Hello, happy New Year and welcome to the first blog of 2012! ....

This year in the education programme we hope to see more of you on this blog and website. As the school term starts more resources will be put on the website and you will be able to access a greater number of pre and post visit resources. We are always wanting new suggestions and ideas so post them for us to consider in the future or send us an email on [email protected]

I’m sure over the summer break some of you would have been to the movies??? What was your favourite? One of the best movies of the summer was the historical drama - War Horse, set during World War One it reminds us how difficult those times were for so many – could you have coped? Did you have great grandparents or grandparents who fought in the World Wars? What was their experience? New Zealand introduced conscription (compulsory military service) in 1916 which meant every male between 17-60 years old had to register for service, would you sign up? http://www.warhorsemovie.com/

This week saw the the Annual Golden Globe Awards with Downton Abbey winning the ‘Best Mini-Series Or Motion Picture Made for Television’ category – would you like living in Downton Abbey? Which character would you be? Follow the link to the website and take the quiz to find out!! http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/downtonabbey/

There are still a couple of weeks left before school starts and if you’re surfing the web you might like to check out this website http://www.natlib.govt.nz/ It has over two million pages of New Zealand newspapers and periodicals from the years 1839 to 1945. Look at your area and see if you can find a relative or maybe even an old teacher…! Produced by Te Puna Matauranga O Aotearoa, The National Library of New Zealand it is a great place to start any extensive research……..Year 12 and 13 history students!

This year will see many 150 GOLD celebrations throughout Otago and Southland. Arrowtown will be right at the heart of it, with a major exhibition at our Museum from October 2012 to February 2013. As many of you will know gold was first discovered in the Arrow River by Jack Tewa in early 1862. Miners flocked to the area and soon approximately 1,500 of them were camped along the shores Arrow River….the RUSH was on! Find out more on http://www.arrowtown150.co.nz/ and keep checking this blog!

Look forward to hearing from you....!