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'Gold digging in Australia 1852: bad results'

This is the first of a pair of oval watercolours, measuring 20.2 cm x 26.4 cm, painted by Samuel Thomas Gill (1818-80), a famous colonial artist. It shows two gold miners sitting dejectedly beside their mine, probably on the Victorian gold fields. Behind the men is a windlass, as well as their wheelbarrow, pick and spade. ...

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ABC 7.30: Where do we build next?

Like many Australian cities, Melbourne has been growing rapidly. This clip from 2012 investigates debates about where Melbourne's urban growth should occur. While inner city areas are slowly being redeveloped, the outer suburbs continue to sprawl and their residents battle some serious issues.

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ABC News: Disease threatens fish

Imagine what would happen if a deadly fish disease found its way into Australia's biggest river system. Watch this clip to learn more about a disease threatening the ecology of the Murray-Darling River. Scientist, Professor Richard Whittington, explains that the disease could be the final straw for an endangered Australian ...

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Above the snowline

This ABC In Depth feature article gives a range of examples of adaptations and responses of Australian alpine ecosystems, plants and animals to cold conditions.

Online

ABS: agricultural resource management practices, Australia, 2011-12

This is a digital resource containing data on various agricultural practices used on Australian farms, and was collected in a 2011-2012 Australian Bureau of Statistics survey. This resource provides information about farming practices including pasture and crop cultivation, livestock and feral animal management, fertiliser ...

Online

ABS: national regional profile, 2007-2011

This is a digital resource provided by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, which can be used to investigate data relating to the economy, population and people, industry, and environment and energy of selected regions in Australia. The resource contains maps and enables a region to be searched based on a range of geographical ...

Online

Activity: biodiversity is more than the sum

This is a web resource that provides a teacher guide for student activities about biodiversity. The teacher guide provides lesson plans for the activities involving research, presentation of findings and peer assessment, and includes background information about biodiversity as well as a list of suggested research topics. ...

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Aerial Orang Utans

This 11 minute video segment form Catalyst shows that although the orang-utans of Borneo are threatened with extinction, we don't know exactly how many are left or where they are. The use of helicopters to locate their nests and estimate population size has helped to challenge our thinking about the requirements of this ...

Interactive

Aim to Sustain

Students identify and explore ways in which human activity can threaten biodiversity and the health of our planet. Students are encouraged to take positive action to promote sustainability. The four resources: Get the message, Help a habitat, Alien invaders and A world of difference include videos, SMART notebooks, worksheets ...

Interactive

Aim to sustain: Alien invaders

Students examine and respond to information on introduced species and their impact on the Australian environment. The resource includes videos, SMART notebooks, worksheets and links to further interactive resources. Students have the opportunity to compose and present persuasive texts. The resource includes support notes ...

Online

Animal Health: the science of healthy animals

This study guide considers the science behind breeding, genetics, health and animal welfare in the cattle and sheep industries - keeping animals free of disease and parasites, improving biodiversity and protecting against feral animals. A range of articles and student activities explores how farmers and scientists are working ...

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Animal survivor

This resource provides a scaffold for students to analyse the features of a Queensland animal and relate them to its survival success. Students then conduct the animal design challenge: Engineering new features for their animal to increase its chance of survival and future success. Students also make predictions about how ...

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Ant safari

This ABC In Depth feature article includes some good advice for exploring local ant populations as well as an excellent information report on Australian ants: the different types and their roles.

Downloadable

Are we living sustainably?

This unit of eight lessons poses the question ‘Are we living sustainably?’ Students use prompts to draw on their prior knowledge to explain what they already know about sustainability. They then investigate why water is precious, explore how water is used around their school and at home. Students then research ways that ...

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Argo floats

This minute video segment from Catalyst decade ago describes the Australian initiative, Argo, that has become a major international collaborative project to look at the world's oceans and help understand processes at depth - monitoring the pulse of the global heat balance and giving us vital information on the ocean's role ...

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Artificial shark birth

A five and a half minute video segment from Catalyst that explains why Grey Nurse Sharks are in danger, especially on Australia's east coast where only a few hundred individuals are thought to exist. However, in a world first, researchers at the NSW Department of Primary Industries have built an artificial uterus, which ...

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Atoms Alive: Cells and energy

Cells are like chemical factories. Discover the different ways cells get energy to carry out their daily operations. Learn about the different types of metabolic processes inside cells, such as those that break down molecules to release energy and those that assemble building blocks to make more complex components.

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Bali and Sumba: Paradise versus poverty

We all know the idyllic paradise called Bali, but have you ever heard of its poorer neighbour, the Indonesian island of Sumba, where the people struggle to grow food to eat? Watch this clip to learn about environmental conditions and agricultural challenges there. Find out also what people in Sumba are doing to prepare ...

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Battling erosion on the Gold Coast

Queensland's iconic Gold Coast beaches experienced severe erosion as a result of wild weather in early 2013. The liveability of beachside homes in the area is under threat. See the local council's attempts to shore up the coastline and hear some questions being asked about the best way to protect the landscape. Where does ...

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Biodiversity and farming for a healthy planet

This is a digital resource containing information and resources, such as printable games, that relate to biodiversity and farming, and how food and materials can be produced while protecting the Earth's natural resources. It includes an extensive glossary of important terms, and external links to teacher and student resources ...