In early August the Googong Anglican School joined the NOHC field team in an archaeological excavation of a mystery historical site in the paddocks of Googong. In a full-circle twist of history, the site was revealed to be the remains of a nineteenth century school, with tell-tale artefacts such as fragments of slates and slate pencils. Claire Dalziel, Junior school teaching and learning coordinator reports that
‘The kids have not stopped talking about it and are madly digging up patches of the playground creating their own sites and pits. The knowledge and information gained and the trip out to the paddocks will not be forgotten and our class has some very cherished memories from the day. You’ll be pleased to know that the kids are using the technical language correctly, ‘artefacts’, ‘pits’ and ‘sites’ are all part of our daily language!
Some quotes from the children that participated included:
“I loved digging because it is fun, and you get to dig out history”
“I learned that you have to scrape the dirt and then dig”
“I loved drawing the artefacts”
“I learned that some of the things that archaeologists dig up are 100 years old”
“I loved helping them (the archaeologists)” “I learned that archaeologists look for unnatural places to dig”
