Educators bus tour: connecting schools and small museums

Educators Bus Tour:
Attracting teachers (and schools) to local
museums
A presentation delivered at the Museums Australia National Conference May 17, 2013
Regional Remote & Community Museum Day
Janis Hanley B.Com, GCPA
Principal Consultant, VisionDesign Pty Ltd

Janis Hanley ◆ Educators Bus Tour ◆ 2
About this presentation
• This presentation describes ‘The Educators Bus Tour’
- an innovative approach taken, on behalf of Gold
Coast City Council, to consult heritage stakeholders.
• The consultation succeeded in bringing together
teachers and local museums to collaborate on how
local museums can meet the needs of the new
national curriculum.
• The author makes no apologies for the gratuitous
use of images of Gold Coast heritage throughout this
presentation!
• This project was the conceived and implemented for Gold Coast City
Council by Janis Hanley, Principal Consultant. VisionDesign Pty Ltd, a
consultancy company specialising in Policy, Strategy and Heritage
Programs

The Beginning
Heritage awareness is extra
challenging on the Gold Coast.
Most people don’t relate
heritage with the city and
consider ‘Gold Coast Heritage‘
an oxymoron. Even the
contemporary heritage is
disappearing rapidly before
being properly recognised.
Some of Gold Coast’s early’s
high-rises are already
scheduled for demolition -
victims of concrete cancer
(highlighted in the inset photo)
The main photo shows 1970‘s
Illuka - boarded up and on
building ‘death row’. The 88
story Q1 is in the background -
a haunting reminder of the
changing face of land use in the
tourist cityPhoto © Janis Hanley 2013

Nov 2011: Planning the Stakeholder Consultation on Raising
Awareness of Gold Coast’s Heritage
School education about local heritage
seen as key
National History curriculum was kicking
off in 2013
Wanted an an innovative way to
engage teachers in the conversation
Many places on the recently
established Local Heritage Register had
important stories to tell of Gold Coast’s
(and Australia’s) history
Local museums important part of the
story - and needed capacity building.
Could the consultation itself be a
catalyst for change?
Kinkabool, built in 1959 in the heart of Surfers
Paradise, was the first high-rise on the Gold
Coast and is the first high-rise to be listed on
the Queensland Heritage Register.
Photo©JanisHanley2012

The Preparation
In the foreground is the old Cable
station - built 1902 in Southport as
Australia’s main communication link
with the rest of the world. Touted as
‘red all the way’ back when red meant
part of the British Empire. The only
other international cable line was
Darwin, with then ‘suspect’ links on its
path through non British countries.
The Nerang River and Surfers Paradise
are in the background.
Cable station now houses the Music
School for The Southport School.Photo © Janis Hanley 2012

Feb 2012: The National History Curriculum for museums workshop
To prepare the museums with knowledge of
what’s in the National History Curriculum
One day free workshop for local museums
Hosted by a local school - The Southport
School
The program included the following
speakers:
Qld Museum Museum Development Officer
Teacher, Education Qld (formerly seconded to Qld
Museum re the new history curriculum)
Librarian, The Southport School
Librarian from council’s Local Studies Library.
The Southport School’s archivist was also present
and handled all the logistics / catering for the day
Each museum brought along a mystery object for the
participants to test out their ‘Inquiry’ skills
The Southport School memorial room -
where the curriculum workshop was held
The Southport School boarding house
The initial stage was getting the local museums up to speed with the
new national history curriculum - the themes for each year levels, and
the inquiry approaches to teaching. The 12 Gold Coast museums and
historic associations were invited to a one day workshop. It was open
to all museum volunteers to attend.
Photo © Janis Hanley 2012

Organisation for the Educators Bus Tour
Scheduled the day for a student free day
Fliers sent to 160 schools on the Gold Coast
Emailed the principal
Sent two letters: The principal and co-
ordinator of Studies of Society and
Environment (SOSE).
Made phone calls - got best success asking for
the librarian.
Used in-house contacts and their networks
(best results)
Teachers would earn 6 Professional
Development hours for attending the bus tour
Scheduled in five museum visits + Local Studies
Library (8.30 - 3.30)
Designed two surveys:
Individual survey to be completed at each
museum
One overall survey
Gold Coast Hinterland Heritage Museum Inc.
Excellent collection of artefacts from the timber
getting and pioneering days, as well as the original
Nerang Railway Station built in the 1880s.
32 teachers
32 teachers
registered
registered

The Educators Bus Tour Day
Literally started with a bang with flag raising ceremony and firing party.
Over 150 kilometers were travelled during the day
Teachers generously filled out survey forms and gave feedback
Prizes along the way - guessing the ‘Mystery Object’ at each museum
Statement most often heard: ‘We had no idea these places were here’
Griffith Uni Education Lecturer: ‘Council should run this every year’
Flag raising and firing party,
Mudgeeraba Light Horse Museum Inc houses an excellent collection of Light Horse and World War 1 artefacts,
World War 2 maps and Objects of National Servicemen.

What the surveys told us
Best activities to include for school excursions?
• The top three activities to include on
school history excursions were:
Simulation /Historic Re-enactments
Museum visits
Archaeological digs
Additional ways for museums to engage students:
•Online photo gallery
•Worksheets
•You-tube clips
•Interactive displays and role plays / simulation
Other activities that rated highly were:
heritage walks and visits to natural history
places,
the Local Studies Library
visits to Local Heritage Places.
Other suggestions were:
a cemetery walk,
indigenous history tour,
a four day excursions with different subjects
“Krarawarree” Former WW2 Hospital ship: Sited at the Gold
Coast Restoration Society and being lovingly restored (with help
from a year 9 student student participating in a special program).

Best ways to support teachers?
The three best ways to support teachers:
Excursion plans
School visits
Provide information sessions to teachers
The following ways were also suggested:
•information on ways to access resources
•a heritage bus (that visited schools)
•provision of lesson/unit plans and kits for
schools
•Council appointment of an education officer
Surf World Gold Coast Inc. - Volunteer run museum open
7 days a week. Situated opposite Currumbin Wildlife
Sanctuary (A Qld National Trust Property)

In terms of cost for a museum visit, $5 seemed the most
acceptable, specially given the expense of transport.
The common range for a whole day excursion was $20-$25
(including $10 for bus)
The following rated highly for activities that Council could
organise for students:
Heritage week/month activities
School visits talks
Virtual reality presentations
Public archaeological digs
Other: Demonstrations, Picnic in a museum grounds and
school archaeological digs
Excursion Logistics
Council Archaeological dig at site of a Sugar
Mill

Most surveyed (80%) thought that a Gold Coast
History network would be a good idea.
an online forum /wiki that enabled upload for
sharing resources. This could be coupled with
a meeting once a term at one of the museums.
Other networks that teachers use are: the History
Teachers Association and GEO NET for secondary
geography teachers on the Gold Coast.
Limited interest in some sort of “Time travelers”
club for students exploring Gold Coast geological
and cultural history. An e-newsletter and website
would be the best format.
Teachers sources for resources include:
Local Studies Library, GCCC Website, Aust. History Teachers
Assoc., Gould Genealogy, museum sites, online, flyers
delivered to school, ACARA site and Scootle, QSA Alliance,
other staff, Learning Place (Ed Qld Portal) and local museum
websites.
Learning Networks
Six of the teachers who attended
were interested in volunteering to
assist in further work on local
history education and 8 were
maybes.
Gold Coast & Hinterland Historical Society
Inc. Eclectic collection includes Paula Stafford
Bikinis, Communications equipment from
Cable Hut, Saw mill plant, Indigenous artefacts

Data was collected at each
museum on how well the
collection relates to the
curriculum themes for each year
level
Survey collected suggestions for
excursion activities specific to
each museums
A report was given to each
museum detailing comments
made
Individual Museums
Graph is indicative of the type of data
collected

• Overall the message is to engage the students through
hands-on activities where they can directly experience
things for themselves. Ideas included:
Re-enactments & demonstrations:
Hands on activities like: washing clothes, writing with
pen and ink, tent pegging, working with tools, trying on
uniforms & weapons
DVD of differences past and present, particularly things
that cant be done on site
Personalised stories
Fictionalised narratives to show a day/week/year of life
Treasure hunts, quiz, activity sheet
Focused activities where students report back to each
other.
Museum guides/audio when not enough volunteers
Student museum membership
Small Museum Curriculum Potential - A Summary
Use of historic photos as a clever piece
of ‘way finding’ design along the Surfers
Paradise foreshore. These towers mark
the streets and are colour coded so
visitors to the beach can easily see
which is ‘their’ street.

• Finally, some of the comments from the day:
• ‘The tour was great: a brief 'taste' of what is available
to enhance local history curricular Inquiries. So much
to follow-up, to create activities for students to do
whilst at the various museums - I'm already planning! ‘
• ‘We need to keep the momentum going and expand
our awareness - and inform our staff members to take
full advantage of the opportunities offered here’
Quotes
Not bad from a starting point of ‘we had no idea these places were here’!

What’s happened since?
Council did not continue this work further.
Museums started to pick up the ball - with
limited resources.
All Saints Anglican College was approached
by the author to run some pilot excursion
programs with local museums.
Janis worked with the museums and the
schools to develop excursion days for the
museum that would align with the history
curriculum.
Funding was successfully applied for
through the Regional Arts Development
Fund.
Larger than life sculpture in the
Broadwater Parklands at Southport. It is a
popular place for tourists to snap photos -
Tourism heritage?

The First Museum Excursion Programs
- some snapshots

Mar 2013: Mudgeeraba - Year 2 - The Past In the Present
‘William Duncan and the Timber Getting Story’
• Excursion Plan Included:
Visit to the Mudgeeraba Hinterland Heritage
Museum - focusing on life and times of
William Duncan and the timber story ... and
Hot damper!)
Visit to Mudgeeraba Village
Welcome by the Councillor
Looking at photo kits at the
Mudgeeraba Library (Former Council
Chamber built in 1914)
Treasure hunt through Mudgeeraba
village
Pre and post excursion resources for the
school including:
William Duncan narrative
Timeline of Mudgeeraba history
Powerpoint of the historic buildings of
Mudgeeraba
Students on the treasure huntStudents on the treasure hunt

Mudgeeraba Light Horse Museum - Year 3 -
‘Commemorations’
• Visit to the Light Horse Museum
Included:
“Where’s Woody’ a search for
symbols of the ANZACs”
Hands on Group Activities
How to raise the flag
Care of a war horse
World War 1 Weapons
Honouring War heroes with poppies
Flag raising ceremony with firing party
Horseback tent pegging
demonstration
• Pre and post excursion resources for
the school including:
Woody the Waler narrative
Light Horse hero e-book
The Cook’s Story
Symbols of the Light Horse
ANZACS e-book

Mudgeeraba Light Horse Museum - Year 3 -
‘Commemorations’

Recognition
National Trust Qld Governor’s Silver Award 2012:
‘Educators Bus Tour’ to Gold Coast City Council and
VisionDesign Pty Ltd
Media Coverage of Light Horse Museum Pilot - two key
elements:
Karen Andrews MP press release (She attended the
pilot run)
It was a week before ANZAC Day
Coverage included:
Channel nine local news
Channel nine Today show Saturday (nationally)
Cover of the Sun Newspaper
Two page spread Gold Coast Bulletin Newspaper
Recognition is always helpful. The Educators Bus Tour itself
was recognised by Queensland’s National Trust, then there
was excellent media coverage of the first pilot program - that’s
good for everyone!

Gold Coast Bulletin Education Section Tuesday 23rd April 2013
The Mudgeeraba Light Horse Museum inc. was
very grateful for the coverage given by local
media.

And this is just the start of this work ....
More projects are in the pipeline.
Thank-you for listening/reading
• Further information:
web:
http://visiond.com.au/australianhistory
• Janis’s contact details:
email: janis@visiond.com.au
twitter: @just2write

Educators bus tour: connecting schools and small museums

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