History / Year 8 / Historical Knowledge and Understanding

Curriculum content descriptions

Reasons for Angkor’s rise to prominence, including wealth from trade and agriculture (ACDSEH060)

Elaborations
  • explaining how being revered as the ‘god-king’ or ‘deva-raja’ enabled the Khmer kings to rule over the empire with absolute authority, thereby enhancing their ability to mobilise manpower to defend the empire as well as to invade neighbours
General capabilities
  • Critical and creative thinking Critical and creative thinking
  • Intercultural understanding Intercultural understanding
Cross-curriculum priorities
ScOT terms

Cambodian history,  Capital cities,  Wealth,  Agriculture

Video

Fair and reliable reporting on Medieval Angkor

What are the dangers of relying on one historical source for an understanding of an ancient society? How important is it for historians to verify information? In this animation of one of history's most significant documents, Zhou Dugaun's 'A Record of Cambodia: the land and its People', consider the reliability of Zhou's ...

Video

Zhou Daguan's account of Medieval Angkor

The city of Angkor was the centre of the mighty Khmer Empire for five hundred years, beginning around 900 CE. It was not only one of the most populous cities in the world, it featured some of the most sophisticated architecture and infrastructure, particularly in regards to water distribution. In this beautiful animation, ...

Video

Foreign Correspondent: Mayan heritage

Discover ruins of a lost civilisation of the Maya at Tulum, on the Yucatán Peninsula in south-eastern Mexico. See what has become of the civilisation's cenotes, its ancient water resources, as a Maya descendant speaks of his sadness at what has happened to the land of his forebears.

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Looking after the land

This is a resource about the environmental, climatic, natural disaster and pest challenges faced during settlement in Australia. It includes details about land management techniques; extreme and unique weather conditions, including floods and droughts; bushfires; animal and plant pests; and water management. Text, images, ...

Video

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 ...

Interactive

Syllabus bites – Ancient China

This resource outlines the geography, social structure and daily life of Ancient China. Includes links to interactive web resources and quizzes.

Video

ABC News: Getting your facts straight about water use

We hear a lot about water use in Australia. What are the real statistics about water use? What is the breakdown of water use for different groups across Australia? Watch this clip to find out who uses water and how much, and consider the value of water and the 'return' on this use for the Australian economy. The figures ...

Online

New Gold Mountain. Chinese on the goldfields

This resource provides teaching and learning activities exploring the history and contribution of the Chinese on the Australian goldfields in 19th century Australia. The PDF booklet provides teacher's notes, historical background and reproducible student activities which focus on the gold rushes and the Victorian goldfields. ...

Online

Running the rivers of the Murray-Darling Basin

This lesson sequence examines the role that river operators play in water resource management in the Murray-Darling Basin and explains how they direct water releases and track progress downstream for environmental watering and flood management. It includes a teacher PowerPoint presentation, separate teacher notes and a ...

Video

Investigating food and fibres: producer video

This is a video about biodynamic grape growing and wine production at Cape Jaffa Winery in South Australia. It is narrated by co-owner and winemaker Anna Hooper, who describes the wine regions in which the vineyard is located, its soil types, and the main wines grown. She goes on to illustrate the winery's commitment to ...

Video

Rugby Farms – Horticulture and changes in farming practice

This is a video about farmer and business man Matt Hood and how he, his father and brother operate Rugby Farm, a vegetable production agribusiness. It shows scenes of the business past and present as he tells of the many generations who have worked the farm, the 12,000 acres of vegetables grown each year, and the exciting ...

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A Year on a Farm: producer video

This is a video about operation of an organic orchard near Kalangadoo in South Australia and the commitment to biodiversity of its owners Michelle and Chris McColl. Michelle McColl describes and illustrates the annual cycle of work with the trees and fruit while discussing the economic and agronomical advantages of the ...

Online

IP in everyday life

This is an interactive resource about products that exist in everyday life that have protected intellectual property. The resource is presented as a timeline of one day, beginning at breakfast in the morning through until night. Interactive images appear as the mouse scrolls across the timeline. These images are linked ...

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 ...

Online

Eureka stories

This is a website about the Eureka Stockade uprising and trials of 1854 to 1855. It uses primary and secondary source materials to explore some of the causes and actions that fueled the uprising. The resource is presented in three sections: Introductory information; Story Objects; and Story Education Resources. There are ...

Video

Prawn Farming

This is a short clip in which Gold Coast prawn farner, Nick Moore, describes the prawn farming industry, the business he manages, and the high standards of the Australian industry. Nick, explains why this business is more like agricultural farming than fishing and how his qualifications and experience more closely match ...

Video

Gilmore Braes Heritage Beef: creating a 'niche market' farming ancient breeds of cattle

This is a video about how Batlow farmers Ian and Mandy McCorkindale produce and market meat from Scottish Highland and Welsh Black cattle. It shows scenes of the cattle on the farm and meat being prepared in the butchery as Ian McCorkindale describes the process, value and rewards of marketing their beef directly to the ...

Interactive

Biodiversity – sustainability action process (Years 7–10)

This biodiversity learning resource guides students through an extended school based investigation. Students develop and implement a chosen sustainability action and then evaluate and reflect on their success and their learning.

Interactive

Endeavour – eight days in Kamay

This learning and teaching resource provides a range of viewpoints and works to challenge current perceptions of the arrival of Captain James Cook and the HMB Endeavour at Kamay Botany Bay in 1770. It is an inclusive resource, placing value on the Aboriginal perspective to "balance the history books" by looking both from ...

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Life on the land

This is a resource about life on the land in Australia in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. It includes details about land grants allocation, the establishment of Australia's first farms, the condition of the land, the processes used to farm the land, and case studies about the early farming families in Australia. The ...