Year+6+Topics

=Australia as a nation= The Year 6 curriculum moves from colonial Australia to the development of Australia as a nation, particularly after 1900. Students explore the factors that led to Federation and experiences of democracy and citizenship over time. Students understand the significance of Australia’s British heritage, the Westminster system, and other models that influenced the development of Australia’s system of government. Students learn about the way of life of people who migrated to Australia and their contributions to Australia’s economic and social development. (Return to Home Page)

Macmillan publishers have an excellent series Stories from Australia's History, telling the stories of explorers and famous Australian achievers in graphic novel form. They have proved to be good motivators at this year level.

Why and how did Australia become a nation? Set against drought, flood, bushfire, war and jubilation, this is a story rooted in the words of our most famous national song. It is a love-song to a land and to a nation, told from the points of view of those who had no vote in 1901: the women, the Indigenous people, the Chinese market-gardeners...
 * A waltz for Matilda / Jackie French;Pymble, N.S.W. : Angus & Robertson, 2010

Although the story of how twelve-year-old Matilda from the city comes to manage her late father's farm and become very rich is somewhat far-fetched, and although French's use of the song Waltzing Matilda as the thematic continuo for the story is also contrived, the novel is useful because it weaves together many issues that contributed to Federation. The shearers' strike in the 1890s, Australia's experiences in the Boer War, the wool industry and the rise of new technologies, better transport and communications all helped to develop the Australian identity. They play a major part in the story.

The book is probably too long to read to a class from start to finish, but a teacher would find it useful to tell parts of the story and read out extracts as a way of bringing these issues to life.

As usual in her historical novels, French supplies valuable background information in the Afterword, where she explains the origins of the song Waltzing Matilda, the story of Breaker Morant and many other userful things, including the fact that raisins for fruit cake years ago had much larger seeds than they have today! || ||


 * Key figures and events that led to Australia’s Federation
 * Experiences of Australian democracy and citizenship, including the status and rights of Aboriginal people and/or Torres Strait Islanders, migrants, women, and children.
 * The meaning of democracy
 * **__British and American influences on Australia's system of law and government__**
 * **__The Separation of Powers in Australia's Government__**
 * **__Federation__**
 * The Constitution and how it was drawn up
 * **__A History of the Indigenous Vote__**
 * **__The White Australia Policy__**
 * **__The Westminster System of Government__**
 * The workings of Australia's different state parliaments
 * **__Canberra and the Australian Capital Territory__**
 * **__Memorable moments in Federal political history__**

Changes in the structures of the nation
 * **__Railway system__**
 * __**Water and river systems**__
 * **__The Snowy Mountains scheme__**
 * **__Mining__**
 * **Agriculture**
 * =====**__Industry__**=====
 * **Outback life**
 * __**Natural disasters**__
 * __**The environment**__


 * __How did Australian society change throughout the twentieth century?__**
 * Who were the people who came to Australia? Why did they come? Stories of groups of people who migrated to Australia (including from ONE Asian country) and the reasons they migrated, such as World War II and Australian migration programs since the war.
 * **__Immigration before and after the Second World War__**
 * **__Australian Aboriginal People__**
 * **__Women's Advancement in Australia and in other parts of the world__**
 * **__The economy__**
 * **__Children__**
 * **__Education__**

Which of these people are Aboriginal? Do you have other suggestions?( Please send me an email to the address supplied in my introduction.)
 * __The contribution of individuals and groups to the development of Australian society -__**
 * **Science**
 * **__The Arts__**
 * **__Sport__**
 * **__Wars__**
 * **__Overseas endeavours__**
 * **__Australians of the Year__**

994.03 DUG – Dugan, Michael, “Boom and Bust: 1919-1939”. Describes the Great Depression. PF TON – Tonkin, Rachel, “What Was the War Like, Grandma?” Pictures and stories give a good idea of Australian civilian life during World War Two. 994.02 CID – Ciddor, Anna, a series of books of Australian history “Through Children’s Eyes”. The children include Aboriginal children.

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