danielpierotti's Blog

For the options trail, one of our stops was at South Melbourne Football Club, where we got an interview with someone working there.  Once we had a good look around, we went into the reception and where shown to none other than the head manager of the club.  He gave us detailed descriptions about the past and future of the club as well as sport in Melbourne and Australia.  He hoped for his club to be considered for a spot in the A-league in the next 3-4 years and outlined a $7 million redevelopment project for Bob Jane stadium which is to be completed by February next year.  Below is an outline of his responses:

Q. Explain about the history of the club.  A. 50 years of History, a bit of Greek heritage, South Melbourne was formed in 1959. This year is the 50^th anniversary.  Initially there were two teams who merged to become South Melbourne.

Q. Give us an idea of how soccer came to Melbourne.  A. Basically soccer originated in Melbourne from many different cultures. Preston was formed by Macedonians. Heidelberg, Greek.  If it wasn’t for migrants, there wouldn’t be soccer in general. South Melbourne was made by Greeks.

Q. South Melbourne’s links with the A-league?  A. South Melbourne is not in the A-league as Frank Lowe got rid of all ethnic teams. South Melbourne dropped the ‘Hellas’ name and now is a multicultural side.  A league is actually struggling to keep up financially so good chance to get back into A-league.

Q. Do you think that soccer in Melbourne and at your club brings people together?  A. Yes because we’re setting up community teams so it brings the team together.  We used to have only the elite teams competing but now we have teams for people who just want to train once a week.

Q. Do you think that Melbourne is the sporting capital?  A. Definitely because Melbourne is known for our Sport and I think that we are definitely the capital of Sport because we host more sport.

Q. Is soccer popular in Melbourne?  A. I think we should keep qualifying for World Cups in Australia to keep the surge of juniors enlisting.  After the previous World Cup, there was a 700% increase in juniors.

Q. Do you think that soccer is the most popular sport in Melbourne?  A. AFL will never die but a lot of parents turning towards soccer because less risk of getting injured.  Going by figures, Soccer will overtake AFL in the next world Cup

Q. How do you recruit your players?  A. Look at A-league to recruit players who dropped out. We have players coming from the juniors.

Q. How do keep going financially?  A. Sponsors play a big part.  Help you survive.  Leasing out our ground to Australian team to train also helps.  Also membership pays for a lot.

Q. Do you think that there is enough sponsoring in the A-league?  A. I think that’s what they survive on because A-league won’t survive without Sponsors.

Q. How can we make soccer more popular?  A. All about the quality of football, getting the right coaches.  Need to get soccer more popular. More quality players are going overseas to Europe.

Q. What is the future of your club?  A. The future of the club is going big time because of the redevelopment and also the new soccer academy.  There are going to be seven grounds in Albert Park.  I just got back from overseas to take juniors to play international matches.  I think SM is getting more popular, getting more popularity and then after world cup, a lot of players will come in to view and play soccer; and also the sponsors. We need quality of Sport as in more popular competitions; in Europe, the games are all sold out.

I thought that this was a really great interview as it gave us a broad range of facts and views from a head manager from one of the main soccer clubs in Melbourne.  The data allows us to answer many of our questions that we planned and also many more questions that we hadn’t.  He was a really nice person to talk to and I don’t think that there is any further research that needs to be done.

County Court

Q. What type of case are you watching?  A. The sentencing of a small time cocaine trafficker, he got 5 years in jail and 3 years without parole, down from a maximum sentence of 25 years.

Q. Can you understanding what’s going on, how does it make you feel?  A. Yes, the judge goes through all the evidence, the police reports and investigations and the psychiatric reports.  He basically tells the life story of the offender and then makes a decision based on all the evidence.  It’s a very confronting experience.

Q. Observe the judge for a while.  What is he doing?  Can you think of any reasons why this might be so?  A. The judge is using a very monotone and serious voice while reading through the offenders biography.

Q. Do you think this trial is a fair way of obtaining justice for all sides?  A. Yes I think it is fair.  He takes into account police investigations, psychiatric tests, family issues, family history and his earlier life.

Supreme Court

Q. How did you feel walking into this court?  A. I felt much more intimidated than the County Court.

Q. What’s this case about?  A. It’s a murder case.

Q. What are you impressions of, the judges, the defence lawyers, the prosecution lawyers, the defendant and any other relavent parties?  A. As it was just watching footage, everyone was just either watching the TV or following on their handouts.  It was very boring.

Q. Are there any justice related questions the spring to mind regarding your time in the Supreme Court?  A. There are no issues expect for the fact that it’s impossible to find your way around.

The Monday started with many people coming to school with a Camp hangover and lots of people sharing their experiences about Camp.  The usual double latinwas two sessions of no learning, not uncommon.  Third session I had oboe assessment and even though I explained to my teacher that I had been sick and on camp for the past two weeks and therefore hadn’t practiced, she still made me do the assessment.  It went just ok but pretty good consideringI hadn’t practised in two weeks.  The rest of the day was spent doing Socratic dialogues, where there was a statement like “Galileo is good” “god exists” etc on a sheet of paper and you had to ask questions or express an opinion.  And then you would pass the sheet of paper around the circle and the next person would ask a question or provide an opinion while you received another piece of paper with a different statement.  It was very interesting and I think it worked very well as the group of taskies have very strong and differing opinions.  We spent two sessions doing the written conversations, then during session six when we were supposed to be comment on blogs, we had an open class debate on the topics.  The topic that was mostly debated upon was “God exists” and it was interesting to hear many different people’s point of views and differences in opinion.  I agree with Michael that it might’ve got a little bit out of hand with people talking over a one another when things heated up but I thought it was a good experience for everyone.

Tuesday morning was thinking skills.  This weeks was split into two parts with Michael helping us create good survey questions and Molly telling us the finer arts of a good conversation.  Both workshops were aimed at helping us with our options trails.  I was with Molly first and we started with what the conversation should consist of and how you should present yourself when speaking with people.  This was to prepare us and give us more confidence when we’re making appointments and interviewing people for our options trail.  We also focused on having “complex conversations” and how do deal with and talk about difficult situations.  I thought it was quite a good session which gave us many tips on how deal with talking to strangers on the phone, asking for interviews, using the right language and politeness.  After lunch, we did talked about the current situation with the asylumseekers seeking refuge in our country.  We discussedsome of the issues and debates raging on in the Federal Parliment.  The last session was spent playing a game where there was a block of chocolate for someone to win.  On a post-it-note, you had to write either S for share or T for take.  If everyone put S then the chocolate would be shared evenly, if one person put T and everyone else put S then that one person would get all the chocolate, but if more than one person put T then no-one would get it.  After quite a number of rounds where more that one person put T, Paul introduced a new rule, where if more than one person put T, then they would bee out of the following rounds.  After eliminating a few people, everyone put S and the chocolate was shared.  It was a very interesting exercise, and quite amusing to watch as well.

On Wednesday morning, Ms Moylan came into each of the Galileo classrooms and talked about Working Experience for us next year.  I’m not too sure what I want to do, but I’m thinking of doing something at Melbourne Uni, maybe something in the labs or engineering department.  For the rest of the day, we were out on our Law and Justice trail.  We had the option of the courts, or the parliament, or an iPod tour.  I chose the courts trail.  First we went to the County Court where we saw a sentencing and then the hearing of evidence.  The sentencing was of a small time cocaine dealer from Queensland who came down to Melbourne to sell the cocaine.  He got 5 years in jail and 3 years without parole, down from a maximum sentence of 25 years.  The judge went through all the evidence, the psychiatric tests and police investigations then gave the sentence.  It was a bit confronting to watch the sentencing and to think that a drug dealer was standing right behind us but it was very interesting to watch.  Then we went to the hearing of evidence and questioning of someone who was suspected of business fraud and smuggling computer parts into Australia.  It was quite boring as it was just a lawyer questioning the suspect.  After the County Court, we had a break for lunch where we surveyed a few people, including a policeman.  It was interesting to hear his response when we asked him if Victoria’s justice system was working; his response was that it was working well considering the lack of resources in the system.  I have heard the Victoria’s justice system has been lacking resources from the media but it was very interesting to hear it from a policeman.  After a lunch break, we went into the Supreme Court and watched as the court listened to evidence for a murder case.  It was quite boring as we just sat there listening to footage and recordings from concealed cameras and microphones for half an hour.  After the Supreme Court, we had an hour to roam around in the city before we had to meet at the old Melbourne Gaol at 2:30pm.  Once we were there, we went into the Old Magistrates Courts where we re-enacted old courts scenes.  Michael’s courts group went into an old Koori Court where we re-enacted a court scene of an Aboriginal drink driver.  The Koori Court works very different to the other courts, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags were present and the actual court room was just a room with a table in the middle at which everyone sat around.  The Koori Court also offers counselling and other programs to help the person in need and then they come back to the Court to have their sentencing which takes into account the person progress in rehab.  This method makes the Aboriginal people feel comfortable in the Court as they also have two other tribal leaders present, and it also often avoids any jail time.  I thought that the days trail was very instructive and interesting when it came to learning about Victoria’s justice system and I think everyone had fun the process.

Thursday morning was another session of community service and this week, I actually didn’t do anything at all except sit there, listen to the teacher do the roll, collect money and try and control the class.  Then for the rest of the session, the class went down into the Multi-Purpose room and rehearsed for the 125^th Carlton Gardens concert.  Mid-way through my time there, I feel like I haven’t really achieved anything as I haven’t had the opportunity to work with the kids or talk to them about their interests or even mine.  Many of the sessions I feel as though there is no point of me being there as I just sit down for an hour and a quarter.  After com service, we had team project where we also are struggling a bit.  We can’t seem to get anything done, and the options trail has to be decided in a couple of weeks and our team projects have to be done.  Again we spent a session not doing much and slowly trickling forward to our options trail and action project goals.  The rest of the day was spent at electives which again consisted of doing not much work, so on a whole I left like the day was very unproductive.

Friday I didn’t go to school as had my Grade 8 piano exam which I thought went quite well.  I am very excited/nervous to find out what I got. 

Week 5 was camp week.  Everyone was looking forward to travelling down to Queenscliff and spending 3 days with each other.  Unfortunately, the week didn’t start off too good for me, as I was sick over the week and didn’t attend the walk-a-thon on the Monday.  Just to add to the confusion as to whether I was coming or not, I was late arriving to school but luckily the bus wasn’t to arrive for another half an hour.  The bus trip was quite epic, I was sitting next to Damian and we aren’t exactly the best combo when it comes to sitting in your seats still.  If Damian wasn’t holding me in a headlock, then we would be playing musical chairs or talking/shouting across the bus.  Towards the end of the trip, people started to calm down a bit, but all that excitement was to return once we reached our destination.  Arriving at Camp Wyuna, we were quickly jostled into the Rec. Room, and while eating lunch, we were introduced to the Camp staff.  There would be no “Camp activities” that afternoon, but we were to visit the Marine Discovery Centre across the road.  While half of the group went into the Marine centre, the other half lounged around on the grass beside the road and played Frisbee, soccer and whatever else was brought along in the Uni High sports bag.  The Marine Discovery Centre was a much smaller version of Melbourne Aquarium except it focused only on the marine life of Swan Bay and Port Phillip Bay.  There also was a feeling pool in the centre where you were able to touch the marine life, dead or alive, of Swan and Port Phillip Bays.  I particularly liked this hands-on experience as it was very interesting in finding out the textures and feel of life under the sea.  By the time we got back, it was early afternoon and we were allowed to bring our luggage to our designated cabins.  I was sharing a cabin with Jack, Martin and Damian, but our designated cabin only had three beds, so we swapped with another group which consisted of only three people.  After settling in, we were called down to the grassed area in front of the Hall, and were led up to the back of the camp and down onto the beach.  People might not know but I am a great lover of the beach; the salty wind off the water, the rhythmical breaking of the waves and the sand in between my toes.  I love being on the beach, but the best thing was that we were not restricted.  We were not consistently called back by the teachers to wait for them to catch up and we were spread out across the beach over about 200 meters.  I think many people were so elated because for once they were not under pressure to do anything, they were free to just walk/stroll/run/skip along the beach, whereas in their usual week, they might always be pressured by parents, teachers, etc to finish tasks, and always have people on their backs.  I think that is one of the great things about Galileo; that we are allowed freedom and I definitely think the positive feedback about Camp was because of this.  Saying that, there were just a couple of lowlights, and one of them was the food.  Going back to camp, and having showers to remove the salt and sand, I was a tad hungry as I always am, and was looking forward to a decent meal, but I only just managed to force down the unusually thick piece of chicken and vegetables from a packet.  Coming from Italian background, I actually consider myself quite spoilt when it comes to food.  Not to say that I eat whatever I can and whenever I can, but I eat very tasty home-made food, with quite a large percentage of it coming fresh from my garden, every meal.  I eat junk food/pre-packaged food/two minute meals only about once every couple of months or so.  Anyway, afterwards we all had free time to muck around, have showers if we hadn’t had one before and then when it was dark, we built a camp fire and roasted marshmallows until about 10pm.  Then we were sent off to bed, but that was when all the fun started.  A massive party was planned for Jack’s cabin but was found out in the first 5 minutes or so and then again when they tried to re-kindle the party feel 30 minutes later.  Jack’s cabin brought heaps of junk which included packets and packets of lollies, chocolate, chips etc etc.  One of the highlights for the night would have been when Tom and Albert from the adjoining cabin walked into the room at about 11:30pm with only their underpants on an then Louis locked the door to the bathroom, which only had a lock on one side, and Chris the teacher was patrolling the corridors.  So Tom and Albert were stuck in our room, more than half naked, with the other way blocked by the embarrassment of facing the teacher.  Finally, after a few minutes of laughing our heads off, we managed to unlock the door using a 5 cent coin which allowed for Tom and Albert to return to their cabin through the bathroom.

Getting only about 6 hours of sleep, it took an unusually long time to wake up.  Knowing that the rest of the camp food wouldn’t be much better, I stacked up at breakfast, you can’t go wrong with a couple of bowls of cereal and two egg and bacon rolls.  Feeling much better, it was time to begin the camp activities.  Our group, which was just Mollies home-group, went mountain biking first.  Our instructor was Jessie and he first told us about safety and how to use the bikes properly.  The bikes themselves were very high class/top of the range mountain bikes, and soon we were riding along the beach walkway.  It was quite a pleasant ride, not strenuous but almost relaxing as we whizzed past the beach and made our way to Point Lonsdale where we stopped for a break.  At the lighthouse, we went down the steps to the beach and looked at the cave which was thought to be where William Buckley stayed for a while.  Soon we went back to the lighthouse and made our way back to the camp, the instructor telling us that it was a total of just over 10km.  After a short break for morning tea, at which really yummy Anzac type biscuits were served, we went canoeing.  The activity was based on teamwork and working together as a group.  The first part was to collect buckets and keys which were attached to the buoys floating in Swan Bay.  Martin and I were in a canoe, and we got the hang of it quite quickly and soon we were gliding across the water.  Unfortunately we were so preoccupied with going as fast as we could, that we whizzed right past the buoy.  As we couldn’t be bothered turning, we just allowed the canoe to glide along as we lay down.  Eventually we glided closer so far that we were actually closer to another buoy so we went to collect a key from there.  Unfortunately because of our relaxing glide, we wasted a lot of time and probably let our team down.  Oh well, it was worth it!   Eventually, after everyone was wet and frozen, we finished the challenge and made our way back to the camp and into the warm showers.  Lunch proved to be an excellent improvement from the previous night’s dinner, consisting of taco’s with a choice of fresh vegetables, something which I am much more accustomed to.  After lunch we went fishing with Paul, which seemed like a great idea but the only things that we caught were seaweed and each other.  Me being me, I cut myself on the hook quite a number of times and soon resorted to building sand castles and kicking around a volleyball.  It wasn’t at all unpleasant as it was a lovely afternoon on the beach, lazing around and relaxing.  We returned to camp to (another) shower and an hour of free time to play cricket, volley and just muck around with my fellow taskies, getting to know them better all the while.  Dinner was similar to the previous night except lasagne replaced the chicken, although I shiver with distaste when I considered that stuff lasagne.  After dinner the talent show was ready to roll and turned out to be the climax of the camp.  Many taskies showed off their known and unknown talents and amazed us all.  The highlights were Taskforce 5 singing a song about the taskies, Liam jazzing away on the keyboard, the teacher’s remake of A New World and Mairead’s wonderful singing of her own composition.  We still are waiting on Ruidong to release the videos which he took of the talent show.  After the amazing display of talent, there was another campfire, but that night there wasn’t as much of a commotion as everyone was tired from going to bed late the previous night.

On the morning of the third day, the realisation that the camp was almost over dawned on many people and the feeling at breakfast was somewhat subdued compared to the other days.  Again I filled up with two bowls of cereal to get me through the day.  After breakfast we had a while to pack our cabins up and bring our luggage down to the hall again.  The rest of the day was spent in the town of Queenscliff, on our trail.  My group was me, Damian, David and someone else (sorry I can’t remember, I’m doing the blog a couple of weeks later) and we first went into St Vincent Op Shop where Damian bought a novel for only $1.50!!!!!!  We then took a late morning tea/early lunch break at the Rolling Pin Bakery where I bought a pie, which was actually quite nice, hence why it had won the award: “Victoria’s best pie” two years running.  We then continued our way to the Queenscliff fort.  We didn’t actually go in, but there were many information boards outside and we observed both lighthouses and the structure of the fort.  After a while, we made our way back down Hesse St and back to the original meeting spot.  At that stage it was quite hot, and as I had already got sunburned the previous days, my skin felt like it was sizzling, well, it probably was!  We went back to the camp on the single line train with carriages similar to those of the Puffin Billy.  Once at camp we ate a quick lunch then began packing the bus and all too soon, we were on the road back to school.  The bus ride was somewhat subdued and many people dozed off to sleep.  Overall the camp was once of the best I have been on.  The group of taskies just work together and get along so well.  A lot of us have similar interests which was why we were able to spend an awesome 3 days together.  I personally had a great time getting to know other taskies better and sharing time with them.  Overall, Camp was the highlight of Galileo so far.

Ahhhh Health Week = Food   As many people know, I am very passionate about good food; slow food if you like.  But that was not before another double Latin session were I was not able to learn anything because of the amount of disruption our class creates in every lesson and as I had not done any homework, similar to the previous weeks.  But later in the day we began looking at food, and the production of food.  We watched a very good video on meat production and consumption, which concluded that we should not be eating meat as it is not an essential part of our diet, at least, not in the quantities that we are consuming at the present time.  The emissions that raising livestock for meat produces is also phenomenal and totally unnecessary but the question is whether people are ready to give up meat to save the planet.

The thinking skills workshop of the week was planning a meal, shopping for the ingredients and then making it.  We watched another video on food then planned our meal, taking into account the  food pyramid.  We decided on toasted cheese and salami sandwitches with a side salad, simple but delicious :P  We then began planning the Queensclifftrail which we were to go on while on camp.  We also made a tourist brochure which I felt we were rushed into finishing and we should have been allowed to take them home as homework and hand in the next day.

Our Research Presentation epically failed and was very rushed.  We were semi-prepared but we managed to get through.  I thought that the actual powerpoint could have been better and more interesting but overall I think we managed ok.  Our information was good, on both the people, the sports and the venues, and the link with sustainability, livability and citizenship was there but more research could have gone into it.  The rest of the day was spent on the Health trail, where I went to the MGC tour.  I really wanted to go on the rock climbingtrail but as I was away when we decided, I didn’t get to choose.  Anyway, our MCG tour didn’t start until 1:30pm so we had a couple of hours to burn.  So we tried playing soccer in the Treasury gardens next to a lake.  Unfortunately in the first 3 minutes the soccerball was kicked into the lake so Daniel the saviour of all jumped onto the island in the centre of the lake and retrieved the ball.  As I had to wade back and didn’t want to get my phone wet which was in my pocket, I threw it to someone on shore, except they dropped it, cracking the screen.  5 minutes later the ball was kicked back in (we really didn’t learn the  lesson did we?) and as I couldn’t be bothered jumping onto the island again, I just took of my shoes and waded in.  Finally, we realised that it probably wasn’t a good idea to play soccer in Treasury Gardens, so we crossed Bridge Rd and went onto the fields outside the MCG and played there until 1:30pm.  We then went into the MCG where we met our tour guide and began our tour.  We were taken onto the boundary and down into the rooms, into the heart of the MCG.  The network of rooms down there is unbelievable, there are laundries, ice bath rooms, warm bath rooms, toilets, showers, prep rooms, counselling rooms, surgery rooms, coach rooms, trainer rooms etc etc.  We also were taken into the MCC members area where all the cricket memorabilia is kept, and the media section where TV and radio stations own media boxes.  We then spent about 10 minutes in the downstairs museum before movingon to the “Game On” area which is like the sport section in Scienceworks, where there are hands-on activities such as handballing, kicking, throwing at the stumps, taking penalties and much much more.  Overall it was a very educational, interesting and fun experience and I highly recommend the tour and the museum to anyone who hasn’t been.

Thursday morning was another session of community service where I was set the task of hanging up posters on the wall, which was too bad but the problem was that my teacher gave me the task at 9:50 so I only had 25 minutes to hang up everything.  My teacher is really disorganised and her room is a mess.  I never do anything in the first 30 minutes or more because she’s not organised and the class is never doing any work so I can’t walk around and help them.  Not that it matters, and I can’t really talk to her about giving me more stuff to do because she’s too disorganised.  Even with this problem, I have still managed to become buddies with many members of the class and they often come up to me and ask questions.

The first four sessions of Friday was spent travelling to the Vic Market, buying food and then making our meal.  The Vic Market has a great feel, with rows and rows of fresh produce as well as lovely smelling delicatessens.  Following Hamish proved to be a disaster even though he assured us that he knew where he was going, so we followed the map instead which proved to be a tad more effective that following Hamish.  After visiting the deli and the fruit and veg. shops, we made our way back to school to begin cooking!  It was so much fun, and even though we had made, cooked and eaten ours before many people had even started, I, at least, went around helping other groups (especially Maxim’s group as they got me to cook their chicken for them) and it was great to see so many different foods being made.  I think everyone had a great time and probably one of the highlights of the entire program. 

Into to the Third Week of Galileo and really enjoying it so far.  After the usual Monday Morning Electives, we were off on a Thinking Skills Workshop and then a guest speaker after lunch.  Unfortunately, I was at an Oboe lesson for the greater part of the talk by Jan, but the ending was still very interesting as he talked about early settlers such as Batman, Fawkner and other squatters linking with the Aboriginal people.  For me though, one of the highlights of the week was doing the basic first aid course with Molly and Michael.  I think that first aid skills are very important and everyone should have some basic first aid training.  We then continued with our team projects and continued research on modern and historical soccer and cricket.  Everything is up to schedule with the research project which I am very pleased about.  After lunch we went on the first of two trails for the week, going into the city on a Koorie Heritage Trust guided tour around Melbourne.  It was very interesting to learn about the history of Melbourne in relation to the Aboriginal people and how the Aboriginal people would use the land before white settlement.  It was interesting to learn about how the Aboriginal people never wasted anything on the land, a contrast to how the white settlers wasted the land when they arrived.  It was also interesting to hear the origins of many places in Melbourne with Aboriginal names like the Yarra and Tullamarine and common misunderstandings between the white and Aboriginal people.

The following day we went on our second trail, this one to the Melbourne Cemetery and Royal Park.  As I was at orchestra rehearsal during the Pre-Trail preparation, I was put into a group which seemed ok at first, but then once we left school, I did most of the work which was required.  We received a handout with questions and I was left to do most of those questions.  Many of the questions focused on the relations between Aboriginal people and white people, and spoke about some issues which have arisen.  I think that the Aboriginal people have just started to be widely recognised as the owners of the land, but I think more could be done to represent them in the community.  I found the cemetery a bit boring and dampening, but when we arrived at Royal Park, we were able to relax in the long Kangaroo grass (which brought up many people’s Hay fever).  It wasn’t one of the best trails but enjoyable enough. 

The next morning was the second community service session.  I had to withstand a whole 1 and a quarter hours of a grade two class singing the Little Vegimites song, of which I now know the entire lyrics off by heart.  I also cut of stickers for the lucky dip and photocopied for the teacher.  I also worked with a small group of children who were practising for a play and needed some assistance with the lines.  They are a very cute bunch of kids and the group that I was with helped each other and seemed like they were having a good time.  For the rest of the day back at school, we participated in a program called High Resolves which mainly focused on Global Poverty and children able to make a difference, and also touched teamwork, justice and other group activities.  This ran for half of Thursday and most of Friday and provided us with a range of videos, discussions and group activities on a range of topics.  I thought it was a good experience and something different to think about.

Who owns Melbourne and Why

The Ethics of Land Rights in our City

21.  The Yorta Yorta people lost their Land Rights case as the High Court deemed that the ‘tide of history’ had washed away their claim to the land.  The panel of judges also said that the Yorta Yorta people failed to demonstrate their traditional claims to the land.

22.  I think the Aboriginal people in Melbourne have a bit more recognition than in other places.  At ceremonies, a statement saying which land it’s taking place on and there are street names, parks and places which are name after Aboriginal people.  Others, like the Yorta Yorta people, aren’t as lucky as they have to deal with the High Court of Australia which might be a bit tougher.

26.  The Dreaming is a verbal way of passing down stories from one generation to the next.  It is used by the Aboriginal people as an education method as within the stories are morals and teachings which the children are taught to follow.

27.  The Aboriginal people have a special connection with the land as it gave them all they needed, including food, water, clothing, and they were very careful not to waste anything.  This is why they have a special connection with the land as it gave them everything to survive for thousands of years.

28.  The land is also closely connected with their Dreamtime Stories.  In the creation story, it outlines how the land is created, and in many other stories, it explains how and why things are where they are.  Many native animals are used in the stories as well as early Aboriginal people.

29.  After reading the articles, I think that in Victoria we waste a lot of land and overuse resources.  This includes our overconsumption of water, especially from the Murray River, the mining of coal which we then burn and then produce C0₂, not to mention the logging of forests.  The Aboriginal people, who are the original owners of land are slowly being recognised in the community, but so far not much, if not no land has been given back to them.

30.  The European understanding of the land (which was virtually no-existent) made the land much less liveable.  The Aboriginal people used the land very efficiently, not wasting anything, but when the Europeans arrived, and didn’t have that knowledge, they began consuming and wasting the land.

31.  I think that it is very difficult to change what we have done to the land, considering that there is an entire city in the way.  I think we could begin re-introducing native plants and animals back into bush area around Melbourne and give more recognition to the Aboriginal people within the community.

Melbourne Story – Discovering a City

Interactive Melbourne Map

Reservoir was settled in 1922.

Abbotsford, Fitzroy and Jolimont were the first suburbs to be settled.

Lyndhurst is the most recently settled suburb.

Task 2: Research and Reflection

Melbourne the Meeting Place 1835-1850

Melbourne is where it is because of the Yarra River which provides fresh drinking water and fertile lands around it.

Gold Town 1850-1880

People from all over the world flocked to Australia because of the gold rush, especially the Germans, Chinese, North Americans, British and Irish.  People and immigrants who found work would’ve stayed, but say, policemen who worked in the gold fields would’ve left as they weren’t needed after the gold rush.  Those who had struck it rich had the option of returning to their country of origin, or continue to live in Australia.  Many Chinese and Irish immigrants stayed.

Boom and Bust City 1880-1900

As the gold rush ended, the people who couldn’t afford to return to their country of origin moved to Melbourne, causing congestion in the city and stress on infrastructure and facilities.  I highly doubt it would’ve been a pleasant period.

Melbourne and the Nation 1900-1920

The Melbournians were quick to show their loyalty to the nation, 2 out of 5 men signing up voluntarily.  But the Irish Catholics refused to fight alongside the British so there was some division.  Life after the war was terrible as families had to resume without loved ones and the soldiers who did return brought back the flu pandemic and horrible memories.  The families had to work hard, but the war created a sense of nationalism for the Australian people.

Electric City 1920-1945

The creation of electricity brought a new energy source into Melbourne although many people were quite happy to stick with gas and oil as first, but soon all houses in Melbourne were connected to the electricity grid.  This also allowed for the creation of white goods, radio, new forms of entertainment and recreation.  This was also the time of the great depression, where many people and business lost huge amounts of money overnight.

Suburban City 1945-1980

After the Second World War, Melbourne began expanding outwards and upwards.  Old buildings in the city were demolished to make way for apartment buildings and the area of Melbourne grew.  Suburban sprawl began and industries began moving out of the city to outer suburbs like Altona and Footscray.  Town planning was implemented, a housing commission was set up and environmental awareness became a hot topic.

The week started again with another painful double session of Latin and a flight tech lesson.  Then in session four we found out what we had been looking forwards to, which groups we were in, and what topic we had been assigned.  I am doing sport with David (my chicken buddy), Ethan and Jeremy, who is currently in France.  Ethan was away on Monday so it was just me and my chicken buddy left to plan the History trail for the next day.

On Tuesday morning, as the other group had community service, we had a skills workshop which focused on teamwork and working with others.  I am not much of a team worker, I will work with a team if I have to, but I prefer to work by myself and to do things my way.  During the middle two sessions we went on an excursion to the Melbourne Museum to see the Melbourne Exhibition, which I had seen before.  All we had had to do was give detailed answers to a set of questions, but I felt that there wasn’t enough time to go through the entire museum and give answers to all the questions.  We also had to take a picture of each section of the exhibition and comment on it, but I didn’t even visit every section….oh well.  During the lunch break I owned Damian with my magic egg trick and then got owned by  Henry when playing ‘tiggy’ in the playground like little kiddies!!!  During the last two sessions we went to our 6 places which we had planned the day before, to find out what was currently there and then research what was there beforehand.

On Wednesday we began to research on what was at our sites before the current building, but it was slow going as the network was really slow and the Internet was not working half the time.  I have found the slowness of the Internet a real let down as it stuffs up what the teachers have planned for the session, and generally slows our progress.  For the rest of the day, we went on an orientation trail around Melbourne, similar to an Amazing Race.  The whole idea was to collect as many points as possible by taking pictures of certain things around Melbourne.  We split up into groups of four, and I thought our group did ok, but I think that we could’ve taken more time at the start to plan and research the journey.  We are eager to find out how we did compared to other groups.

Thursday morning was the first of our community service sessions working at primary schools.  I was at Carlton Gardens taking the grade 2 class.  I was a bit nervous when we arrived, not knowing what to expect.  The teacher of the class I was helping out with quickly put me to work organising a very messy bookshelf, which took me the whole 1 hour and 15 minutes.  Therefore I didn’t really get to know the kids or the teacher.  When we left, I realised that it wasn’t that bad.  The teacher said that next week I could read with the kids so that’s something to look forward to.  The next session after recess was spent beginning our team project, starting off with the research project.  Our project is on the histories of cricket and soccer in Melbourne and their differences.  The rest of the day was spent at Latin and flight tech.

Friday morning was another session on the Team project beginning the actual research and deciding the captains of each section of the team project.  Then during the next two sessions when we were meant to be doing video logs, I went to a function in the city, as I was asked to play (piano) at a UHS reunion for all the people who were at the school during the war years.  I went with the principal in his car and then jaywalked alongside him across King St.   It was a good experience and I was invited to eat lunch with them as well.  I came back to school in time for the last 1 and a half sessions during which we were outside and in the gym playing soccer and volleyball respectively, which was quite fun.

Wow…..what a great start to the Galileo program.   After three  of electives to start off the term we got underway with the Introduction to the Galileo Program.  First we started off with a writing task, voicing our worries, hopes and expectations about the program.  Quite to our surprise, we were told to crush the pieces of looseleaf and then throw them at each other, which was quite entertaining.  Another activity that we did was a  letter to the teachers about ourselves and then were  shown a video about creativity as “food for thought” (quote Michael). 

Tuesday proved to be just as interesting as Monday, focusing on the three “Galileo Questions”, How sustainable is Melbourne?, Is Melbourne a livable city? and What makes a good citizen?  We discussed these in detail and did many group activities, including designing a suburb under a budget of 1.3 million.

Wednesday morning we were in the performance center watching videos including a video on Curitiba and Copenhagen.  The video on Curitiba, which was very interesting, showed how even a semi-poverty stricken city, with the right town planning, can develop and become one of the world’s most sustainable cities.  Wednesday is also the day of our weekly trails, the first focusing on Housing.  Me with my group (Louis, Martin & Jack) went to Hawthorn for the afternoon studying the housing, livability & sustainability of Hawthorn.  Our group worked together and had a great time walking through the semi-modern Swinburne Uni, along the busy Glenferrie road and through Hawthorn boulevard.  Swinburne Uni had an odd feel about it, trying to combine older structures with modern glass and metal ones, which created an “interesting” clash.  The feel was also very studious (not surprising as it was a university) but it lacked cosiness and felt very cold and alien.  Glenferrie road shopping strip had a more intimate feel but the traffic was horrendous and when we interviewed some shop keepers, they said that the strip lacked the essential stores like green-grocers and butchers.  This brings down the areas sustainability and livability.  Walking along Hawthorn grove, it was amazing to see such vintage Victorian and Edwardian houses, some costing over $4 million.  But are all these large antique houses sustainable?,  having had to be renovated many times to keep them in such pristine condition.

On Thursday morning we created a PowerPoint in preparationfor our presentation on Hawthorn.  We had two sessions to complete it but it felt as if it was a bit rushed and we didn’t get to plan the presentation properly.  It was interesting to hear about Fitzroy and Brunswick but again I don’t think that all of the information was passed through to the audience.  As a whole, I think we all need need to improve our communication and presentation skills.

On Friday morning we listened to a guest speaker who spoke about the dangers of the Internet and what precautions you should take when online.  We also found out our community service groups and which primary schools we will be going to.  This is something new for me and I am looking forward to working with the younger kids.  In the middle sessions we were introduced to the edublogs and began our first post.  The last sessions of the week was spent at Princess Park, doing an (approx) 3.2 km run, which proved just how unfit we all are (or at least me anyway).

The highlight of the week was definitely our first trail, I was with a fantastic group who showed teamwork and had heaps of fun.  It was also interesting to explore Hawthorn as I had never really travelled there before.  I don’t think I personally felt any lowlights, maybe the pain of getting out of bed the day after the 3.2 km run   Overall, this first week has been a great start to the program.