Tech note of this journey
By Tessa Kanai and Oliphanu Banu, Year 5, Cairns West State School
FROM September 10-12, 10 Cairns West State School students and two teachers boarded an aeroplane to Sydney to build our technology skills. Our first reaction was to the weather. As we live in the tropics, it is very warm and we hardly get any cold weather, whereas Sydney was freezing. We had to wear tracksuits and socks to sleep.
We stayed for three days and two nights at the National Centre for Indigenous Excellence in Redfern, which is the unofficial capital for our people in Sydney.
Elders and many people from the local community welcomed us.
When we went to the Microsoft Academy, we first encountered a dancing robot and then we learnt how to use Minecraft in the classroom.
Afterwards we filled ourselves with fried rice and dumplings in Chinatown and played at the giant Darling Harbour playground.
The next day we went to Werrington County State School and created cool advertisements on our laptops, which were presented at the end of the day. We even learnt how to use green screens. The students watched us excitedly as we walked into the school gates and we all went to the Penrith Panthers Training Academy and aqua golf after school.
That night we saw Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art filmed on the side of the Opera House. These told our stories of creation.
On the last day we went to The Rocks, where we learnt about Australia’s First Peoples before the first British colony was established.
After The Rocks we went to Taronga Park Zoo and saw animals that don’t normally live in Australia like gorillas, tigers, pygmy hippos, otters and giraffes.
We also wrote emails to companies who make things that destroy the ecosystem of Sumatran Tigers.
We are already sharing our new technology knowledge with our friends, teachers and family at home.