Life in the Past: A Schoolhouse and Farm Adventure at Rouse Hill Estate

Vacation Care Program

Join us for a fun-filled adventure at Rouse Hill Estate, where kids will learn firsthand what daily life was like for children who attended school and lived on a farm in the late 19th century.

Your students will have to bring all their excitement, because there is much for them to do.

Schoolhouse

Grab your straw hat and slate board – it’s time for school … in 1889! This immersive and engaging program offers students the opportunity to go back in time and participate in a role-play that re-creates a day at school more than 130 years ago.

Children participate in hands-on activities including practising writing on slates, completing a nature lesson using specimens, and undertaking outdoor drills. This is a vivid and active exploration of how children lived and learned in 1889.

Farm walk

Complementing the schoolhouse experience, students will explore Rouse Hill farm and discover what daily life was like for children on a farm in the late 19th century. Hands-on activities include feeding the sheep and chickens, pumping water, and creating their own house and farm in a specialised LEGO room on the property.

For booking inquiries, call + 61 2 8239 2211 or email bookings@mhnsw.au

356 Annangrove Road, Rouse Hill NSW 2155

Rouse Hill Estate

356 Annangrove Road, Rouse Hill NSW 2155
  • Wheelchair accessible
Cost (GST free)
From $282 for up to 20 students

See page for cost scale details

Duration
Full day if completing both programs
Session offered
Monday to Friday, 10am–1.30pm

During school holidays only

Maximum students
60 per session
Supervision ratios
One staff member required per 20 students

Supervisors/staff members attend the program for free. At least one adult supervisor is required per 20 students.

Onsite programs

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Students laying in the hammocks at Hyde Park Barracks on the Home: Convicts, Migrants & First People Learning program
Onsite

History Adventures at the Barracks

Join us in the school holidays for a one-of-a-kind museum experience, where kids will discover what life was for the convicts at the Hyde Park Barracks!

Student and carer looking at convict bricks on wheelchair tray.  Cayn assisting.
Onsite

Making Connections accessible program

Onsite program at the Hyde Park Barracks for primary and secondary school students with access requirements

Onsite

Bailed Up!

Students explore the impact of the gold rush on law and order in the colony of NSW, and of bushrangers on the Australian identity

Students wearing dress up costumes and laughing in the nursery.
Onsite

Child's Play

Students learn about what it was like to live at Vaucluse House for the wealthy family of William Charles and Sarah Wentworth, with their ten children and many servants

Learning program at Elizabeth Farm
Onsite

Colonial Life at Elizabeth Farm

As they explore the Macarthur family home, which dates from 1793, students learn about the lives of the family and their convict servants and the impact of colonisation on the traditional owners of the Parramatta area

Students examining convict tools to learn about Convict Life at the Barracks on Level 3 of the museum
Onsite

Convict Life at the Barracks

What was it like to be a convict living at the Hyde Park Barracks?

A student feeds the chickens as part of the Early to Rise program at Rouse Hill Estate
Onsite

Early to Rise

This Stage 1 History program gives students the opportunity to explore the working areas of the former farm, and investigate what life would have been like for children living there 120 years ago

Two girls in school uniform making string in exhibition space with other students behind.
Onsite

Garuwanga Gurad (stories that belong to Country)

During this program at Museum of Sydney, on the site of first Government House, students have a unique opportunity to explore links between Indigenous and European histories, cultures and perspectives in the expanding Sydney colony of the 1800

Two girls dressed in costume in large dormitory style room.
Onsite

Home: Convicts, Migrants and First Peoples

What was it like to be a convict living at the Hyde Park Barracks?

Children and adults dressed in period costume holding ribbons attached to pole.
Onsite

Lessons from the Past

Integrating outcomes from History, PDHPE and Creative Arts, this program gives students the opportunity to learn firsthand about what school life was like in the late 19th century