Rationale
This unit consists of extension activities at a senior primary level. It is intended for use with a more general and coherent overview of the development of Australian society and culture, to provide opportunities for choice, for in depth research and for creative responses. The activities are based on Bloom's taxonomy.

Activities
Children will choose from the following, many of which overlap the 'subject' headings used.

Social Science
• List ways that modern Australian and British people are alike. Then list ways that they are different. Do the same with Australians and Americans. [Analysis]

• Find ways that Australian and American history are the same and ways that they are different. [Analysis]

• Research the judicial and prison systems in Britain and Australia during the 18th and 19th centuries. What conclusions might be drawn about their fairness and their effectiveness? Suggest ways that our present methods of law enforcement could be improved. [Analysis, Evaluation]

• Imagine that an Australian Hall of Fame is to be established but only twenty people are to be included in it. Compile a list of the people you would choose for inclusion and defend your choice in a whole class discussion. [Evaluation]

• Investigate the development of schooling in Australia, using old photographs and original documents where possible. Write a diary for a week in the life of a school pupil your age for two different times in the past. Use the handwriting style(s) of the periods chosen.

What might have been the consequences if schooling had not been made compulsory? (Analysis, Synthesis]

• Collect traditional songs. What do they tell us about life in Australia in the past? What aspects of the past do they not deal with?

Do the same with Australian poetry.

How reliable are poems and songs as historical documents? [Analysis, Evaluation]

• Investigate the reasons for the Eureka Stockade. Compare the miners' protest with a recent protest or demonstration, listing similarities and differences. [Analysis]

• Identify products from the past that are no longer sold. Share your findings with the rest of the class, giving likely reasons for the changes. [Analysis]

• People have migrated to Australia for many reasons. List as many reasons as you can why people might want to come here and decide which of these a government should accept as reasonable. [Analysis, Evaluation]

• Imagine you were living in 1897 but suddenly found yourself moved through time to 1997. List all the things you will see that you have never seen before. Which of these would be
a) the most surprising?
b) the most frightening?
c) the most useful?
d) the most useless?
e) the most amusing?

If you could take one thing back with you to 1897 what would it be? Explain how you would use it and the likely consequences of having it. [Analysis, Evaluation]

• In 1901 in which place in Australia would you rather have lived? Give reasons for your choice, including the advantages and disadvantages of your choice and also of other places not chosen.

Would your choice be different for 1850? For 1950? For 1997?
[Analysis, Evaluation]

Science
• List animals that have been introduced into Australia. Find out:
a) why they were brought here, and
b) the consequences of their introduction. [Analysis]

• Find an old recipe for making soap and make some. Devise ways of comparing its effectiveness with that of modern soap or soap powder. [Application, Analysis]

• Compile a table of native Australian plants that are (a) edible or (b) poisonous. If possible, list forms of 'bush tucker' used by Aborigines in their traditional diet. [Comprehension]

• Invent a new way of dealing with one of Australia's insect pests that is cheap, safe and effective. If possible, field test your idea. [Synthesis]

English
• Choose an Australian poem and 'rewrite' it another way - eg, as a film script, as a letter, as a series of pen and ink sketches, as a tape-slide sequence, as a montage or collage, as a cartoon strip or comic, as a puppet play.

Present the final product to the whole class (and to a wider audience, if possible) and explain why it was treated in the particular way chosen. [Synthesis]

• Interview old residents and/or members of the local historical society about life in your town/city in the past. Organise your findings and present them to the class. [Application, Synthesis]

• Find early sketches that were made of Australia's native fauna and flora. Imagine you had done them yourself and write a letter to a friend in Britain describing your discoveries and comparing/contrasting them with British fauna and flora (after researching these, too). [Analysis, Synthesis]

• Interview several people who have traced their family tree. Make up a family tree for yourself and write an historical novel based on it. Discuss with an historian the accuracy of details included in this novel. [Synthesis]

• Write descriptions, in prose or verse, of the arrival of the first fleet from the different viewpoints of:
(a) the convicts,
(b) the officers or soldiers,
(c) the Aborigines. [Synthesis]

• Imagine you are a reporter for a newspaper, or for a radio or television station (and that you have access to a time machine). Act and record an interview with one of the following from Australia's early days:
(a) a bushranger (eg, members of the Kelly gang, Martin Cash)
(b) an explorer (eg, members of the Burke and Wills expedition, Ludwig Leichhardt)
(c) an Aborigine (eg, Bennelong, Truganini)
(d) an administrator (eg, Arthur Phillip, Lachlan Macquarie)
(e) an artist (eg, Hans Heysen, Tom Roberts)
(f) a writer (eg, Henry Lawson, Henry Handel Richardson)
(g) a convict
(h) a squatter
(i) a policeman or soldier
(j) a Chinese gold digger
(k) a school teacher
(l) some other well known person (eg, Peter Lalor, Caroline Chisholm, John Forrest, Sidney Kidman, Nellie Melba). [Synthesis}

• Arrange a debate on the topic: 'There is no such thing as a typical Australian.' [Analysis, Evaluation]

• Write epitaphs for at least five famous Australians. Display these around the classroom. [Synthesis]

• Write a farce based upon a well known aspect of Australia's past, eg, the gold rush, bushranging (cf. Randolph Stow's Midnite, Puffin). [Synthesis]

• If you were able to talk to any Australian from the past who would you choose? Write down what might be said in your conversation with that person. [Synthesis]

Expressive Arts
• Find out what people did for entertainment in the past. Produce a concert based on traditional songs and dances. Create posters to advertise your concert. [Analysis, Synthesis]

• Write (and perform, if possible) your own version of a 'traditional' song or dance. [Synthesis]

• Design a media campaign to promote Australia as a place for tourists to visit. Think of other ways of attracting tourists to come here. Send your best ideas to the Minister for Tourism, Parliament House, Canberra. [Analysis, Synthesis]

• Design, construct and trial an Australian history version of a popular board game, such as Monopoly, snakes and ladders. [Synthesis]

• Compare the works of two Australian artists with different styles, listing the major similarities and differences between them. If possible, discuss your findings with a local artist or gallery director. [Analysis]

• Do a series of sketches or paintings in the style of an Australian artist whose work you like. [Synthesis] 

Resources
This unit is so wide-ranging yet concerned that investigation should have depth that a detailed list of resources is not included. However, useful starting points are:

Clark, M. (1981) A Short History of Australia. Melbourne: Macmillan.

Younger, R.M. (1975) Australia! Australia! The Pioneer Years: A Pictorial History. Adelaide: Rigby.

Illustrated History of Australia. Sydney: Paul Hamlyn.

Children should be encouraged to find several specialist references for the activities they choose to undertake.

©TalentEd is located at the School of Curriculum Studies, University of New England, Armidale, Australia.

This page updated: 23 January 2006 Webmaker: Howard Smith. hsmith4@une.edu.au