History 7-10 / Year 9 / Knowledge and understanding / Making and transforming the Australian nation (1750-1914)

Curriculum content descriptions

the key social, cultural, economic and political changes and their significance in the development of Australian society during the period (AC9HH9K02)

Elaborations
  • examining the different contexts of the Australian colonies and explaining their influences; for example, analysing and evaluating the effects of physical isolation on the development of the Swan River Colony in Western Australia, the deliberate exclusion of convicts in the colonisation of South Australia, the discovery of gold on the development of Victoria, and the expansion across the Blue Mountains in New South Wales
  • examining the development of Australia’s economy from the early days of settlement up to World War I, in particular agricultural and pastoral industries, and the key role played by the “squattocracy” and figures such as Elizabeth Macarthur
General capabilities
  • Intercultural understanding Intercultural Understanding
ScOT terms

Modern history,  Economy,  Imperialism,  Political independence,  Political systems,  Social equality

Online

Celebration and Satire

This lesson plan guides students to compare and contrast different perspectives of the French Revolution as depicted in two works of art. They will discuss the use of satire and caricature to comment on historical and current events and will create satirical cartoons based on contemporary issues.

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Defining moments in Australian History

This extensive web-based resource examines events, people and places of profound significance to the Australian people and their personal, community and national histories. The resource includes a list of 100 'defining moments' identified by historians supported by background information, images, video and links to the ...

Video

Tour of NSW Government House

This resource is a YouTube playlist containing a series of videos taken as a group of senior high school students are given a guided tour of NSW Government House in 2010. The tour covers primary sources such as architecture, furniture and images significant to the history of Australia and NSW.

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Eureka: Protest, riot, rebellion or revolution?

This unit of work consists of four activities that examine the causes and consequences of the 1854 Eureka Rebellion. The activities include a decision-making exercise through which students consider the rebellion from the point of view of the diggers and the realities of life on the goldfields. A short video provides background ...

Online

Women's suffrage

This is a website about the women’s suffrage movement in Victoria in the 19th and 20th century. The resource is presented in three sections: Introductory information; Story Objects; and Story Education Resources. There are 17 Story Objects that tell the stories of how Victorian women won the right to vote, key participants ...

Video

NSW Governor Marie Bashir – 2010 speech to students

This resource is a YouTube playlist containing a series of videos from a speech the NSW Governor Marie Bashir gave to senior high school students at Government House in 2010. She speaks on a range of topics, including the Australian system of government, the history of Australia and NSW, and her life. She also answers ...

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Sikh and Indian Australians: Year 9 Teaching Resource

This resource aims to challenge some traditional views of the Anzac legend and explore its changing nature. Evidence about ethnically diverse Anzacs such as Chinese, Indigenous and Sikh soldiers provides students with the opportunity to develop the “big picture” on the nature of the Anzac story. The five main activities ...

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Western Australia at War 1914 Year 9 Learning sequence

Students choose to research one of the following and its significance in the history of Western Australia: the training camp at Blackboy Hill, the 11th Battalion, the 8th Field Artillery Battery, the first convoy, the sinking of the SMS Emden, the Gallipoli Campaign or the story of an individual Western Australian soldier. ...

Interactive

Biography: Federation people: Thomas McIlwraith

Find out more about Thomas McIlwraith, premier of Queensland and an Australian nationalist. Examine two different types of biographies of McIlwraith: one short and the other more detailed. Inspect examples of how he was visually depicted in his time. This learning object is one in a series of objects in the 'Biography: ...

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Biography: Federation people: Catherine Helen Spence

Find out more about the social reformer Catherine Helen Spence. Examine two different types of biographies of Spence: one short and the other more detailed. Inspect examples of how she was visually depicted in her time. This learning object is one in a series of objects in the 'Biography: Federation people' series.

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'Night refuge at the Immigrants' Home', c1873

This is a black-and-white print that depicts a group of men taking refuge at the Immigrants' Home in Melbourne. The men, most of whom are seated on wooden benches, are shown in a large common room. They are occupied by an activity that may be the picking of oakum. Sacks either hang from or have been placed on high shelves. ...

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The 'Southern Cross' reaches Sydney, 1928

This is a black-and-white photograph of the 'Southern Cross' biplane arriving in Sydney and being greeted by reporters and photographers and a large contingent of police after the record-breaking flight of Charles Kingsford Smith and his crew across the Pacific. Signed portraits of the crew are superimposed upon the photograph, ...

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Loading camels, early 20th century

This is a sepia-toned photograph measuring 10.3 cm x 5.0 cm, taken in outback Australia in the early 20th century, probably by John Flynn (1880-1951). The photograph shows three men, one of whom is an Afghan cameleer, loading a camel with two wool bales. A camel already loaded stands in the foreground with other camels ...

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Forest Creek, Mount Alexander, 1852

This is a hand-coloured lithographic print prepared by John Allen in 1852 from a drawing by George French Angas. The lithograph, with text, measures 26 cm x 35.5 cm and shows Forest Creek at the Mount Alexander gold diggings in central Victoria.

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Twofold Bay whaling, early 20th century

This is a photograph made from a glass plate negative measuring 12.0 cm x 16.5 cm dating from between 1900 and 1922. It shows a whale hunt taking place in Twofold Bay on the south-eastern coast of New South Wales. There is a five-oared whaling boat visible, with the captain, George Davidson, standing aft (at the rear), ...

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'Panorama of Challicum, No. IV', c1850

This is a watercolour measuring 15.9 cm x 24.3 cm showing yellowed pasture backed by gum trees. A herd of cows with calves is grazing both in the foreground fields and the background timber. A small hill, part of the Challicum Hills, rises from the trees on the right. The artist, Duncan Cooper, included this painting as ...

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The 1864 eight-hour day demonstration

This is a black-and-white print that shows the eight-hour day demonstration entering the Zoological Gardens (now the Royal Melbourne Zoo) in Melbourne, Victoria. The large procession of people, some carrying banners and flags, can be seen in the background, while in the foreground, several spectators including a few policemen ...

Interactive

Discovering democracy: making a nation

Interact with a slideshow of images and text to explore the similarities and differences between the political systems of Australia and the United States of America. Complete a related task.

Interactive

Discovering democracy: what sort of nation?

Interact with a slideshow of images and text to explore what has influenced the sort of nation Australia is and how it has changed over time. Complete a related task.

Interactive

Discovering democracy: a democracy destroyed

Interact with a slideshow of images and text to explore, through the demise of democracy in Germany in 1933, how the justice system can be used for undemocratic purposes. Complete a related task.