The relationship of Charles Sturt University (CSU) history students with cultural sites in Bathurst grew when they recently visited a National Trust of Australia (NSW) home to experience Australian colonial life.The second-year history students, many of whom are studying teacher education degrees, visited the historic Miss Traill's House in Bathurst as part of their exploration of the subject 'Colonial Australia'.History tutor in the CSU School of Humanities and Social Sciences in Bathurst Mr Sam Malloy (pictured with students, at right) said, "This subject explores how class mobility in 19th century colonial Australia included free convicts (emancipists) who rose to become middle-class. Students' insights into and empathy with bygone eras grows when they can step in an historic space and see tangible artefacts used in previous centuries."The collection at Miss Traill's House is one of the rarest examples in Australia. It shows in one place how two Bathurst pioneering families, the Lee and Kite families, prospered from convict and settler beginnings to become two of the most prosperous families in the Bathurst district."Mr Malloy said Miss Traill's House is an excellent example how its collection of original furniture, porcelain, paintings, and family memorabilia shows these dramatic changes in colonial fortunes."The house and its possessions derive from William Lee and Thomas Kite, Miss Ida Traill's maternal great-grandfathers, who were among the first ten men granted land in the Bathurst district in 1818 by Governor Lachlan Macquarie," Mr Malloy said."Miss Traill died in 1976 and bequeathed her house, family collection, and garden to the National Trust of Australia (NSW). The students' tour of the house included the formal rooms as well as the bedrooms, kitchen, and Miss Traill's personal office."