How Australia has come to be Year

level: 3/4
Unit of work contributed by Tess Desmond, Georgia Foley and Ashleigh Smart

About the Unit

Unit Description
In this unit, students learn about how Australias culture and society has changed
over time. Students have the opportunity to reflect on their own familys journey
to Australia and how their culture has influenced a change in our society and way
of life. They observe images and videos and respond to how Australia has
changed, but with a strong focus on their own communitys development.

Knowledge, understandings, skills, values

- Students recognise the changes in the community by observing images
from last century
- Students discuss with their families about their cultural background.
- Students understand the influence of different cultures that make up
the identity of Australia at the present.
- Students explore the culture diversity at school and their wider
community.

Focus Questions

How has Australia changed since the 1900s?

What is different about our community compared to?

How and why did your family settle in Australia and how have they participated in
society?
Resources
Digital curriculum resources

Internet sites
https//maps.google.com.au
ABC3. (2015). My Place Website. Retrieved from
http://www.abc.net.au/abc3/myplace/
Immigration Museum. (2013). Onsite activities. Retrieved from
http://museumvictoria.com.au/pages/2744/pyb_onsiteactivities.pdf
Software

Print
Books
Bancroft, B (2010). Why I love Australia. Little Hare Books.
Other Resources
Teaching the unit
Setting the Scene
Resources
- Bancroft, B (2010). Why I love Australia. Little Hare Books.
- Google Maps. http://maps.google.com.au
Lesson One
(Whole Class)
Task One: Read Why I love Australia by Bronwyn Bancroft
(2010)
Reflect on the wording and illustrations of the picture storybook
(Indigenous Australian art elements).
How has the landscape, pictured in the book, changed from then to
now?
How could you picture it?
Task Two: Class brainstorm
Why do you think our families migrated to Australia to live?
(The teacher writes this brainstorm on poster paper and it will be
displayed in the classroom as a reference to students).

Lesson Two
As a whole class, we will look at the streets and landmarks of the
suburb of the school on Google Maps. Students will be encouraged to
observe the environment and buildings, and then we will look back to
previous years and survey what has significantly changed. We can
relate this to the students by observing the development of houses and
services within the area.
Following this, students will search their address on Google Maps on
individual iPads. They will then write their observations in a table
(Appendix I), containing the changes in their area.
What changes do you see?
How do you think multiculturalism has affected the changes in our
suburb?
How do you know this?

Lesson Three
Project - What do you know about your familys journey?
The students task is to investigate how and why their families
migrated to Australia. This is to be the students formal assessment, as
a project due at the end of the unit. The task will be explained to the
students and then they are to complete the work during class and out
of school hours. As a requirement, each student interviews a member
of their family to gain information about their past and how their lives
have changed since moving to Australia.
From where did your family migrate?
Why did they move to Australia?
How has your family contributed to Australias multicultural society?
What changes have your older family members witness in Australia?
Describe what your life would be like if your family stayed in their
original country.

Assessment
Assess students understanding of the changes and development of
Australias landscape and society. Their contribution to tasks is
essential in assessing the level of understanding and knowledge about
Australias multicultural society and this will be evident in their formal
assessment (project).

Investigating
Resources

Lesson Four
Excursion - immigration museum
The students have the opportunity to spend a couple of hours at the
immigration museum. Students will explore the stories of people from
all over the world who have migrated to Victoria. There will be a focus
on discussing the reasons for people making the journey to Australia
and the impact these arrivals had on communities such as the
indigenous community. Students will be asked to complete a number of
activities throughout the day. They will take part in a program called
Pack Your Bags which is led by the museum staff. The session will run
for 90 minutes, which will include a 45-minute presentation made by
the staff.
Pack Your Bags
Students will;
-explore objects, artefacts and costumes used in the 1900s
-explore migration and cultural diversity through stories told
-work in small groups which will be led by a teacher. In these groups
they will explore the museum and investigate migration stories.
Aims for students
-recognise that people have come from many different countries to
Australia, bringing with them a variety of experiences, skills, traditions
and objects
-people leave their country of origin to make Australia their home.
There are many different reasons for this.
-Australias national identity is shaped by immigration

Resources
Onsite activites
http://museumvictoria.com.au/pages/2744/pyb_onsiteactivities.pdf
Lesson Five
The aim of this lesson will be to discuss the excursion to the
immigration museum. Students will have the opportunity to share what
they learnt from the museum and any queries they may have. The
lesson will begin with a group discussion, where students are
encouraged to share their thoughts and feelings in regards to what
they saw at the museum.
Students will reflect by making connections.
Key questions students should consider in their reflections
Why have people come to Australia?
What was it like for them to move to Australia?
What have I learnt that I did not already know?
What would I like to learn more about?
Where does my family history come into this?

Lesson Six
My place website
Students will use their iPads and explore the MyPlace website. They
will focus on the 1900s and are encouraged to investigate early 1900s
to late 1900s and observe the changes throughout the years.
Introduce the website to the students by taking them through the
different parts to be investigated.
Working in pairs students will go through a number of characters
houses over the years and write down the observed changes.
(appendix 2)
Students will then come back as a class and share what they have
learnt.

http://www.abc.net.au/abc3/myplace/

Assessment
Students will be assessed on their ability to engage and participate
throughout the three lessons. Teachers will be able to assess students
understanding of what was learnt at the immigration museum by
collecting their reflections and seeing if key questions have been
addressed. Teachers will also assess students ability to notice changes
between the 1900s and the 2000s when using the myplace website.
Bringing it all together
Resources

Lesson Seven
Timeline of Australian history
As a whole class discuss main events that may have occurred during
their family members trip to Australia. Create a timeline that the
students are to complete on their own or in groups at their table. Bring
the students back together to discuss which order they have put the
events and then tell/show them the correct order. This can lead into
discussion of historical events, so could be

Lesson Eight
Create a narrative of someone migrating to Australia. Using an app
called popplet the students are able to create a story with pictures. If
Popplet is not available, students are still able to complete the activity.
Before setting the students this task, prompt them to think of things
that have learnt from stories they have heard or things they have
learnt from the unit already.
What are main events that could have happened in that time?
What year would they have migrated?
Who did they migrate with? Were they alone?
What did they come with?
Why did they move to Australia?

Lesson Nine
Write a letter or a journal entry to a family member. It could be to
another family member that they had left behind in their home country
or just a journal entry. Have them describe the process that they went
through upon arrival to Australia and what the voyage was like. They
can draw upon knowledge gained from the excursion and from listening
to other students stories of their relatives. Have them describe the
difference in schooling, and what their housing is like. Encourage the
students to research what they are unsure of.

Assessment
Collect students final letter/journal entry and assess if they have
gathered the understanding set for this unit of work. For example if
they have an understanding on what times were like in the 1900s and
the reasons people had to immigrate to Australia.

Drawing Conclusions
Lesson Ten

Assessment
 Group Meetings:

Meeting Date Duration Members

Present
First Meeting 8th September 2 hours - Ashleigh
- Georgia
- Tess

Second Meeting 15th 2 hours - Ashleigh

September - Georgia
- Tess

Third Meeting 22nd 1.5 hours - Ashleigh

September - Tess
Fourth Meeting 29th 2.5 hours - Ashleigh
September - Tess
- Georgia

Group Members Roles:

Ashleigh Smart: Concept Map, Lesson Ten

Tess Desmond: Time Keeper, Lesson Ten, Lessons Four- Six and Lesson Ten
Georgia Foley: Summary of Student Cohort, Lessons One Three and Lesson Ten

Georgia Foley:
My role in the group, was to investigate some activities that we could include in
our Unit of Australian History and Multiculturalism. I created lessons one, two and
three. I also researched for resources for the unit, including Why I love Australia.

I, Georgia Foley, declare that I provided my group with an equal

contribution to the unit of work and all meetings and notes are
truthful.

____________________________________
Ashleigh Smart:

I, Ashleigh Smart, declare that I provided my group with an

equal contribution to the unit of work and all meetings and
notes are truthful.

____________________________________
Tess Desmond:
My role in the group was to act as time manager. I recorded the times in which we
met as a group and how long those meetings went for. I was also in charge of
activities four to six. These focused on investigating the unit of work How
Australia has come to be.

I, Tess Desmond, declare that I provided my group with an equal

contribution to the unit of work and all meetings and notes are
truthful.

____________________________________
Appendix I

My observations of my suburb _____________:

Then Now
Appendix 2

1900s 2000s

Black and white television Coloured television

using antennas Electric light switches
Candles used for light