What

Museum Staff-led

When

Terms 1 to 4, Monday to Friday

Duration

50 minutes in the Pumping Station

Year level

Years 3 to 10

Minmum student numbers

Minimum 15 students

Maximum student numbers

Maximum 30 students

Cost

$9 per student + education service fee

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Get 50% off when you book an additional staff-led show or program*

Booking information

Bookings 13 11 02

School visit information

FlushBack, our new, award-winning AR adventure brings to life the rich history and remarkable engineering of the heritage-listed Spotswood Pumping Station while also building students’ understanding of the importance of sewerage systems, and how they fit into the water cycle.

Built in the 1890s to deal with Melbourne’s growing (and very smelly) sewage problem, the Pumping Station is considered a remarkable feat of 19th century engineering. For almost 70 years, all the sewerage collected in Melbourne’s underground sewers passed through the pumps at Spotswood.

Students travel back to 1942 and are challenged to solve problems, based on real events to ensure Melbourne avoids turning back into 'Smellbourne'!

Students are guided by characters representing people who actually worked at the Pumping Station at the time. Working in pairs, they race against the clock to shovel coal in the coal bunker, stoke the boilers to the right pressure and even help an old man who is on a desperate search for his false teeth. Yes, people frequently came to the Pumping Station looking for their false teeth! Yuck!

*Offer only available during Terms 1 & 2 in 2024

Victorian Curriculum links

Science 

• Water is an important resource that cycles through the environment (VCSSU101) 

Geography 

• Ways that flows of water connect places as they move through the environment and the ways this affects places (VCGGK106) 

History  

• Evaluate the historical significance of an event, idea, individual or place (VCHHC128) 

Design and technologies 

• Recognise the role of people in design and technologies occupations and explore factors, including sustainability, that impact on the design of solutions to meet community needs (VCDSTS023) 
• Examine and prioritise competing factors including social, ethical, economic and sustainability considerations in the development of technologies and designed solutions to meet community needs for preferred futures (VCDSTS043)