Close message Due to scheduled maintenance on Thursday 10th September 2026 between 5:00 pm until 7:00 pm AEST, Scootle may face a disruption in service. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.

History 7-10 / Year 7 / Knowledge and understanding / The ancient world

Curriculum content descriptions

the role and achievements of a significant individual in an ancient society (AC9HH7K13)

Elaborations
  • Topic: Greece
  • developing questions to establish the significance of key individuals such as Homer (800–701 BCE), Draco (7th century BCE), Socrates (470–399 BCE), Aspasia (470–400 BCE), Plato (428–348 BCE), Aristotle (384–322 BCE), Archimedes (287–212 BCE), Hippocrates (460–370 BCE), Alexander the Great (356–323 BCE), and/or Pericles (495–429 BCE)
  • examining the historical context, early life and achievements of a significant historical figure, such as Leonidas or Pericles from ancient Greece, and how they were perceived by their contemporaries,456,Topic: Rome
  • describing the importance of a key group such as patricians, plebeians, women or slaves in the maintenance of the Roman empire
  • examining the historical context, early life and achievements of a significant historical figure such as Julius Caesar, Augustus, Agrippina the Younger, Marcus Aurelius or Jesus Christ, and how they were perceived by their contemporaries
  • analysing the impact of Constantine’s reign on society and religion in the Roman Empire,456,Topic: Egypt
  • evaluating the significance of Rameses II, including military victories, expansion of the Egyptian empire and architectural endeavours
  • examining the historical context, early life and achievements of a significant historical figure from ancient Egypt, such as Hatshepsut or Akhenaten, and how they were perceived by their contemporaries,456,Topic: India
  • examining the historical context, early life and achievements of key individuals such as Chandragupta Maurya or Ashoka,456,Topic: China
  • describing the social, political and cultural impact of Confucius on ancient Chinese society
  • examining the historical context, early life and achievements of a significant historical figure such as Confucius or Qin Shi Huang, and how each was perceived by their contemporaries
General capabilities
  • Ethical understanding Ethical understanding
  • Intercultural understanding Intercultural Understanding
ScOT terms

Classical antiquity,  Conflict (Human relations),  Chinese history,  Invasion,  International trade,  Cultural interaction,  Egyptian history,  Indian history

Interactive

Syllabus Bites: Ancient India

This resource is a webpage with information, study guide and resources on the depth study, The Asian world: India, to support the Australian Curriculum in History.

Online

Treasures along the Silk Roads

This is a teaching resource about the cultural, economic and artistic exchanges promoted by the Silk Roads in China. It gives step-by-step advice to teachers about how their students could be encouraged to make personal literary responses to images of artefacts from a hyperlinked online exhibition, 'Monks and merchants: ...

Interactive

Discovering democracy: Federation timeline

Use a timeline to find information about significant events and ideas in the establishment of a federated Australia. Nominate specific years or scroll from 1788 to 1901 to see what steps were key in determining the nature of government in Australia.

Video

Intro to Archaeology

This is a 5 minute video by a professor of archaeology who explains the work of an archaeologist. Archaeology is divided into two types - historical archaeology which is the study of written records left behind by civilisations, and prehistoric archaeology which is before written records eg the stone age. Archaeologists ...

Video

Where and why did the first cities appear?

This 10 minute video in three parts offers an overview of the development of the agrarian civilisations in the ancient world. Part 1 looks at how, as peasant villages spread, farmers developed more productive methods of farming, particularly the use of large animals for ploughing and transport, and irrigation. Part 2 looks ...

Video

The House In Session, Ep 3: The Westminster system and borrowed traditions

In this 5-minute video, Annabel Crabb explains interesting traditions that the Parliament of Australia has borrowed from the parliament of Westminster in the United Kingdom. Who is Black Rod, and what is a serjeant-at-arms? What is the Mace, and why is a hood placed over it when entering the presence of the Governor-General? ...

Interactive

North West Sydney has an ancient history

Students examine the diverse roles that historians and archaeologists play in investigating our ancient Aboriginal past. Coverage focuses on several key Aboriginal sites and then narrows to examine recent archaeological finds in Sydney’s North West and what they reveal about the nature and longevity of Aboriginal occupation ...

Image

'Southern Sun' above Sydney Harbour Bridge, 1931

This is a gelatin silver-toned composite photograph measuring 32 cm x 25.5 cm, created by E.W. Searle. The Avro-10 Southern Sun plane piloted by Charles Ulm celebrated the arrival in Sydney of aviatrix Amy Johnson, the first woman to fly solo from England to Australia. Amy Johnson had crash landed in Brisbane and was flown ...

Image

Touring possible sites for the federal capital, 1902

This is a black-and-white photograph, measuring 18.8 cm x 24.0 cm, taken in 1902 during a tour of inspection by senators from the Federal Parliament of possible sites for the proposed federal capital. Having alighted from a horse-drawn stage coach, five members of the party en route to Tumut, New South Wales, are standing ...

Image

'Panorama of Challicum, No. II', c1850

This is a watercolour measuring 16 cm x 24.5 cm showing the Victorian squatting runs Challicum and Yalla-y-poora from a south-south-westerly viewpoint. In the midground is the yellow grassland of the Fiery Creek plains, gum trees dot the countryside and the distant bluish mountain is Mount Weejort. Two emus are shown in ...

Image

Ruins of the Model Prison, Port Arthur, 1911-15

This is a sepia-toned photograph measuring 8.2 cm x 13.2 cm. It shows the ruins of the Model Prison at Port Arthur, Tasmania. A semicircular brick wall has three barred doors that open to exercise yards. A fourth door is open, showing another brick wall with steps leading up to the closed door of a solitary confinement ...

Image

'Panorama of Challicum, No. VI', c1850

This is a watercolour measuring 17.2 cm x 26.2 cm showing the twin peaks of Mount Langi Ghiran rising behind the smaller tip of Conical Hill. Two distant mountains on the right are Ben Nevis and Mount Buangor. A camp of Indigenous Djapwurrong people, consisting of two bark and wood dwellings, is situated on the edge of ...

Image

Enrolling in the Land Army, c1944

This is a posed black-and-white photograph, measuring 24.7 cm x 19 cm and taken around 1944 in Drouin, Victoria by Jim Fitzpatrick. It shows a formally dressed young woman seated in front of a desk labelled 'War Agricultural Committee'. A man, seated behind the desk, is handing her a book entitled 'Food front'. The furniture ...

Image

City railway terminus, Melbourne, 1854

This is a black-and-white lithograph measuring 12.5 cm x 20 cm, depicting the city terminus of the Melbourne and Hobson's Bay Railway Company in Melbourne in 1854. An early type of steam locomotive is shown approaching a platform where passengers and freight are waiting. The drawing was made by Samuel Thomas Gill and his ...

Video

Torres Strait Light Infantry Battalion, c1942 - item 1 of 2

This clip from a silent black-and-white home movie shows Torres Strait Islander servicemen undertaking army training drills on Thursday Island (Weiban) during the Second World War. It opens with a long shot of barefoot uniformed men marching in formation, and passing behind a squad of stationary men. It then cuts to shots ...

Image

The 'West Australian' polling board for the Federation referendum, 1900

This is a black-and-white photograph that shows a huge polling board with the results of the Federation referendum in Western Australia, which was held on 31 July 1900. The board shows that Western Australia voted to join the Commonwealth of Australia by 44,652 votes to 19,636. It also shows the results for each of the ...

Image

'Gold digging in Australia 1852: bad results'

This is the first of a pair of oval watercolours, measuring 20.2 cm x 26.4 cm, painted by Samuel Thomas Gill (1818-80), a famous colonial artist. It shows two gold miners sitting dejectedly beside their mine, probably on the Victorian gold fields. Behind the men is a windlass, as well as their wheelbarrow, pick and spade. ...

Image

Logging trucks blockade Parliament House, Canberra, 1995

This is a black-and-white photograph measuring 16 cm x 21 cm, taken by Reg Alder in January 1995, of logging trucks involved in a blockade of Parliament House in Canberra. The trucks are large articulated units and one has a banner attached referring to the timber industry. The protest was a reaction against the Australian ...

Image

An exhibition home made of fibrolite, c1930s

This is a black-and-white photograph of the exterior of an exhibition home made of fibrolite (fibro-cement) that was constructed by James Hardie and Co Ltd (now known as James Hardie Industries). The street outside the home is crowded with people, some of whom have come to view the fibrolite home. The photograph measures ...

Image

Sheet music cover for 'Australia draws her maiden sword', 1885

This is the damaged front cover of a three-page score for the song 'Australia Draws her Maiden Sword'. It depicts Australia as a maiden drawing her long sword and preparing for imminent conflict. Behind her, troops are shown marching out of their encampment. On the bottom of the cover in copperplate are the words 'WRITTEN ...