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ABC News: In the past: Christmas at a bush school

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Old photo of school children acting out nativity play
ABC News: In the past: Christmas at a bush school

SUBJECTS:  History

YEARS:  F–2


Discover how school children in the Australian bush celebrated Christmas more than 50 years ago.

This silent clip shows school children putting on a Nativity play — a play that tells the Bible story of Jesus's birth.

The students then have a Christmas party.

The black-and-white footage was filmed near Parkes in 1961.


Things to think about

  1. 1.How do you travel to school? What do you use to carry the things you need? Does your school have any special activities at Christmas time? Have you ever watched a Nativity play, a short play about what happened when Jesus was born?
  2. 2.What are two ways you see these children travelling to school? What do they use to carry the things they need? Do you know the characters in the Nativity play? Who are they? What happens in the play? What happens at the children's Christmas party? What do you notice about the seating arrangements?
  3. 3.Make a list of things you see in the video that tell you this happened in the past. (Hint: look at the school building, the way the children travel to school and what they are wearing.) What things about Christmas celebrations are the same today? What things are different?
  4. 4.Create a picture of the Christmas party to show that it happened in the past. First, do a simple drawing. Next, colour in the things that are different now, such as items of clothing and things on the table. Talk to an older person about how they used to travel to school or celebrate special days. Write or record this story. Use photos or drawings to help you explain what it was like.



Date of broadcast: 1961


Copyright

Metadata © Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Education Services Australia Ltd 2012 (except where otherwise indicated). Digital content © Australian Broadcasting Corporation (except where otherwise indicated). Video © Australian Broadcasting Corporation (except where otherwise indicated). All images copyright their respective owners. Text © Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Education Services Australia is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0).

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