The olden days: Ryan Baker-Vreeken and his fellow students experience what life may have been like for his great-great-great-grandparents, early Smithfield settlers Joseph and Martha Howell. Picture: Michael Szabath
A GROUP of St Gertrude's Catholic Primary School pupils swapped textbooks for real life last week to brush up on their local history.
They took part in an interactive educational program at Fairfield City Museum and Gallery called Living the Past.
The Fairfield Council program includes a tour of the museum's vintage village, which has a replica store and a blacksmith's shop.
It aims to teach children about life in the 1880s to the 1930s.
Year 2 teacher Sarah Henry said the children enjoyed the excursion and it fitted perfectly with the school curriculum.
"The students loved it especially because it was so interactive — they saw what it was like to attend school in the olden days and they got to dress up in olden-day clothes."
The program has been running for more than a decade and caters to around 3500 children a year.
It runs each Tuesday and Thursday morning during school terms.
It costs $7 for each pupil from outside the council area; $5 for those within it.
Details: 9609 3993.