We started our third day of camp by visiting Government House, the residence of Australia’s Governor General, Sir Peter Cosgrove. We learned about the components of his job; community engagement, ceremonial, Constitution and the Defence Force. We had a tour of the ground level and the external grounds of Government House, and we were able to see his 1970 Rolls Royce.
Our next stop for the day was the High Court. We had a presentation in each of the three courts; Constitutional Court, Court of Appeals and Procedural Court, and we learned about their roles and the types of cases they hear. We were surprised to find out how few criminal cases make up the law system.
Following that, we had lunch at The House of Representatives Garden, where there was a timeline of historic events for women in politics since Australia became a Federation in 1901.
After lunch, we participated in an educational program with the Australian Electoral Commission. We watched a video about voting which included important information about the requirements to vote; being 18, an Australian citizen and being enrolled (which you can actually do from the age of 16). We then had to complete a small booklet which helped us learn more about the Australian voting system. Before we left, we conducted a vote that illustrated how to complete a voting slip and then how to count votes.
Next, we went to the Museum of Australian Democracy at Old Parliament House. To preserve the building from dirt and oils from our skin, we were all required to wear white gloves. We learned about the equality of Australian citizens and that the word ‘democracy’ comes from Demos (people) and Kratos (power). One group went into the Old Parliament House of Representatives where we heard about the Speaker’s chair which was gifted from Great Britain. We also learned about Joan Child, the first female speaker of the lower house.
When we returned to camp we all went on a jumping pillow which was tremendously fun. We had some Italian for dinner, but really we all couldn’t wait for ten pin bowling. We were all in a lane with our cabin mates and we gave it our best try, with our friends being super supportive of our efforts. Our cabin were all really happy with our scores, and most of us got a spare or a strike!
Tomorrow we are looking forward to the Australian Institute of Sport and the War Memorial.
Scarlet, Katya, Ava Rose, Izzy, Annabelle and Jade.
