Film - 'A Little Taste of History in Place', 2013

- My students have had the opportunity to take the history that they've learned today to look at the artefacts, and then to create their own dialogue around it to reinforce their own learning. And not only that, to then take it and then transform it into a project which will then be celebrated by so many other institutions and students, as well. It's done in a way that they have a chance to integrate technology, which my students really enjoyed doing.

- I was thinking this blanket, because it was made by a loom, and it was made by a grass substance. But it just interested us, because someone had soaked it in a river and then spun it into woolly stuff.

- And what was that for?

- That's right.

- Barwon Park and the National Trust are very keen to engage with younger people so that they can learn about their history and enjoy it. And I think this was a very positive way for children to do that.

- They just loved it. They loved seeing all the old furniture and the belongings of the people that did live here.

- The governess' room was next door. That was where she had her bedroom, and then this is where she would have taught the children.

- It's only down the road from our school, so it was an amazing experience to be able to come and learn about the history. And I suppose to make the most of the history within your local community is more meaningful and real for those kids.

- It's enriched their study by listening to people who were part of the history talk about the artefacts, how those artefacts related to their lives and their families. It's given history a place, and a context, and a story, as well.

- I like the fact that you find out how much the Italians have influenced the society. They've influenced so much, and we just take it for granted now. We don't really think about it that much when you're having a coffee, or whatever.

- It's been really interesting and fun.

Film - 'History in Place: How to documentary', 2013

[MUSIC PLAYING]

ELEANOR WHITWORTH: So one of the key aims of the History in Place project was to link community museums with their local schools and have a structure there that makes it easy for the museums to engage with the schools and with the kids.

TANYA WOLKENEBERG: Part of the impetus for this project was to connect kids with their local history and with their collections in the buildings in their local area that maybe they walk past every day but hadn't thought about or hadn't really visited.

SIMONE WALLACE: Coming to the actual mansion meant they were able to see things, exposed to hands-on experience rather than reading about it or looking it up online.

- It really makes the kids into active participants rather than passive consumers of their history.

- We're doing a thing on--

- Thomas.

- -- Thomas Austin. We're taking pictures of the portrait to tell people what they looked like.

JO CLYNE: The History in Place project works to align itself with the national curriculum for history. And basically in the pilot project, we lined up to Grade five and Grade six curriculum, which meant a focus on the 1800s-- so the colonial aspects of early Australia-- and also the Grade six curriculum which looked very much at federation and settlement in the 1900s. However, this project can be applied to any other type of curriculum in any year level.

The skills which it really focuses on are things like sequencing events and historical figures. It also gets students to develop their own text in response to objects, stories, historical movements.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Does anyone here collect anything? Yeah, what do you collect?

- I collect shells.

- Shells-- fantastic. What do you collect?

- Elephants

- Elephants-- so lots of different types like posters and statues and-- fabulous. You got a little themed museum there.

We looked at their personal collections-- so things that they might be interested in or have acquired a few of. And it helps them see why they collect things and how they curate the objects that they're interested in.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

So we're going to make stories which are very digital but you're also going to do voice recordings over the top to tell a story about some of the things in this museum.

ELEANOR WHITWORTH: So there's a few really important things that you need to think about when you're making your films. That you have good visuals-- they're pretty obvious-- and good audio. Because if you're recording someone talking, obviously if you can't hear properly, it's not very interesting to watch. So if you record any audio today as a way to tell your a story, make sure that where you are is quiet

So I have to call my little film-- and I've made this one up completely-- called "Music to His Ears." The first shot I've got is I've chosen a piano accordion. And the text is going to be my voiceover. It's going to say, this piano accordion belonged to an Italian immigrant called Manoza Dali. And over the top that, I'm going to have Italian background music.

So as you go through, you need to think about what is showing visually, what the visual shot is, and what the audio is going to be. Are you going to have some sound effects in the background? Are you going to have some music? And you need to script it. Are you going to be speaking? Are you going to film Fred and Andrew saying something? Are you going to interview somebody?

To be a responsible digital producer, kids need to understand about intellectual property rights. So I'm helping the kids to identify material that is likely to be out of copyright that they can use easily. And also to think about, if they're putting music into their films, where they might source that music from, to understand a little bit about Creative Commons licenses. And we also encourage them to use other applications where they can make their own music, because of course, then they own the copyright.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

TANYA WOLKENEBERG: The tour's normally a tour of the property and a tour of some of the most significant items, giving the kids a couple of ideas or thoughts about what stories they might be able to pull out of the collection.

TRUDI TOYNE: We were sort of quite conscious about trying to link the story of Thomas and Elizabeth Austin back to the objects. So the objects were sort of like a trigger for us to be able to talk about the lives of those two people and the society that they lived in at the time.

- Now remember, we just looked at the bells outside that they could summon the servants. Well, there's the bell pulls beside the fireplace there. And you see one on each side?

- The concept of the butler was one that the children really related to. And then that gave you an avenue into exploring a whole range of either other rooms or objects or social circumstances.

- Understanding your collection and how it relates to the curriculum areas, it was really useful for this project. So just picking out two or three stories that the kids can be directed towards when they're doing the tour of the museum.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

TANYA WOLKENEBERG: What we found is that often as the kids are doing the tours, there are particular stories that you can see that they're getting excited by. And so some of them come back from the tour, and already that group has already said, we want to do this. And they're very, very excited.

- Picked to do it on Elizabeth Austin because of her achievements-- like she made the Austin Hospital-- and because there was a lot of information about her. And she's very interesting.

- Sometimes the kids need a little bit more encouragement. Or there might be a little bit more division within the group about somebody wants to do this and someone wants to do that. And then it needs to be facilitated a little bit more by their teacher or by the museum staff,

[MUSIC PLAYING]

ELEANOR WHITWORTH: Simplicity is the key in the kids creating the stories. The films are usually around a particular object, so the kids need to identify the narrative that relates to that object. Sometimes they need help narrowing that down because there might be multiple stories around an object. And to encourage them to choose just one of those stories and tell it well is a real key.

You need to think really clearly about the beginning, the middle, and the end. Endings can be quite challenging, and it's what we found the kids struggled with most of all. So really encouraging them to think how do they wrap it up. How do they maybe link the end of story back to the beginning?

So the tool that we've found through the pilot process that is most useful to achieve that is storyboarding.

Storyboard is mapping out your story. So what's in the first shot? What's in the second shot? What's in the third shot? What's in the fourth shot? So it's a plan.

And they have to think about the assets that they need-- so the images-- and also what they might be saying over the top of those images.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

So the key components of the stories and the key assets that the kids will be using in the films are photographs of the objects that are appearing in their film. They might record voiceover that will run across the photographs as those photographs display in the films. And then they might also interview experts from the museum or even the community who can add additional information and context around the objects and the things.

- Most of the children moved out fairly soon after living--

ELEANOR WHITWORTH: We encourage them to try and get all of the assets that they require for their film on the day whilst they're in the museum-- so to take photos of any of the objects that are appearing in their film, any of the information boards that go with those objects. So if they want to check their facts when the finish off their films back at school, they've got the information that the museum has provided with them.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

[CHATTER]

- It doesn't work.

- That works.

ELEANOR WHITWORTH: When it comes to the kids putting their assets together and creating their movie, we drew together some simple apps that are being created for tablet technology, which make the process just so simple and easy-- where it's just drag and drop.

The kids will usually start from the beginning of their storyboard and drag in their first image. They'll drag in their audio, and place that under the image or a couple of images. And really that's as complicated as it gets-- dragging all the assets into the timeline in order. And then finessing it and cleaning it up in terms of the types of transitions that they use between each of the assets and then adding the titles and the captions. And then the final element is if they're creating their own music to then bring that music file in and drop it in where they need it.

So what we found on the day is that kids usually got all of their assets in place, and then they just needed to go back to their classroom and fine-tune the movies and clean them up. The teachers generally allowed about one class per week over four weeks-- so about four classes to finalize the process over all.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

What we did at the end of the day is to show a couple of the films. They really love watching each other's films, and it's really exciting when you see what they've managed to pull together in a couple of hours. It's quite astounding.

JO CLYNE: The entire History in Place project kit is available online. It's been a process of trial and error over six pilots. We've put together everything that we think will be supportive of teachers and students.

I think the really important thing is to make sure you have a school who are very enthusiastic and will allow the students the time to actually produce their films at the end of the project-- and an institution who understands what it's like to have primary or secondary students inside and working with their collections.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Film - Tommaso, Charlie, Robbie, Vincent and Dominic, 'Maniero', 2013

This documentary is about Pietro Pasquale and his wife Giuseppina Vrtovec. This includes his work in the sugar can industry and his wife's work in athletics.

[In Italian]

The knife belonged to Pietro Pasquale Maniero.

This is the story of Pietro and his wife Giuseppina.

Pietro arrived in Australia in 1956.

Pietro's job was to cut sugar cane.

He had a special knife to cut the sugar cane.

Giuseppinna represented Trieste in athletics.

These are Giuseppina's athletic medals.

After her mother's death Giuseppina came to Australia with her sister Gina and her brother in law.

Pietro and Giuseppina met on the boat and soon after were married.

Pietro was only 23 years old when he arrived in Australia.

Film - Mollie, Zoe, Dian and Bridget, 'The Blanket: La coperta', 2013

[ITALIAN SPEECH] NARRATOR 1: This is a blanket from the 1850s, and was brought to Melbourne in the 1950s.

[ITALIAN SPEECH]

NARRATOR 2: The blanket is made out of the broom plant called 'genista' in Italian.

NARRATOR 3: 'La genista', the plant, grows wild, soaked in the river, then beaten and combed, spun, and woven, the blue colouring is from the tubers.

[ITALIAN SPEECH]

NARRATOR 2: The blanket is coarse and rough.

[ITALIAN SPEECH]

NARRATOR 1: This is a photo of Paola Tormen, weaving a blanket from coarse flax.

Film - Chiara, Honor, Ava, Mireille, Elektra and Cate, 'Lo Scialle', 2013

[IN ITALIAN]

Rosa's Cloth

This is Rosa.

This is Rosa's cloth:

Rosa thought it was a table cloth.

This is Rosa's mother Maria.

It was Rosa's grandmother who made the cloth.

She always wondered why there was only one side with embroidery.

Then Rosa went in the Calvin Gars Museum and saw this painting.

The painting is called the Chocolate Girl.

She realised that her piece of cloth was really a shawl.

[MUSIC PLAYS]

Film - Mia, Georgia, Ieisha and Sharnie, 'The Butler', 2013, Barwon Park Mansion, Winchelsea

NARRATOR 1: Welcome to the Barwon Park Mansion. This video will explore the life of the butler in the 1800s. The Austin family had 26 servants, but one very important one was the butler.

NARRATOR 2: The butler polished the silver, which was a very important job to do. The butler also served the food to the table, which was a very long journey. It came from the kitchen, to the ladies pantry, then to the butler's pantry, then finally to the tables.

NARRATOR 3: Another one of the butler's jobs was to look after the keys to the cellar. The butler was also in charge of the servants. He also kept a good role with the serving bells. When the serving bells rang for a room, they would get up there as soon as possible.

NARRATOR 4: The butler had been treated in a more respectful way than other servants in the mansion. They wouldn't have as nice beds or even rooms. The butler had a great job. Even though the butler had worked and served at the Barwon Park Mansion, we still don't know exactly whether the butler had his own room in mansion or he had a house in Winchelsea.

NARRATOR 1: This was made by Mia.

NARRATOR 2: Georgia.

NARRATOR 3: Ieisha.

NARRATOR 4: And Sharnie.

Film - Emily, Alannah, Jacob and Riley, 'The Dining Room', 2013, Barwon Park Mansion, Winchelsea

NARRATOR 1: This is the Barwon Park Mansion in Winchelsea. It was the home of Thomas Austin and Elizabeth Austin. Elizabeth gave money to found the Austin Hospital, and Thomas introduced rabbits to Australia.

NARRATOR 2: This is their dining room table. There's lots of chinaware. It is very delicate and expensive.

NARRATOR 3: The Austins had a butler. The butler was a type of servant. One of his jobs was to serve food at the dining table.

NARRATOR 1: This is the butler's pantry. This is the room where they store all the cutlery and plates.

NARRATOR 2: This is the ladies' pantry, where the ladies made sweets. They also sometimes used this room for flower arranging.

NARRATOR 3: Elizabeth liked tapestry. She had it hanging all around the mansion. You can still see all of the original rods that the tapestry hung off in the dining room.

NARRATOR 1: Barwon Park is an important historical landmark of Victoria. We recommend that you come and visit sometime.

Film - Elliot, Dominic, Declan and Jacob, 'Chinese Festival', 2013, Golden Dragon Museum

NARRATOR 1: The first Chinese festival was in the early 1870's. This is a photo of what it would've looked like.

NARRATOR 2: This is a beautiful banner for phoenix's. The phoenix's represents the fame owl, or the queen.

NARRATOR 3: The Chinese dragon, the head of a camel, the horns of a deer, eyes of a rabbit, ears of a cow, neck of a snake, belly of a frog, scales of a carp, claws of an eagle, and the palm of a tiger.

NARRATOR 1: These mythical creatures, the chilin, are the pets and companions for gods and immortals. They are said to punish sinners and protect the virtuous. Having them on this jacket is a reflection of these traits.

NARRATOR 2: These are some shoes that Chinese women wore to special festivals. They broke their toes and then strapped it to the foot to make sure they could fit in. They thought they would look beautiful if they looked small.

- ...by Europeans to bring people to Bendigo and to show them how fantastic the city is. This was due to after the gold rush, the population declining and the people in Bendigo wanting to bring people back to Bendigo and hopefully turn it back into the bustling town that it was during the gold rush. The Easter festival first started in 1869, but it wasn't until 1971 when it was formally a committee that was organizing it every year.

- What's so important about the dragon's teaser.

- So the dragons love treasure. And these are a treasure that they follow. So the tradition is that  a man stands in front of a dragon with one of these, enticing them to move forward and follow the treasure. And that's how a dragon is made to dance, and that's why they're called teasers. It's teasing the dragon.

[DRAGON ROARING]

CHILDREN (EXCLAIMING): Yay!

Film - Irma, Emma, Simone and Anika, 'Loong The Dragon', 2013, Golden Dragon Museum

NARRATOR 1: This is the story of Loong, he is placed in the Golden Dragon Museum, Bendigo.

NARRATOR 2: In China, the dragon was a national symbol, and its images were used as a badge of imperial power. In Chinese art, the imperial dragon has five claws, where the ordinary dragon has only four.

NARRATOR 3: Loong is the Old East Imperial Dragon in the world. He made his first appearance in the late 19th century and continued to parade until 1970.

NARRATOR 4: Loong was made near Canton in China. He is made of bamboo, silk, cotton, mirrors and paper mache.

NARRATOR 1: In the 1800s, Loong paraded here. Now, look how much it has changed.

- When Loong paraded in Bendigo, the Chinese talked about a golden dragon being here in Bendigo, and this is how the Golden Dragon Museum got its name, through this dragon here, Loong. He's an imperial dragon, and when he paraded in the streets, the Chinese would pay money to carry him, because it was considered such an honor and a privilege to be under the imperial dragon.

NARRATOR 2: Thank you Golden Dragon Museum for all your support you've given us through this project.

Film - Dinith, Esther, and Oliver, 'Chinese Musical Instruments', 2013, Golden Dragon Museum

- Welcome, everyone.

NARRATOR 1: The two-string mandolin. The two-string mandolin is like a banjo, but with two strings and a stick up. At this tuning end, the stick goes across. It was from the 1880s.

NARRATOR 2: The drum [INAUDIBLE]. The drum [INAUDIBLE] is used for a drum to stand out at the back as someone at the back is playing the drums, and a long handle at the front, with someone pulling it from the 1800s. The shell horn is basically a shell, and you blow one side of the horn, and out the other side comes a sound. It is in different colours from the 1880s.

- Clashing of the gong was to ward off bad spirits in the Easter festival.

NARRATOR 1: The musician's hat. The musician's hat was warn by the musician, and has two red ribbons, and a little bump for the head from the 1800s.

NARRATOR 2: The large pair of cymbals were used in the Easter festival, sometimes behind the drummer's cut from the 1800s.

- In Bendigo, the citizens decided to have the Bendigo Easter festival. It first started in 1869, but really wasn't formal until 1871, where it had an organizing committee and it was run annually. Here, you can see some instruments that were brought in for the Easter festival by the Chinese. During this festivity, they would play their drums, their cymbals, and gongs and make lots of beautiful music to the performing lines of dragons.

NARRATOR 1: What was it like in the Easter festival? And what sort of instruments did they use?

- It was very much similar to what it is today. But the instruments that I had was the drums, the cymbals, and the gongs.

NARRATOR 3: Thanks for watching everyone.

Film - Eve, Audrey, Mia, Emma and Michaela, 'Fashion in the 1800s', 2013, Burke Museum

NARRATOR 1: This is a story about women's fashion in Australia during the 1800s, made at the Burke Museum, Beechworth.

NARRATOR 2: Fashion of the women in the 1800s was very formal and concealed.

NARRATOR 3: Wealthy women wore dresses with lace beads and buttons.

NARRATOR 4: This is a replica of an original dress from the 1800s at the Burke Museum. Visitors are allowed to touch it.

NARRATOR 5: These are originals and are behind glass.

NARRATOR 1: Modern outfits are very different than clothes in the 1800s.

NARRATOR 2: Many modern women wear pants.

NARRATOR 3: Modern dresses are very different to the ones in the 1800s.

NARRATOR 4: They are less concealed.

NARRATOR 5: Clothes in the 1800s were often hand made. They used spinning wheels to spin the wool for the outfits.

NARRATOR 1: Women wore tight corsets to make their waist look small. They had trouble breathing and would often faint.

NARRATOR 2: Women in the 1800s wore hats when they went out of the house. They used a hat pin to hold the hat to the hair.

NARRATOR 3: This was our sorry about women's fashion in the 1800s at the Burke Museum, Beechworth. Thank you for watching.

NARRATOR 1: Bye Eve--

NARRATOR 2: Audrey--

NARRATOR 3: Mia--

NARRATOR 4: Emma--

NARRATOR 5: --and Mikhaila.

Film - Hamish, Lockie, Rory and Owen, 'Ned Kelly's Armour', 2013, The Burke Museum

MATTHEW: The Mystery of the Kelly Gang Armour Revealed. We're opening with the infamous Kelly Gang and their amazing armour.

Ned Kelly had a long history in Beechworth because he lived here and was in jail here.

A member of the Kelly Gang was Joe Byrne. He was friends with a lot of Chinese miners, and we believe that Joe got the idea for the Kelly Gang's armor from this Japanese suit of armour.

- What do you know about the link between this suit of armour and the Kelly Gang Armour?

- Good question, Hamish Apparently, Joe Byrne, who was one of the Kelly Gang, who was a big friend of the Chinese that used to live in Beechworth, came to a parade in 1873 in Beechworth. And he saw someone wearing that suit of armour, that one there. And he probably was so inspired that he went and said to Ned, boy, have I got an idea for you. And the idea was what?

- This suit of armour.

- The suit of armour.

- At the Beechworth Parade of 1873, a Chinese miner was wearing a Japanese suit of armour.

MATTHEW: So that is the story of how the Kelly Gang got the idea of their armour.

Film - Lea, Malay and Chikara, 'The Chaffey Brothers', 2013, Mildura Arts Centre

TRANSCRIPT

NARRATOR 1: Hi. My name's Lea.

NARRATOR 2: I'm Malay.

NARRATOR 3: And my name is Chikara. We're going to be telling you about the Chaffey family.

NARRATOR 1: George Chaffey and his brother, William Benjamin, arrived in Mildura in 1886.

NARRATOR 3: That's when they established the first irrigation scheme in Australia.

NARRATOR 2: Following the irrigation scheme, William began construction of the Rio Vista.

NARRATOR 3: Queen Anne style house was built for George Chaffey in 1889.

NARRATOR 1: The house was occupied by the Chaffey family from 1891 until 19--

NARRATOR 2: Rio Vista was opened as Mildura's art gallery in 1956. Did you know that George Chaffey had two wives, strangely, both named Hattie?

NARRATOR 3: Even though he had the death of the first wife, he still had great achievements.

NARRATOR 1: George Chaffey did a lot of things to make Mildura what it is today.

Film - Zac, Daniel and Flynn, 'Good Times and Bad Times at Rio Vista', 2013, Mildura Arts Centre

ZAC: Welcome to the Rio Vista. Hi. My name's Zac.

DANIEL: Hi. My name's Daniel.

FLYNN: And I'm Flynn, and this is our Rio Vista project. We're going  to show you some of the Chaffeys' good times and their bad times. This stained glass cost the Chaffeys a lot of money. This glass is the authentic glass put in when the house was built. This is a photo of a bathtub the Chaffeys had to use, because they went through a rabbit plague and a drought and had to sell lots of things, including their porcelain bath.

DANIEL: This is an expensive Italian marble fireplace. It's an authentic piece and shows how rich the Chaffeys were.

FLYNN: This is a photo of the toilet they had to use because they sold their porcelain one during the drought.

ZAC: The Red Book was filled with advertisements and sent all around Australia.

FLYNN: This is George Chaffey's original top hat that he wore everywhere. This is the stove top the servants cooked Chaffey's food on.

DANIEL: These are some patterns found in the tiles in the Rio Vista.

ZAC: This is the authentic fountain that W.B. Chaffey's son drowned in.

DANIEL: Thank you for watching our presentation on the Rio Vista.

Film - Ruby, Emily and Shelby, 'Dame Nellie Melba', 2013, Yarra Ranges Museum

NARRATOR 1: Hello. Today, Emily and Shelby are at the Yarra Ranges Regional Museum.

NARRATOR 2: This is a board in the Yarra Ranges Regional Museum of Melba singing.

NARRATOR 3: Melba was an internationally famous woman because of her opera singing.

NARRATOR 1: Melba was a very famous woman that people named food, objects, and places after her, such as--

NARRATOR 2: This is a $0.60 stamp with Melba on it.

NARRATOR 3: Toast that has her name on it called Melba Toast.

NARRATOR 1: A dessert that's called peach Melba.

NARRATOR 2: Even the $100 bill!

NARRATOR 3: Melba Conservatorium of Singing.

NARRATOR 1: This is a book with information of Melba in it.

NARRATOR 3: This is a badge with Melba's face on it.

NARRATOR 1: These are famous shoes worn by Melba. This is Melba's dressing gown that she got customly made for her.

NARRATOR 3: This is a gold plated belt that Melba wore around her waist.

NARRATOR 1: This is Melba dining at a famous restaurant.

NARRATOR 2: This is Melba at her famous show.

Film - Tom, Taryn, Mia Lee and Jonah, 'David Mitchell', 2013, Yarra Ranges Museum

NARRATOR 1: David Mitchell was born in 1829 in Scotland. He migrated to Melbourne in 1852 in search of gold.

NARRATOR 2: David Mitchell was a qualified stone mason from Scotland, and he worked on buildings like the Royal Exhibitions Building in Carlton. This is a plan for the Royal Exhibition Building in Carlton.

NARRATOR 1: He built a quarry and lorried out the quarry limestone. It is still there, but it is closing down soon so they can build houses.

NARRATOR 2: By the turn of the century, David Mitchell had factories producing soap, bacon, cheese, and butter at Cave Hill. He also owned several wineries. As well as being a businessman, David Mitchell was a father to Dame Nellie Melba.

NARRATOR 1: When David died on the 25th of March, 1916, Melbourne made a park and gate to tribute him.