Early Stage 1 (Kindergarten) Personal and family histories
Students learn how the stories of families and the past can be communicated through photographs. In this activity they will
examine photos from the State Library of NSW to find out what family life was like in the past, and compare family life in the past to
family life in the present.
Topic:
Family photo albums
Key inquiry questions:
What is my history and how do I know?
What stories do other people tell about the past?
How can stories of the past be told and shared?
Content
How the stories of families and the past can be communicated, for example through photographs, artefacts, books, oral histories,
digital media, and museums (ACHHK004)
Students:

pose questions about another's object or photograph

discuss then and now; past and present
In this unit of work the term ‘Indigenous’ is used to refer to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
Background notes for teachers
The activity is designed to introduce students to photos as historical records of people, places and events in the past.
Students examine photos from the State Library of NSW to find out about what family life was like in the past.
1 | State Library of New South Wales: NSW Syllabus for the Australian Curriculum – History (Family photo albums)
They compare family life in the past to family life in the present by considering that some things change over time and some things
stay the same.
Discuss the following with your class:
Have you ever taken a photo of your family?
Cameras have been around for a long time. Before cameras people would paint or draw something they wanted to remember.
Often it was a picture of their family.
As cameras improved people took photos of their family, friends and pets. They wanted to have a memory of those they love.
Photos taken long ago can tell us a lot about how people lived in the past. They show us what houses and gardens looked like.
They show us the type of clothes people wore. Sometimes they show what people did on special occasions.
Have you ever looked through an old family photo album? Who did you see? How different do they look in the photos?
Activity 1: Notes for teachers
Quong Tart and his family
This photo of Quong Tart and his family was taken around 1900.
Find out more information about Quong Tart and his family at: http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/mei-quong-tart-4181
Ask students to:

Explain how Quong Tart’s family is similar or different to their own family.

Write words in the speech-bubble to describe relationships between family members in the photos.
Student Activity 1: Family photos
Photo 1: Quong Tart and his family, 1900

Who’s who in this family photo?
2 | State Library of New South Wales: NSW Syllabus for the Australian Curriculum – History (Family photo albums)

What is their relationship to each other?
I am …
I am …
I am …
I am …
I am …
I am …
I am …
http://www.acmssearch.sl.nsw.gov.au/search/itemDetailPaged.cgi?itemID=69709
3 | State Library of New South Wales: NSW Syllabus for the Australian Curriculum – History (Family photo albums)
Activity 2: Notes for teachers
Five photos show different families over time.
Ask students to:

identify people and describe their relationship to one another, e.g. mother, father, grandmother, grandfather, brother, sister,
baby

identify similarities with their family, e.g. number of people, brothers, sisters

identify differences, e.g. clothing, hats

explain what these differences tell us about how things can change or stay the same over time
Student Activity 2: How things change or stay the same over time
These are old photos of families taken at different times in the past.

What is similar to your family?

What is different to your family?
4 | State Library of New South Wales: NSW Syllabus for the Australian Curriculum – History (Family photo albums)
Photo 2: Royal Easter Show, 1938
http://www.acmssearch.sl.nsw.gov.au/search/itemDetailPaged.cgi?itemID=22324
5 | State Library of New South Wales: NSW Syllabus for the Australian Curriculum – History (Family photo albums)
Photo 3: Hixson Family, c.1898
http://www.acmssearch.sl.nsw.gov.au/search/itemDetailPaged.cgi?itemID=430464
6 | State Library of New South Wales: NSW Syllabus for the Australian Curriculum – History (Family photo albums)
Photo 4: Japanese steamer arrives. The captain with wife and family.
http://www.acmssearch.sl.nsw.gov.au/search/itemDetailPaged.cgi?itemID=42628
7 | State Library of New South Wales: NSW Syllabus for the Australian Curriculum – History (Family photo albums)
Photo 5: Portrait of Norman and Lionel Lindsay, family and friends, ca. 1900-1912
http://www.acmssearch.sl.nsw.gov.au/search/itemDetailPaged.cgi?itemID=8941
8 | State Library of New South Wales: NSW Syllabus for the Australian Curriculum – History (Family photo albums)
Photo 6: Mr and Mrs Eddie Atkinson
http://www.acmssearch.sl.nsw.gov.au/search/itemDetailPaged.cgi?itemID=421513
9 | State Library of New South Wales: NSW Syllabus for the Australian Curriculum – History (Family photo albums)
NSW Syllabus for the Australian Curriculum History K - 10
Outcomes
Historical Skills
Historical concepts
HTe-1 communicates stories of their own
family heritage and the heritage of others
Comprehension: chronology, terms
and concepts
Continuity and change

HTe-2 demonstrates developing skills of
historical inquiry and communication
distinguish between the past, present
and future (ACHHS016)
Use of sources
 explore and use a range of sources
about the past (ACHHS018)

some things change over time and
others remain the same
Empathetic understanding

developing an understanding of
another’s views, life and decisions
made
 identify and compare features of
objects from the past and present
(ACHHS019)
Explanation and communication
 develop a narrative about the past
(ACHHS021)
 use a range of communication forms
(oral, graphic, written, role play) and
digital technologies (ACHHS022)
Learning across the curriculum

Literacy
10 | State Library of New South Wales: NSW Syllabus for the Australian Curriculum – History (Family photo albums)