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Activities: History
Relevance to the Australian Curriculum
These activities are written to address the following Draft Australian Curriculum's History
strands at the year 10 level: Historical skills; Historical knowledge and understanding.
Uploading activity outcomes
The results of work that you do on many of the following activities may be appropriate for
uploading to the Making of Modern Australia website.
Want to contribute your stories to the website?
If you do, make sure you check the 'Tell Your Story' section and its 'Terms of Service' first.
For tips and advice, watch the video tutorials on the website. To see the link to them, first
log in, then select 'Want your story to appear on ABC TV?' followed by 'Create story'.
A note on audio and video interviews
If you are going to do an audio or video recording of an interview, don't forget to make this
clear when you ask someone if you can interview them.
© Education Services Australia Ltd, 2010 (except where otherwise indicated). You may
download and reproduce this material free of charge for non-commercial educational purposes
provided you retain all acknowledgements associated with the material.
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Episode 1 – Childhood
Clip 1 – Child migrants from Britain
Focus 1
What were some of the experiences of children who migrated to Australia between 1945
and 1970 with their families in either the Assisted Passage or Displaced Settlers schemes?
Activities
1
Research the Australian Government's plans for and management of the Assisted Passage or
Displaced Settlers schemes. Work with a partner to create a list of questions you could ask a
person who migrated under one of them. Museum Victoria's Immigration Museum has some
useful information at http://museumvictoria.com.au/immigrationmuseum/.
2
Either interview someone you know was a child immigrant from this era or research
experiences to answer your prepared list of questions from the NSW Government's Migration
Heritage Centre at http://www.migrationheritage.nsw.gov.au/homepage or the History Trust
of South Australia's website at http://www.history.sa.gov.au/migration/migration.htm.
3
Prepare a video clip, audio recording or transcript of the interview. If you were not able to do
a real interview, you might like to use your research to construct a made-up one, and then
follow the same process as if it were real.
Focus 2
Was former prime minister Kevin Rudd's November 2009 apology to the 'Forgotten
Generations' of migrant children adequate?
Activities
Keeping the Focus 2 question in mind:
1
Using a web search under 'Forgotten Children Australia' research why the British child
migration scheme from 1945 to 1970 occurred and how it was managed.
2
Compare the oral history of Rose Kruger in the 'Child migrants from Britain' clip with other
personal accounts of this migration scheme, looking for similar experiences. You could use
the Forgotten Australians website at http://forgottenaustralianshistory.gov.au/.
3
Listen to Kevin Rudd's apology on the ABC News site at
http://www.abc.net.au/news/video/2009/11/16/2743730.htm.
4
Present the results of your research in an audio recording or report that can be shared with
your class. Your findings should reflect the Focus 2 question about whether the apology was
adequate, in your view.
© Education Services Australia Ltd, 2010 (except where otherwise indicated). You may
download and reproduce this material free of charge for non-commercial educational purposes
provided you retain all acknowledgements associated with the material.
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Clip 2 – Family life in the 1960s
Focus 1
Were Karen Lawrence's experiences, as shared in this clip, typical of 1950s–70s family life?
Activities
1
Using the experiences of the interviewees in the whole 'Childhood' episode, compile two
lists:
a
a list of family and/or school expectations of children living in the 1950s and 60s
b
a list of the consequences of these family and/or school expectations for children living in
the 1950s and 60s.
2
From these lists, prepare at least ten questions about family life and schooling experiences
that could be used in interviews with three relatives, neighbours or family friends who were
children in the 1950s–60s.
3
What conclusions can you make about adult expectations of children in the 1950s–70s and
how they affected children then? Were Karen Lawrence's experiences typical of those of
other children of the time?
Focus 2
Is the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child generally respected in Australia
today? Is the treatment of children in Australia today different from their treatment in the
1950s–60s?
Activities
Before you begin, see the short and direct 'Plain Language Version' of the UN Convention on
the Children's Rights page on the Australian Government's Department of Education,
Employment and Workplace Relations website at:
http://www.curriculum.edu.au/cce/default.asp?id=9458. Alternatively, see the same Plain
Language Version on the United Nations cybershoolbus site at:
http://www.un.org/cyberschoolbus/humanrights/resources/plainchild.asp.
Then, keeping in mind the two Focus 2 questions:
1
Collect a list of what the people interviewed in the Childhood episode say about
family/school expectations of, and the consequences for, children living in the 1950s–70s.
2
Interview at least two relatives or family friends to compare their 1950s–60s childhood
experiences with the experiences reflected in the episode.
3
In small groups, re-read the ten 'Plain Language Version' principles of the United Nations
Rights of the Child and think about your own childhood. Make a list of the observations made
about your lives and then compare these observations with the interview data you have
collected.
4
Prepare a multimedia presentation to share your conclusions based on what you have found
in relation to the two opening Focus 2 questions.
© Education Services Australia Ltd, 2010 (except where otherwise indicated). You may
download and reproduce this material free of charge for non-commercial educational purposes
provided you retain all acknowledgements associated with the material.
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Clip 3 – 'Like a fish out of water'
Focus 1
Donna reflects on her experiences of being an Aboriginal child adopted by non-Indigenous
parents in the 1960s. Why do you think Donna felt like a 'fish out of water'?
Activities
1
Discuss the focus question in groups of two or three and document your thoughts.
2
As a class, share your documented views on the focus question. Make a list of the outcomes
from your class discussion and keep them to review later.
3
As a class, view former prime minister Kevin Rudd's 2008 apology to the Stolen Generations
from the Stolen Generations Victoria website at
http://www.stolengenerationsvictoria.org.au/resources. Also, search for and study the lyrics
or a performance of Archie Roach's song 'Took the Children Away'.
4
From your examination of the class discussion outcomes list, the apology by Kevin Rudd and
the song 'Took the children away', and using other research you have undertaken on the
Stolen Generations, sum up why you think Donna felt like an outsider.
Focus 2
Donna says that she dreaded being asked about her nationality and that by the age of 13
she did not feel comfortable about acknowledging her heritage. What social and cultural
influences at the time might have made Donna feel like this?
Activities
Research some of the major social and cultural influences of 1960s Australia, and record
your findings. You may wish to develop a multimedia presentation to share these findings
with others.
In groups or as a class, discuss the possible relation of these influences to Donna's
experiences as she describes them.
© Education Services Australia Ltd, 2010 (except where otherwise indicated). You may
download and reproduce this material free of charge for non-commercial educational purposes
provided you retain all acknowledgements associated with the material.
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Clip 4 – Reactions to women's liberation
Focus 1
In this clip BA Santamaria and a group of young Australian men express a series of common
beliefs about the roles and expectations of women in the early 1970s.
Activities
1
Find and interview at least three men who were aged in their twenties in the early 1970s.
Note that you will need to prepare an audio recording or transcript of the interview.
2
Show each man the clip, and then ask:

What views did you hold on these issues when you were in your twenties?

Are your beliefs/views different now? In what ways?
3
Find and interview at least three men who are now in their twenties by showing them the
clip and asking for their responses to the views aired in it. Prepare an audio recording or
transcript of the interview.
4
What conclusions can you make about perceptions of female equality in Australia today
compared to those in the mid-1970s?
Clip 5 – Vietnamese refugees and their children's future
Focus 1
A personal exploration, through an interview, of the experiences of someone who migrated
with their family to Australia as a child between 1975 and 2000 from a country in which
English was not a first language.
Activities
1
Find a relative, friend or neighbour who migrated with their family to Australia as a child
between 1975 and 2000 from a country in which English was not a first language.
2
Construct a list of interview questions as a class. Base them on your observations of Helen's
experiences in this clip and on the experiences of others in the whole 'Childhood' episode.
3
Interview your relative, friend or neighbour to establish how much they played a role as an
informal language translator and cultural mediator for their family and for teachers.
4
You can record the interview as a video, audio file or transcript.
Establish how similar your interviewee's experiences were to Helen Huynh's childhood
experiences in Australia.
© Education Services Australia Ltd, 2010 (except where otherwise indicated). You may
download and reproduce this material free of charge for non-commercial educational purposes
provided you retain all acknowledgements associated with the material.
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© Education Services Australia Ltd, 2010 (except where otherwise indicated). You may
download and reproduce this material free of charge for non-commercial educational purposes
provided you retain all acknowledgements associated with the material.
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