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Listed under:  History  >  World history  >  Aboriginal history
Video

Four Corners: Adoption of Indigenous Australian children

Imagine being taken away from your family and forced to live with people from another language, place and culture. This interview, recorded a week before the 1967 Referendum, captures an the perspective of Margaret Valadian, a prominent young Aboriginal Australian, on the practice of adoption and the removal of Aboriginal ...

Video

Four Corners: Harlem co-op supermarket, 1968

What would you do if you found out that you were being sold inferior groceries, at higher prices, just because of the colour of your skin? Harlem resident Cora Walker explains that this was the situation faced by members of Harlem's African American community in the late 1960s. See how the residents joined together to address ...

Video

The Australian Dream: Racism

This clip highlights Adam Goodes’s belief that the whole community needs to work together to put an end to racism. Through the heartbreaking story of Nicky Winmar and Gilbert McAdam, you'll get an insight into how far we've come in tackling racism, but Adam shows us how far we still have to go. Find out how people used ...

Video

Four Corners: Balancing opposing views on native title

The Mabo decision of 1992 created uncertainty for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, as well as for the mining and pastoral industries. Public and 'leasehold' land was subject to native title claims. Listen to the responses of Indigenous leaders and the mining industry as the effects of the High Court decision ...

Video

Spotlight: Power, religion and the civil rights movement

Imagine what you could achieve if you joined together with people who thought the same way as you did about an important issue? In a panel interview in 1960, US entertainer and rights activist Paul Robeson points out the potential political power African Americans could wield if they voted as a bloc, or single group.

Video

Four Corners: African American salary disparity, 1968

How does it feel to be paid less than another person doing the same job, because of the colour of your skin? During the 1960s, this was the plight of many professional African Americans who were not paid equally for doing the same work as their white counterparts. Listen to David Dinkins, a New York lawyer, share his experiences.

Video

Stateline TAS: Aunty Ida West: Tasmanian Aboriginal Elder, 1995

Imagine being told not to speak your own language to your family and friends. Even worse, imagine being told that your whole culture had vanished, when you know it has not. These challenges were faced by Aboriginal people in the 20th century. In this clip, discover how Aunty Ida West's background and life experiences forged ...

Video

Archaeology unearths a mass-murder site

Discover a historic site that could reveal new evidence of the first recorded mass murder on Australian soil. The site is Beacon Island, a small island off the coast of Western Australia near present-day Geraldton. In this clip, reporter Mark Bennett visits the island with two members of a 1963 expedition that first investigated ...

Image

'Garak the Universe - larrakitj', 2005

This is a larrakitj (hollow funeral pole) sculpture created and painted by Yolngu artist Gulumbu Yunupingu. It depicts the universe ('Garak'); not only all the stars that can be seen with the naked eye but everything that exists beyond. The larrakitj is shown here in a colour image that can be enlarged and is accompanied ...

Online

The First Fleet - dataset collections

The dataset provides information about 780 of the convicts transported to Australia on the First Fleet ships 'Alexander', 'Charlotte', 'Lady Penrhyn', 'Friendship', 'Prince of Wales' and 'Scarborough' in 1788. The dataset includes information on items such as the convict's name, occupation, crime, date of trial and term ...

Text

Aboriginal science tools: the morah stone

This is an article about morah stones, incised grinding stones from the tropical rainforests of northern Queensland, and how they were used by the local Aboriginal peoples to process toxic starchy seeds and kernels. Written by Kudjala/Kalkadoon Elder from Queensland Letitia Murgha and intended mainly for teachers, it describes ...

Video

Outback House: Aboriginal bush foods

Imagine leaving your home and travelling back over 150 years 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 like an 1860s station. Witness the excitement as two visitors from the local Wiradjuri nation arrive at the ...

Interactive

Bound for South Australia 1836: 19th-century emigrants' sea voyages to Australia

This section of the website 'Bound for South Australia 1836' contains a brief written description of a typical voyage to Australia as experienced by assisted migrants on sailing ships leaving London. It begins with the migrants' decision about when to leave home to meet the ship and ends with their feelings at the close ...

Interactive

Bound for South Australia 1836: Aboriginal inhabitants

This section of the website 'Bound for South Australia 1836' contains a brief account written by a 21st-century historian about the Aboriginal peoples connected to country that became part of the province of South Australia. The text describes the British government's efforts to protect the rights of the local people, their ...

Text

Indigenous Science: shell middens and fish traps

This is an article about Aboriginal shell middens along the Queensland coast and the information they provide about Aboriginal food collection practices. Written by Kudjala/Kalkadoon Elder from Queensland Letitia Murgha and intended mainly for teachers, it describes how shell middens were created over thousands of years ...

Text

Indigenous science: Australia had ancient trade routes too

This is an article about the ancient overland trade routes of Aboriginal Australia. Written by Kudjala/Kalkadoon Elder from Queensland Letitia Murgha and intended mainly for teachers, it compares Aboriginal trading routes based on Dreaming pathways and songlines throughout Australia to the Silk Road and the spice trade ...

Interactive

Old Government House Parramatta virtual tour

This resource is about exploring Governor Macquarie’s preferred residence while learning more about the early colony through this virtual tour of Old Government House at Parramatta.

Online

Message sticks: rich ways of weaving Aboriginal cultures into the Australian Curriculum

This is a resource about Aboriginal message sticks. Written by Narinda Sandry and intended for teachers, it describes how message sticks were inscribed with symbols and signs to allow messages to be understood by different Aboriginal groups and language speakers. It outlines the cultural contexts within which message sticks ...

Assessment

Year 5 history assessment - Investigating the colonial period in Australia: Shaping the Australian colonies

This is an assessment package that uses the Year 5 Australian Curriculum history achievement standard to gather evidence about how well students have demonstrated what they know, what they understand and what they can do in relation to the topic 'The Australian Colonies'. Students develop and deliver a multimodal presentation ...

Assessment

Year 10 history assessment - Rights and freedoms in Australia

This is an assessment package that uses the Year 10 Australian Curriculum history achievement standard to gather evidence about how well students have demonstrated what they know, what they understand and what they can do for the depth study 'Rights and Freedoms (1945 – present)'. Students plan and deliver a spoken presentation ...