Week 8 Term 3, 2023 Last week Year 5 spent 3 days exploring Echuca and Ballarat to learn about the rich history that both places hold. The first day was spent in Echuca where students visited the PS Pevensey on the Murray River and went on a Port of Echuca tour. They loved learning about the importance of paddle steamers in the 1800s to transport people, food and services. Diggers would hop aboard a paddle steamer to Echuca and then hike it to the Ballarat and Bendigo Goldfields. The next day, students were at Sovereign Hill exploring, sifting for gold and even had the opportunity to hold a 24-carat gold ingot worth $300,000! The last day was a very busy day for Year 5 as they paid a visit to the Deborah Gold Mine where they travelled 61 metres underground where they learnt about how gold was mined in the past in Bendigo. Students were asking great questions about mining and enjoyed turning their hand at panning again! A massive thank you to Ms Brooke Scriven, Mr David Chapman and Mrs Linda Priest for caring for this wonderful group of students.