in 2011 for History Week, Annabel Astbury, past Executive Director of the HTAV, put out the call to History teachers in Melbourne to nominate their students for a two day workshop to research and create an IPod History trail. The response was huge and the student places were filled within an hour. The objective of the project was to inspire student from a diverse range of schools to engage with the history of Melbourne using a combination of technology, fieldwork and primary sources.

The workshop was based at the State Library of Victoria and students first undertook a Scavenger tour entitled ‘Men of Stone and Steel’ created by HTAV using an app called ‘Scvngr’. The hunt took students to diverse locations in the vicinity of the SLV such as the Old Melbourne Gaol, Mr Tulk’s coffee show and the Coops Shot Tower. The overarching objective was to nurture the skill of ‘looking with intent’ and in particular to highlight the lack of monuments to significant women in Melbourne. After completing this induction, the students began the process of brainstorming, researching and developing their own tours around the CDB. They were given esoteric themes such as ‘Look Up’ and ‘Set in Stone’ as starting points for their project and were free to develop them as they pleased after initial fieldwork. They were supported by HTAV and SLV staff during the process of accessing the library collection, but essentially the projects were completed autonomously in pairs or groups of three.

The final products were completed using the ‘History Pin’ app which allows the user to overlay historical or specific images onto an interactive world map. The groups came up with ideas such as ‘Ghosts of Melbourne’ which moved from Federici the famous ghost of the Princess theatre who died while performing Faust, to an exploration of spiritual beliefs in China Town. Other groups created projects on ‘Transporting Melbourne: Importing and Exporting Trade’, ‘and ‘Money in Melbourne’. One team looked at the clubs of Melbourne by exploring the concepts of discrimination, exclusivity and gender segregation. The prize for best project was awarded to Nathan di Teodoro and Alex Maynard from Mazenod College for their tour ‘Set in Stone (A view on International Influence on Architecture in Melbourne)!’ where they imagined statues taking on a first person narrative to inform the viewer of their significance and connection to each other. William Anderson from Yarra Hills Secondary College was awarded the prize for ‘best presenter’ for his articulate and insightful discussion on early Melbourne industry. The student feedback to the experience was overwhelmingly positive and as facilitators we were thrilled with the authentic learning which we could see taking place.

Our thanks go to Lauren Sayers from Promethean, Jess McCulloch from the Chinese Teacher Training Centre at The University of Melbourne and Lynda Angeloni from the SLV for providing technical and research support to the students over the two days.

Jo Clyne
History Education Consultant
HTAV

View the completed projects below

Set in Stone: (A view on International Influence on Architecture in melbourne)! The 3D musical! On ice!*

http://www.historypin.com/tours/view/id/7745214/title/Set%20In%20Stone%20%28A%20view%20on%20International%20Influence%20on%20Architecture%20in%20melbourne%29!%20The%203D%20musical!%20On%20ice!*

Transporting Melbourne

http://www.historypin.com/tours/view/id/7771189/title/Transporting%20Melbourne.%20Importing-%20Exporting%20trade.

Clubs of Melbourne

http://www.historypin.com/tours/view/id/7856048/title/Clubs%20of%20Melbourne

Hidden in Plain View: Melbourne Ghost Tour

http://woices.com/walk/2019

Money in Melbourne

http://www.historypin.com/tours/view/id/7752255/title/Exploring%20Melbourne%20and%20its%20Money