Throughout the whole of the year, we have been learning through our teamwork, research, trial, and error and creative thinking skills, and this final project has really been an exciting conclusion to the year for us all.

We were given the task of creating a building that would be able to survive through the challenge of a makeshift earthquake. Using the materials of spaghetti, BluTack, and rulers to create this building was one of the main challenges. We were given a price budget of $60 to buy the material ($1 per/ 10cm of spaghetti and $1 per/10 grams of BluTack.) During the prototype and final build process, we overcame many challenges and changed our design many times.

A basic outline of the requirements are as follows:

• A base of no larger than 30cm x 30cm
• Height of 60 cm minimum
• Stay standing during the 10 second earthquake
• Remain in the budget ($60)

We firstly sat down and compared our ideas coming together for a first draft of what our build will represent. Working together we were able to research together and successfully find options for how our build could look. We found options for how we can achieve a stable build then worked out the most cost-efficient option (totaling $59.50) for our earthquake-resistant build.

After we drew up a diagram and spoke with Miss Donnelly about the equipment we finally started prototyping and quickly realised our build was not going to be as efficient or cost-effective as we thought. Creating a wide list of possible options and not being successful with any of them, we resorted to making a build quickly at the very end of the lesson. This build ended up being our final idea. It had a triangular base with stronger side supports and a flat platform top.

Some of the main challenges we faced were:

• Spaghetti breaking – spaghetti broke making us loose materials and our designs breaking
• Not standing up straight – as spaghetti isn’t very solid and bends easily our builds often ended up being tilted side ways and not stable.
• Our group got very easily distracted

The overall task was very engaging and enjoyable. I enjoyed working in groups and having the ability to learn through failure. We learned all about the current options implemented for architecture and earthquake prevention, but more than that we learned about how to structure our own research and how to create something of our own based on said research. In addition to all, we learned about the task itself we also had a great time putting together our earthquake-proof buildings.

In this project, we partnered up and chose a topic to research. My pair (Georgia Dolley and Jessica Lim) chose COVID-19. We had to work together to get the tasks done, present them in a professional matter, and sort through the plethora of data we received. After discussing the options, we had regarding data collection, we decided to format our survey and send it out to a more concentrated group of students, our own maths class. Splitting the work up evenly and working through it in and out of class we created an easy-to-follow breakdown and description of the raw data we collected.

By Georgia Dolley

The principles of justice are put in place to ensure a fair trial for everybody, unfortunately sometimes this is not the case. For example, Gene Gibson a young 18-year-old aboriginal man from a small rural town was accused and charged with manslaughter despite having nothing to do with the crime. Three of the principles of justice were not upheld during Mr. Gibson’s prosecution and one principle was. The right to remain silent, standard and burden of proof, equal treatment before the law and Gene used his right to appeal a few years later. Throughout this case, I will be discussing the extent to which justice has been upheld and the injustice that Gene Gibson was victim to.

On the 26th February 2010, Josh Warneke, a 21-year-old man was found on the side of the road with severe head injuries. 2 years after Warneke’s passing, Gene Gibson was brought into questioning as a witness after claims he was at the crime scene on the night. After 8 hours of questioning, 2 of which without legal representation or an interpreter. Mr. Gibson had never had issues with the law before and therefore was unaware of his rights throughout the majority of the process. Gene was sentenced and sent to prison where he would sit for the next five years.

Equal treatment before the law means to be treated the same as everybody else despite your race, gender, age, or in this case language barriers. This is a right to ensure that all people won’t be taken advantage of by the law and all people will be fully aware of everything that is happening. Gene Gibson was not once given equal treatment before the law and was frequently taken advantage of. During Mr. Gibson’s 8-hour long interview he was unaware of his right to an interpreter and right to a psychological evaluation. The police department had a 2 hour ‘off-book’ interview with Gibson with no interpreter or legal representation. Years later Gene would be tested and labeled severely illiterate, meaning during hose 2 hours he would not have understood any of the questions or legal proceeding going on. Gibson was also diagnosed with severe cognitive impairments, meaning with his condition he would be unfit to answer any questions and able, to tell the truth, while answering them. Part of his condition meant that Gibson was unable to properly participate in basic day to day tasks, he only wanted to please people and would do anything to achieve that, i.e. lie, he was also a very shy and reserved person who got easily uncomfortable when doing the same thing for a long period.

 Standard and burden of proof mean that Mr. Gibson would have had to be guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. The definition of this is the burden of proofs is given to the prosecution where it is their responsibility to prove the accused is guilty. The standard of proof is the level of surety that the accused is guilty. This however was not the case throughout Gene’s case. After the interviews had been ruled unusable, there was no proof except a butchered statement, where the witness came forward and said he is unsure if it was Gibson or not at the crime scene. During the court case, the interviews (ruled unusable) were the only evidence in the case. Confirming that there was no clear evidence in the case. Gene couldn’t have been prosecuted as the evidence was not up to the standards expected.   

The right to silence means that at any time in the case you can stay silent, not answering any questions, and only give your name and address. This is important in any case as you could inadvertently self-incriminate. Mr. Gibson was unaware of this throughout the whole investigation and trial and continued to be interviewed by the police. Before he got the chance to speak with a lawyer, Gibson was interviewed as a witness for 2 hours, (being interviewed as a witness meant that the officers investigating his case could get away with interviewing him without a lawyer for a short time.) The officers were talking to Gibson and treating him as a witness on paper but in the actual interview was treating him as a suspect and trying to get a confession. After a lawyer was finally called via phone (after the initial 2 hours) she requested the interviewing to stop, but the officers in charge of the case just hung up the phone and continued. Gene was interviewed for another six hours again the lawyer’s wishes. The accused was never given the right to silence throughout the whole case.

Although lots of different principles of justice were not upheld Mr. Gibson did execute his right to appeal. Right to appeal is defined as a person who has been convicted by a jury or has pleaded guilty and has been sentenced by a court judge has a right of appeal. For Gene, about five years after his imprisonment he applied for his case to be reviewed and applied for an appeal. He was quickly granted an appeal after the new judge saw the unfair conditions he was put under. Leaving prison with 1.3 million dollars in compensation. After he was released the officers in question were arrested, fined, and had their licenses revoked.

Although Gene Gibson’s case has a happy ending it could have been completely avoided if the law enforcement followed the principles of justice. Gene was not given the right to silence, burden, and standard of proof or equal treatment before the law, causing an innocent man to spend over 5 years of his life in prison. The principles of justice are to ensure a fair and equal trial for everyone, these rights need to be followed at all times.

Hey,

My name is Georgia and I am a Year 7 at All Saints’ College.

I have many passions and interests leading to having many strengths. My interest in Dance draws upon the strength of collaboration and dedication. Some of my other interests include service (bringing the addition of compassion) and playing netball (bringing fast critical thinking.) 

I enjoy taking risks and trying new things, I love challenging myself and using new opportunities to create something new.

I am happiest playing sport and hanging out with my friends. When I walk into a room I bring the quality of passion, I feel that when I start something I enjoy I have a need to finish it to a high standard.