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Freed unionist shearers following the 1891 Shearers' Strike, 1893

This is a black-and-white poster showing 13 shearers who had been jailed in 1891 during the central Queensland Shearers' Strike. Across the top of the poster, in large letters, is printed 'FREEDOM WITHOUT DISHONOUR' and 'UNIONIST PRISONERS'. The poster goes on to identify each man individually as having been sentenced at ...

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'Vaccination Day in Port Mackay!', 1877

This black-and-white pen-and-ink sketch depicts vaccinations against smallpox in Mackay, Queensland, in 1877. In the sketch the local public health officer, who appears to be shouting, wields a large knife and is about to vaccinate a fearful child on his lap. The child's mother holds the child's arm while it screams. A ...

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Successful explorers at the South Pole, 1911

This is a mounted sepia photograph, measuring 7.6 cm x 12.6 cm, taken by Olar Bjaaland (1873-1961) at the South Pole on 14 December 1911. It shows his four companions paying tribute to the Norwegian flag flying from their tent. Written across the mount below the photograph is the caption, 'The successful explorers at the ...

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'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 ...

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'Woolshed, Challicum, 1845'

This is a watercolour measuring 15 cm x 24.4 cm showing the south-eastern sides of a slab and bark woolshed (shearing shed) in 1845. Two men are standing either side of a gate counting out shorn sheep from wooden yards. A large wooden lever and windlass are clearly detailed on the side of the woolshed. A rutted wagon track ...

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Humpback whale carcass, Tangalooma Whaling Station, c1957 - item 1 of 2

This is a colour photograph showing the carcass of a southern humpback whale ('Megaptera novaengliae') on the wooden slipway of the Tangalooma Whaling Station on Moreton Island in Queensland. The whale is intact with its underside uppermost, showing distinctive colourings and markings, including the ventral grooves. Onlookers, ...

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'The new rush', 1865

This is a coloured print, measuring 19.4 cm x 25.2 cm, by the famous colonial artist Samuel Thomas Gill (1818-80), published in 'The Australian Sketchbook' in 1865. It shows a gold rush scene, probably in Victoria, with a stream of prospectors travelling along a dirt road. Several are walking beside their horses and heavily ...

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Bob Brown recalls the launch of the Blue Streak, 2006

This is an edited sound recording of Bob Brown recalling the excitement in Woomera in South Australia at the intended first launch of a Europa Blue Streak rocket from the nearby rocket range in June 1964. He tells how hundreds of families gathered to watch, only to be let down when the launch was cancelled with just seconds ...

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Electors arriving to vote, Mackay, 1877

This black-and-white pen-and-ink sketch depicts voters arriving at a polling station in a state by-election in Mackay, Queensland, on 23 April 1877. The voters arrive in horsedrawn buggies and carriages. Speech bubbles and banners include the slogans 'VOTE for LONG', 'Yah! no slavery!' and 'Beor! and down with Kanaka Labour!' ...

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Portrait of political activist Emma Miller, c1910s

This posed black-and-white portrait photograph of Emma Miller, probably taken in Queensland in the 1910s, shows a thin and elderly woman, fashionably dressed for the time, sitting on a chair in a studio. She is staring straight at the camera with a resolute look on her face. Her dark clothing includes a richly embroidered ...

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Syracuse 'Easy' washing machine, 1920s-30s

This is an electric domestic washing machine of a type that was manufactured by the Syracuse Washer Corporation under the name 'Easy' during the 1920s and 30s. The machine is made from enamelled metal and stainless steel, and features two tubs set in a triangular frame. The larger tub is the agitator tub and the smaller ...

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Humpback whale carcass, Tangalooma Whaling Station, c1957 - item 2 of 2

This is a colour photograph of several men with long-handled flensing knives removing blubber from a whale's carcass as it lies on the flensing deck of the Tangalooma Whaling Station at Moreton Island in Queensland. The men do not appear to be wearing safety equipment and are dressed in work clothes. Several people look ...

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Handwritten Chinese notice about gold fields mining legislation, 1873

This is a handwritten notice, the body of which is in Chinese characters, informing Chinese miners about the 'Gold Fields Regulations' and 'Gold Fields Act'. The notice is 15 columns wide with approximately 25 characters running down each column. Below the heading, in smaller script, is written 'By Order / of the Commissioner ...

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Portrait of Robert Long, South Sea Island Mission, Nambour, 1906

This posed black-and-white photograph is a head-and-shoulders portrait of Robert Long, a leader of the South Sea Island Mission at Nambour in Queensland. Long is shown resting his arms on an unseen surface at chest height and holding what appears to be a Bible. The photograph is in an oval frame and is one of a series of ...

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Rabbit fence cartoon, 1884

This black-and-white cartoon satirises Queensland parliamentarian John Stevenson's suggestion that a fence be built on the New South Wales border to stop an expected invasion of rabbits. It depicts a low wire fence that four rabbits are using as a tennis net. Other rabbits leap over the fence and hop in the background. ...

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Chris Arthur recalls the Franklin River campaign, 2008

This is an edited sound recording of an interview with Chris Arthur, a Tasmanian environmentalist, who describes being arrested and imprisoned in December 1982 after participating in a blockade of a site linked to a proposed project to dam the Franklin River in south-western Tasmania. He also talks about how he has gone ...

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Wolter and Echberg washing machine, late 1800s

This is a late-19th-century compressed-air washing machine, made by Victorian manufacturers Wolter and Echberg. The machine is made of galvanised steel and has a distinctive rocket-like appearance, with a central drum, in which the clothes are washed, consisting of two cone shapes on either end of a cylinder. On the drum ...

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Air-raid shelter in Brisbane, 1942

This black-and-white photograph shows two women and two uniformed servicemen in a backyard featuring a homemade air-raid shelter during the Second World War. The two men, Private Dick of the AIF and US soldier Tom Squires, are standing in the shelter with Anthea Dyke while Doreen Smythe is jokingly pointing a hose at them. ...

Interactive

Biography: Federation people: John Watson

Investigate the role of the first Labor prime minister, John (Chris) Watson, in the events leading up to, and following, Federation. Examine two different types of biographies of Watson: one short and the other more detailed. Inspect examples of how he was visually depicted in his time. This learning object is one in a ...

Online

Democracy and the media - a unit of work

This unit of work for middle and upper secondary students explores the role of the media in democratic societies and examines some of the limitations on free speech and freedom of the press. Through five activities students are challenged to think about the relationships between democracy and the media, media ownership ...