Resources for Year Four History Units
Early World Maps
Suggestion: Use the early maps (below) for group inquiry.
Students could explore a map in their group and discuss:
Interactive versions of early maps http://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/discover_collections/history_nation/dixson/01_southern_lands_revealed/index.html
Dieppe Maps on wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dieppe_maps#Existing_Dieppe_Maps
Dieppe and Dauphin maps http://www.stradbrokeislandgalleon.com/dieppe.html
More background for teachers about “voyages of grand discovery” on the WA Museum website: http://www.museum.wa.gov.au/exhibitions/voyages/exhibition.html
Maps of Chinese explorations in 1421: http://www.gavinmenzies.net/china/maps/
Students could explore a map in their group and discuss:
- How do these maps differ from the shape of maps we have today?
- Why do you think this is the case?
- What do we need to know to answer this question?
- What other questions can you pose about these maps?
Interactive versions of early maps http://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/discover_collections/history_nation/dixson/01_southern_lands_revealed/index.html
Dieppe Maps on wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dieppe_maps#Existing_Dieppe_Maps
Dieppe and Dauphin maps http://www.stradbrokeislandgalleon.com/dieppe.html
More background for teachers about “voyages of grand discovery” on the WA Museum website: http://www.museum.wa.gov.au/exhibitions/voyages/exhibition.html
Maps of Chinese explorations in 1421: http://www.gavinmenzies.net/china/maps/
Voyages of Discovery
The videos below present information that will answer many of the key inquiry questions for this year level. Watch as a class and discuss the students’ impressions. During a second viewing, students identify information such as:
Ferdinand Magellan - video documentary in five parts (each 8 - 10 minutes duration) features excellent dramatisations with replica ships.
Marco Polo - Video biography
Vasco da Gama – documentary trailer (10 mins), explains the effects of Portuguese on the African people
View “Australia’s Secret History” video and discuss how this “first contact” differed from the First Fleet’s early contacts with the Aboriginal people.
- What were some of the reasons that these men set sail?
- What challenges did they face along the journey?
- How did the voyagers affect the people already living in far away lands?
- What did they gain from their voyages?
- What did they leave behind in the places they visited?
Ferdinand Magellan - video documentary in five parts (each 8 - 10 minutes duration) features excellent dramatisations with replica ships.
Marco Polo - Video biography
Vasco da Gama – documentary trailer (10 mins), explains the effects of Portuguese on the African people
View “Australia’s Secret History” video and discuss how this “first contact” differed from the First Fleet’s early contacts with the Aboriginal people.
Using Google Maps
Students can demonstrate what they know about famous journeys and voyages using Google Maps. They can pin images and information to locations, draw lines to indicate routes and show areas.
Completed maps can be shared via links, or embedded like the map to the right. Click here to find out how it's done. |
View Matthew Flinders' Voyage in a larger map |
How did the Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders live before the arrival of European settlers?
"Indigenous Australia": collection of three videos about traditional foods (story, hunt, collecting turtle eggs). Modern clips but still good video source of information about traditional foods.
Indigenous language map (interactive)
Aboriginal Games - list with explanations
"Dust Echoes" animated stories with study guides. Beautiful, interactive presentation but pre-watch stories – some may be too dark and violent for yr 4
National Museum Dreaming stories – from five different areas of Australia
Language Groups Map of Australia
Thukeri - traditional story about greed
Twelve Canoes - comprehensive multimedia resource on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture and history
Stories of the Dreaming on the Australian Museum website
Aboriginal Tools and Technology - and related links from the Australian Government Culture portal
Foods from different regions
Methods of food collection from different regions
Timeline of Aboriginal History – might be useful for your timeline activity on the oval
Aboriginal sites and places – lists the ways aboriginal people used the land and what evidence is left today
Video explaining how Aborigines used hand signs to communicate (e.g. During hunts when any noise would scare animals away) - scroll right down the page
Hunting and Weapons (lots more to link to at this site – click links to art, food, culture – instruments, dress etc)
Aboriginal people in the Gibson Desert - video footage black and white
Aboriginal dance video - 2 mins
Video 4 mins – finding witchetty grubs and honey ants
Cooking mullet the Aboriginal Australian way – aboriginal man how demonstrates how
"The Dreaming" explained - includes a poem by an Aboriginal lady who talks about "The Dreamtime People".
A note about "doing aboriginal art":
Due to the spiritual and ceremonial connections with The Dreaming, the art of Aborigines should not be reproduced in any way unless permission is given by the artist(s) involved in its development. Symbols used should not be copied as they often involve sacred and spiritual figures that are only meant to be reproduced by selected members of a language group.
[Source: http://www.indigenousaustralia.info/culture/aboriginal-art.html]
Indigenous language map (interactive)
Aboriginal Games - list with explanations
"Dust Echoes" animated stories with study guides. Beautiful, interactive presentation but pre-watch stories – some may be too dark and violent for yr 4
National Museum Dreaming stories – from five different areas of Australia
Language Groups Map of Australia
Thukeri - traditional story about greed
Twelve Canoes - comprehensive multimedia resource on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture and history
Stories of the Dreaming on the Australian Museum website
Aboriginal Tools and Technology - and related links from the Australian Government Culture portal
Foods from different regions
Methods of food collection from different regions
Timeline of Aboriginal History – might be useful for your timeline activity on the oval
Aboriginal sites and places – lists the ways aboriginal people used the land and what evidence is left today
Video explaining how Aborigines used hand signs to communicate (e.g. During hunts when any noise would scare animals away) - scroll right down the page
Hunting and Weapons (lots more to link to at this site – click links to art, food, culture – instruments, dress etc)
Aboriginal people in the Gibson Desert - video footage black and white
Aboriginal dance video - 2 mins
Video 4 mins – finding witchetty grubs and honey ants
Cooking mullet the Aboriginal Australian way – aboriginal man how demonstrates how
"The Dreaming" explained - includes a poem by an Aboriginal lady who talks about "The Dreamtime People".
A note about "doing aboriginal art":
Due to the spiritual and ceremonial connections with The Dreaming, the art of Aborigines should not be reproduced in any way unless permission is given by the artist(s) involved in its development. Symbols used should not be copied as they often involve sacred and spiritual figures that are only meant to be reproduced by selected members of a language group.
[Source: http://www.indigenousaustralia.info/culture/aboriginal-art.html]
First Fleet Contacts
Video Clip - "First Australians: Can You Imagine?" - http://aso.gov.au/titles/documentaries/first-australians-episode-1/clip2/
Ticket of Leave - http://www.slv.vic.gov.au/pictoria/gid/slv-pic-aab46845/1/a08391
Video clip of first fleet with map travel patterns - http://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/discover_collections/history_nation/terra_australis/firstfleet.html
State Library of NSW http://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/discover_collections/history_nation/terra_australis/index.html
First Fleet Database: http://firstfleet.uow.edu.au/advanced.aspx
Samuel Cooper Putting the Rabble to Work: Learning Object - http://www.scootle.edu.au/ec/viewing/L359/index.html
Picture of Ticket of Leave 1857 - http://www.scootle.edu.au/ec/viewing/R4173/index.html
Picture: Foundling of Australia 1937 - http://www.scootle.edu.au/ec/viewing/R6799/index.html
Convicts to Australia website - http://members.iinet.net.au/~perthdps/convicts/ships.html
Oscar's Sketchbook - "Flip through the 40 pages of a sketchbook which belonged to Oscar, a young Aboriginal man who grew up in Queensland in the 1880s. The drawings in Oscar's book appear to present an autobiographical account of his life, with Indigenous scenes and cross-cultural contact" - http://www.nma.gov.au/collections/collection_interactives/oscars
Ticket of Leave - http://www.slv.vic.gov.au/pictoria/gid/slv-pic-aab46845/1/a08391
Video clip of first fleet with map travel patterns - http://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/discover_collections/history_nation/terra_australis/firstfleet.html
State Library of NSW http://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/discover_collections/history_nation/terra_australis/index.html
First Fleet Database: http://firstfleet.uow.edu.au/advanced.aspx
Samuel Cooper Putting the Rabble to Work: Learning Object - http://www.scootle.edu.au/ec/viewing/L359/index.html
Picture of Ticket of Leave 1857 - http://www.scootle.edu.au/ec/viewing/R4173/index.html
Picture: Foundling of Australia 1937 - http://www.scootle.edu.au/ec/viewing/R6799/index.html
Convicts to Australia website - http://members.iinet.net.au/~perthdps/convicts/ships.html
Oscar's Sketchbook - "Flip through the 40 pages of a sketchbook which belonged to Oscar, a young Aboriginal man who grew up in Queensland in the 1880s. The drawings in Oscar's book appear to present an autobiographical account of his life, with Indigenous scenes and cross-cultural contact" - http://www.nma.gov.au/collections/collection_interactives/oscars