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Mountain View Homestead is an enduring memorial to the ingenuity, resourcefulness and enterprise of our early white settlers and to the history of the Gold Rush - that episode in our history that Manning Clark believed to have had the most impact on the formation of Australia. Its preservation is essential!
Since 1979 I have taken over five hundred students and parents from four schools to this wonderful property. Many students have declared this adventure to be the best camp they have ever attended.
The educational value of the Mountain View Homestead is inestimable and expansive. Students gain insights into:
- wattle ‘n daub building technique – and double storey too!
- cooking facilities (fireplaces, stone oven etc)
- basic bathroom facilities – something which we allow our students to experience during their stay at the nearby accommodation (and don’t the young people of today need a little inconvenience every now and then!)
- interior design of the period
- architectural design of the period
- the Chinese influence on architecture
- the self-sufficiency of occupants
- living off the land
- living in harmony with the land and the climate
- the wonderful tales of bravery, hardship, contentment, resilience, surprise (the story of the operation being performed on the kitchen table after a buggy impaled a poor fellow on the gatepost at the front of the homestead is compelling stuff …especially for young people)
- the interaction of aboriginal and Chinese people with those of European extraction – sometimes positive, but alas, sometimes negative
- stories of the owner, Davey Smith Todd - a truly remarkable man.
- early schoolhouse / teaching structures and strategies
- general store information
- the myriad of other things that the homestead displays about our early settlers
Some of our purposes in running a camp on this property are to:
- Experience the challenges and difficulties of being an early Australian settler, gold miner or sheep farmer.
- Cope with the rigours of life “on the land” as an individual, member of a small group and as a class member.
- Serve friends by completing menial tasks.
- Love classmates by such things as helping them cross a creek, walk in the dark or climb a mountain.
- Take calculated risks in decision making when interacting with the environment.
Mountain View Homestead and its environment is the ideal place for the realisation of these purposes. The property would easily facilitate the completion of many of the NSW Board of Studies HSIE outcomes. The location of the homestead nestled in a valley near many historical relics (e.g. water race, miner’s hut, gold mines, shearing shed etc ) contributes to its uniqueness.
Any school that wants its students to experience early white Australian history, not vicariously, not virtually, but rather authentically, should have the opportunity to visit Mountain View Homestead.
Geoff Wheaton
Principal
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