Search results

Online

Making history

This resource supports students, individuals and community groups to research, produce and share a short digital history about a person or event.

Text

Magna Carta - Is it a part of your life today?

This unit of work consists of five classroom activities that introduce students to the Magna Carta, or Great Charter that describes the civil liberties granted by King John of England in 1215. The activities explore the key concepts established in the Magna Carta, including the rule of law and the parliamentary system of ...

Video

Why Australia wanted a White Australia policy

The Immigration Restriction Act of 1901 was designed to limit non-British immigration to Australia. It came to be known as the White Australia policy. In some quarters, people of non-British (and especially non-European) heritage were regarded as being inferior, greedy or unable to fit in with dominant Australian society. ...

Video

Gold rush

Walk through the streets of 1850s Ballarat at Sovereign Hill and learn about how the discovery of gold shaped the development of this region. What were the three distinct but overlapping eras of gold mining in Ballarat? How do staff at Sovereign Hill know what life was like for people during this time? Find out how the ...

Video

Counted: Australian culture in the 1960s

What was Australia like in the 1960s? Why does reporter Stan Grant say that "change is coming" at this time, for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people? Choose one of the people mentioned in this video and do some research into their sporting, artistic or political achievements.

Video

BTN: What is a referendum?

Watch this video to find out how Australia became a Federation. What happened in 1897?  What things stayed the same, and what things changed when Australia became a Federation? What is a referendum? There have been many others held in Australia since this early one. Do some research and find out what other issues Australians ...

Video

The Australian Dream: Introducing Adam Goodes

To get to really know people, it's important to learn about their lives and the impact they've made on the world. As you watch this clip, you'll learn all about Adam Goodes and who he is. You'll gain a deeper understanding of Adam’s path to becoming an advocate for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and why standing ...

Video

1967 and a new activism

How did the yes vote in 1967 change the way laws were made for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people? The struggle for land rights became the focus of the next wave of Aboriginal activists, who gained domestic and world attention by erecting a tent embassy on the lawns of  Parliament House in Canberra. Why was the ...

Video

The Making of Modern Australia: Aunty Beryl Carmichael on spirit and culture

Ngiyaampaa Elder Aunty Beryl Carmichael speaks in this clip about how important it is that Aboriginal people care for, or nurture, their spiritual self. She discusses the way things are connected and the importance of Dreaming stories. She also explains why she passes on knowledge and cultural heritage to younger members ...

Audio

Dame Enid Lyons: a pioneer for women in parliament

What would it be like to be one of only two women in an Australian parliament dominated by men? That was the situation in 1943 when Dame Enid Lyons entered the House of Representatives and Dorothy Tangney entered the Senate. Find out what Lyons said about this at the end of her career in 1951.Then listen to an excerpt from ...

Video

BTN: Young drovers: reviving a proud tradition

Did you know that Aboriginal pastoral workers were the backbone of the wealthy Australian cattle industry, but that until 1968 they were never paid an equal wage? Find out what it took for these stockworkers with valuable work skills to achieve equal pay. Watch, too, how some Aboriginal students in the Roper Gulf country ...

Audio

Radio National: Peter Lalor's Bakery Hill speech

What events led to the attack on the Eureka Stockade (Eureka rebellion) on the Ballarat goldfield in 1854? This audio clip examines the famous Bakery Hill speech by activist Peter Lalor. Listen to Dr Anne Beggs-Sunter discuss the effect that the speech had on the assembled miners. Find out why this is considered a key event ...

Video

Impact of European settlement on Aboriginal Tasmanians video

Aboriginal Tasmanians had inhabited Tasmania for over 40,000 years before the arrival of European settlers. What do you think life was like for Aboriginal Tasmanians before then? Why might have they embarked on a war, called the 'Black War', once settlers began arriving in Tasmania, despite existing relatively peacefully ...

Video

Welcome to Bonegilla Migrant Camp

Following World War II, the Australian government was eager to increase the country’s population. The war reminded Australians that their small population would not withstand an enemy invasion. Further, a larger workforce was needed to develop the postwar economy. European people, many displaced by the war and the spread ...

Video

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

Annabel Crabb explains the 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? And why would ...

Video

Introduction 'Technology' in AgriBusiness (Animation)

This is a video about how Australian farmers embrace technology. Using animation, photographs and commentary with occasional puns and jokes by a primary-school--aged boy, it sets the scene of the overall impact of technology, describes why Australian farmers have always been innovative; provides a definition of technology; ...

Video

BTN: History of voting

Australia's first parliamentary election was in 1843. What was different about voting then? When and how did that change to resemble elections we have now? See if you can list the three significant dates in Australia’s history of voting and the changes that occurred on those dates.

Video

Communicating in the colonial era

Imagine if you were living in Sydney in the 1800s and awaiting news or packages from England. You see a ship approaching Sydney Harbour, but how do you know where this ship is coming from or what it is carrying? Find out in this video from Sydney Observatory!

Video

Counted: Being an Aboriginal student in the 1960s

Listen to Stan Grant Snr, Marcia Langton and Sol Bellear as they share their school experiences. How would you describe what they experienced? How do their memories make you feel? Why do you think these things happened to them? And what effect do you think their experiences would have had on them?

Video

Counted: Marcia Langton on racism

Marcia Langton, a teenager in 1967, reflects on her experiences of racism. What does she say about the language of racism? How have Marcia and Stan Snr experienced racism? And what does Marcia say are its effects? What do you think are the effects of racism?