SNORKELLING 2022

Scarlett McVeighLeave a comment

This year in semester 2 I chose to do MUIR outdoor Ed as my elective. As I did this course last year, this year I wanted to extend my skills in the areas we cover- holding myself more accountable and to a higher standard. In term 3 we did orienteering, archery and we started to look at snorkelling. In term 4 we focused mainly on snorkelling and we had an overnight camp at Rottnest.

ORIENTEERING

As I did this course last year, this year was just sort of like a refresher for my skills in the 3 areas we covered. in ORIENTEERING we learnt how to use a compass to navigate ourselves around unknown bush areas. We did many excursions to Manning Park, where we were able to exercised our knowledge in navigating ourselves around an unknown area. we learnt things like putting Fred in the shed, always holding the map to have north face forward, lining up the meridian grid lines on the compass with the grid lines on the map. we learnt the importance of being accurate and making sure that our measurements and readings we are close to the actual coordinates as possible, as the smallest error could through you off by a lot. One capability that I think I worked on a lot in orienteering was problem solving. This unit was at the end of winter, which meant that there were times where the weather prevented us from going off campus. So Problem solving became a big concept to us in many areas, not just one. As I said before that being accurate was key to success in orienteering, and when we went to manning park for our excursions, there were times when me and my group struggled to find the control. So, we had to do lots of problem solving and collaboration to figure out where we went wrong. we would go back to the previous control, retake the bearing, and recount our distance. This ensured that we were defiantly heading in the right direction, and that we were on the right track. Without problem solving and collaboration in these circumstances, we wouldn’t have had any success in our orienteering adventures.

PICTURE OF MAP AND COMPASS- SIMILAR TO WHAT WE USED IN THIS UNIT

ARCHERY

Another unit we completed this semester was archery. In archery, we had a lady called Mary come out to the campus and teach us how to shoot a bow an arrow, how to aim effectively, how important grouping is and how to become a good archer. As this wasn’t my first time doing archery, I found it relatively easy to shoot a bow and arrow. My only problem was being consistent with my shooting. One capability that I used to help me become a better archer was resilience and critical thinking. It was important that I never gave up when it came to being accurate with my shots. The more I practiced, the better I would get. There would be lessons where I would get very frustrated when I wasn’t consistent so it was critical that I was resilient. Then when it came to aiming, there were many different factors effecting my shots. Wind, distance, stance and how close I was to another person. so it was important that I used critical thinking and took into account these things.

SNORKELLING

The final unit that we completed was snorkelling. In this unit we learnt the basics of snorkelling. We first started snorkelling in the pool, then we went on an excursion to Coogee Omeo ship wreck, and finally we stayed overnight at Rottnest, and snorkelled at the basin and little parakeet bay. Some challenges we face completing this unit was to do with the weather conditions. At our excursion to Coogee, it was overcast, had a very strong south westerly wind, and the water was very choppy and visibility below the water was poor. Although it was very tricky to navigate and see anything in the water, it was important that we got experience in all weather condition to prepare us for anything at Rotto.

OMEO SHIPWRECK

ROTTNEST EXCURSION

As part of the snorkelling unit, we got an overnight camp at Rottnest. As I previously mentions, we snorkelled at little parakeet bay and the basin. On this camp and leading up to it, it was vital that I was organised and prepared for everything – having a wetsuit, keeping hydrated, having the right equipment. Leading up to the camp, I had no clue what the weather was going to be like, so going into the water for the first time was a bit of a shock with how cold it was. I was definitely grateful that I had a wetsuit, because before the camp I didn’t have one. Some challenges that I faced on this camp were how cold the water was.

AT LITTLE PARAKEET BAY

Getting in for the first time wasn’t that hard, but on the second snorkel on the first day after being out in the sun and drying off was pretty hard getting back as the water was very cold. However, I am very glad that I did as the snorkelling there was amazing. My favourite snorkelling route of the camp was the one at the basin, but I definitely thought it was the hardest one as well due to the swell that was coming in. There were certain points of that snorkel that scared me because of the big wave coming over us and pushing us against the reef, but it was important that I stayed calm and thought critically about where I was going to go next. Another vital thing about this camp was leaving no trace which I will talk about later on.

PICTURE OF MY GROUP AT THE BASIN
AT LITTLE PARAKEET BAY

LEAVE NO TRACE

Leave no trace was a big rule/ capability for this unit and for me. There are 7 principles of LNT to ensure that all areas are covered and can be applied everywhere to keep our environment safe whenever we are out enjoying it. In all of the units we completed, we were out of the class room and on excursions for majority of the doubles and Friday lessons. The 7 principles are, Plan ahead, travel and camp on durable surfaces, dispose of waste properly, leave what you find, minimize camp fire impacts, respect wildlife and be considerate of others. Being off campus for orienteering and snorkelling, we needed to be extra careful of our surroundings and where we walking/swimming, also picking up any rubbish that we see and putting it in the bin. On the Rottnest camp, whenever we were a beach or campsite we made sure to do an emu bob- lining up in a line and walking across the surrounding picking up any rubbish. This was to ensure that we were leaving the environment the way we found it and disposing of waste properly. A big part of leave no trace is to preserve the environment – leaving things exactly as you found them- so that future generation can come and enjoy these environments for as long as possible, being selfless and considerate of everyone and everything.

CONCLUSION

All in all, I really enjoyed this unit. as this is my second time doing it, I definitely enjoyed it more the second time round. My favourite part was the overnight camp at Rotto, as it was a really fun 2 days and I loved snorkelling there. I would definitely recommend this to younger year groups as this unit teaches you many valuable skills and lessons for many areas of your life, not just outdoor ED.

Specialised Basketball 2022

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This semesters I got the chance to do Spec basketball as one of my electives. In this elective, my aim was to improve my skills and confidence is preparation for my up coming WABL season and to understand how I work as a player and techniques to improve and alter my warm up, warm downs, diet and game play.

PLAYER PROFILE

At the start of this elective, I complete a self reflection as part of an out of school basketball program I’m in. I had 5 different areas of my game that I had to rate myself out of 10 how, say a strength of that area and say an improvement I wanted to work on. below is what I completed at the start of the year:

If I had to re assess myself, I feel as though I have improved but not so much as to change my scores. I feel that my improvements might change but as I now have different goals and focuses for my season. for example, I would change one of my focusses to be working on my left handed finishes to the basket.

DEFENSIVE CONCEPTS

SHELL DRILL: This semester, the defensive drill we got taught was the shell drill as one of our Defensive concepts.

Defence 1 : has 2 feet in the paint, on the split line. prepared to help on defence if the person with the ball drives base line.

Defence 2 : 1 foot in the paint and between is player and defence 1 player. guards both so D1 can can stay under the basket.

Defence 3 : 1 foot in the paint. guards his player and D2 player if 2 guards 1s player.

Defence 4 : no feet in the paint. slightly between their player and the ball. D4s job is to be ready to steal the ball if it gets passed to their player. Also provides pressure for their player as D4 is taking away the passing option to their player.

Defence 5 : no feet in the paint, pressure on their player as they have the ball. 1 foot above their players foot, forcing them baseline and into the double team with D1.

This drill/play allows players to learn rotation on the court when playing defence. I had previously learnt this before but going through it step by step really helped me to understand how to cover all the players on the court, whilst still applying pressure and help to your teammates.

OFFENSIVE CONCEPTS

PICK AND ROLL: we got taught the pick and roll for our offensive drill. the pick and roll allows for a player to get rid of their player, and have an option at the basket. the pick and roll involves 2 players and their defence. player 1, has the ball and player 2 sets a screen for them. as the name suggests, the person who sets the screen picks, and as player 1 comes off the screen, player 2 rolls to the basket.

Offence 1 : O1 is the player with the ball. O1 waits for the screen to be set by O2. Once screen is set, O1 dribbles towards the key, bumping shoulders with the O2, so that their defence cant get above the screen and has to either switch or go below the screen. Once O1 comes off the screen, they look for O2 or they takes the ball to the basket.

Offence 2 : O2 is the screener and sets the screen for the person with the ball (O1). The screener must get 1 foot above the defence and be parallel to the side line. as O1 comes off the screen, O2 rolls/turns their body towards the O1, and closes their defence and rolls towards the basket as an option to score.

This offence is very useful is most situations. it allows for the ball to move around the court and supplies many options for a score, whether that be shooting, passing to the roller, kicking the ball out to the perimeter or just create some movement and space. the pick and roll is very simply but very effective.

WAFL Presentations

In this elective, we were fortunate enough to have some of the WAFL west coast player come out to talk to us about a few things regarding being an elite athlete. in total we had about 3 session, 1 with boys and girls, and 2 with just girls.

We had the presentation with the boys and girls about how important our diet is when being an athlete. what to eat to get energy pre game and post game and training. we learnt about simple and complex carbs and when to have them. we learnt about how important it is to have a balanced diet. I found this presentation very useful because I had no clue about how important a good and proper diet is and how it can effect your game if you don’t eat properly.

The next 2 presentations were just with the girls. These were about injury prevention with women, and hormones n\and periods whilst playing. we learnt about how women’s bodies and all very different and therefore our physique makes us more prone to injuries like tarring our ACL. We learnt about how we have 4 stages during our period and monthly cycles, which yet again, effect how we play.

These presentations had a major effect on me. I learnt a lot from them and have taking many things into consideration after hearing about the different topics and how important it is to fuel you body right, warm up correctly, and how our periods can effect how we play.

OVERVIEW

Overall, I really enjoyed this elective. it has taught me many things and has provided me with more information about elite athletes that I wouldn’t have known if I didn’t choose this elective. I would definitely recommend this elective for anyone who has any interest in basketball what so ever, and provides many great opportunities to improve as a player.

ART- CASTING AND CONSTRUCTION

Scarlett McVeigh1 Comment

This semester I chose to do the Art Casting and Construction as one of my electives. In this elective we had to create a Amulet/Talisman to protect us from something. I learnt a lot during this elective, including how to use different mediums like soap and clay, pinkie sill casting, epoxy and in particular for my amulet, using gold and silver leaf.

ORGANISED- MEETING THE TARGETS

I had certain expectations for myself when creating my artwork. I wanted to learn how to use different medium and different techniques when using clay and soap. The outline of this project was again to crate an amulet but at first I wasn’t sure what an amulet was. After doing so research, I drew inspiration from ancient Egypt amulets and the wore down gold look that they had. At first I wasn’t sure how I was going to achieve this, but after some digging around in the art supply closet, I came across the gold, sliver, and bronze leaf.

INQUIZITIVE- HOW DID I DEVELOP MY DESIGN?

At the start of this project, I was struggling to find a design that I liked. I did many different drawings to try and find the best fit, and in the end I ending up going with a sun. I wanted this sun to protect me from darkness and light my way in the future. First of all I was struggling to get my sun the way I wanted and when I did get it the way I wanted, I thought it was a bit plain. So, I added so miner detail, as seen below, and I think it turned out really nice.

I wanted to go for a beaten metal look and look like it was shining whenever you looked at it. I wanted to achieve this using gold, bronze and silver leaf. I did many tests on my first amulet and found the certain colour combos and techniques that I really liked AS SEEN BELOW:

PROBLEM SOLVING

One of the biggest problems was trying to find what colour paint I should put under my metal leaf. I found that black was too powerful and made the leaf go muddy, and that without any paint it didn’t make the metal leaf pop as I would’ve liked it too. So I came to the conclusion that gold paint would look the best as it covers the cracks under the gold leaf and makes the sliver leaf pop nicely. Another problem I encounter was when I was getting my original amulet out of my mould. When getting it out, my amulet fell apart. It wasn’t a massive problem in the long run but if I needed to recast my mould for any reason, I wouldn’t have been able too. But overall my project ran smoothly and I was happy with how it turned out.

CREATIVE – FINAL PRODUCT

After all the testing and trials and errors, I completed my amulet. I am very happy with the end product but if I was to do this again, there would be very minimal change. I am happy with the development of my design and how I progress during this task, and most off I am happy that I took my time and didn’t rush.

MY FINAL PRODUCT

Keys For Life Assessment

Scarlett McVeighLeave a comment

What were the biggest things you learnt while completing this task?

I learnt a lot whilst researching this topic. Being a teenager myself and always on my phone, I didn’t realise just how much of a distraction they are. I understood to a certain extent what impact mobile phones have on you when driving and the distraction that they can become. But some of the biggest things I learnt when completing this task was that between 2016-2020 there were a reported 524 deaths from inattentive driving. In hindsight this doesn’t seem like a lot but when you think about it, fatal car crashes are rarer than they seem and are less common to come across, 524 is more than a whole year group at some schools. Another thing I learnt is that a 2 second look at your phone while driving at the average speed on built up areas, relates to 33 metres of distance where you aren’t look at your phone. This statistic really stuck out to me, so I related my whole project on it. Most people argue that “just a quick look wont hurt” when in fact it can be the difference between life or death in some cases.

What one piece of advice would you pass on to young drivers above all else? Why?

One piece of advice that I would give to young drivers about this topic is to please think before you act, think before you look at your phone, think before you do anything on the road that could potentially end badly. It doesn’t matter how good of a driver you think you are, by looking at your phone whilst driving, you are not only putting yourself in danger, but everyone else on the road and any passengers that are with you. So, think before you act, just a quick look isn’t an excuse. I say this because I don’t want anyone to get hurt or potentially die if it can be avoided, looking at your phone whilst driving can be avoided, other distraction can be avoided, and no one wants a family member, a friend, a peer to get hurt or loose their life on the road if it can be avoided.

Write down a pledge that you will commit to when you start driving. Why did you pick these things to commit to? How will you stick to these commitments?

I pledge to always be always alert and aware of my surroundings and other cars on the road. I pledge to always remove my distraction (phones, loud music, noisy and disturbing passengers) and keep my focus always to he roads. I pledge to always get myself and other passenger safely from point a to point b and if it happens to be at night and I get fatigued, to never drive under those conditions. I pledge to never drive under the influence and never assume that I am ok to drive when under the influence of alcohol. And lastly, I pledge to always be a safe driver, never loose focus and to always be patient. I will commit to these things for the benefit of myself and others because by me being a safe driving, I know that I am doing my job on the road and keeping myself and others around me safe. I will remove/minimise distraction eg my phone, and I will make an effort to always be patient with others whilst on the road.

Science Project- Engineering challenge

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Our science engineering challenge was to design a build that would withstand a major earthquake. We had create a downsized model made from spaghetti and blue tack of an earthquake proof building. It had to be a minimum height of 60cm and a maximum base of 30 by 30 cm. It could be attached to the table but had to withstand 10 seconds of shaking in all different directions, as the simulation of an earthquake. The cost of the project couldn’t exceed 60$. Our aim was to create a model that fits these perimeters and show that we can work as a team and communicate effectively.

Our research and first concept designs

The Pictures above shows our research and first designs for our model. When we first started to construct the first design we ran into many problems. We were first struggling to get it to stand and go on an angle upwards, and we were running over budget without adding any cross bracing. We first had a pyramid formation as it could have a wide base and a small top to diffuse the vibration of the earthquakes. By having cross bracing as well, it allows the earthquake to distribute faster and allows the building to take less damage as the wide base and cross bracing evenly distributes the earthquake, making it stable and preventing major damage.

The designs and concepts above were our final design. We found that this was a lot better then the previous design for many reasons. e.g this design could stand, cost a lot less and we had money to spare, more stable and had lots of support, survived the testing with minimal to no damage. This design has a wide and stable base to, again, help distribute the earthquake, causing minimal damage, cross bracing on the sides of the frame and across the top of the square to help diffuse the earthquake faster and help mobilize the movement of the structure, a pyramid point on top to create a small point so the earthquake doesn’t crumble the structure from the top down and therefore having a smaller surface area on top. By having these features, we created a structure that could with stand an earthquake at many different magnitudes and allowed us to understand what buildings in city that are very prone earthquake have to look like/ structure like in order for them to be livable in those cities.

Communication

Through out this challenge i found that our communication was key when getting work done. Whenever there was a problem we would vocalise it and if there was something that someone wanted to add to the design we would listen and consider. Another thing we did well when communicating was when we had people away and they missed out on work, we made sure that they were up to date when they came back, and we communicated answers and helped each other finish the work that we missed out on. By doing this, it made sure that everyone was up to date with everything, we were all on the same page, and we all had a clear understand of what the challenge was wanting us to do. with out communication in these areas, we wouldn’t have been able to complete the challenge and come up with a design.

If we were to do this challenge again, I would suggest that we change a couple things in our process. First of all I would propose that, for our group, we would think realistically with our first initial design and thing about the reliability of it before we started building. Not having much money in our budget left and not being able to add cross-bracing were things that we should’ve thought about before we started creating. By doing this, it would’ve saved a lot more time and allowed us to plan the actual design that we used. The next change I would suggest to our process would be doing a lot more research. The research that we did do was ok but wasn’t great. We had some what of an understanding of what earthquake proof buildings look like but we weren’t completely educated. We could’ve gotten a lot more information before building and had a greater understanding of what earthquake proof building look like and are structure like. By doing this it would better our understanding of the challenge and what goes int building a structure like those buildings, therefore improving our overall project.

Teamwork

At the start of the challenge, my group and I allocated roles to each other to help us stay on track and keep everybody happy. These roles were the following:

Declan : reporter – makes sure that the presentation is ready by the deadline.

Matthew : material manger- gets the materials and keeps track of what we use and makes sure that we clean up after every lesson.

Ben : project manger – makes sure everyone understands the challenge and keeps the team on track.

Scarlett : spokesperson – seek help from the teacher and other class mates.

Although these roles seemed beneficial for our group and this challenge, I feel that through out the challenge we lost sight of these them. We kind of all just blurred into 1 role, however, it didn’t effect the way our group functions. Although some people pulled more weight than others, I feel that we all tried shared the work as evenly as possible and made sure that our end result was something that everyone was happy with. We did this by constantly talking with one another making sure that there wasn’t anything else that people wanted to add before testing or calling our design our “final product”. I feel that we all tried to play to each others strengths. for example, some people were better at drawing up our designs and research, others were better at coming up with answers to stile questions. Whatever our strengths were, we all tried to include it into the process no matter what stage we were at.

VISUAL ARTS- DRAWING AND PAINTING.

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ORGANISED- Did I meet the targets required throughout this project?

During this project we did a lot of different task leading up to our egg tempera painting. I kept a visual check list of all of the work I needed to do in my visual diary. I found that in this unit, doing all the preparation that we did- e.g right and left side of the brain, drawing upside-down- really help in the drawing of the still life because it help my drawing become more accurate and easy to draw. By working the right side of my brain more, it allowed me to block out the left side and really just focus on my artwork and what I was doing, and rather than naming the shapes I was drawing, I would just draw and not think about it too much.

Drawing of the still life 
INQUISITIVE- What skills did I acquire? How did I develop my design/s?

During this unit I learnt a lot of new skills. One of the major ones was blocking out the left side of my brain- the side that thinks more logically. I worked on thinking more creatively and working my brain to think about my drawing in a creative way rather than a logical way. Some other skills that I learnt were some of my brush skills, and how to actually make the egg tempera paint. The egg tempera paint making process was a very time consuming and accurate process as we had to make sure that we didn’t get any egg white in there whatsoever. Painting the egg tempera paint was also a very time consuming process as we had to build the paint layer by layer as the paint was quite transparent. Another skill i worked on was the process of the artwork and how much preparation we had to do before we could start painting- eg prepping the boards, drawing the still life, making the paint. It taught me to be patient and think out how my artwork will turn out. I had to think into the future and think about what I would need to do in order to get my artwork as good as possible and what steps I would need to take.

Colour composition 
PROBLEM SOVLING- What worked? What didn't? How did I resolve these issues?

Many thing worked for me in this art process. The drawing of the still life was pretty good although I fell that I rushed a little so next time I would take my time. The prepping of the board went really well and it came out very smooth and ready to layer the paint on smoothly and evenly. The projection of the artwork worked pretty well although my projector kept overheating and turning off throwing the the projections of centre of where my artwork was- making the lines not accurate- but I manged to get it as accurate as possible and line up the artwork almost exact. I found that the only thing that really went wrong in this unit was the paints. They kept going off, they would smell, they would layer on funny. I was also not 100% happy with my colour composition and got stuck in the middle of my painting as I didn’t know what colour to paint what. I found that I had to make new paints and re-think my colour composition so that I could find a colour comp that i was happy with. I did this by adding more white to the composition and spacing out some of the colour instead of just having a whole heap of colours in the centre of the board. 

CREATIVE- success of the final artwork

I think that my final artwork turn out really good. I’m happy with it and i think that it turned out better than i though it would’ve. If I were to do this task again I think that I would take my time on each process and not rush through. I would spend more time on the drawing of the still life and maybe consider some different colours for the colour composition. But overall I think that this unit of Egg Tempera was very fun and a very useful insight into some historic methods of art and painting. 

EGG TEMPERA- History + How its made.

Egg tempera is fast drying, permeant paint that is made from pigment water and the yolk of an egg. Egg tempera was heavily used in the renaissance period by many famous painters know today, such as, Michelangelo and Sandro Botticelli. As I said previously, egg tempera is made from water, coloured pigment, and the yolk from an egg. We used 1 teaspoon of water, 1 egg yolk- no white at all- and 1-1 1/2 teaspoons of pigment. The process of making the paint for me was quite stressful because you couldn’t get any egg white at all in the egg yolk. And if you popped the yolk at any time before and it mixed with the white, you couldn’t used it. So it took a lot of time and eggs but once you get the hang of it, its very easy to make.

Egg tempera: what it is, how to use it and a brief history
example of renaissance egg tempera 
CONCLUSION

I found this project very interesting and learnt a lot from it. I improved on my painting skills, knowledge of art, preparation and the process in which we got through. I learnt to be patient and be accurate, I learnt to block out the left side of my brain and only use the right, I learnt about the renaissance and the history of egg tempera and Michelangelo. If i could do this again I would take more time when drawing and doing all the prep work- e.g colour composition and I would scale down my art work and just paint a smaller section of it.

FINAL IMAGE OF ARTWORK.

Things I learnt in Snorkelling

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In term 1 we did a snorkelling course in Muir outdoor ed. in this course we learnt the basic skills of snorkeling and got the chance to go and practice these skills in places like Coogee beach at the Omeo shipwreck and a day trip to Rottnest.

Best snorkelling and shipwreck sites around Perth | Scoop
Omeo shipwreck

SKILLS

Some skills that we learnt on the first couple lessons of snorkelling were things like duck dives, clearing out masks underwater, clearing our snorkel. these skills were very beneficial for our snorkelling trips as it made snorkeling a lot easier and quicker. When first learning these skills we were in a controlled environment (the pool). This ensure that we could practice these skills in a comfortable environment where we could make mistakes and it would be ok. As we got more comfortable with our skills we moved out into a less controlled environment – Coogee beach- where we could practice these skills in a less comfortable environment but still feel safe. As we moved to Rottnest for our final snorkelling day, we were in an uncontrolled environment-meaning that we couldn’t control anything about the space, e.g temperature, animals- This allowed us to show our skills in an uncomfortable situation but we could still feel safe as we knew what we were doing and had everyone around us.

CAPABILITIES

I worked on a lot of capabilities during this course. some of these capabilities are, collaborative, organisation. I worked on and used collaboration a lot during this course. it was a skill that was heavily needed and was also used for safety. collaboration is a skill that requires you to work with others. I used this skill when at school and in the pool practicing our skills, at Coogee when we had to buddy up and work together in the ocean, and at Rotto when we had to stick together to make sure that we were all safe. Organisation to me was one of the most important skills that we needed in this course. It ensured that we all could participate in the snorkelling activities, it gave us a sense of safety, it allowed us to enjoy the beautiful ocean and the surroundings. I improved majorly on this skill during this course as it tough me to always be ready the day before we had a snorkelling day and to know where all of my equipment was. Being organised the day before and having all my stuff ready, allowed me to enjoy the snorkelling more, knowing that I had everything I needed and didn’t need to worry about it. One skill that that I feel that I need to improve on and that has been brought to my attention during this course is leadership. I felt that I did hold back a little when it came to student lead briefs as i was scared that I would get something wrong. Now looking back at it, its ok to get some things wrong as it shows that i’m thinking and striving to learn about it. In the future I wish for me to take on any leadership roles that arise in these subjects as it is a vital part of outdoor ED.

Rottnest excursion 2021

SUSTAINABLILITY AND LEAVE NO TRACE.

Rottnest and coogee are very beautiful places. They are very big and popular tourist attractions as well. One very notable aspect of there places is the cleanly less of the beaches/whole island. In this course, whenever we went out on our snorkelling trips, we always made sure to LEAVE NO TRACE, meaning to leave the environment the way we found it or even cleaner- e.g picking up rubbish, keeping out belongings all in one place- this ensures that we preserve the beautiful environment and the animals and plants that live there so that generations after us can also enjoy the beautiful serenity of places like Rotto and coogee beach.

EXCURSIONS- ROTTO AND COOGEE

As I previously said we got to practice out skills in uncontrolled environment. These places being Coogee beach at the Omeo shipwreck and Rottnest island at the Basin. We went to Coogee a total of 3 times, but I only went twice. The first trip out was a bit nerve racking at first but after a little while it was pretty fun. I was nervous about being out in the open water and having to practice some of the skills, but after a little while, I settled into my surroundings and found it quite peaceful out in the water. The 2nd session at Coogee was a lot more fun. our boundaries were widened and we got to explore further out into the water and saw a lot more fish and sculptors. When the day arrive of the Rottnest excursion, i was very excited. I made sure that i was organised the night before and that i had everything i needed for the trip. I found that being out at Rotto was quite a lot different to being out at Coogee, as the space we were in was a lot bigger and had a lot more ocean life and coral to see and be aware of. But nevertheless it was a lot more fun. We saw so much more sea life- including a seal and stingray- and overall was just a lot more satisfying see how far I had come from the first sessions in the pool at school.

Perth Landscape Photography Prints: The Basin, Rottnest Island
The basin- Rottnest

CONCLUSION

Overall I found this unit a lot of fun and would definitely recommend. this unit allowed me to step outside of my comfort zone, branch out and work with new people, use some new capabilities and work on some, to be aware of our surroundings and hep to preserve the beauty of it for generations to come and the importance of preserving it. and finally this unit taught me how beautiful our world really is, how such small things like fishes and coral can really make me smile and think about how lucky we are to even have an opportunity to go out and do stuff like snorkelling.

Lloyd Rayney

Scarlett McVeighLeave a comment

In this project, we learnt about the principles of justice that uphold Australia’s legal system, such as the presumption of innocence, an impartial judiciary, and the right to legal representation. I studied the case of Lloyd Rayney, and analysed how these principles were both upheld and violated in this case. After writing an essay on the topic, we were required to incorporate feedback and edit the essay so that it was fit for online publication. This essay is the end result of that editing process. It demonstrates my ability to take feedback, and to refine a piece of written work to produce a professional result.”

The principles of justices are rules and regulations that are put in place in court and in trials. These principles are put in place to make sure that no one is above the law and its equal and fair as possible. The principles I will be explaining today are, all equal before the law, right to a fair hearing, the judiciary are independent and impartial and the right to an appeal. These principles were mainly compromised in this case and I will explain further as to why they were.  I chose the Lloyd Rayney case. He was accused of murder of his wife. The case follows his wife Corryn and her disappearance and murder. Corryn went missing on the 7th of august 2007 after her boot scooting class in the Bentley suburbs in Perth. She was reported missing and just over a week after her disappearance, her body was found in a shallow grave in Perth’s king’s park. Lloyd was automatically named the prime and only suspect in a judge only case. But he was found not guilty of the crime after a 3-year long trial.

Lloyd Rayney struck off as a lawyer more than a decade after wife Corryn Rayney's unsolved murder - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
Lloyd and his wife Corryn

EQUAL BEFORE THE LAW

The principle of equality before the law was mainly compromised. From the start, the police had it out for Lloyd. Whether it was because of his ethnic background and race was involved or because of his high-ranking job was unclear, but this could have played a part in the case. Only 48 hours after the discovery of Corryn Rayney body, he was named the prime and only suspect. The police interviewed people, but that was as far as they were willing to go. The people that the police interviewed, had a history of crime and had been in and out of jail on many accounts of rape and sexual assault charges, and they were seen in the area of where the Rayney lived the night Corryn went missing. But police ignored this evidence and as they were certain that it was Lloyd. This principle was definitely compromised and was not really upheld. The extent the police went to and how they had it out for Rayney, was not equal before the law. This would’ve been very hard to avoid because it was nothing that could be change unless you wanted to change all of the policemen and police force. This principle is important because it ensures that everyone, no matter who you are, are treated the same and there are no factors that hinder your trial. No matter you race, sex, age, history, or background.

THE RIGHT TO A FAIR TRIAL

The principle of the right to a fair trial was upheld but yet again was also party compromised. Lloyd was a very well know lawyer and was very high up in his job. He knew all of the judges in Perth and to some extent knew them personally. If Lloyd were to have a judge from Perth, it would have been a biased opinion as he had a personal connection to them. So, to make sure that the principle was upheld, they had a judge fly I from the Northern Territory, to makes sure there wasn’t a biased opinion, therefore making the trial fair. Also because of the media coverage of the case, it would have been near impossible to find a jury who was unbiased and had no prior knowledge of the case. So, they made it a judge only trial. This case was compromised because, as I said media did play a big role in this case. There wasn’t a person in Perth who hadn’t hear about this case. The media had painted Lloyd as the villain and had plastered him all of the news as the killer. This majorly effect the trial and even Lloyds everyday life. This principle  is put in places to make sure that the trial was as fair and unbiased as possible. Also, to prevent things like a false and biased opinion in the media, like what happened in Lloyd’s case. We could have avoided this by avoiding media coverage and not releasing information to the press and social media companies who plastered this case everywhere.

  • Corryn Rayney murder: How did the case against Lloyd Rayney unfold? - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
    the polices at the Rayney family household
  • the police at kings park where they found Corryn’s body

THE JUDICARY IS INDEPDENT AND IMPARTIAL

The principle of the judiciary is independent and impartial was both compromised and upheld. It was compromised because in the trial the defense held back evidence and also planted fake evidence to try proving Lloyd guilty. The defense also had paid the corners office who did the examination of Corryn body, to plant seed pods from the Rayney front yard in Corryn hair. Although they had done this after the first initial exam of her body, the examiner  claimed that he must have missed it the first time. Although this principle was compromised, it was also partially upheld as well, because most of the people in the court room were unbiased, (besides the defense). They had a judge from NT come in because he knew all the judges in WA, and it was also a judge only trial because of the media coverage. This could’ve been avoided through making sure that all evidence is 100% real and not taking evidence that is being re handed in. it also could’ve been avoided by making sure that the examiner of the body is also unbiased and will not take bribes as this hindered the case. This principle is important because it makes sure that everyone in the judiciary is unbiased and that the trial is as fair as possible. It ensures that the outcome of the trials is the truth, and they aren’t putting an innocent man behind bars for no reason.

  • The Lloyd Rayney Story
    news articles about Lloyd

THE RIGHT TO APPEAL

The principle of the right to appeal was upheld in this case. Although Lloyd himself was found not guilty and didn’t need to appeal, the defense did, they believed so strongly that Lloyd was guilty that they felt they needed to take another look at the case. But the appeal was denied. The judge saw no need for a retrial and for him to take another look at the case, that he denied the appeal. This principle helps to ensure that even if you get sentences and your found guilty, you still have an option to retrial if you believe that you are 100% innocent, or the prosecution thinks you 100% guilty

In conclusion, the principles of justice in this case were mainly compromised bit partly upheld as well, the principles did give Lloyd a fair case, but they did also fail in some areas to make sure that he was getting the fairest trial possible. The media did affect this case a lot and so did some of the investigators, with their high-power positions and high authority. But I think that this case did bring some justice to Lloyd but Corryn murderer may still be out there.

by Scarlett McVeigh