On the 16th of May 2016, the Year 6 class attended our second excursion of the year to Parliament House. We attended with our teacher and parent helper, Mrs Abdullah.
We met with Mr Michael Loney, who is the Educational Officer for Parliament House. He explained the history behind the wooden swan emblem on the floor. It was made of timber, mother of pearl, iron ore and jarrah. Each part of the swan represented different WA industries. He also mentioned the history behind the Sir John Forrest statue and the 1800 glass chandelier.
Mr Michael Loney, then took us up majestic stairs to the second floor where he explained about the role of the Speaker. We learnt that the role of the speaker is very dangerous job to have in the past. However dangerous, it was an important job as he discussed important issues with the King.
We were very fortunate to meet with Mrs Johnston (the wife of Bill Johnston) who is the representative of the Lower House and Cannington, our electorate.
We were invited to the Lower House to carry out our roll-play on the Cat Bill 2011. It was a fun experience to roll-play in a room where actual bills were passed by parliament. We also learnt that members who sat on the right of the Speaker, were part of the Government (and usually the winners of elections); whilst on the left side, members who are in the Opposition Party. There was a golden replica mace, which represented the Queen of England and Ireland.
In addition, we were also invited to see the Upper House, where we discussed the processes. There was also another mace that also represented the Queen of England and Ireland too.
At the end of our short excursion, we were invited to the courtyard to have blueberry and raspberry muffins and juice.
It was a short excursion to revise the history of Parliament, which we learnt about in Term 1.
Nadia Pellegrino and the Year 6’s
