Veni, vidi, whoopsie: Australian schools make Caesar exam blunder

SYDNEY – They came, they saw, and they squandered a year’s worth of lessons on Roman history.

Australian schools were investigating on Oct 29 how a curriculum blunder ended up with pupils mistakenly studying Roman emperor Augustus Caesar instead of Roman statesman Julius Caesar. So much for knowing “veni, vidi, vici (a Latin phrase meaning: I came, I saw, I conquered)”, attributed to Julius.

The high school students realised they had brushed up on the wrong Roman ruler only when they crossed the Rubicon to sit down for their final-year exams.

Queensland state education minister John-Paul Langbroek said the mishap was anything but ancient history for at least 140 traumatised students across nine schools.

He told reporters: “For all of us, as parents or students who have been through situations like this, it would have been extremely traumatic.

“And I want to reassure those students, and their parents, and the teachers affected, that we’ll be making every investigation into how this happened.”

Queensland students were in 2024 taught about Augustus Caesar, the adopted son of Julius and the first emperor of Rome.

But the curriculum changed in 2025 to focus on Julius Caesar instead – although it appeared not every school got the memo.

“I’m very unhappy about the situation developing, for the stress that it will have caused everyone,” said Mr Langbroek.

He said education officials were looking at ways to ensure the fiasco did not ruin the students’ grades.

Queensland’s school curriculum authority said it was checking with all 172 of the state’s schools to confirm they were not impacted. AFP