Talkin’ like a convict

Content

Stories of the First Fleet, including reasons for the journey, who travelled to Australia, and their experiences following arrival (ACHHK079)

Students:

• describe the establishment of the British colony at Port Jackson
• using a range of sources, investigate the everyday life of ONE of the following who sailed on the First Fleet and lived in the early colony: a soldier, convict, ex-convict, official

The nature of contact between Aboriginal people and/or Torres Strait Islanders and others, for example, the Macassans and the Europeans, and the effects of these interactions on, for example, families and the environment (ACHHK080)

Students:

• describe the nature of contact between Aboriginal people and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples and others, including Aboriginal resistance
• use sources to identify different perspectives on the arrival of the British to Australia
• outline the impact of early British colonisation on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples' country.

Historical Skills

Comprehension: chronology, terms and concepts:

• respond, read and write, to show understanding of historical matters
• sequence familiar people and events
• use historical terms

Analysis and use of sources:

• locate relevant information from sources provided 

Perspectives and interpretations:

• identify different points of view within an historical context

Empathetic understanding:

• explain how and why people in the past may have lived and behaved differently from today

Research:

• pose a range of questions about the past
• plan an historical inquiry

Explanation and communication:

• develop texts, particularly narratives
• use a range of communication forms (oral, graphic, written) and digital technologies

Historical Concepts

Continuity and change: changes and continuities due to British colonisation of Australia.

Cause and effect: reasons for a particular historical development

Perspectives: different points of view within an historical context

Empathetic understanding: how and why people in the past may have lived and behaved differently from today.

Significance: the importance and meaning of national commemorations and celebrations, and the importance of a person or event.

Contestability: historical events or issues may be interpreted differently by historians, eg British 'invasion' or 'settlement' of Australia.

LAC

Cross-curriculum priorities:

• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures

General capabilities:

• Critical and creative thinking
• Ethical understanding
• Intercultural understanding
• Literacy

Updated Australian Curriculum Outcomes

Stories of the First Fleet, including reasons for the journey, who travelled to Australia, and their experiences following arrival (ACHASSK085)

• investigating attitudes to the poor, the treatment of prisoners at that time, and the social standing of those who travelled to Australia on the First Fleet, including families, children and convict guards
• investigating daily life in the Botany Bay penal settlement and challenges experienced by the people there and how they were managed.

The nature of contact between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples and others, for example, the Macassans and the Europeans, and the effects of these interactions on, for example, people and environments (ACHASSK086) 

• exploring the impact that British colonisation had on the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples (dispossession; dislocation; and the loss of lives through conflict, disease, loss of food sources and medicines)

• considering whether the interactions between Europeans and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples had positive or negative effects
• examining paintings and accounts (by observers such as Watkin Tench and David Collins) to determine the impact of early British colonisation on Aboriginal Peoples' Country