About Us

Our School:
Hills Adventist College was first established in 1961 and currently caters  to students from Kindergarten to year 11. HAC has two campus, our Junior School campus in Castle Hill caters for preschool to year 4 students.  At our school (the Kellyville Campus) we have around 250 students from years 5-11 who come from all over Sydney to attend our school. We represent many different cultures that are proud to uphold the value of Hills Adventist College. Our motto is Nurture for today, Learning for tomorrow and Character for eternity.

Thanks to the support of the one and only, Mr Daniel Williams the Art4Agriculture project has been introduced to the school for the first time. Mr Williams is the head of our Art department and has degrees in both Visual Arts and Education.

Our Team:
 The Archibull Team at Hills Adventist College is very well connected. We have around 15 students in our group working on this project. We have 4 different groups for each of our students that cater to everyone interest and talents. Our team is passionate to educate others why it is important to support our Australian Farmers, so that future generations have access to products from Australian agriculture which have been produced here!  


The team working hard.

We all work very well together with someone always there to help another team member. Some of our team leaders are:

Sophia Wakeling (Student Leader):  
 Sophia mainly works on the blog and video and helps coordinate all the Archibull activities as Student Leader. She liaises with all the students working on the project and arranged all our Archie working meetings, props, internal and external communications and coordinated our wonderful speakers Sammi and Kylie to visit us at HAC.

Aaron Takizad (Technology):

Aaron became involved in the Archibull program after being inspired by the one and only Kylie Stretton. Aaron is in charge of editing and filming our video "We Love Our Aussie Farmers". Aaron also works extremely hard in making sure that everything is uploaded to the blog and works on all of the technological aspects of this program.  

Celine Breitenmoser (Art):
Celine loves cows as she originally comes from Switzerland and enjoys painting, drawing and sculpture. She has enjoyed working on the art and the wool bale. A number of other students have also helped with the art.

Ashleigh King (Photography):

Ashleigh is always seen around school taking pictures of Missy Moo! We are very lucky to have her on board as she has taken most of the pictures on this blog!

We could not have done our project without the rest of our team:
Aaron, Aimee, Ashleigh, Celine Dominic, Eileen, Emma, Grace, Jenna, Jess,  Joel, Julia, Kimberly, Olivia, Maryellen, Mitchell, Sophia.

Special thanks to Mr Rea, Mrs James and Miss Galia and the rest of Hills Adventist College for their enthusiasm and support!



Our school..

We love our Aussie Farmers!

About the Archibull Prize

About the Archibull Prize:

The Archibull Prize is an innovative and fun program which provides student participants with opportunities to meet young farmers and engage in genuine farm experiences, gain knowledge and skills about the production of the food they eat, fibres they use and the environment they live in.

The Archibull Prize is an Art4Agriculture initiative delivered with the support of their funding partners. The program has been running successfully in NSW for the past two years and 2012-2013 will see the Archibull Prize expand to other Australian states.

The program's multilayered activities use art and multimedia to engage students in secondary schools to learn through hands on experience about the challenges of feeding, clothing and housing the world with a declining natural resource base.
 

Why is this program so important?

The Archibull Prize is an engaging, fun and interactive way of connecting communities with the people who produce their food and fibre.

The program builds a bridge for farmers and communities to reach out to each other, share stories and improve understanding and work through potential solutions together. 

We love our Aussie Farmers!

The Meaning of our Artwork

An ArchiBULL, that is actually a cow, that is actually a sheep…?

Let me explain......

The Meaning of our Artwork

What were we going to do? Considering that this is our first year ever of the Archibull competition, I suppose you could say that we were slow to get off the mark, and somewhat naïve to the task that was before us.

After nearly three weeks of careful planning and thought, we came up with our final idea for the cow. To paint it ‘au-naturale’. It would look just like a normal brown cow with Australia shaped cut out patterns. But, our idea didn’t stop there. That would be too simple.

We wanted our entry to be immediately recognisable as representing the Wool industry in Australia, quite a challenge when it is in the form of a giant cow!

But, wait. Remember those cut-out Australia’s I mentioned? Well, they aren’t JUST Australia’s. They have been cut out specially so as not to appear too obvious. They are ambiguous ‘blotchy’ images at first and would resolve into the shape of Australias when viewed from different angles. They have been drawn at unique and ‘skewed’ angles so that they don’t jump out at you at first. If, however, you look at it from the right angle, it will look like a normal Australia - genius. So, when you see our cow in real live, make sure you take a good look.

The saying, “Australia rides on the sheep’s back” is famous among all Australians, so, we thought, ‘Why not embrace this famous saying by portraying it on our cow?’. This would be brought into the viewers mind through reversing the idea so the cow represents Australia (all the Australian shaped wool cut-outs) and the wool bale represents (hopefully obviously) the Australian wool industry. We also wanted to honour the rich history of the wool industry in Australia at the same time. Australia has ‘ridden on the sheep’s back’ for over 100 years, and we thought that this was a very important point to portray.

Drawn and painted on the side of the wool bale are pictures of the wool industry (to further re-enforce) the role that farmers play in our everyday lives. The images are all done in a sepia tone reminiscent of olde style photographs. This is to emphasise the historical aspect of the wool industry. The edges of the images fade into the wool bale almost like dream images that are being conjured up in the collective mind of Australians. We wanted to portray not only the past but also contemporary and future wool industry practices, dreaming a dream of a bright future.

Yes, this is our first year of Archibull and we definitely have a lot to learn. That isn’t to say, however, that we haven’t learned a lot! Painting the cow, creating the blog and editing the video were all very interesting projects that have led to increased understanding of the Agricultural industry in Australia. Thank you, Archibull, for this great opportunity! We hope you like our cow!

Missy Moo is holding the weight of the Wool Industry on her shoulders

We decided to paint our cow 'au-naturale'.

Australian Wool..

Missy Moo is complete!

 

Innovations - The Fabric of Life

The Fabric of Life:

Fabric is one of the most important innovations, because it is involved in every culture and everyone uses it. It is a way to express our personality, interests, culture and anything else that shows who we are. Fabric innovation has made a huge impact on how we live today.

Fabric production is a very lengthy process and has evolved over centuries. The production process involves growing the crop, harvesting, dying, weaving, designing and creating and of course, wearing the finished product. The Industrial Revolution saw the introduction of mass production with the advent of the steam engine, spinning jetty, and the cotton gin. The 20th century  saw the creation of synthetic fibres which removed the need for complete dependence on farmers. While mass production remained, niche designer industries re-emerged at the top end.

From a technological point of view, denim has significantly impacted the fashion and textiles industries. Denim has been around for a very long time; the navy sailors of the 16th century were the first to strut around in denim! However it wasn’t until the 1870s that the denim industry boomed.

Rayon is another fabric that has impacted the world of fashion in modern times. It is the first synthetic fabric and is also known as artificial silk. Rayon is made by dipping a needle into liquid mulberry bark pulp and gummy rubber to make threads. The production of rayon has proved to significantly reduced the fashion industry's dependence on traditional farming practises and thus has enabled new styles of fashion to be more accessible to the greater population of consumers.

Fabric is one of the most important innovations this world has seen.

(Courtesy of WoolmarkOnline)

We love our Aussie Farmers!

Innovations: Biotechnology and RFID

Biotechnology:
Biotechnology is the use of living things to create and modify products or to help complete tasks for human beings. It is the practise of using plants, animals and micro-organisms such as bacteria, as well as biological processes (such as the ripening of fruit or the bacteria that breakdown compost) to some benefit. Biotechnology is both an ancient art and a modern science.


Missy Moo is coming along well!

Biotechnology is a part of industry, medicine and agriculture as it helps in the manufacture of foods, medicines, testings for diseases and eradication of waste products. It can be used to resolve problems and carry out research. Current animal breeding practises, and the development of medications and medical procedures are also benefiting from advances in biotechnology.

The original aim of social biotechnology is to meet human desires in order to improve and to further develop our quality of life. 

The environmental advantage of biotechnology is to have creative and productive agriculture, which improves world food security without the need for increasing land space. It also reduces deforestation as we already lose 30 million hectares of rain forests in developing countries each year. Farmers using biotechnology within their agricultural businesses benefit economically via better crop harvests, reduced spending and a decrease in applying pesticides. The decrease in application is equivalent to 50% of the pesticides that farmers apply to a crop, like cotton, which is a major consumer on a global basis. This new technology has been made so the farmers do not have to plough their crops as often, which then saves water.

(Courtesy of BIOchannel)

Radio Frequency Identification Devices:
A radio frequency identification device is a tag that is stapled to an animal’s ear or a small chip that is injected into the animal’s first layer of skin. The device can have information stored on it like identification, disease management, feeding, weight and breeding practises. This information is easily accessible and when the device has been identified by a scanner, which is connected to a computer, it can be viewed or edited.

Working hard on the cow

These identification devices are necessary, and provide farmers with an easier way to keep track of livestock. This means that if one cow or sheep contracts a disease the farmer can put it down and dispose of it properly before the disease spreads. This would result in infecting the rest of the livestock on the farm and could potentially have disastrous consequences and other livestock in outlying areas. It could also cause potential problems for the international cattle trade. For example, Argentina has been said to have the best beef in the world, but because of the huge number of cases of foot and mouth disease there, its livestock can’t be exported overseas. If the Argentinian government was more concerned about this issue, its economy would benefit greatly through a thriving tourism industry and through live meat export.

There was also an outbreak of foot and mouth disease in England in 2001 which resulted in over 10 million sheep and cattle being killed and the most of the countryside under quarantine. England also had to put a stop to live and meat export for a long time. If the English government had a Radio Frequency Identification program for livestock, this outbreak could have been prevented.


We love our Aussie Farmers!

Innovations - NLIS

National Livestock Identification System

What is the National Livestock Identification System and why it is the most important innovation in farming to this present day?

Firstly, the National Livestock Identification System (or NLIS for short) is the ability to trace livestock from birth to slaughter. It was created to make sure that all meats whether they are lamb or beef, poultry or fish,  are of good quality and are safe to eat. 

Missy Moo with her wool bale

The NLIS enhances Australia's ability to respond quickly to a major food safety or “disease disaster” so that the situation can be dealt with quickly and easily.

 Secondly, why is the NLIS needed?

The National Livestock Identification System is needed to maintain detailed records of livestock from birth to slaughter. In the past, identification systems gave a false sense of security as farmers wrote their own livestock reports. In some cases, farmers would falsify reports  for financial gain. Clearly, much better identification systems were needed to trace livestock to keep customer confidence in the safety and legitimacy of meat.

Therefore, in 1999 the NLIS was introduced to meet requirements for cattle exports by the European Union following the outbreak of ‘Mad Cow’ disease. Australia is the world’s largest exporter of red meat and livestock and if there was a problem with the quality customer safety is vital in order for it to be brought back quickly. It has enabled the government to trace assorted livestock from birth to slaughter for bio-security, meat safety, product legitimacy and market access.

So lastly, this brings us to the question, what has been the NLIS's impact?

Environmentally -

It gives farmers an idea of where to let his livestock graze and where not to. Farmers can keep their animals in a controlled area, so that the surrounding environment is not impacted in a negative way.  

The drafting stages of painting

Economically –

The National Livestock Identification System brings in money as consumers would prefer to buy Australian meat as they can trust that the meat is safe. This is mainly due to the farmers having used the NLIS. As the domestic market is the largest market for Australian beef and sheep, this definitely helps Australia.

Globally -

It has given more opportunity to increase trade with other countries. It allows farmers around the world to concentrate on the animals more and the paperwork less.

(Courtesy of MLAfeedbackTV)

We love our Aussie Farmers!

Innovations - GPS Systems and Round Balers

Global Positioning System (GPS):

A Global Positioning System (GPS) is a global system that the United States Department of Defence created. The U.S. government keeps and maintains the system. A GPS uses navigational satellites to give accurate position information regarding velocity and global time synchronisation.

Working hard on our paintings

 All of this data can be seen on many devices such as a GPS receiver, computer and phones. The GPS system is most relied on when it comes to the world’s air traffic system. A GPS consists of 27 satellites orbiting the Earth; 24 of which are operating continuously. The other three satellites are spares in case one of them fails to work. A GPS works in any weather and there are no subscription fees or setup charges.     

The U.S. military needed the GPS for training and tactical endeavours. However, soon after development, it became available for public use.  The GPS was also needed for quicker, more accurate and more efficient navigation. It is widely thought of to be better than maps and compasses. The GPS can recognise latitude and longitude and the height of any given location. 

(courtesy of galaxyexplorers)

Round Balers:

A round baler is a piece of farm machinery that is used to compress a cut and raked crop (for example, hay) and make compact cylinder bales that have a plastic covering.

Before the 20th century, hay was stored in the upper level of a barn and was extremely space-consuming. Therefore, they made machines that compressed the hay together to make more fit into a smaller space. They also used this machine, because it decreased the number of people needed in the haymaking process by a significant number.

Round balers have an economic impact on the farming industry. Firstly, the number of workers needed for transporting hay bales into storage, decreases. Secondly,  although the initial outlay for machinery might be considerable, over time the financial benefits will become apparent. 

(courtesy of  Tasmanzl)

We love our Aussie Farmers!