Accompanied by Ms Judd and I, twelve VCE Geography students recently participated in a fieldwork trip to Rippon Lea estate in Elsternwick to fulfil course requirements for Geography Unit 2: Tourism. 

Year 11 Geography students had been focusing on the characteristics and impact of tourism on a variety of scales and in different locations. The students had already made comparisons between domestic and international tourist destinations and studied various types of tourism. The Rippon Lea trip was devised to complement our studies of Heritage Tourism. The fact that so few properties of this era are still in existence makes Rippon Lea a rare gem for study purposes. The National Trust (which owns and maintains the property), states that Rippon Lea property is the best surviving example of a Victorian pleasure garden in the world and that the fernery there is the largest example of this type of structure in the Southern Hemisphere. 

However, our geographic focus was largely on sustainability of heritage tourist sites. Unfortunately, the unavoidable irony of tourism is that quite often, tourism activities have significant negative impacts on the very thing tourists come to see. Consequently, our investigation explored the tourist management strategies employed at Rippon Lea and assessed their effectiveness in terms of sustainability, in addition to looking for additional measures or improvements that might be considered to heighten sustainable practice at this heritage site.

Students were given a private tour of the mansion by a wonderful National Trust volunteer. They also had the opportunity of speaking with Matt Chester, the Manager of Rippon Lea who helpfully answered all the students’ questions regarding management of the property. The girls recorded primary data by making observational notes, taking photographs and drawing annotated field sketches.  This information will be collated and used to complete the Unit 2 field work report, a 1500-2000 piece that will form a part of their assessment.

Student Reflections:

My experience at Rippon Lea Estate was stunning.  As we walked around the beautiful garden and took a tour of the mansion, it felt as if it was 1868 when Frederick Sargood built and lived in the mansion.  Learning about the history of Rippon Lea was inspiring and it was good to know that Rippon Lea is heritage protected. 
Kelly Liu SWD

I found the day extremely interesting and I learned so much about the property. I especially enjoyed the individual time we were given to explore the property and the gardens while taking notes and photographs that would help us in our field work. The information gave me an awareness and knowledge about the maintenance the property needs as well as the ways the property is kept sustainable for the public. The day proved to be very interesting and eventful as well as giving us a great deal of knowledge for our upcoming field work report.
Emma Lee SKD

I really enjoyed the trip to Rippon Lea as gathering interesting and reliable information about the site’s history, property and how it is managed was so helpful for our report.
Charlotte Taylor SWA

Special thanks to Ms Judd who accompanied us on the field trip.