles, spinning and weaving, blacksmithing, lawn mowing. So, come join us as we dress up and have lots of fun in the olden days.
Teachers are asked to please email the Society at least three weeks in advance if you wish to book a date for 2025.
The following Thursdays are currently available in 2025:
12 and 19 June
17 and 24 July
4 and 18 September
9, 16, 23 and 30 October
We look forward to working with your students.
Reviews
On behalf of the students and teachers / parents from Grand Avenue State School that attended Cooneana, we would just like to say a huge thank you to you and your amazing team. The day ran perfectly smoothly and the activities are so well organised. You and your team are so wonderful with the students as well, it is just such a great place for us to visit.
Thank you once again to you and your team.
Year 2 teachers
Everyone had a wonderful time with lots positive feedback from those who attended. Thank you again for making the day a memorable one for the children.
Senior Teacher Springfield Lakes SS
Day & arrival time for visits
Thursday at 9.00 am.
Years One to Three Snapshots 2025
Duration
9.30am - 12.25pm.
Activities are 20 minutes per session and there are 6 stations on the day.
Maximum Students
Maximum 60 students per day.
Larger groups will need to visit over multiple weeks.
Activities
This program offers a choice of up to 10 different activities. However, a maximum of 6 may be selected for the day.
Supervision Ratios
When visiting the centre, we require a ratio of 1:6 accompanying adults to students.
Bookings Offered
Sessions are offered in terms 2 & 3 on Thursdays only. Other days may be negotiated.
Cost
$6.00 per student GST included. Accompanying adults Free
Bookings
3 weeks in advance. If you would like to make a booking please contact us.
Email: Education Coordinator at:
Morning Tea
10.40 - 11.10am
Technology through the ages
Teachers are encouraged to meet with our Education Coordinator by appointment prior to the visit to familiarise themselves with the site and to conduct a risk assessment for their students' visit.
Activities
In the Olden Days: During their exploration of the past, students have the opportunity to explore Cooneana Homestead and the kitchen. The children will gain an insight into everyday home life for many early settlers/pioneers. They can compare the differences set-out before them and discover just how hard life really was in the 'land of milk and honey'.
How was it done? Mincing, getting honey from honeycomb – oh gosh!
These activities are sure to have students' asking questions about the olden days. Where is the bath? Experience life as it was before electricity. Exactly how was it done?
From coffee beans to kerosene lamps, mincers, to the sweet smell/taste of honeycomb. Students will gain an understanding and a yearning to discover more.
This experience of an old classroom is sure to delight students and teachers. Seated in wooden desks children will be able to experience an in-class session of days gone by - from slates and ink wells, duster and chalk to good manners. In the past students had to watch their 'P's and 'Q's or they may have just experienced '6 of the best'!
Wash Day: Wash days, from mangles, to dolly pegs, washboards and coppers, a real soap suds peek into the past with hands on experience will give children an understanding of just how tough the weekly laundry really was.
Coal Mining: Through an interactive film, students, delve into the local history and explore the hardships experienced by early miners. Gaining insight into the expansion of the region with an abundance of coal and underground coal mines. Through this tour of the past students will gain an understanding of a coal mine tunnel and equipment.
Other stations available:
- Historical Motorcycle Club: Motorcycles through the ages
- Blacksmiths: Experience the forge and find out what an Anvil is used for
- Spinners, Weavers, Fibre Artisans: See fleece turned into yarn, Spinning wheel, Sewing machine & Loom
- Communication: Verbal and written - Telephones, Typewriters, Tin can phones, Newspapers
- Dress ups and games: Sack racing, Skipping, Croquet, Hop Scotch, Tic Tac Toe
- Lawnmowers: Scythe, Reaping hooks, Push mowers
Curriculum Links
These activities have been developed to link directly to the Australian Year One, Two and Three Curricula.
Year One
Inquiry and skills
Questioning:
Pose questions about past and present objects, people, places and events (ACHASS1018)
Researching:
Collect data and information from observations and identify information and data from sources provided (ACHASS1019)
Analysing:
Explore a point of view (ACHASS1022)
Compare objects from the past with those from the present and consider how places have changed overtime (ACHASS1023)
Evaluating and reflecting:
Draw simple conclusions based on discussions, observations and information displayed in pictures and texts and on maps (ACHASS1025)
Knowledge and understanding:
Inquiry questions:
How has family life changed or remained the same over time?
How can we show that the present is different from or similar to the past?
Content:
Difference in family structures and roles today, and how these have changed or remained the same over time (ACHASSK028)
Differences and similarities between students' daily lives and life during their parents' and grandparents' childhoods (ACHASSK030)
Cross curriculum priorities
Sustainability
Year Two
Inquiry and skills
Questioning:
Pose questions about past and present objects, people, places and events (ACHASS1034)
Researching:
Collect data and information from observations and identify information and data from sources provided (ACHASS1035)
Analysing:
Explore a point of view (ACHASS1038)
Compare objects from the past with those from the present and consider how places have changed over time (ACHASS1039)
Evaluating and reflecting:
Draw simple conclusions based on discussions, observations and information displayed in pictures and texts and on maps (ACHASS1041)
Knowledge and understanding
Inquiry questions:
What aspects of the past can you see today? What do they tell us?
What remains of the past are important to the local community? Why?
How have changes in technology shaped our daily life?
Content
How changing technology affected people's lives (at home and in the ways they worked, travelled, communicated and played in the past (ACHASSK046)
Cross curriculum priorities
Sustainability
Year Three
Inquiry and skills
Questioning:
Pose questions to investigate people, events, places and issues (ACHASS1052)
Researching:
Locate and collect information from data from different sources, including observations (ACHASS1053)
Evaluating and reflecting:
Draw simple conclusions based on analysis of information and data (ACHASS1058)
Knowledge and understanding
Inquiry questions:
How has our community changed? What features have been lost and what features have been retained?
What is the nature of the contribution made by different groups and individuals in the community?
Content:
How the community has changed and remained the same over time and the role that people of diverse backgrounds have played in the development and character of the local community (ACHASSK063)
Planning your visit
Maximum of 60 students per day. Prior to arrival, students to be divided evenly into 6 groups of no more than 10 students each. Students to wear name tags identifying their group (e.g. John Smith Group 2)
When booking please indicate if any of your students have special needs, allergies or learning difficulties so we can accommodate their needs during the visit.
Students to wear closed-in shoes, bring their own hat, water bottle, and morning tea.
It is recommended students leave their bags at school.
Students are encouraged to come in period costume if they wish.
Bus parking is available on site.
Behaviour management remains the responsibility of teachers and carers. Ensure accompanying adults are aware they should actively supervise the students.
Please plan to arrive between 9.00 and 9.15 am to allow for introductions and toilet visits. Late arrivals will result in elements of activities cut from the program to keep with the scheduled finish time. As it takes a few minutes for students to move between stations, we have altered the timetable to allow for this with five minutes between stations.
Session Times:
- 9.30 - 9.50 am
- 9.55 - 10.15 am
- 10.20 - 10.40 am
- Morning Tea 10.40 – 11.10 am
- 11.15 - 11.35 am
- 11.40 - 12.00 pm
- 12.05 - 12.25 pm
An invoice will be sent to the school after your visit.
All volunteer guides have blue cards, volunteer guide/s are allocated to each station.
Risk Assessment:
When dates and activities are selected and approved a full on-site risk assessment with teacher/s will need to be completed with the School Program Coordinator prior to the planned excursion.
Location:
Cooneana Heritage Centre
1041 Redbank Plains Road
New Chum, Ipswich
Qld 4303
Ph: (07) 3282 0358 (Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays 10am to 2pm)
E: Education Coordinator