Old Melbourne Gaol
Located in the CBD, the Old Melbourne Gaol offer self-guided programs and activites that enable students to learn the history of the Gaol and the key moments in Melbourne's cultural and social history. The Gaol experience provides an understanding of Melbourne’s origins as a city built during the gold rush.
Self-Guided Programs
How was the Gaol run?
Cost: Free
Curriculum: History, Critical and Creative Thinking
Grade: 5-6
Outline: Scroll through the narrative galleries and explore how the Melbourne Gaol represented nineteenth century ideas of using punishment as a way of reforming prisoners.
Who was sent to the Gaol?
Cost: Free
Curriculum: History, Critical and Creative Thinking
Grade: 5-6
Outline: Scroll through the narrative galleries and explore the reasons why many different types of people might end up in gaol in the second half of the nineteenth century.
Why was the Gaol built?
Cost: Free
Curriculum: History, Critical and Creative Thinking
Grade: 5-6
Outline: Scroll through the narrative galleries and discover the story of the Melbourne Gaol and where it sits within Victoria’s criminal justice history.
Working Life - Now and Then
Cost: Free
Curriculum: History, Critical and Creative Thinking, Mathematics and English
Grade: 2-6
Outline: Compare the working lives of gardeners, teachers, housekeepers, cooks and chauffeurs over 120 years. Real people from the past and people from the present tell you the story about their jobs.
Use the teacher resource and the Splash student resource to complete this program.
McCrae Homestead Virtual Tour
Cost: Free
Curriculum: History
Grade: 5-6
Outline: Take your students on a virtual tour at a real colonial house and meet the people who lived there and examine their things.
General Activities
3D Interactive Court Room
Cost: Free
Grade: 5-6
Outline: Students can visit the interactive Court Room to get an idea of how a court room works.
Virtually There - 3D Tour
Cost: Free
Outline: You can explore from your desk some of Victoria's most intriguing historic sites as if you were in a video game.
Take a virtual visit of their historic sites using new 3D technology.
This application lets you wander around their sites and see them just as though you could really walk around from room to room or place to place.
Free Activity Worksheets
Cost: Free
Outline: The National Trust is dedicated to immersive education for children, which usually involves getting outside into nature and experiencing our historic places firsthand.
To stave off boredom and complaining, we’ve created some National Trust themed activities that can be easily printed at home.