Night-time visit of the Melbourne Gaol

Students from Passmores’ Business College had the pleasure of experiencing one of Melbourne’s most haunted buildings on a recent excursion to Melbourne. Visiting the Old Melbourne Gaol on a cold winters evening, the Business College students were shown through the iconic landmark in an entertaining and chilling way with their guide illustrating what life was like for some of Australia’s most notorious villains.
Newcastle Hospitality course students were surprised to learn about the Gaols most famous prisoner Ned Kelly and his final moments as he uttered the legendary words “such is life” before being executed. As the Business College students made their way through the historical gaol they were shown stone walled cells that were decorated with replicas of the equipment that were used during the gaols peak in the early 19th century. When students were asked whether they enjoyed the tour, one quipped that they thought it was going to be a lot more frightening but overall they enjoyed the theatrics of the tour.
The tour served a great purpose for students as it allowed them the opportunity to experience one of Melbourne’s greatest tourist attractions whilst also helping them to understand key aspects of the tourism course curriculum studied within the Newcastle Hospitality Course at Passmores’ Business College. Most of the students agreed that the Old Melbourne Gaol tour was a valuable experience and that they would recommend the tour for future Hospitality Course students and for anyone who has an interest in experiencing one of Melbourne’s most historical buildings in a unique and entertaining way.

by student, Trudie Corrie

The Hospitality course students started their excursion at the Crowne Plaza where students boarded the tram to commence their tour. The ‘Newcastle’s Famous Tram’ took students past Nobby’s beach where the Pasha Bulker crashed, and past the Nobby’s beach lookout which for most students was one of the highlights of the tour. The tram also took students past King Edward Park, the historical Fort Scratchley, Newcastle’s cathedral and up Newcastle’s steepest hill in Brown Street where the train commentator provided interesting facts with some insight into the history of Newcastle.

Hospitality course students were accompanied by Passmores’ teacher, Mrs Burgess, who has been organising the Newcastle tram tour excursion for some years as a tool to help educate students on the many sights and activities that the city of Newcastle offers. For Hospitality course students wishing to work in Hospitality/Tourism within Newcastle—a sound knowledge of the Newcastle area and it’s history is an invaluable resource for their career outside of the course.
When asked whether students found the excursion useful in assisting them with their Newcaslte Hospitality course and whether the excursion should be offered to future students, their response was that although the tram ride was targeted at an older demographic, it was an interesting experience. Students were grateful for the excursion for its purpose of showing them some of the many sights and educating them on the history of Newcastle and recommend the excursion is included into Passmores’ future Hospitality courses.

By Trudie Corrie

A short time after arriving the students were greeted by Kathy York the HR Director of the Newcastle Crowne Plaza. She escorted the Hospitality Course students inside and agreed to answer questions they had prepared. This interaction allowed the students to be educated in their evolving careers.

She explained her initial role with the enterprise was as a house keeper and how it has eventuated in her current position as the HR Director. This demonstration of advancement within her own career taught the students about goal setting and hardwork. The student’s were then able to view corporate meeting rooms where conferences are held between managers and potential clients. The Hospitality Course students were also educated on factors the enterprise take when dealing with clients. They cater for a variety of needs allowing conferences to be formal or informal.  This gave an insight to the way the Crowne Plaza organises formal discussions and finalize decisions. It is believed that we have a potential director amongst us as our own Mr. Daniel Turner had no qualms in sitting at the head of the table.

This first hand encounter allowed the students to experience the running of a successful established hotel enterprise. It was an educational excursion demonstrating how a leading hotel manages its daily routine, what the hotel has to offer and allowing the students to interact with staff members across all departments. Although the weather was unfavourable our students thoroughly enjoyed the outing.  We would like to thank the Newcastle Crowne Plaza for the opportunity and look forward to returning next year.

The Newcastle Hospitality Courses offers an exotic variety of places to work in. For example, some of this year’s students studying Passmores’ Newcastle Hospitality Courses have work experience at top organisations throughout Australia including Hayman Island, Mercure Centro in Port Macquarie, the Hunter Valley Gardens, Star City Hotel and Peppers Anchorage in Nelson Bay.

Past graduates of Passmores’ Newcastle Hospitality Courses have gone onto work in an even broader variety of locations and positions, such as the Warner’s Bros Movie World & Seaworld Nara Resort, Carnival Cruises USA, Hamilton Island Resort, Buckingham Palace, Star City Casino, QANTAS Airlines, Horizons golf Resort and Thomas Cook Travel.

For more information on Passmores’ Newcastle Hospitality Courses check out our course content on our website.

At Passmores’ we are dedicated to having the finest Newcastle Hospitality Courses.
So what’s more perfect for our students in the hospitality course – First Aid.

Just imagine that you are on the front desk of a major hotel chain. Suddenly, a guest bursts into the lobby yelling for medical help; what do you do?
At Passmores’ Business College we want our hospitality students to be as well equipped as possible to enable them to meet guests’ every need. As a result, all of our hospitality students complete a first aid course. We hope that they never have to use these skills but, are confident that our hospitality students would rise to the occasion if necessary.
This year, amidst much laughter, the 2010 hospitality students of Passmores’ Business College were instructed on how to apply bandages. As you can see from the photo some of them got a little carried away!!
In a more subdued manner the students also learnt how to resuscitate, deal with burns, poisoning and seizures.
As usual, a big thank you goes to the very helpful instructor from Business Wise First Aid Training, Mr Greg Blume. His patience and obvious passion for his work made it an enjoyable learning experience for all of our Business College students.

If you’re regretting not applying please contact the College as soon as possible; we may be able to help.  All of our courses include Office Management, Events Management, Human Resource Management and Public Relations.  We also offer subjects in the areas of Public Relations, Marketing, Media and Legal and Real Estate.

So if you’re having second thoughts about 2010 give us a ring and one of our friendly staff will be able!

For further information….

Our Newcastle Hospitality Course is always popular! It is an interesting and varied course which looks at training Newcastle students in both theoretical and practical elements of Hospitality. Students enjoy learning about Front Office Operations, Human Resource Management, Computer Studies and International Tourism Theory. The students also greatly benefit from practical subjects like Event Management where they, along with the other majors of Marketing Media and Legal/Real Estate, actually organize a fundraising event and have the satisfaction of presenting a cheque to their chosen charity. Always a highlight of the year!

The Newcastle Hospitality Course also includes excursions where students get to see how the large hotels work behind the scenes and includes the option to travel overseas and have an international experience.

So, if you’ve ever wondered about a career in hospitality, now’s the time to act. We would love you to be one of our 2010 Business College students.

Due for completion in June, the courses are legal requirement for students to work in the hospitality industry once while studying and for future employment. The courses have also been offered to all other students.

“Being able to provide these types of tours for the hospitality and tourism students is a fantastic way for them to see the industry at work first hand” said Cristen Cable, Public Relations & Administration Manager for the Business College.

A fun and informative day was had by all.

The hospitality and marketing students are now eagerly awaiting confirmation of their Melbourne educational excursion as are our Real Estate and Legal Students looking forward to their Sydney excursion late June or early July.