Education & School Programs
We offer programs that cover a range of immersive learning experiences and discipline areas from history and humanities to maths and geography. See below for more information about program content, curriculum links and making bookings or download our program guide for more information.
We are deeply committed to the safety and well-being of all within our properties and through engagement in our education and outreach programs. Read more about our commitment to safeguarding and find copies of our policies here.
Browse our Programs
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Thinking Archaeologically
Como House or Barwon Grange | ExcursionLevels 2 to 8Australia’s Deep Time past spans at least 65,000 years. Over this extensive timeframe, archaeologists have revealed much about past communities—their technologies, food, resources, and culture. But how do we know these things?
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Time Detectives
Any Location | IncursionLevels 7 to 8First Nations Australians are the world’s oldest continuing cultures, displaying both continuity and change across Australia’s Deep Time past.
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People, Place, and Space: Archaeology and Deep Time
Any Location | IncursionLevels 2 to 6Australia’s Historical record accounts for only 0.4% of our national story—how have archaeologists uncovered the 65,000 years of human history that form our Deep Time past?
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How was the Gaol run?
Online | Digital ResourceAll LevelsBy the time the Melbourne Gaol was built ideas about how criminals should be punished were changing. Traditionally people had not been imprisoned for long sentences.
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Why was the Gaol built?
Online | Digital ResourceAll LevelsVictoria was not used as a convict settlement. Those who were brought to work here from the other colonies were housed and fed by the settlers they had been assigned to. Initially the colony of Port Phillip was a farming community. The availability of good land led to overcrowding in the new colony.
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PrisonBreak Explorers
Pentridge Prison | ExcursionLevels 3 to 8Students will come together as the latest recruits in the Pentridge ‘Detective Training Program’ to help thwart a daring escape!
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Crime and Punishment
Pentridge Prison | ExcursionVCEJoin your guide for a tour of the notorious H Division to learn about the “prison within a prison” which housed the most dangerous inmates at Pentridge from the 1950s through to the 1980s.
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Politics and Prison Life
Pentridge Prison | ExcursionLevels 7 to 10On this tour, students will make connections between laws and policies enacted and enforced, and how they affect prison populations. Discover the causes and consequences of the 1890s depression, which saw a third of Melbourne’s breadwinners out of work.
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Place and Liveability
Pentridge Prison | ExcursionLevels 7 to 8Join our trained educator to explore Pentridge Prison from a Place and Liveability perspective, completing curriculum-aligned fieldwork activities. Explore the changes that have occurred in recent years at Pentridge to make it a liveable place for the Coburg community.
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The Vagabond
Pentridge Prison | ExcursionLevels 3 to 6John Stanley James (1843-1896) was a writer and a scoundrel, known as “the Vagabond” by his readers. His writings sought to illuminate the conditions of the working class, by living amongst them in slums, and famously within Pentridge Prison.
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Historical Gaol Tours
Old Melbourne Gaol | ExcursionLevels 5 to VCEStudents learn through the history of the Gaol about the key moments in Melbourne’s cultural and social history.
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Crime and Punishment
Old Melbourne Gaol | ExcursionLevels 5 to 6Uncover past punishments in this tour of the Old Melbourne Gaol. Discuss corporal punishments such as the cane and the infamous cat-o-nine-tails; solitary confinement, and capital punishment.
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Just Another Outlaw?
Old Melbourne Gaol | ExcursionLevels 5 to 6Explore the legend of Ned Kelly through object-based learning with this hands-on discovery trail. Understand the story of the famed bushranger and explore the Old Melbourne Gaol to discover evidence and decide whether Ned was simply another outlaw, or something more.
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Life in the City Watch House
Old Melbourne Gaol | ExcursionLevels 9 to VCEWhat was it like to be arrested and processed at the police lock up? In this interactive experience, students will be guided through the Old City Watch House by an acting ‘Sergeant’ who will admit them, ‘search them’ and lock them up.
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The Watch House Unlocked
Old Melbourne Gaol | ExcursionLevels 9 to VCEDiscover 85 years of Melbourne’s crime history in the Watch House Unlocked tour. Students are invited into rarely seen sections of the Watch House to hear about its purpose, how people who were under arrest were processed, alleged crimes committed, and what life was like in the cells.
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Working Life: Then and Now
Online | Digital ResourceAll LevelsWhat was it like to work at Rippon Lea over 120 years ago? What is it like to work there now? How have people’s jobs and working life changed over 4 generations?
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Old Melbourne Gaol Virtual Tour
Online | Digital ResourceAll LevelsTake a virtual visit of our historic sites using new 3D technology.
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Polly Woodside Virtual Tour
Online | Digital ResourceAll LevelsTake a virtual visit of our historic sites using new 3D technology.
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The Trial of Ned Kelly
Old Melbourne Gaol | ExcursionLevels 5 to 6Following his last stand in Glenrowan in 1880, Ned Kelly was brought before Justice Redmond Barry on the charge of having murdered Constable Thomas Lonigan.
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Culpable Driving
Old Melbourne Gaol | ExcursionLevels 7 to VCEDuring the Culpable Driving Court Room Drama, students will take on various roles such as magistrate, defence, prosecution and witnesses, using scripts, costumes and props to reenact a real case.
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Respect Me: Consent and Teen Sexting
Old Melbourne Gaol | ExcursionLevels 7 to VCEDuring the Respect Me Court Room Drama, students will take on various roles such as magistrate, defence, prosecution and witnesses, using scripts, costumes and props to reenact the case of Jacob Doyle.
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The Fashion Trunk Show
Labassa Mansion | ExcursionLevels 7 to VCEJoin one of our trained educators at the beautiful Labassa Mansion to discover hidden secrets in historical garments dating as far back as the 1830s, giving students a glimpse into the lives of women and girls, through styles, restrictions, silhouettes, manufacturing methods and societal pressures.
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Fashion Sleuths and Dress Detectives
Labassa Mansion | ExcursionLevels 7 to VCEJoin one of our trained educators at the beautiful Labassa Mansion to discover hidden secrets in historical garments dating as far back as the 1830s, giving students a glimpse into the lives of women and girls, through styles, restrictions, silhouettes, manufacturing methods and societal pressures.
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Heritage at your Touch: La Trobe’s Cottage
Online | Digital ResourceAll LevelsTake your students on a virtual tour at a real colonial house and meet the people who lived there and examine their things!
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Heritage at your Touch: McCrae Homestead
Online | Digital ResourceAll LevelsTry visiting the interactive Court Room to get an idea of how a court works.
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3D Interactive Court Room
Online | Digital ResourceAll LevelsTry visiting the interactive Court Room to get an idea of how a court works.
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Tourism: Issues and Challenges
Rippon Lea Estate | ExcursionFoundation to Level 2This program at Rippon Lea Estate examines the past through family history, children’s life, schooling and domestic work. It includes toys, games, sports, period clothes and exploration activities.
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Then and Now: Upstairs Downstairs
Rippon Lea Estate | ExcursionFoundation to Level 2This program at Rippon Lea Estate examines the past through family history, children’s life, schooling and domestic work. It includes toys, games, sports, period clothes and exploration activities.
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Wurundjeri Cultural Program
Polly Woodside | ExcursionLevels 3 to 4Explore colonisation, industrialisation and water in the world through different lenses on the banks of the Birrarung (Yarra River) at Polly Woodside.
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Women on the Western Front
Como House & Garden | ExcursionLevels 9 to 10Join our trained educators to hear the stories of Constance and Leila Armytage, of Como House, who ended up in France during the Great War (1914-1918), and their sisters Laura and Ada who supported the war on the home front.
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Then and Now: Colonial Melbourne
Como House & Garden | ExcursionFoundation to Level 2Como House is an important Melbourne icon and a wonderful introduction to the lives of people from the past.
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Then and Now: Upstairs Downstairs
Barwon Grange | ExcursionFoundation to Level 2The historic Barwon Grange, on the banks of the Barwon River in Geelong, is ready to welcome in students for a day of historical fun and discovery.
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Ship Shape and Ready to Sail
Polly Woodside | ExcursionLevels 3 to 4Welcome aboard shipmates, are you ready to learn the ropes?
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Discover Polly Woodside
Online | Digital ResourceFoundation to Level 2Make history happen in your own classroom and find out what school was like for Melbourne students during the 1870s.
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Then and Now: The Past in Your Class
Any Location | IncursionFoundation to Level 2Make history happen in your own classroom and find out what school was like for Melbourne students during the 1870s.
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Cross-Cultural Program
McCrae Homestead | ExcursionFoundation to Level 6Students experience two perspectives of how life would have been at McCrae Homestead through European and Indigenous cultural heritage interpretation.
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Pentridge Excursion and Movie Package
Pentridge Prison | ExcursionAll LevelsMake a day of your trip to Pentridge Prison, with a movie and Education program package! Pick from any excursion and combine it with a trip to Palace Cinemas.
Students gained an insight into Melbourne's criminal past and what it would have been like to be a convicted criminal and the conditions that they faced. The court room drama gave students a real-life experience about what it would be like if that situation occurred.
Latest News
All News & Stories-
February 17, 2025Victorian Goldfields added to Australia’s World Heritage Tentative list
What is Victorian Goldfields World Heritage Bid? The Victorian Goldfield’s has long been recognised as a well-preserved example of nineteenth century global gold rush landscape, and for its rich history from the First Peoples living on Country, to waves of immigration. The Victorian Goldfields World Heritage Bid seeks to achieve World -
February 12, 20255 Ways to Unwind and Practice Wellness at Rippon Lea Estate
In our fast-paced modern lives, many of us seek alternate ways of reducing stress by connecting with nature. We all intuitively feel the health benefits of time spent in nature. Our mental, physical, and emotional well-being are nurtured when we take time to unplug, breathe, and immerse ourselves in the natural world. -
January 13, 2025Top 5 Summer Activities for Every Age and Interest