Making the most of your visit to Narryna
The focus of the content of the infants and primary history curricula is to provide opportunities for students to develop historical understanding. They explore the history of their community, examine the remains of the past, speculate about people’s lives in the past and examine the impact of technology on people’s lives. As well as building knowledge and understanding, inquiry skills are taught in an integrated way — questioning, researching, analysing, evaluating and reflecting and communicating. (See Humanities and Social Sciences, Australian Curriculum)
At Narryna, we support children to ‘think like historians’ — to observe the house itself and the objects in it, to pose questions about how and why particular objects were used, and to imagine how free settlers’ and convict servants’ lives were different from their own. Our staff and volunteers work with small groups of students, enabling them to make the most of this unique opportunity, to relate to knowledgeable adults and appreciate their value as sources of historical information. We share narratives about people’s lives and invite students to compare life in and around Narryna 180 years ago, with what students experience today. Students will be able to gain a particular insight into how different technologies impacted people’s lives - e.g.
Without electricity, how did they light and heat their rooms, cook their meals, or make their food last?
Without telephones, internet, radio, TV, cameras or computers, how did they keep records of family events, pass on messages, share information, or find out about the world beyond Hobart Town?
What sorts of things did they do when they weren’t working (or having lessons)?
Without running water, how did they clean their dishes, their clothes and their bodies?
How did they manage without a toilet?
On the basis of our experience over recent years, we ask that any written tasks are deferred until after your visit. Engaging students in the stories associated with our wonderful collection, the house and its inhabitants is more easily achieved without the distraction of worksheets!
The experience of spending time with our staff and volunteers will enable students on their return to school, to describe the daily life of convicts and free settlers in Hobart Town in the 1840s.
We hope they will be inspired to extend their discussions by sharing reports of their visit with their families, and that many more conversations will result.