Humanities and social sciences / Year 5 / Inquiry and skills / Analysing

Curriculum content descriptions

Examine primary sources and secondary sources to determine their origin and purpose (ACHASSI098)

Elaborations
  • inferring the nature, purpose and origin of artefacts to determine if they have evidence to offer an investigation of a time, place or process
  • identifying stereotypes and over-generalisations relating to age, gender, ethnicity, ability, religion and/or politics presented in sources and media of the past (for example, a newspaper caricature of a colonial era Chinese goldfield worker) and in sources and media of the present (for example, social media opinions about a mining development)
  • identifying the purpose and usefulness of information gained from primary and secondary sources (for example, checking publication details)
  • analysing texts relating to a school, club or government election (for example, speeches, advertisements, campaign materials, symbols, how to vote cards, result records) to determine who created them and their purpose
General capabilities
  • Literacy Literacy
  • Critical and creative thinking Critical and creative thinking
ScOT terms

Historical sources,  Artefacts

Interactive

Be the change

This is an interactive about becoming an effective agent of change through civic action in a local community. Users learn a number of practical ways to take democratic action on issues. The context is an abandoned block of land located in an area with a range of issues, such as youth unemployment and environment concerns. ...

Online

Yulunga: kandomarngutta

In some parts of Australia children were allowed to use the bullroarer (whirlers), or small versions of it, as a source of amusement. In other areas the bullroarer had a special significance and was not used as a ‘toy’. In parts of Victoria a bullroarer called the kandomarngutta was used. This was a thin piece of wood, ...

Online

CFA Bushfires - a geography resource for Australian students

This is an illustrated PDF with comprehensive information about the causes and behaviours of bushfire as well as the impact fires have on natural and human environments. Taking a geographic perspective, the text is supported with photographs, maps, aerial photography, diagrams, and tables. Each chapter includes activities ...

Text

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 ...

Text

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, ...

Text

Australian Agricultural Company

This is a resource about the Australian Agriculture Company, Australia's oldest company, from its establishment in 1824 to the 20th century. It includes details about the initial purpose of the company, the key figures and families involved, the important decisions and the development of Australia's agriculture industry. ...

Text

Rural communities: community events

This is a website about rural life in Australia in the 19th and 20th centuries; there is a particular focus on community activities that brought people together to socialise and as a boost for morale. It includes information about community events, social and recreational activities and key organisations and societies for ...

Text

Journeys and Connections

This resource displays objects related to stories of migration to Australia. Students locate and research relevant objects in their own community and create a digital story of migration. The resource uses objects from the Australian Journeys exhibition at the National Museum of Australia.

Interactive

Sites2See: Explore the Lachlan and Elizabeth Macquarie Archive

This resource consists of selected links to the Lachlan and Elizabeth Macquarie Archive (LEMA) with research suggestions, syllabus advice and supporting activities, including a virtual tour of Old Government House, Parramatta. The LEMA Project provides material for the historical investigation of the lives and times of ...

Interactive

Old Government House Parramatta virtual tour

This resource is about exploring Governor Macquarie’s preferred residence while learning more about the early colony through this virtual tour of Old Government House at Parramatta.

Interactive

Syllabus Bites: Explore a source

This resource is a webpage with information, study guide and resources on the process of analysing and evaluating historical sources to support Stage 3, 4 and 5 HSIE and the Australian Curriculum: History.

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.

Video

Gold rush

Walk through the streets of 1850s Ballarat at Sovereign Hill and learn about how the discovery of gold shaped the development of this region. What were the three distinct but overlapping eras of gold mining in Ballarat? How do staff at Sovereign Hill know what life was like for people during this time? Find out how the ...

Video

Untold Stories, Ep 14: Who was the first Anzac to step ashore the beaches of Gallipoli?

Since 1915, there has been debate over who was the first Australian soldier to step ashore at Gallipoli. The people of Maryborough, Queensland, claim it was Lieutenant Duncan Chapman. What evidence is there that Lieutenant Duncan Chapman was the first Anzac ashore? How has the community of Maryborough commemorated his life?

Video

Untold Stories, Ep 12: The submarine that ran amok at Gallipoli

Alec Nichols was a farm boy from the Sunshine Coast who joined the navy at the age of 18. During World War I, he was one of 35 men on the AE2 submarine that broke through enemy lines in the Dardanelles strait. After five days of sustained attacks from the Turkish navy, the submarine had to surface. The men were captured ...

Video

The British arrive in Tasmania

Learn why, in 1803, the British established a colony in Tasmania, at Hobart Town. Find out about the hardships faced by the convicts and early colonists and the early industries that helped some of them prosper. Find out about the effect that displacement had on the local palawa people.

Video

The convict voyages

What do you think it was like for convicts on their voyage from England to Australia? Would you be surprised to discover that their life expectancy on board a convict vessel was actually higher than that of free settlers? Watch this video to discover why this might be, and learn about the convicts themselves.

Image

Pacific Islander labourers clearing land, c1895

This is a black-and-white photograph showing nine Pacific Islander men using picks and axes to clear undergrowth and small trees from a clearing in a thickly vegetated area at Farnborough in central Queensland. The men are bare-chested, hatless and barefoot, with some wearing sarong-like garments. A white man stands in ...

Image

Pacific Islander workers on a coffee plantation, c1900

This black-and-white photograph shows indentured Pacific Islander labourers manually gathering coffee beans from lines of bushes on a Kuranda coffee plantation on the Atherton Tableland in Queensland. This image shows male, female and child labourers standing among the shoulder-high coffee bushes. The Pacific Islanders ...

Image

Pacific Islanders arriving at Bundaberg, 1895

The black-and-white photograph shows Pacific Islander men and women arriving in the sugar port of Bundaberg after being recruited to work as indentured labourers on Queensland's sugar plantations. The posed shot shows more than 60 Pacific Islander men, women and boys and one European on the deck of a schooner at the dock. ...