Awaking to the sound of our alarms, we flew out of bed, with great excitement. Canberra was our destination and all the students in Year 5 and Year 6 were attending. Climbing out of bed on Tuesday the 23rd May some of us ensured we had time to eat a healthy and filling breakfast and pack our backpack with the essentials… hat, drink bottle, morning tea, lunch and of course a warm coat! Yet others skipped breakfast, rushed onto the bus as the doors were about to close… Noah!

Travelling via Goulburn seemed to take forever but luckily Year 6 had the back seats and some of us were able to talk with our friends, while others sat quietly. After what felt like an eternity, we had finally earnt the right to sit up the back. Mrs Spackman just knew our behaviour would be exemplary, trusted us to do the right thing & we did! We have finally proved ourselves as mature and responsible leaders. Well…at least most of the time!

Leadership of our nation was the topic of discussion at our first stop, Parliament House. Portraits of our past Prime Ministers lined the walls & created a focal point for discussion of different artists & Prime Ministers. We saw the portrait of Australia's first & only female Prime Minister, Julia Gillard. We also saw portraits for Malcolm Frazer, Bob Hawke, Paul Keating, Julia Gillard & Tony Abbott. After 14 years, Kevin Rudd still doesn't have a portrait on display because he hasn't organised it yet! Anthony Albanese can’t sit for his portrait yet because he is the current 2023 Prime Minister.

While listening to our guide we learnt that The House of Senate is red & has 76 members. The House of Representatives is green & has 151 seats. Our guide pointed out the seat made for Queen Elizabeth II, now ready for King Charles if he visits the Australian Parliament. The Governor General is the only other Head of State that can sit in this chair. Discovering where the Speaker of the House, the Prime Minister & the Leader of the Opposition all sit is information our guide shared with us. We witnessed the position that special dignitaries sit when visiting our Parliament. We discussed Angus Taylor being our member for the area of Hume. Parliament House has over 4500 rooms and 22 kilometres of corridors.

Records of all words ever spoken in the House are also on display as a decorative piece on the large centre table. Now recent records are digital and typed and stored electronically.

After our guide completed our tour, we were able to go into the House of Representatives as members of the public. We watched the Speaker of the House begin to address the items on the day's agenda. There were only a few Members of Parliament in the room and we listened to a couple of people present bills to Parliament. We had to be silent & we only had enough time to watch for 20 minutes.

As Parliament was sitting, Prime Minister Albanese was due to arrive at 2pm. All other members would be there at 2pm too, for Question time. Unfortunately, we couldn't wait for that. 

Leaving Parliament House, we took the bus to a park near the Art Gallery, overlooking Lake Burley Griffin. We enjoyed our lunch in the warm sunshine surrounded by beautiful autumn trees with red, gold, orange & brown leaves, we chatted with friends, while some had a quick game of footy. Sitting in the park, surrounded by seagulls, we were able to watch the 152 metre Captain Cook Memorial Water Jet fountain in the middle of the lake.

Boarding the bus again, Col drove us past Old Parliament House & past the Tent Embassy, across the peninsular to the National Museum. Splitting into two groups, Year 5 & 6 went their separate ways, following the directions of our guides. Year 6 learned about the first Aboriginals, the migration of whales and the assistance given to the Aboriginal  people from the orcas, a really intelligent animal. We saw fish traps, the body of a Tasmanian tiger, a crocodile and lots of Aboriginal tools and artefacts, including a harpoon gun, different shaped spears and rock tools. Outside we were able to run through a tunnel, listening to Aboriginal and meditative music.

Finally, and rather sadly, our tour had unfortunately come to an end. We hopped onto the bus, started to head out of Canberra and drove off into the pink and orange sunset. Arriving in Goulburn, a number of students disembarked and we continued the journey back to Crookwell, where we were met by our families. 

Written by Year 6