Year 9 Unit: Always an Inclusive Australia?

Year Level: 9 VELS Level: 6

Overview

During this unit students will consider the questions: Has Australia always been an inclusive society? Is Australia an inclusive society today? They will explore changes in attitudes and perspectives throughout Australia’s history through study and analysis of key events including; European settlement and its impact on Indigenous peoples, Immigration and the ‘White Australia Policy’, the Stolen Generation, and War. They will compare the attitudes and perspectives of the past to today’s society, to see what has changed and what still remains a challenge.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Perspectives

  • The arrival of the first Fleet in 1788 commenced a period of time for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples where most were dispossessed of their land, and their human and civil rights were denied.
  • The forced removal of many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families was official government policy from 1909 to 1969, and caused enormous social and cultural distress for the ‘stolen generation’.
  • On Feb 13th 2008 Prime Minister Kevin Rudd apologised to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples on behalf of the Nation, paving the way for a more reconciled and hopeful Australia.

Understandings

  • Over time, the attitudes and perspectives of a society change as a result of events and actions.
  • Key events and societal pressure influence the attitudes and actions of individuals and groups.
  • Differing perspectives and attitudes can lead to inclusion or exclusion.
  • Conflict is often a catalyst for change in individual and societal attitudes.

Rich Question

Has Australia always been an inclusive society?

Contributing Questions

  • What was it like to be in a particular social or ethnic group in Australia during different periods of time?
  • How do different attitudes and experiences change the perceptions of events?
  • How have perceptions and attitudes in Australian society changed over time?
  • Has Australia always been an inclusive society?
  • Is Australia an inclusive society today?

Background Notes

From the Yarra Healing website: essential learnings.

  • Dispossession and dispersal from traditional lands forced Indigenous people to the fringes of European settlements, where they were without a viable means of economic support.
  • No treaties were made and no charter of rights was established to ensure the survival of the life and social organisation of Indigenous people.
  • Access to sacred sites, and rights to certain associated ceremonies, were denied to Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, and spiritual bonds and expressions were undermined.
  • With the creation of the missions and reserves, it was hoped by Government officials and church officials that through provision of food rations and a place to live, Indigenous people would become:

- 'civilised'
- Christians
- educated in western values and lifestyles (particularly the children)

  • The reserves and mission stations may have assisted the physical survival of the Aboriginal people but at the same time they facilitated the destruction of the languages and severely undermined the culture and independence,and emotional wellbeing of the people.
  • The early part of the 20th century saw successive Australian governments replace Protection policies with Assimilation policies, wherein Indigenous peoples were forced off the reserves. Formulated without any consultation with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, these policies were designed to encourage Aboriginal peoples to share in the benefits of 'Western civilisation', but only if they lived as white Australians did.
  • Assimilation policies were strongly resisted by Indigenous people who were convinced that their survival as a people depended upon retaining their Aboriginality. Also, assimilist policies put at risk the little security of land tenure offered by reserves.
  • In 1965, the Commonwealth Policy of Integration was developed, to be followed in 1972 by a Policy of Self Determination. Civil action taken by Indigenous peoples in response to exploitation and deprivation of their human and civil rights largely prompted this latter policy.
  • The 1980s saw a strengthening of local and national Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander’s organisations. The revival of Indigenous cultures and the re-emergence of a strong identity are at the heart of current political and social developments.
  • In 1869 the passage of the Aborigines Protection Act gave the Victorian Government the power to remove Indigenous children from their families so they could be raised as Europeans. These children were fostered, adopted or institutionalised. In the latter case they were usually trained as domestic workers or farm labourers, and they were poorly paid, if paid at all. The practice of removing children from their families continued to varying degrees until the late 1960s.
  • The Koorie people who lived on mission stations and reserves during the 20th century, and who were taken away from their families, comprised the bulk of the Koorie population living today in Victoria.
  • The 1970s were marked by the growth of community organisations established and administered by Koorie people. These organisations responded to specific areas of socio-cultural need, and supported Koorie people in their struggle for justice and human rights.

Resources

Written texts

Alan Tucker, “Too Many Captain Cooks,” Omnibus Books, 1994.

Websites

The Sovereign Hill website contains information to support the ‘Black Gold’ program. This includes written information about the local Indigenous people and how they were affected by the gold rush, and podcast of Professor Cahir discussing the participation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people on the goldfields.

The Project Zero Visible Thinking website has information regarding visible thinking routines.

This website contains posters that show the attitudes and perspectives being promoted by the Government and society during World War I.

This website contains posters and information about attitudes and opinions in Australia towards involvement in the War.

Contains personal stories from the Stolen Generation.

Information regarding the Stolen Generation and subsequent Government attitude.

Contains personal stories and interviews from the Stolen Generation.

the Catholic Education Office Melbourne’s website dedicated to reconciliation contains a video clip of Kevin Rudd’s apology speech.

Tells the story of immigration in Australia over time, including information on the White Australia Policy in the 1900-1920s section.

The Immigration Museum website contains personal stories, photographs and information about immigration.

Students can find out more about the dictation test on this website including stories from a customs officer of the time.

Audio Visual

First Australians DVD, SBS, 2008

Babakuieria DVD, Featherstone Productions, 2006

Harry’s War DVD, Golden Seahorse Productions, 1999. The short film tells the story of Richard's Uncle, Harry Saunders who fought for Australia in the South Pacific campaign during the Second World War.

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VELS Standards
Physical, Personal and Social Learning Strand
PERSONAL LEARNING
The Individual Learner
Students seek and respond to feedback from peers, teachers and other adults to develop and refine their content knowledge and understanding, identifying areas for further investigation.
Managing personal learning
Students allocate appropriate time and identify and utilise appropriate resources to manage competing priorities and complete tasks, including learner-directed projects, within set timeframes. They initiate and negotiate a range of independent activities with their teachers, providing progress and summative reports for teachers and stakeholders. They monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of their task and resource management skills, reflecting on their progress and suggesting and implementing appropriate management strategies for improvement.
CIVICS AND CITIZENSHIP
Community Engagement
At Level 6, students draw on a range of resources, including the mass media to articulate and defend their own opinions about political, social and environmental issues in national and global contexts. They contest, where appropriate, the opinions of others.
Discipline Based Learning Strand
HISTORY
Historical knowledge and understanding
At Level 6, students analyse events which contributed to Australia’s social, political and cultural development. These events could include: European colonisation, the growth of the colonies, self-government, the gold rushes, the development of trade unions, the events leading to Federation, Federation, World War I, World War II, immigration, and the Gulf Wars. Students evaluate the contribution of significant Australians to Australia’s development.
Students evaluate the impact of colonisation on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and the fight for civil and political rights and land rights. They analyse significant events and movements which have resulted in improvements in civil and political rights for other groups of Australians such as the eight-hour day and the right to vote for women, and evaluate the contributions of key participants and leaders in these events. They compare different perspectives about a significant event and make links between historical and contemporary issues.
Students analyse the impact of some key wars and conflicts in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. These could include the world wars, revolutions, the Cold War and post Cold War conflicts.
Historical reasoning and interpretation
At Level 6, students frame research questions and locate relevant resources, including contemporary media and online resources. They identify, comprehend and evaluate a range of primary and secondary sources, including visual sources and use historical conventions such as footnotes and bibliographies to document sources. They critically evaluate sources of evidence for context, information, reliability, completeness, objectivity and bias. They recognise that in history there are multiple perspectives and partial explanations. They use appropriate historical language and concepts in historical explanations. They use evidence to support arguments and select and use appropriate written and oral forms to communicate develop historical explanations in a variety of oral, written and electronic forms.
Interdisciplinary Strand
COMMUNICATION
Listening, viewing and responding
At Level 6, students identify the ways in which complex messages are effectively conveyed and apply this knowledge to their communication. When listening, viewing and responding, they consider alternative views, recognise multiple possible interpretations and respond with insight. They use complex verbal and non-verbal cues, subject-specific language, and a wide range of communication forms. Students use pertinent questions to explore, clarify and elaborate complex meaning.
Presenting
At Level 6, students demonstrate their understanding of the relationship between form, content and mode, and select suitable resources and technologies to effectively communicate. They use subject-specific language and conventions in accordance with the purpose of their presentation to communicate complex information. They provide constructive feedback to others and use feedback and reflection in order to inform their future presentations.
THINKING PROCESSES
Reasoning, processing and inquiry
At Level 6, students discriminate in the way they use a variety of sources. They generate questions that explore perspectives. They employ appropriate methodologies for creating and verifying knowledge in different disciplines. They make informed decisions based on their analysis of various perspectives and, sometimes contradictory, information.
Reflection, evaluation and met cognition
At Level 6, when reviewing information and refining ideas and beliefs, students explain conscious changes that may occur in their own and others’ thinking and analyse alternative perspectives and perceptions. They explain the different methodologies used by different disciplines to create and verify knowledge. They use specific terms to discuss their thinking, select and use thinking processes and tools appropriate to particular tasks, and evaluate their effectiveness.

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Assessment Strategies
When / What / Why / How
Pre and post assessment. At the start of the Building stage, and during the Personalising stage. / What were they thinking? / To assess students developing understandings about key events from different perspectives. To allow students to identify how their ideas and opinions have changed during the unit.
History, Thinking Processes, Personal Learning. / Using pictures of characters from:
  • First Fleet
  • Gold Rush
  • World War 1
  • The Stolen Generation
  • Immigration
Students discuss what they think the perspective of this person would be about the event or time they lived. Students individually add speech or thought bubbles to the characters and write what they think this person would be thinking or saying. They revisit these at the end of the unit to compare how their ideas about perspectives have changed.
During the course of the unit / Timeline / To assess students’ understandings significant events and movements which have resulted in improvements in civil and political rights in Australia, and the different perspectives evident in the events.
History / Students record significant dates and events in Australia’s history (including pre 1778) on a timeline. They place the event and date above the line, then below the line add what they have discovered about the perspectives and attitudes of various groups involved in the event, and whether the event had an impact on improving civil and political rights in Australia.
End of Investigating stage / Immigration Stories / To assess the students’ ability to analyse issues about inclusion and perspective. To give students the opportunity to retell an immigration story they have explored in a creative way.
History, Thinking Processes, Personal Learning. / Students select two personal stories they have heard and complete an OPV + E using 4 boxes; the 2 personal stories, the Australian Government during the White Australia Policy and the Australian Government today. Students then tell one of the personal stories in a mode of their choice. Students share retellings and give peer feedback.
During the personalising stage of the unit / Reflection and Assessment Task / To assess student’s understandings about issues of justice and inclusion.
Civics and Citizenship, History, Thinking Processes, Personal Learning. / Students complete a 2 part task reflecting on the questions, and giving supporting evidence:
Has Australia always been an inclusive society?
Is Australia an inclusive society today?
They then complete a creative response putting forward their own opinion and views about Australia as an inclusive society. The response could be; a piece of visual art, a written piece, poem, song, or something negotiated with the teacher.

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BUILDING

Activities planned during this stage of the unit are designed to build the foundational knowledge and skills the students will need to investigate this topic.
Purpose / Activity / Teacher notes
To determine students prior knowledge about some of the issues in the unit, and to engage them in the topic. / What were they thinking?
Have photocopies of people from different groups who were involved in the key events to be studied during the unit.
  • First Fleet
  • Gold Rush
  • World War 1
  • The Stolen Generation
  • Immigration
Students discuss in small groups what they think the perspective of this person would be about the event or time they lived.
Students individually add speech or thought bubbles to the characters and write what they think this person would be thinking or saying. / Student responses to these questions will allow teachers to adapt the unit based on the needs of their students.
These should be kept until the end of the unit so students can compare and discuss how their ideas may have changed.
To use the arrival and impact of the First Fleet to introduce students to an analysis of different perspectives around a significant event in Australia’s history. / 1788- The First Fleet
Prior to viewing chapter 1 of the First Australians DVD have students work in threes to discuss the following questions:
  • What do you think you know about the arrival of the First Fleet?
  • What might the Aboriginal people have been thinking when they saw the first fleet arrive?
  • What might the people on board the First Fleet have been thinking when they landed at Botany Bay on 26th January 1788?
View Chapter 1 of First Australians DVD
Discuss the perspectives put forward in the program. Students discuss the following questions in small groups then share as a whole class.
  • How what is was shown in the DVD different to what you were thinking before viewing the program?
  • How did the Europeans use Bennelong? What was his role?
  • How did the perspectives of the white people influence the way they treated the Aboriginal people?
  • How did the perspectives of the Aboriginal people influence the way they treated the white people?
  • Can you think of any examples of miscommunication?
View Barbakuieria DVD