Young Round Square Conference, Tasmania

Young Round Square Conference, Tasmania The day we were waiting for was here… the day that we went on a long flight to Australia for The Young Round Square Conference. Thinking about what Tasmania was going to be like, Doy, EJ and I were so excited, that we couldn’t be silent for a second! Finally, tired but excited from a lot of travelling through some beautiful scenery, we arrived at Scotch Oakburn College.

“We had a great experience overcoming our greatest fears.”

The day we were waiting for was here… the day that we went on a long flight to Australia for The Young Round Square Conference. Thinking about what Tasmania was going to be like, Doy, EJ and I were so excited, that we couldn’t be silent for a second! Finally, tired but excited from a lot of travelling through some beautiful scenery, we arrived at Scotch Oakburn College. When we saw the boarding house we were amazed at how beautiful it was. All of the children from the College were very welcoming. We said to ourselves that this trip was going to be heart touching.

During the two pre-conference days we made close friends with the delegates from other schools whilst experiencing some of the sights of Tasmania. At Trowunna Wildlife Park, we were able to feed kangaroos and stroke two wombats and a Tasmanian Devil! We saw Tasmanian Devils eat a possum carcass and an echidna eat dead bugs! We also visited Cradle Mountain, Marakoopa Caves and The Gorge.

The Valley Campus is where we stayed overnight and took part in adventurous team-building and leadership activities. We took part in high ropes and low ropes, the giant swing and night activities. We had a great experience overcoming our greatest fears. To learn more about the local history and culture, Dr. Nick Clements came to the Valley Campus to talk to us about the Black War which was a fight between 218 Colonists and around 600 Aborigines. Nobody had ever seen such different people come into contact with each other. We also participated in activities to do with the Black War, the Colonists and the Aborigines.

Back at the Elphin Campus, we listened to keynote speakers and discussed issues in Barazza groups. We learned about democracy when we became players in a huge simulation of survival on different islands and throughout the week, we collaborated to produce a show for the final night.

The saddest day had come and that day was leaving day. Everyone felt like crying but we couldn’t. The three of us realised that we were finally going home. The trip was really fun and it was a great experience to me and I will definitely try to do a lot of alone travelling in my life now that I have succeeded in this adventure.

 

Written by: Mehar, Year 6 student