Questacon is a scientific and a technology centre.  The building costs 19.64 million dollars.  Japan helped pay for half of the cost for the building, that’s why their flag is up on the front of the building.  I think the reason why Japan paid for half of the cost is so they can show their friendship with Australia.  Questacon was made to make learning fun and that’s why their catch phrase is called “a smarter way to have fun.”  The reason why the building is called Questacon is because quest means “to discover” and con means “to study.”  Questacon all started in September 1980; they began as a project of the Australian National University in a spare space at the Ainslie Public School in Canberra.  The project already had 15 exhibitions and was staffed by volunteers.  Questacon is a very popular and successful business.  They get lots of customers everyday from all over Australia and that leads to lots of money from the gift shop.  Questacon is now turning 27 in 2015.  All the exhibitions are to give you the discovery of science.  For example, the “free fall” makes you feel what is is like when you are falling from the sky, the earthquake lab helps you realize what buildings are earthquake proof and why and the robot can say what ever you want him to say, even speak a different language! 

On Wednesday 18-3-15 the Year 6/7 class from Nativity travelled to the War Memorial. First we first met the staff who were going to give us the tour. Next we proceeded into the interactive museum part of the War Memorial, where we hopped in the helicopter, climbed into a submarine, experienced what it was like being in a trench, and saw many models and many other things. We were privileged to hear a veteran tell us stories about when he was in a war, see the Roll of Honour and the Unknown Soldier’s tomb, where we laid down a wreath as a sign of respect. There are guards at the tomb of the Unknown Soldier. They guard for fifteen minutes and then have a break, then guard again for another fifteen minutes.                                                                                                         Overall it was an awesome experience and I would like to go back again 🙂 .

 

 

-Matt G

In Canberra we visited the tomb of the Unknown Australian soldier at the War Memorial. The unknown Australian soldier’s body was dug up from the Adelaide Cemetery in France. The soldier was probably British, but he could have also been a Canadian, a New Zealander, or an Australian.The Unknown Australian Soldier represents all Australians who have been killed in war.

“We do not know this Australian’s name and we never will. We do not know his rank or battalion. We do not know where he was born, nor precisely how he died … We will never know who this Australian was … he was one of the 45,000 Australians who died on the Western Front … one of the 60,000 Australians who died on foreign soil. One of the 100,000 Australians who died in wars this century. He is all of them. And he is one of us.”

These are the words of the Eulogy said by Prime Minister Paul Keating at the entombing of the Unknown Soldier onthe 11th of November, 1993.

 

 

On our trip to the capitol city of Australia, Canberra, we went to Questacon. I will be talking about one room from Questacon. To see more of our trip, look at the other posts on our blog. The last room we went to was Excite at Questacon. This room was created to bend both your mind and your muscles. This room had all types of fun stuff like the cross hockey table, the 6 metre vertical drop slide, the rototron and lots more.

The 6 metre slide was by far the most popular. To go down, you needed to wear special gowns that were really hard to get on. Next you had to walk up a ton of stairs. Then the assistant helped you onto a bar which you would have to hold. Then when you released you would fall 6 metres vertically.

There was this hockey table. In the middle was glass so you couldn’t climb over, then at the other side there was a robot which you would play against in a game on the hockey table.

On the wall there was tons and tons of tubes which you would put handkerchiefs in and you could guide them and they’d come out and could land anywhere in the room.

The End

By Elliott

The free fall is a six meter drop slide, where we  hold onto a metal bar while our legs dangle in mid air. It uses gravity to pull us down, it makes us feel as if we are weightless or there is no gravity. Because we fall at a great amount of speed our feet push up against the floor while we are falling, from this we lose our belly.When falling from a great height, gravity is pulling us back  to the earth (trying to pull us to the centre of the earth). While falling, our speed picks up via 9.8 meters per second. Adults and children will both fall from the slide at the same speed however adults will hit the bottom of the slide harder due to their greater body mass. Because of the speed of falling we can not participate on the drop if we have any medical or physical conditions. Because it is a straight down drop we are unable to walk or run up it like we can on a normal playground slide.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bibliography: https://www.questacon.edu.au/visiting/galleries/excite-at-q/exhibits/free-fall

https://www.flickr.com/photos/niconelson/3900151890/

 

 

On Monday the 16^th March the year 6/7 students of the School of the Nativity went on a trip to Canberra, the capital city of Australia. On that trip they went to Telstra Tower.

Telstra Tower was opened on May 15^th 1980 by the Prime Minister, Malcom Fraser. The Telstra Tower was built for the communication for phones, TV’s and radios. It was built on Black Mountain, Canberra. It was originally named Telecom Tower but it soon became known as Black Mountain Tower. The Telstra Tower is 195.2m tall. If you go on top of the Telstra Tower you can probably see most of Canberra.

By Imogen

The Victoria Cross medal is the highest medal that an Australian Soldier can be awarded. It is awarded for exceptional bravery and only 100 Victoria Cross medals have been awarded. The first person to be awarded the Victoria Cross was Sir Neville Howse during the Boer war in 1900 and the latest person to be awarded the Victoria Cross was Corporal Cameron Baird. He died in battle in Afghanistan on the 22nd June 2013. He is also the 100th person to to be awarded the Victoria Cross. Each Victoria Cross medal is specially carved from cannons captured by the English in the Crimean War (1854-1856) and are each handmade by Hannocks and Company in London and this is why each Victoria Cross looks different. The Victoria Cross is hard to be awarded as you need not just a little bit of bravery but enough bravery as Corporal Cameron Baird when he ran towards the enemy and killed 6 enemy but he got fired at by rifles and lost his life.

 

On the 18-3-2015, our Class went to the War Memorial of Australia. I liked the Roll of Honour. It was amazing how many names were on it and how many poppies were there!  When we were there we learnt that there is over 102,000 names on the Roll of Honour. The  roll is set up in sections like sniper team, ground team, etc                                                                                                                 Our class was part of a ceremony of the Unknown Soldier and we got to lay a wreath in his tomb.

All up the Australian War Memorial was awesome!!!! 🙂

By Steven

 

The Queen has a big job. One of the jobs she has to do is sign the papers when new bills are passed. Bills travel through the House Of Representatives, where the members of the government debate it. After they debate, the government will vote yes or no for the bill.  Once they been voted fairly, it goes to the Senate. Then they will agree or disagree. When everyone agrees and the bill is passed, it will then go to the Queen and she will sign the papers. However, she is not always in the Senate to sign a bill so the Governor General, Sir Peter Cosgrove, sits in the chair, because she is very busy and cannot travel a lot to Canberra to sign the papers. The queen has sat in parliament only twice! 

 

On the 16th of March 2015 we went to the AIS (The Australian Institute of Sport)

First, we went in to see the swimming pool and there were two pools, one for the public and one for the trainers.

The trainers train for approximately 6-12 sessions each week.

Then we went in to the VOLLEYBALL court.

The trainers train for 30+ hours.

Training includes skill, strength and conditioning.

We then went in to the GYMNASTICS room.

The room was split into two; one on was a girl side and a boys side.

Gymnasts train for 20-30 hours per week. They train in the morning and the afternoon, for 2-3 hours at a time.  Gymnasts practise skills and routines.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

LINKS FOR PHOTOS

en.wikipedia.org