History / Year 10 / Historical Skills / Historical questions and research

Curriculum content descriptions

Identify and select different kinds of questions about the past to inform historical inquiry (ACHHS184)

Elaborations
  • changing a key question or related questions in an inquiry depending on the suitability of the sources available
  • developing questions about aspects of the past that require historical argument
  • identifying, planning and investigating (individually and as part of a team) specific historical questions or issues
General capabilities
  • Literacy Literacy
  • Critical and creative thinking Critical and creative thinking
ScOT terms

Historical inquiry,  Research questions

Interactive

Sites2See: Australia and the Vietnam War

These are online resources for the topic Australia in the Vietnam War Era, including music, images and links to archival video clips from Australian Screen with teachers' notes.

Text

Work sample Year 10 History: Second World War

This work sample demonstrates evidence of student learning in relation to aspects of the achievement standards for Year 10 History. The primary purpose for the work sample is to demonstrate the standard, so the focus is on what is evident in the sample not how it was created. The sample is an authentic representation of ...

Assessment

Year 10 history assessment - Rights and freedoms in Australia

This is an assessment package that uses the Year 10 Australian Curriculum history achievement standard to gather evidence about how well students have demonstrated what they know, what they understand and what they can do for the depth study 'Rights and Freedoms (1945 – present)'. Students plan and deliver a spoken presentation ...

Interactive

Laptop wrap: Voices of Vietnam

This resource is a page with a focus on developing student opinion of Australia's involvement in the Vietnam War, with supporting activities and links to resources.

Video

ABC News: Public reactions to sending troops to Vietnam War

Do you think Australian governments have always acted wisely when deciding to send young Australians to wars? Does the public usually know enough to support such decisions? On 29 April 1965, Australia's prime minister, Robert Menzies, announced the decision to send Australian troops to fight in Vietnam. In this clip, filmed ...

Video

Somewhere to Live: Suburban sprawl reaches Doncaster East, 1960s

In the 1950s and 60s, suburbs like Doncaster East arose to meet the changing needs of Australian citizens and the government. A 'baby boom' and increased immigration contributed to the expansion of Australian cities as more and more people sought to create their own 'Australian Dream' on a quarter-acre suburban block. Architect ...

Audio

Townsville air raid, 1942

Australia has never been invaded. Nevertheless, isolated attacks on Australian soil have killed and injured hundreds of people, destroyed property, and made many people fearful of a large-scale invasion. In July 1942, Japanese aircraft attacked Townsville, Queensland, bombing the wharf and the surrounding area. This audio ...

Video

Four Corners: Women 'rattle the chains' in public bars

Imagine a time in the not too distant past when Australian women were not allowed to drink in public bars. Such gender discrimination was still enforced by law in Queensland in the 1960s. This clip from 1965 reports on an incident in which Merle Thornton and Rosalie Bogner defied the law by chaining themselves to a public ...

Video

Five Australians: Charles Perkins fights for racial equality

Why is Charles Perkins remembered as a significant leader in the struggle for the rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples? In this clip, he looks back on two campaigns that brought him to public attention in the 1960s and were part of a wider struggle to end racial discrimination in Australia. This clip ...

Video

Belief: Mormons in contemporary Australia

Have you ever had somebody knock at your door, wanting to share their faith? If so, you may have been visited by a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Members of this religion believe that it is important to spread their message, and do so by door-knocking around the world, including in Australia. ...

Video

ABC National TV Service: Opening night, 1956

Can you imagine life before television? How different would it have been? This clip is taken from the opening moments of the first ABC television broadcast in 1956. As you watch it, see how the presenter describes the event and try to imagine the impact such first broadcasts would have had on Australians more than half ...

Video

BTN: Nuclear tests at Maralinga

Can you imagine nuclear bombs being exploded in Australia, over your home? Between 1953 and 1963, the Australian Government led by Robert Menzies allowed Britain to test nuclear bombs in the open air at sites in Australia. These sites included Maralinga in South Australia. It was the land of the Maralinga Tjarutja people ...

Video

George Negus Tonight: Impact of the contraceptive pill on Australia

If you had to name the most significant inventions of the 20th century, would you think of the contraceptive pill? Very few inventions have had such an impact upon Australian society or been as controversial. In this clip, discover how life changed for many Australian women with the arrival of 'the pill'. See how attitudes ...

Video

Thinkabout, Talkabout: Rations and coupon shopping

Discover what it was like to go shopping in Australia during World War II. See how people in the 1940s had to live with restrictions on how much they could buy (rationing). Find out how rationing was an attempt to make the distribution of necessary goods, such as food and clothing, equal for everybody.

Video

ABC News: Sydney's Moon Festival, 1979

Discover the activities that take place during the Moon Festival and why it is considered to be one of the most important festivals in the Chinese calendar. In this clip from 1979, ABC reporter Neil Ross attends the Moon Festival in and around Dixon Street and Hay Street, in the heart of Sydney's Chinatown.

Video

Weekend Magazine: The Stomp, a 1960s dance craze

Imagine a dance so simple it could be learnt in minutes and so popular it became a craze. This clip from a Weekend Magazine program screened in 1963 looks at such a dance. It was called the Stomp and it was pounded out in surf clubs and council halls around Australia's coast. Watch and listen as teenagers express their ...

Video

Four Corners: Radio pirates, 1973

Imagine life before mobile phones. In this 1973 clip from a Four Corners program, discover the lengths that many determined Australians were prepared to go to in order to communicate through the air waves from their cars and other locations. This was long before the invention of mobiles, video conferencing, social media ...

Video

Hindsight: Fighting conscription, 1966

What would you do If your government tried to force you to fight in what you believed to be an unjust war? Conscription (compulsory military service) was instated in Australia in 1964. From 1965 to 1972, Australian troops, including conscripts, were sent to the Vietnam War. Listen to US President Johnson encouraging Australians ...

Video

GTK: Germaine Greer on rock culture, 1971

Does music have the power to change the world? From the 1950s rock 'n' roll to later popular music of the 60s and 70s, music encouraged teenagers to rebel against the ideas and beliefs of earlier generations and, in some instances, to change society for the better. In this clip, explore some of these changes from the perspective ...

Video

Four Corners: Aquarius counterculture descends upon Nimbin, 1973

What would you do to save your home town? By the early 1970s, the northern NSW town of Nimbin was in serious decline. Somewhat hesitantly, local residents agreed to allow the huge Aquarius Festival to come to town, bringing alternative music, lifestyles and values. And money. And people who stayed. Discover how Nimbin locals ...