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Chinese Anzacs in World War I

Among the 420,000 Australians who served in World War I, 300 people were of Chinese descent. This was in spite of the introduction of the Commonwealth Defence Act in 1909, which stated that soldiers had to be of "substantially European origin". George Lee Kim was one such soldier. He received the Military Medal for his ...

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Life As a Female Convict: Cascades Female Factory

The Cascades Female Factory was both a prison and a factory for female convicts in early Hobart. It was a place where convict women were forced to undertake labour in slave-like conditions to support the fledgling colony. Learn what life at the Female Factory was like for the inmates. What sort of work did the women do? ...

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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 ...

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BTN: From Sudan to Adelaide

Watch and listen to Veronica's story as she describes what life was like in Sudan. How does she compare it to life in Australia? How was her school in Sudan different from her school in Adelaide? What do you think Veronica's life would have been like if she had stayed in Sudan, a troubled country with constant violent conflicts?

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Weekend Magazine: The Stomp, a 1960s dance craze

Imagine a dance so simple it could be learnt in minutes and so popular it became a craze. This clip from a Weekend Magazine program screened in 1963 looks at such a dance. It was called the Stomp and it was pounded out in surf clubs and council halls around Australia's coast. Watch and listen as teenagers express their ...

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Outback House: Horse race

Imagine leaving your home to travel back to a time over 150 years ago, to live and work on an outback farm. Sixteen Australians take part in a reality TV show about life on Oxley Downs, a sheep station built to look and work as a real station would have in the 1860s. Join the fun and excitement as station residents hold ...

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Archives ACT: find of the month

This topic-based collection of primary source material provides a rich and varied source of official documents, guides and background information on the civic history of Canberra and the Australian Capital Territory. Produced monthly, this eclectic collection covers topics including the history of monuments, architecture, ...

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Aboriginal Cultures, Ch 1: Introduction to culture with Aunty Julie

What does culture mean to you? We all have a culture we identify with, whether it's linked to our nationality, ethnicity, religious beliefs or language. For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, culture plays an especially significant role. Why do you think this is? Think about what happened to Aboriginal Country, ...

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Australia's first Aboriginal member of parliament

Neville Bonner became Australia's first Aboriginal parliamentarian when he was appointed to represent Queensland in the Senate in 1971. In this clip, Senator Bonner outlines some of his priorities and his response to public expectations as he prepared to take office.

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Journey into Japan: Tragic consequences of Japan's modernisation

Japan went through a remarkable transformation between 1868 and the death of the Emperor Meiji in 1912. But Japan's modernisation was accompanied by its rise as an imperialist power, with tragic results. Watch this clip to learn about the consequences of Japan's dream of empire. This clip is last in a series of six.

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How did change accelerate?

This 12 minute video is divided into two parts and presents an overview of the rapid development of the modern world. Part 1 presents reasons for the exponential growth in the world's population over the last 500 years including the development of global networks and commerce and the discovery of fossil fuel energy, which ...

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Transition to Agriculture

This 6 minute video explains how agriculture drove change and why humans took the risk of abandoning foraging. As farming technologies improved, populations increased, which led to the growth of villages and then cities. This in turn enabled collective learning, so that farming regions got a head start on other regions. ...

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Why was agriculture so important?

This 10 minute video in 2 parts offers an overview of the development of agricultural practices in ancient societies. Part 1 discusses the limitations of foraging for food, and the advantages of farming - the domestication of animals and plants for nutrition. This move to agriculture meant humans changed also - technologically, ...

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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 ...

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World’s first bakers?

When did humans begin grinding seeds to make flour? Many people believe bread-making began in Egypt or Mesopotamia as long as 17,000 years ago. Archaeologists have recently found evidence that Indigenous Australians were producing flour 65,000 years ago. Were they the world’s first bakers?

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Mabo: the native title revolution

This a multi-layered website about the life and times of Eddie Mabo and the part he played in Indigenous land rights, produced by the National Sound and Film Archive. There are section headings on: The Mabo film; Mer; The man; The case; Native title; Land rights; and Terra Nullius. Each heading has multiple subheadings ...

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Leaving Cambodia: timeline

This is a website that chronicles the development timeline of Cambodia, detailing the development of modern Cambodia, the years of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge, and the years since. The modern timeline contains links to the life stories of six Cambodian nationals who have migrated to Australia, with key events within the ...

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Meet the food system

This unit of work consists of two parts, supported by lesson plans, slides and handouts and teachers guides. The first part examines the food system as a complex network that is deeply connected to health, society, and the environment. The second part explores key milestones in the history of agriculture, with a focus on ...

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Terracotta Warriors

This learning activity provides students with the opportunity to develop their knowledge and understanding of the history behind the Terracotta Warriors and practise the historical skill of presenting information.

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Talking Time: an exploration of time - how we change over time

This integrated lesson sequence that explores the concept and language of time and then moves to using sources and artefacts to show their own personal history. Students will share personal artefacts and those shared from their families to explore concepts of time, history and change.