Simpson Prize Tour 2018: Days 1-3
Days 1–3: London
Flying in from each state and territory in Australia, the group gathered at Melbourne airport for the journey to London. Winona Lu described the first leg of the trip:
I will admit this: I had very high expectations for this whole trip, due in part to all the wonderful things that I had heard from previous winners. Another confession: all my expectations were surpassed and things that I had not expected ended up being those that I treasure most upon reflection. Although that is hardly a confession; the truth of how much each of us enjoyed the whole tour could never be hidden …
Reuniting with the friends we had made in Canberra meant that the trip was already off to a good start, and once in London we set off exploring the British Museum. We split up and wandered around, admiring the sheer vastness of the museum’s collection. Each time I visit a museum, I think about the history that surrounds each object, the lives that is has appeared in, and how it may very well be the only connection we have with a person who existed centuries ago. This time was no different.
Westminster Abbey was another highlight of London, especially seeing the headstones and commemorations to some of Britain’s most prestigious authors and poets; we had studied so many of them in school …
The Imperial War Museum had a great impact on me. I have done far more study into the Second World War than the Great War so the museum’s Holocaust exhibit was the one that left the biggest impression on me. At each point in the exhibit, there was a video of Holocaust survivors talking about their own experiences which I found extremely moving and emotional to listen to. I could have sat before all of them, time permitting, listening and trying to understand.
The group’s representative from Victoria, Sara Hinton, also reflected on the third day of the trip:
First up on day 3 was Westminster Abbey. It was another hot day, in fact with a top of 28 degrees – I never thought I would be able to wear a skirt and t-shirt in London. We walked around the abbey quite astonished by the extravagant graves of prominent British people such as Isacc Newton and Queen Elizabeth I. I think my favourite part of the abbey was the garden in the centre of the building. The blossoms were out in the lovely spring day, and it gave another angle of the building which you can’t see from the street.
We then walked to the Churchill War Rooms, which I was particularly looking forward to. We were given audio guides to listen to information about the rooms we were visiting. After a while, the building led into the Churchill Museum, which held the stories behind that man’s unbelievable life. We then walked through rooms set up as if they were still in use during the war, such as Churchill’s bedroom and offices.
After lunch in St James’s Park, we caught our first double-decker bus to the Imperial War Museum, where we explored particularly the exhibitions on the First World War and the Holocaust. This was really the first time on the trip that we did things related to the world wars, and I was pleasantly surprised with how much I recognised and was able to appreciate as a result.
On the way to dinner we stopped at Covent Garden Markets and went on a last-minute shopping spree to purchase all the souvenirs we could before we left London the next day. After shopping, we took time to recover, watching street performers in the centre square.
One of the first stops after arriving in London was the Australian War Memorial and New Zealand War Memorial at Hyde Park corner. Charlotte Pickering, from the Northern Territory, wrote about this stop, as well as the group’s visit to the Tower of London:
Commemorating the bonds between Great Britain and Australia, this memorial pays homage to the Australians who died in the two World Wars. A curving wall is inscribed with the names of hundreds of Australian towns from which the men enlisted, and, in larger letters, the names of the places where the soldiers fought …
A visit to the Tower of London provided extensive insight into Britain’s Royal history. Built in 1078 by William the Conqueror (the first Norman British monarch), it was added to by successive rulers. The architecture and scale of the fortress creates a picturesque view of medieval grandeur, sitting right on the River Thames, adjacent to another well-known landmark, Tower Bridge. The foreignness of the design of the building fired our interest, as many of us had never seen anything of the like in real life … The Tower was used first as accommodation for the Royal Family, but later became used to imprison, torture, and execute people. Three English Queens were beheaded in the courtyards, and it is highly speculated that it was also the place where two young princes, Edward and Richard, were murdered in 1483. The Tower was also in use in the First World War. In 1914, 11 German spies faced a firing squad within the castle grounds. We also learnt that the Tower was used as a zoo for over 600 years, showing off different exotic animals from all over the world. The animals were not guarded with the same health and safety regulations as we have today, and some exhibits had the animals roaming around the eager visitors. One such case was a monkey exhibition, which was closed down after a young boy was attacked.
The Crown Jewels were also on display, breathtaking in their stateliness and splendor. A recording of the coronation of our current reigning monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, was also shown, just before a tour to view the royal jewels.
An understanding and knowledge of English history and its monarchy are important to Australia and Australians in the context of our study tour to the First World War battlefields, because it is vital to consider the political context in which our nation became involved in this conflict … Australians in the First World War were fighting for “King and Country”, despite the fact that many of them had never visited England.