1974 School Magazine

We co,loured the gorge with our bright orange (for girls) and green (for boys) packs as we trudged merrily under the weight of dinner, bed and house. Despite the hardships we pioneers faced, all remained happy, full of songs and jokes throughout. Robinson Gorge itself is bounded by 200 feet precipitous sandstone cliffs which dropped down to the Robinson Creek, which consisted of a few beautiful but very cold rock pools. In the cliffs were caves containing the occasional aboriginal burial ground and many hand paint- lngs. Come five o'ciock in the afternoon, camp was set up and firewood collected in prepara- tion for our greatly applcciatcd "swiil" and a cold night (below 0o)! The "100 miles" we walked each day was really only 10 on the map. Ten days after leaving civilisation, a tired, dirt-stained but happy group mounted the thousandth hill to see before us the beloved bus and our await- ing comrades (fifteen had done a "round about" trip by bus along the beef roads) with an abun- dance of life-giving water. The last night was celebrated in great spirit with damper and corroborrees. The expedition ended with a four hundred mile bus trip home. Project Arcadia will be repeated next year and we hope that other wilderness-seeking ad- venturers will enjoy it as much as we did. P. Hill and H. Phillips, 1974 participants from B.G,G.S.

On Saturday, we had a full day tour and saw thc Humc Weir and trout farm _ poor Mrs. K. could not buy a trout to take home - and a Chincse Cemetery and also the historic Vic- torian town of Beechworth - Ned Kelly country. For lunch wc were supplied with good ole Aussie meat pics whilc watching a football match. That night to Miss Vernon's and Miss Fischer's wishes, we went to thc pictnrcs to see 'lMy Name is Nobody". Some found it very interesting and had a good sleep. Sunday moming thc party left Albury and travclleci along the Hume Highway to Gundagai wherc wc were provided with a picnic lunch. Then we jor-rrneycd on to Yass and finally to Canberra. However, oul' accommodation was at The Sunsct Lcagues Motcl in Queanbeyan in Ncw South Walcs. but only about ten miles from Canberra. We had our last night of packing and chatting (naturally) in our units and Melinda was pleased to hear that she had become an Auntie. A fLrll day tour including Mt. Ainslie Lookout, Parliamcnt Holrse, Royal Mint, Embassies, Lake Br-rrley Griffin, Institute of Anatomy, Australian War Memorial, Regatta Point Display Centre, All Saints Church and the Botanic Gardens marked thc last day of our trip - Monday. We shopped for an hour in Canberra during the mofniug and after a full day, we arrived at"Can- berra Airport for a forty-five minute wait. The plane only took thirty minutes to reach Sydney where we had another one hour wait. We arrived in Brisbane after a further sixty- five minutes and most werc very excited as were the anxious parents and families at the Ansett Terminal. I am sure we all had a very enjoyable trip zrrid cxpress our thanks to thc staff, Mrs. Kugel- man, Miss Fischer and Vliss Vernon. The last songs we sang romping over the tarmac were "Everywher-e we go . . . " and of conrse "Mickey Mouse". Diane and Jill PROJECT ACADIA August l0th, 1974, Project Alcadians boarded the bus bound for the traumas of Robinson Gorge, Central Queensland. This was an eleven day back-packing expedition (in the real) to ex- plore and discover the ecological associations and human aspects linked with the area. There were forty students selected from schools all over Queensland - from grades eleven and twelve - the director being Mr. Simpson, geography teacher of Mt. Gravatt High School. He, accom- panied by two other capable navigators, or- ganised and provided for the expedition with the help of a government subsidy. The ulterior aim was to open up the region for future national park and tourist development by publicising our findings.

Balinese sway-backed pigs by side of padi fields ready for harvest. Bali - Aug, 1974 SOUTH.EAST ASIA TRIP Or.rr departure from Brisbane was uneventfnl, howevcr lvc were ail excited about the prospects that lay ahead. For Lisa Cantamessa it was a tearful -farewell as she wouldn't see her family again until Christmas. The teachers, Miss Ken- nEdy and Miss Goleby, from lpswich Girls' Gram- mai Schooi, and Miss Shaw and Miss Paterson, assured our parents that we (the girls) would look after them to the best of our ability. This made our parents even more apprehensive, as everyone knows how difficult it is to control the members of staff, but after reassuring them, then we flew to Sydney.

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