Teaching sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

15 minutes

Tune In: What is Country?

15 minutes

Find Out: What Country are you on?

25 minutes

Take Action: Aspects of liveability for First Nations peoples

5 minutes

Reflection

Learning intentions and success criteria

Students will:

explore the concept of Country and liveability for First Nations peoples in Australia.

Students can:

research and record information about Traditional Owners
reflect and build on their understanding of Country
describe aspects of how connection to Country influences liveability for First Nations peoples in Australia.

Tune In: What is Country?

Ensuring psychological safety and inclusivity:

Before beginning this lesson, it is essential to account for the experiences of any First Nations students in your class. It is important not to isolate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students in how the material is taught. Some First Nations students may have important insights or contributions which should be welcomed. However, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students should not be expected to contribute any more than other students.

Step 1

Begin the class by doing an Acknowledgement of Country with your students. Your school may have an Acknowledgement of Country that recognises the Traditional Owners of the land your school resides on that they use regularly, which you could use, or you may like to create your own.

If you need assistance, please visit the Reconciliation Australia (reconciliation.org.au/reconciliation/acknowledgement-of-country-and-welcome-to-country/) website.

If you need assistance identifying which Country you are on, please visit the AIATSIS website here (aiatsis.gov.au/explore/map-indigenous-australia) and here (aiatsis.gov.au/whose-country).

Step 2

Ask your students to reflect on what they think Country means for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Direct students to the Student Worksheet to respond to the question, ‘What do you think Country means?’ in the first column of the table.

Invite students to share their responses with the class. You may like to use this opportunity to share your own understanding of what you believe Country means for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. At this point, you may want to remind students that the way First Nations people feel about Country can vary from individual to individual.

Step 3

Watch the following video with your students, which explains the significance of Country for Aboriginal people.

Country - what it means for Aboriginal communities (youtube.com/watch?v=_UpcEPxUQXI)

After viewing, direct students to the Student Worksheet to add information to the second column of the table (What have you learnt about what Country means from watching the video?), reflecting on what they have learned about what Country means.

Step 4

Provide each student with a printed or digital copy of this Understanding Country factsheet which outlines some important aspects of liveability for First Nations peoples. Read the factsheet to your students or invite students to take turns in reading.

After reading, direct students to the Student Worksheet to add to the information they have already listed into the second column of the table, reflecting on what else they have learnt about Country from the Understanding Country factsheet.

Find Out: What Country are you on?

Step 1

Please note: As the lesson started with an Acknowledgement of Country, the students will likely know the Country they are learning on. If you need assistance identifying which Country you are on, please visit the AIATSIS website here (aiatsis.gov.au/explore/map-indigenous-australia) and here (aiatsis.gov.au/whose-country).

Your students’ task is to now research the Traditional Owners of the Country they live OR learn on. Some students may live on a different Country from where your school is located. In this case, assist students in locating the Country they live on.

Encourage students to source information from reputable sources such as Traditional Owner Land Council websites and organisations.

Students will need to find at least five facts about the Traditional Owners, and they will record this information and each source in the Student Worksheet.

Step 2

Invite each student to share one of their facts with the class.

Take Action: Aspects of liveability for First Nations peoples

Step 1

Discuss the term ‘liveability’ with your students. Based on their prior knowledge, students should understand that liveability is a term that describes how good or suitable a place is to live in. It takes into account various factors that affect people's quality of life. There are aspects of liveability, such as:

Safety: How safe a place is from crime, conflict or natural disasters.
Health: Access to good healthcare services, and clean air and water.
Education: Availability and quality of schools and educational facilities.
Environment: Cleanliness, green spaces, and the overall quality of the natural or built environment.
Housing: Availability, affordability and quality of homes.
Community: Sense of community, sense of belonging, social activities, and how friendly and supportive people are.
Transportation: Availability and quality of public transportation and road systems.
Amenities: Access to shops, restaurants, parks and recreational facilities.

Liveability is important because it helps determine how comfortable and happy people can be in a certain place. Cities and towns that rank high in liveability can be perceived as more attractive places to live.

As a lead-in to the next activity, ask students how they think any of the facts they found in the previous activity relate to liveability for First Nations peoples.

Explain to students that for First Nations people, their connection to Country impacts their liveability. Research shows us that many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples don’t necessarily live on their traditional Country (source: indigenoushpf.gov.au/measures/2-14-indigenous-people-with-access-to-their-tradit#:~:text=Over%20a%20quarter%20(27%25%20or,1). However, the connection to the Country they hold can be categorised into specific aspects of liveability, such as the aspects students explored previously in the lesson:

Language
Relationships
Lore
Community
Connection to history

Step 3

Divide your students into five groups. Assign each group one of the aspects of liveability for First Nations peoples. Provide each student with a copy of their group’s Activity Sheet.

Direct each group to read through their assigned activity sheet.

Step 4

After reading, ask each student to form a new group with one person from each category. In their new groups, students will share information they’ve learnt about their category of liveability with the group.

Step 5

As a class, invite students to share what they learned about liveability for First Nations peoples.

Extension opportunity: Invite students to present this information to the school community at the next year level or whole school assembly. You may also invite students to collate their information to create an article for the school newsletter.

Reflection

Direct students to the Student Worksheet to respond to the reflection question:

Why is a connection to Country important for the liveability of First Nations peoples?

Liveability and Connection to Country

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Summary

Lesson guides and printables

In this lesson