Adventures in Australia

Our first weekend in Australia, a majority of our group decided to travel to Sydney for sightseeing. The first place we visited was the art gallery, one of our classmates had an uncle who contributed an art piece that we got to see. After visiting the art gallery, we found a small market that had shops that were selling unique things like crafted candles, fine jewelry, and clothes. While we were walking, we stopped by a photo festival and saw pictures of people and their stories of growing up and working in mines for numerous years. Once we got back to the hotel, we decided to go out to dinner at a haunted restaurant, our waitress told us stories of how they would put away furniture for the night and come back in the morning, only to find out that all the furniture had been mysteriously rearranged. A few members of our group decided to walk along the Sydney Harbor Bridge and got a beautiful view of the Sydney Opera house along the way.

In the morning we went to a pancake house for breakfast, the pancakes were big and delicious! After breakfast, we went to the Royal Botanic Gardens; this place had beautiful flowers and breath-taking views of buildings and a water fountain. The gardens also was a place where we saw beautiful cockatoos fly around. We made our way to the wishing fountain and each of us circled the fountain 3 times to the left and right and made a wish. We then went to Bondi beach and did a little shopping at a gift shop; we also walked on the beach and saw a beautiful rainbow on the ocean. This trip to Sydney was another great experience for us to have and hope to treasure every moment that we were there.

We had Monday as an extra day off and went to the Sea Life (Melbourne aquarium). We saw a lot of exotic fish; there were stingrays, an enormous alligator, and lots of sharks. The last section of the aquarium, we saw penguins.

On Tuesday, we went to an Agency called The Foundation House. The agency provides services to people of refugee backgrounds in Victoria.  This was a very eye-opening experience and interactive session. Wednesday, we went to the University of Melbourne and experienced a classroom setting and talked about biases and how we need to handle them in the social work field. Thursday, we went to another agency called Anglicare. They focus on protecting Victorians for example, children suffering from abuse, a homeless young person, a woman escaping domestic violence, etc.

Friday and Saturday, we visited the Great Ocean Road and got an amazing view of the coastal drive. We saw the Twelve Apostles that had a beautiful view of the ocean. On our way to our destination, we saw the countryside where we saw cows, wallabies, and koalas. Our group stayed at a hostel for the night which was interesting because it was set up like a dorm and everyone shared a room.

The overall experience that our group had was unforgettable!

~ Ashley White & Leobelize Perdomo

Week 2!

We are at the end of our second week, and this trip is flying by! This week started to become more eventful in our activities surrounding social work and it has been a very informative experience.  This week, we did three visits: Foundation House, a Research Colloquium at Melbourne University, and Anglicare.

 

Foundation House was the first visit of the week and, for us, had the biggest impact.  Foundation House is an organization that provides help to people of refugee backgrounds, whether it be they are trying to adjust to life in a new country, dealing with trauma, etc.  While visiting this agency, we watched a video of a family in Syria and how they lived during a period of wartime.  It was hard not to feel shocked and almost disturbed by the conditions they were living in, especially when you saw a 7-year-old girl being able to tell the difference between a missile and a tank projectile just by the sound.  Afterwards, we read a case study and identified the effects change and trauma can have on children, and steps we can take as professionals in the childcare field to get those kids the services they may need.  We felt very awakened by this visit since there is a high population of refugees in America, including Ohio.  Learning how to help refugees cope with massive change and maintain a sense of cultural identity is definitely something to bring back the US with us and apply to our jobs in order to help the situation with refugees and immigrants in our country, especially since we are both interested in working with minority populations.

 

During our second week, we also got the opportunity to travel on the Great Ocean Road! We took two days to travel by bus, and we saw so many breathtaking places.  We got to see the beautiful rolling hills of the Australian countryside, a huge change from the modern city life of Melbourne!  Here, we saw some of Australia’s natural foliage and wild life, like gum trees, wallabies, koalas, kookaburras, and kangaroos!  It was very cool seeing these animals in their natural habitat since we can only see them in zoos in America! We also, of course, saw many beautiful places on the ocean.  When you stand on the top of a massive cliff and look out over Australia’s bright blue water, or in a canyon that used to be hundreds of feet underwater, it hard to grasp that what you’re looking at is even real.  When we saw London Bridge and the Twelve Apostles, we closed our eyes, as prompted by our tour guide Katy, and imagined the water creating something so beautiful and tried to take it all in.  This was our favorite excursion we’ve taken on this trip because we saw some of what we pictured Australia would be like before we came, but we also saw things we never could have imagined, and that is something we will keep with us forever.

 

                                                  

-Jordan Mathias and Carynne Hawkins

Week 2 in Melbourne, Australia

The two weeks we have spent in Australia have flown by. Our time here in Melbourne has been short, however, we have received a plethora of new information on various aspects of a culture that is different than our own. This week we attended a research colloquium for social work at Melbourne University and we visited two agencies pertaining to child welfare and mental health. The experiences we have had so far have truly opened our eyes to the beauty of the diversity of cultures around the world and getting the chance to learn about child welfare and mental health in Australia has been incredibly beneficial to our education in social work and psychology.

Attending the research colloquium at the University was very informative in a part of social work that is often times overlooked. It dealt with the internal biases that could affect our judgements as a social worker and ways in which we can address these biases. The decision making processes in social work are not easy ones, and these internal biases have the ability to influence our decision making, therefore it was very useful to attend this colloquium because we felt as though we were better prepared to go to the agencies.

The Foundation House was the first agency we visited this week. It is an organization that provides services for refugees and helps them cope and deal with the trauma they may have experienced in their home countries. Learning about how to work with clients who experience different forms of trauma was very eye opening. There was an emphasis on the idea that every individual deals with trauma in different ways and understanding how to manage each case of trauma is essential in providing the best services for clients.  We found the Foundation House’s motives and goals extremely interesting because it gave us a new perspective on what life is like living as a refugee.

The second agency we visited was Anglicare, an organization that strives to help and protect disadvantaged children and families in Australia. The core of their work revolves around presenting children and young people, who cannot live with their families, with safe and secure housing. We thoroughly enjoyed visiting this agency and learning about the services it provides;  learning about foster care and permanent care and the means by which they provide these two services in Australia was interesting and useful to our education in the area. We also got the chance to speak with a woman who works for Child Protective Services which gave us a deeper understanding of the work that they do.

This week in Melbourne was one that we will never forget. Not only did we get to attend two incredible agencies, but we also got the opportunity to further explore the city and its outskirts. We visited Brighton beach early on in the week and got to witness the beautiful sunset on the ocean while sitting on the steps of one of the famous decorated beach houses. We also got the grand opportunity of traveling along the Great Ocean Road. This trip has been one of our favorites thus far because we got to view the wonders of Australia’s natural beauty. Being able to go on these excursions as well as visit these agencies adds to our cultural awareness and appreciation.

-By: Cristina Renee Pliego & Alexis Wilson

Week 1-Melbourne and Aboriginal Culture

The first week of this trip is down! With this last week being heavily focused on cultural history, we had a lot of free time to explore our new home for the next couple weeks! This city is vibrant and always seems to have a new adventure around every corner. As a group, we were able to experience the Aboriginal section of the Melbourne Museum together. We were expecting a sort of mundane illustration of history with a lot of factoids, but it was actually a very interactive and artistic section that was full of interesting stories told by virtual make-ups of Aboriginal people. In particular, there was an exhibit that seemed to be an eagle that had various colors and nature scenes projected onto it while a story was told in the background about the Aboriginal culture. The story in the background talked about the Eagle as the Aboriginals Creator, and the crow as their Protector. Throughout this storytelling there was also nature sounds in the background, such as water dripping, or various bird calls. The entire museum was interesting, but we found this one to be our favorite because we thought it did an excellent job of illustrating the importance that the Aboriginal culture places on their relationship with nature and the Earth that we live.

We also visited VACCA, which is the Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency. We learned a lot about the history of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, and we found it quite interesting to draw similarities between their history and the US’s history with Native Americans. We think Australia seems to do a much better job at acknowledging their Aboriginal people than the US does as far as acknowledging Native Americans. At VACCA, the first thing our instructor did was acknowledge the original people of the land we were meeting on and paid respects to that specific tribe’s elders, past and present.  The Agency provided services centered around protecting the culture and rights of Aboriginal children. They also play a role in working with the government, like Child Protection, to help inform decisions that best accommodate an Aboriginal child in the system. It was incredibly devastating to learn about the “Stolen Generation”, which was the Aboriginal generation that was essentially forced from their parents’ care and placed into foster care so that they could receive a more “European” lifestyle. The basis of this was barbaric and stripped this generation of their cultural identity without legitimate reasoning for removal. VACCA informed us of services and ways they are working to protect the rights and cultural identity of Aboriginal children today, and the ways Australia is working to make sure that they do not treat Aboriginal people as they did in the past. 

 

Alexis Wilson and Cristina Renee Pliego

The Great Ocean Road

The Great Ocean Road – a drive that anyone should partake in if given the chance! This drive is full of beautiful views that are unforgettable, although taking a few pictures doesn’t hurt either. Built in the early 1900s, the road has a rich history of almost 100 years. It is also the world’s longest war memorial as the entire length of the road – 243 kilometers/151 miles – is dedicated to World War I soldiers.

For our drive, we began in Melbourne and headed through country roads full of cattle for about two hours. Then, we started to see the stunning beauty of the coasts of Australia. We first made a stop at Bells Beach which completely took our breaths away. This spot had a great view of the ocean, full of pretty much every shade of blue. After stopping to get a quick snack at McGains Nursery, our bus headed to Point Roadknight. This stop was extra special because we got to take a moment to reflect and live in the moment. Our tour guide, Katie, told us to close our eyes and pay attention to each of our senses. She encouraged us to recount what brought us to this point of the trip. These moments of reflection allowed us to slow down and take it all in.

Other stops on this first day of the trip included Big Hill, Lorne Spot, Kennet River, and Apollo Bay. Each of these views did not disappoint. Another highlight of the day was getting to look for koalas in the gum trees above. We got to see a few which was exciting! Other animals we saw during the day included a kangaroo, a lot of birds, and a fox. Whenever outside of the big cities in Australia, be sure to be on the lookout for wildlife. The other activities of the day were walking through a rainforest and seeing the 12 Apostles at night.

The next day, we started early in order to see as many views as possible before heading back to Melbourne. Loch Ard Gorge was the first stop of the day, and I highly recommend it – one of my favorite stops of the trip!

We went to the 12 Apostles, this time in daylight, the London Bridge, the Grotto, the Bay of Islands, and the Bay of Martyrs. I appreciate how each of the stops have signs that explain the stories behind them.

The drive along The Great Ocean Road was breathtaking, and I highly recommend the trip to anyone visiting Australia. My words of wisdom are to take the time to reflect on what you are seeing, feeling, and experiencing. Think about what got you there and the people who may have helped you get there. Be present and take in all that is around you. Take the time to reflect on those who have gone before you and the stories that each of these stops hold. I have no doubt that you will have an incredible journey along The Great Ocean Road!

Megan Caldwell

Outside of Melbourne

In many ways Melbourne is similar to Columbus. Melbourne is a growing city filled with markets, parks, restaurants, businesses, and skyscrapers. The cab driver that picked us up from the airport when we arrived estimated that 1,000 people come here every week to live. The people of Melbourne are growingly diverse and overall a friendly lot.

Two weekends ago, most of the group got the opportunity to go visit Sydney. It was an incredible time but a vastly different experience than Melbourne. There are many parts of Sydney that are old and others that are very modern. The area around the Opera House contains a heap of gourmet restaurants and has a historic background. The people of Sydney resemble that of New Yorkers: rushed and annoyed with outsiders. While everyone, including the people of Sydney, asks what a bunch of Americans are doing in Australia, one man of Sydney captured this when he told us that we should not tell our friends and family how awesome Australia is because it would ruin it if more American tourists come. The other side of Sydney is home to Bondi Beach and many other surf beaches. Bondi has many colorful mosaic benches and vibrant marine murals.

This current weekend we visited the Australian Bush and the Great Ocean Road. While we have never seen the pacific coast highway, many references reveal similarities. The coastline is home to many small towns and tight-knit communities. People of Australia are seeing a huge rise in prices in the land in these communities as compared to previous years. The interesting part of the Great Ocean Road is that on one side of the road you have these gorgeous and massive views of ocean and on the other side it feels like the dairy heartland. Dairy cows get to enjoy a sea breeze every morning. On this trip we got to see so many animals in their natural environment and the efforts of the state of Victoria to preserve the wildlife.

 

Ashle Casey & Sarah Leonard

Our First Week in Melbourne

The first week of being in Melbourne, Australia was an amazing experience! After a LONG journey of traveling by air, we finally made it. Once we all got together and finally got taxis, we were brought to our apartment complex. At first, we were joking about how people were driving on the “wrong” side of the road, but then we eventually would get used to it. Upon getting to our apartment complex, we all got roommates, leaving us to be the only ones in a double in a different building. We didn’t get our apartment right away and had to wait until after the city tour to get settled. Even though we were all tired, we met with our tour guide, Katie, and we couldn’t wait to get started on the tour of the city.

We received myki cards and got on a tram for the first time. Katie took us around the city and we got to see many places like the market, a jail facility, a museum, and an arcade (shopping mall). Katie gave a good overview explanation of the history of Melbourne and how the city came to be what it is today. Katie was very pleasant, and we were super excited to see her again for our field trip to Phillip Island later that week.

On Monday, May 7th, we went to the Melbourne Museum and it was a really cool establishment! It was also Leo’s birthday so we celebrated it as much as we could. The next day, we had our first visit to an agency called VACCA (Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency). We were greeted by one of the Aboriginal social workers and she explained that in every meeting, they acknowledge the land that we stand on. The social worker then talked about the Aboriginal history, culture, traditions, and place in society. A feeling of sadness and anger took over the whole room while she was explaining how the Aboriginal people were killed, stripped away from their identity and seen as the lowest class possible by the white conquers. This was a very informative agency visit and we all learned a lot about the Aboriginal people in Australia.

The next day we all went to the Old Melbourne Gaol, and we got to see the jail cells which had information about several convicts and just the history of how the jail was run. We also got the chance to “experience” being arrested and see both the male and female sections of the jail; we all had a great experience. After we all dispersed, a group of us went to the Royal Arcade where we looked around in the shops and got a feeling of the shopping experience here in Melbourne.

Thursday was a free day so we all decided to make our way down to Sea Life (the aquarium). It was really cool to see all the sea animals and take lots of pictures of them while all hanging out together. That Friday, we all met with Katie to go on our adventure to Phillip Island! The views were absolutely beautiful! We got to see both koalas, wallabies, and penguins up close in their natural habitats, and that was an amazing and memorable experience!

These events have been such an impact to each one of us. Not only did we learn about Australia’s culture but also about how their social work system works and how it influences people’s lifestyle.

~ Ashley White and Leobeliz Perdomo Blanco

Week 1

Our first week here was amazing. On our first day, we did a walking tour of Melbourne, and on the following days we visited the Melbourne museum and the Old Melbourne Gaol (gaol=jail) to learn about Australian history, particularly related to the Aboriginal people who originally lived on this land long before European colonists. The people here are really friendly and the coffee is delicious. There are coffee shops everywhere, and almost none of them are Starbucks. The city’s architecture is a fascinating mix of older colonial designs and modern new construction.

After getting a feel for the city and its history over the first few days, we visited VACCA (the Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency) for a cultural awareness training. Before the training, we knew very little about the history and culture of Australia’s Aboriginal people. As we learned about this population’s history, uncanny similarities to our treatment of Native Americans in the United States became apparent. Like in the United States, European colonists in Australia attempted to eradicate the Aboriginal people by taking away every aspect of their culture, from their language and art to their land. Additionally, Aboriginal children were taken from their parents and put into out-of-home care so they could be raised with European customs and culture, preventing Aboriginal parents from passing on their culture to the next generation. This generation of individuals who were taken out of their homes is known as the Stolen Generation.

Today, efforts are being made to acknowledge the Aboriginal people as the original owners and inhabitants of the land. Many public gatherings begin with acknowledgements and many agencies, museums, and other public settings have acknowledgement plaques on display to recognize the original owners of the land. Despite these efforts, Aboriginal individuals still face a host of negative effects from years of violence. Child welfare with Aboriginal individuals is a particularly difficult field because these individuals have, with good reason, a level of distrust of service providers, and this is accompanied by a disruption of family structure stemming from the Stolen Generation. This means that child welfare needs are high in this population, but high levels of cultural competence are necessary in order to ethically and effectively work with these individuals. It was fascinating to learn how VACCA works to train practitioners to be culturally competent and to provide child welfare services to Aboriginal children and families.

Until next time,

Sarah Leonard and Ashley Casey

The Aboriginal Population

Melbourne has been an incredible journey so far! It is very exciting to get to explore and learn about a whole new city and continent, especially with almost everyone from our group having never been here before. Our first week here in Melbourne had a main focus on its history and culture, specifically that of the Aboriginal population.

On Monday, May 7, we went to the Melbourne Museum where we were able to walk through an entire exhibit on the Aboriginal experience. As we looked at unique artifacts, watched videos of personal stories, and read real documents, I was able to connect with this population on a much deeper level. In addition, I better understand how the Aboriginal people of Australia had such a similar experience to that of the Native Americans in the United States. The exhibit truly exemplified the struggles, encounters, and prejudices that Aboriginal people have faced throughout history, beginning when Europeans came to Australia and took over the continent. The original landowners were often killed, separated from their families, and stripped of every bit of culture that formed their identity.

The next day, we had the opportunity to visit VACCA, the Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency. At this agency visit, our group went through a workshop that helped us to further understand the rich history and culture of the Aborginals that we had began to learn about the previous day at the museum. During this training, we were given a lot of detail about what life was like for these people before European colonization – full of family, tradition, belief systems, initiations, connection to the land, etc. So much of their way of living was taken from them when the Europeans arrived. We also talked about the Stolen Generation which were the children who were taken away from their families just within the last century. Although this history may seem so long ago, it is much more recent than many of us realize. At this visit, we were able to participate in simulations to get a better feel to what the Aboriginal people have experienced.

            

Aboriginal Flag                         Torres Strait Islander Flag

So what does this mean for me and you? Here are key takeaways moving forward:
1) Ask. Listen. Clarify. Not every Aboriginal, Native American, or other original landowner has had the same history or experience. Seek to understand and avoid making assumptions.
2) Aboriginals and Native Americans, along with other populations, still experience prejudice today. Racism is not just a part of our history – it is still an issue and is extremely relevant.
3) Do your best to learn the true history of our own country. What really happened and what is still happening?

This trip so far in Melbourne has been incredible and I cannot wait to learn more!

-Megan Caldwell

Melbourne VS Columbus

When it comes to the city of Melbourne, the city does a good job acknowledging the Aboriginal population. In Columbus, we are aware that the city was built on the Native American lands, but we don’t do a good job with acknowledgment of the Native Americans. In Australia, the acknowledgement is a statement before any group meeting on a land that was once an Aboriginal homeland. The acknowledgment states the tribe that traditionally owned the land (if it is known, due to the displacement and erasure of their people and history).  Additionally, outside the buildings of organizations on traditionally owned Aboriginal land, there is a placard that also acknowledges the Aboriginal tribe. In Columbus we don’t acknowledge the original owners of the land that we built on. Melbourne seems to have more respect for the population that was here before colonization occurred.

Another difference that we have noticed is that Melbourne focuses on reducing human created harm to nature. There is not a lot of litter laying on the ground and people in the city will even pick up trash if they see it laying on the ground. Melbourne also has the Growing Green Environmental Sustainability Plan which focuses on being greener and providing more trees in the city. Additionally, they also work on reducing pollution with cars by encouraging public transportation, biking, and other alternatives to driving cars (even skate boarding!). In Columbus the city seems to be covered in litter and people are more likely to just walk past the trash than to pick it up and put it in the trash can. Columbus also doesn’t provide trams for public transportation and the cars used in the city has sky rocketed in the past few years. Pollution and lack of respect for nature seems to be more common in Columbus over Melbourne.

Another prominent difference between Melbourne and Columbus is the use of alcohol and tobacco.  With alcohol, heavy drinking is prevented with ad campaigns stating ‘If you drink and then drive, you’re a bloody idiot’ and signs in every restaurant stating the fees of drinking under age.  Alcohol content is also lower in most Australian drinks, making it harder to hit the legal limit quickly.  The blood alcohol concentration limit in America is .08, while Australia’s is .05.  Drinking is taken much more seriously.  Additionally, Australians take smoking cigarettes much more seriously as well.  On every package of cigarettes, there is a cover stating ‘smoking kills’, ‘smoking causes emphysema’, ‘smoking causes cancer’, etc.  The tax on cigarettes causes the total price to be $20-30 per package.  A box of cigarettes in Columbus rings up to about $7 per package.  Maybe this tax is what keeps the streets of Melbourne clean and the air fresh.

 

Mary Tillman and MK Crimmel