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The Howick Historical Village
On Thursday, May 16, LS1 and LS2 went to the Howick Historical Village to learn about what people did in the 1850s. Everyone was excited to go because they were so interested in learning about the 1850s.
We had to get to school before 8:30, or we would miss the bus. At 8:15, we had to go up to LS2 to discuss what would happen if it rained and to talk about which group we were in. There were three groups: Group 1, Group 2, and Group 3. After the talk, it was time to go, so everyone walked out in a single line to the bus.
Once we arrived, we had to wait for 5 minutes for the workers or tour guides to open the gate for us. When the gate opened, we stepped off the bus and walked in. I saw houses from the 1850s that were shipped from Panmure, Otahuhu, and Onehunga.
After we walked in, we had to sit down and wait for the tour guides to come and greet us and talk about the history of the Howick Historical Village and the rules. The first rule was no running, and the second rule was DO NOT touch or break anything you are not allowed to touch. Everything looked old and antique.
After the talk, we did our first activity, which was making butter. Once we got into the house, we learned that butter was just made out of cream by mixing and shaking a jar full of cream to create friction. We all had a turn mixing with a churn from the 1850s, and we had to say a rhyme that goes, “Turn, butter, turn; someone’s waiting at the gate, waiting for some butter cake. Turn, butter, turn.” We repeated the rhyme until everyone had a turn.
After that activity, we moved on to our next activity, which was touring the place. When we entered the first house, which was a courtroom, I saw handcuffs the size of a child’s hands and an execution device used to punish prisoners. Then we visited a house filled with many antique items.
Our last activity was building a go-kart. In the 1850s, only boys could build go-karts, but everyone got to build one. A fact I learned during this activity was that in the 1850s, when you were 12 and over, you were considered an adult. One thing I liked about assembling the go-kart was learning new things about how they built them in the 1850s. Another fact I learned was that when you were five years old in the 1850s, you had to do chores, and once you finished them, only the boys could build and ride the go-karts.