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History 7-10 / Year 9 / Knowledge and understanding / First World War (1914–1918)

Curriculum content descriptions

the effects of the First World War on Australian society, such as the role of women, political debates about conscription, relationships with the British Empire, and the experiences of returned soldiers (AC9HH9K11)

Elaborations
  • investigating examples of the war’s effects on society, such as the changes to women’s roles during the war compared to continuities before and after the war
  • investigating the first and second referenda on conscription, including the role of prime minister Billy Hughes, the division within the Labor Party over this issue and identifying the groups who opposed conscription, such as trade unionists and Irish Catholics such as Archbishop Daniel Mannix, and the grounds for their objections
  • examining the continuities and changes in Australia’s relationship with the British Empire, such as changing sentiments about Britain as the mother country
  • explaining the effects of war on returned soldiers, including First Nations Australian soldiers, such as physical and psychological trauma, shell shock, employment opportunities, social and racial discrimination, service recognition, land allocation (Soldier Settlement Scheme), wage inequality, and access to health care and pensions
General capabilities
  • Ethical understanding Ethical understanding
  • Intercultural understanding Intercultural Understanding
ScOT terms

Migration,  Penal transportation,  Transport networks,  Slavery,  Population dynamics

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World War I - the Western Front

In this learning activity students locate and sequence the places where Australians fought and describe the nature of warfare during the Gallipoli campaign. Students and teachers are provided with links to a rich collection of diaries, letters, maps, photographs, artworks, posters and newspapers on the Great War. Students ...

Downloadable

The Invisible War: A tale on two scales

The Invisible War is a graphic novel set on the Western Front in 1916. The novel is an interdisciplinary text that includes a large science-history reference section (hyper-linked within the novel). Told from two points of view – human and microbial – the story describes a deadly infection by dysentery-causing Shigella ...

Downloadable

Commemorating Anzac through engaging learning

This resource supports quality teaching and learning through specific curriculum learning opportunities to engage students, as well as enhancing whole school and community interactions and events commemorating Anzac. Part of the Bringing communities together series in response to the NSW State Anzac Centenary.

Interactive

A soldier's war: Gallipoli

This Stage 5 resource looks at the Gallipoli campaign through the eyes of soldiers, nurses and the media. Students examine their diaries and letters as well as considering the nature of the warfare and the tactics involved before producing a documentary of the campaign. The resource will support the introduction of the ...

Interactive

Off to war: Australia answers the call

This is a Stage 5 resource that looks at the reasons for World War I, the reaction in Australia and the messages promoted by enlistment posters. The resource will support the introduction of the new syllabus and will dovetail with the Anzac Centenary commemorative events and publications.

Video

ABC Open: Anzac Day and the unseen costs of war

Discover the unseen costs of war. Many people experience fear, anxiety, bereavement, shock and other forms of psychological trauma that do not end when they return home. Watch this clip as residents of Violet Town in Victoria reflect on the personal cost of war.

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ABC Open: The changing roles of women on Anzac Day

How have the stories and observances of Anzac Day changed to include women alongside men? During World War I and the years that followed, women had little involvement in Anzac Day events. In some instances, they were deliberately excluded. This has changed dramatically in recent decades. In this clip, women and men from ...

Video

The historical legacy of John Glover

English artist John Glover emigrated to Van Diemen's Land in 1831. He settled on a generous land grant called "Patterdale", near Deddington in northern Tasmania. Many of Glover’s artworks provide historical records of the people, plants and animals who lived in the area, as well as the changes wrought by European settlement.

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Creating an Indigenous plant-use garden: plant list

For thousands of years, First Nations peoples across Australia have been growing and cultivating plants. Plants are grown for many different purposes, including food, tools, medicine, shelter, clothing, hunting, carrying, water craft, ceremony and land management. Everything they needed to survive is provided by the bush. ...

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Creating an Indigenous plant-use garden: harvesting

The satisfaction of eating straight from the garden is one of life’s best learning experiences, however we need to be respectful and mindful to only harvest what we need to allow the plant to continue to thrive for generations to come. This activity involves the assessment and mapping of local environments to create a successful ...

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Creating an Indigenous plant-use garden: resources from the bush

For thousands of years, First Nations peoples across Australia have been using plants for many different purposes. Plants are used for food, fibre, shelter, medicine, tools and utensils, hunting, music and ceremony. Everything they needed to survive comes from the land. Outcomes of this learning activity are for learners ...

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Creating an Indigenous plant-use garden: planting

The outcomes of this learning activity are for children to: follow instructions and a planting plan; understand the steps involved in planting out and maintaining a successful Indigenous plant-use garden enjoy being active and productive outdoors and build their social and teamwork skills; physically be involved in the ...

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Creating an Indigenous plant-use garden: vision

Planning for an Indigenous plant-use garden is a good way to develop a connection with and respect for First Nations people's perspectives. Use this learning activity to explore exciting ideas, create goals and understand more about successful Indigenous plant-use garden projects. Outcomes of this learning activity are ...

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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 ...

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Pacific Islander labourers outside slab-hut dwellings, late 1800s

This is a black-and-white photograph showing indentured Pacific Islanders and their families posing by their slab-hut homes, probably on a coastal Queensland sugar plantation. They are wearing Western-style clothes, with the women in long skirts and the men wearing jackets and trousers. The huts appear to have been constructed ...

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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 ...

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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. ...

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Pacific Island labourer recruiting ship 'Para', c1880

This is a drawing of the two-masted brigantine 'Para', probably completed by Master Mariner William Wawn during a successful five months voyage to the Solomon Islands in 1894. One of a series of sketches of his impressions of the islands in pencil, ink and watercolour, it shows the recruiting ship offshore at anchor, as ...

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Female emigrants bound for Australia, 1834

This hand-coloured lithograph, measuring 36.0 cm x 22.7 cm and consisting of seven panels of an original ten, depicts in cartoon form the deprivations suffered by single women migrating to Australia in the 1830s. Titled 'FEMALE EMIGRATION!', the scenes follow the story of the women leaving Britain, their rough crossing ...

Video

Examining Australia's Constitution

In this clip, reporter Stan Grant visits the National Archives of Australia to revisit the moment when Australia became a federation, on 1 January 1901. Stan examines the original Australian Constitution and reads out Section 127. What does it say? To try to understand why Indigenous people were so excluded, Stan considers ...