Primary School History
Excursions at Ziebell's Farmhouse, Melbourne
Our heritage buildings and pioneer reserve provide an ideal venue for students to learn about early rural life on the outskirts of Melbourne.
Built in the 1850s, Ziebell's Farmhouse is significant for its substantially intact collection of original objects and garden, letting students step inside a living time capsule.
Understanding what daily life was like without electricity or running water gives children a genuinely deeper understanding of family life in that era — and of how a small group of German and Wendish immigrant families built a working settlement from scratch, sixteen kilometres north of what is now central Melbourne.
Primary School History Excursions
Our School Visits & Resources provide support for visiting primary schools, with learning experiences based on the Victorian Curriculum and Australian Curriculum, focusing on early rural life in Westgarthtown.
Built in the 1850s, Ziebell's Farmhouse is significant for its substantially intact collection of original objects and garden, allowing students to step inside a living time capsule.
Understanding what daily life was like without electricity or running water gives children a genuinely deeper understanding of family life in the past. Students can explore how German and Wendish immigrant families established a working rural settlement from scratch.
Primary Inquiry Units — Aligned to the Victorian Curriculum
Explore our primary school inquiry units designed to support History, Geography and technology learning through the real experiences of Westgarthtown's German and Wendish settlers.
Then & Now
Students explore how daily life has changed and stayed the same over time, with a focus on technology and family life.
Continuity & Change
Students learn how and why life changed in the past, using the real experiences and heritage of Westgarthtown's German settlers.
Perspectives
Students examine how an Australian colony developed over time, and the environmental impact of early settlement and development.
Excursions
& Tours
Our heritage buildings and pioneer reserve provide an engaging setting for primary school students to explore early rural life on the outskirts of Melbourne.
No charge for teachers and supervisors.
By appointment for groups of 10 to 30 students.
Enquiries & Bookings:
tours@westgarthtown.org.auA $50 cancellation fee applies to bookings cancelled with less than 24 hours' notice.
Curriculum Focus — History & Geography
Students learn why and how German immigrants travelled to Melbourne, and the steps they took to build and farm the land.
Special focus is given to comparing past and present, identifying continuity and change in family life by exploring real objects inside the homestead — including a model of the Pribislaw, the immigrant ship on which the Ziebell family travelled from Hamburg to Australia.