Humanities and social sciences / Year 5 / Knowledge and Understanding / Civics and citizenship

Curriculum content descriptions

The key values that underpin Australia’s democracy (ACHASSK115)

Elaborations
  • discussing the meaning of democracy
  • discussing the meaning and importance of the key values of Australian democracy (for example, freedom of election and being elected; freedom of assembly and political participation; freedom of speech, expression and religious belief; rule of law; other basic human rights)
  • considering how students apply democratic values in familiar contexts
General capabilities
  • Personal and social capability Personal and social capability
  • Ethical understanding Ethical understanding
ScOT terms

Democracy,  Civil rights,  Social equality,  Fair play

Text

Australian Constitution Centre Resources

Find detailed lesson plans for appropriate levels of schooling supporting topics such as the Rule of Law, Representative Democracy, Australian identity, federation and the Constitution, Australia’s legal system, the Courts and the Australian Justice System, The Constitution and the Making of Law in Australia, The High Court ...

Online

Magna Carta: The story of our freedom

This is a resource about the Magna Carta (Great Charter) agreed between King John and his rebellious barons in 1215 and its influence on the development of human rights and democratic freedoms to the present day. The resource consists of: an animated infographic ‘Tell the story’ with hyperlinks to further information; an ...

Video

NSW Governor Marie Bashir – 2010 speech to students

This resource is a YouTube playlist containing a series of videos from a speech the NSW Governor Marie Bashir gave to senior high school students at Government House in 2010. She speaks on a range of topics, including the Australian system of government, the history of Australia and NSW, and her life. She also answers ...

Video

Tour of NSW Government House

This resource is a YouTube playlist containing a series of videos taken as a group of senior high school students are given a guided tour of NSW Government House in 2010. The tour covers primary sources such as architecture, furniture and images significant to the history of Australia and NSW.

Video

Key concepts in Civics and Citizenship Levels 3–10

These six videos for teachers unpack key concepts in Civics and Citizenship highlighting perspectives of current primary and secondary teachers and students. Find videos relating to both content and effective pedagogies. Each video is accompanied by questions that can be used to prompt discussions to support teachers’ thinking ...

Online

Indigenous Stories about War and Invasion

This is a website about Indigenous experiences of invasion and war during the British invasion, World War I and World War II. The resource is presented in three sections: Introductory information; Story Objects; and Story Education Resources. There are eight story objects that tell the stories of individuals, events and ...

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.

Interactive

Discovering democracy: Federation timeline

Use a timeline to find information about significant events and ideas in the establishment of a federated Australia. Nominate specific years or scroll from 1788 to 1901 to see what steps were key in determining the nature of government in Australia.

Text

Defining moments in Australian History

This extensive web-based resource examines events, people and places of profound significance to the Australian people and their personal, community and national histories. The resource includes a list of 100 'defining moments' identified by historians supported by background information, images, video and links to the ...

Interactive

Quizzes

Test your students with these quizzes about the Australian Parliament. Topics include the three levels of government, separation of powers and the Australian Constitution.

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.

Image

Pacific Islander labourers planting sugar cane, Mackay, 1870s

This is a black-and-white photograph showing large groups of poorly dressed indentured Pacific Islanders planting sugar cane on a plantation at Mackay in Queensland. Fourteen or more Pacific Islanders are manually placing sugar-cane cuttings at regular intervals in long furrows. Two mounted white men oversee their work ...

Image

Pacific Islander workers on a coffee plantation, c1900

This black-and-white photograph shows indentured Pacific Islander labourers manually gathering coffee beans from lines of bushes on a Kuranda coffee plantation on the Atherton Tableland in Queensland. This image shows male, female and child labourers standing among the shoulder-high coffee bushes. The Pacific Islanders ...

Image

Pacific Islander labourers outside slab-hut dwellings, late 1800s

This is a black-and-white photograph showing indentured Pacific Islanders and their families posing by their slab-hut homes, probably on a coastal Queensland sugar plantation. They are wearing Western-style clothes, with the women in long skirts and the men wearing jackets and trousers. The huts appear to have been constructed ...

Image

Pacific Islander women planting sugar cane at Bingera, c1897

This black-and-white photograph shows several indentured Pacific Islander women planting sugar-cane stalks, or setts, in freshly made furrows in a large field at Bingera near Bundaberg, Queensland. The women, dressed in Western-style clothes, are following directly behind a horsedrawn plough that is worked by indentured ...

Image

Pacific Islander women working in cane fields, c1890

This sepia photograph shows eight indentured Pacific Islander female labourers preparing to hoe weeds in rows of cane at Hambledon Mill, near Cairns in Queensland. The women and girls, some barefoot, stand at the edge of the cane, which is above head height. The foreground is bare soil and a thickly wooded hill rises in ...

Image

Pacific Islanders harvesting cane on Bingera Plantation, 1884

This sepia photograph shows around ten Pacific Islander labourers in a sugar-cane field at Bingera Plantation near Bundaberg in Queensland as the cane is being harvested. A well-dressed European man and two young children pose in the cleared foreground, while in the mid-ground stands a fully laden horsedrawn wagon with ...

Online

Get Voting

This website provides a step-by-step guide to running an school elections such as student leadership positions. The five-step process provides practical advice on preparation and a variety of downloadable resources. The forms can be customised and include nomination forms, ballot papers, how to vote cards and tally sheets ...

Interactive

Resistance

This resource is a virtual tour of the Resistance exhibition at The National Museum of Australia showing different responses by Aboriginal people to British colonisation. See videos and enlarged views of objects and texts in the exhibition.

Interactive

Sites2See: The Apology to Australia's Indigenous Peoples

This resource links to video coverage and key websites related to the apology to Indigenous Australians by the Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on 13 February 2008. Selected sites provide background information to the apology and personal stories about what happened to members of the Stolen Generations, with a focus on reconciliation.