Teaching sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

10 minutes

Tune In: Understanding First Nations peoples of Australia

15 minutes

Find Out: Exploring images

30 minutes

Take Action: Exploring stories

5 minutes

Reflection

Learning intentions

Students will:

recognise First Nations peoples as the Traditional Owners of the lands and waters of Australia.

Success criteria

Students can:

engage in thoughtful and respectful discussions
listen to and reflect on stories about and by First Nations peoples and cultures
retell part of a story using images and short sentences.

Preparation

In this lesson, you will need a picture book written by a First Nations author. Select one suitable for your students' age and stage. (Check out our Deadly Reads for some suggestions!)

Tune In: Understanding First Nations peoples of Australia

Step 1

Begin by posing the following question to students:

I wonder who we are talking about when we say ‘Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’.

Invite students to share their ideas. Record key points on the board, such as:

Australian
First Nations peoples
Peoples who have lived in Australia for a very long time
First Peoples of Australia

If a student uses outdated, stereotyping, or disrespectful terms, this is a great time to address respectful language with your students. You can explain that some words were historically used to be rude, dismissive, or mean, and we don’t use those words. If you need some guidance in this space Narragunnawali have put together a great terminology guide (narragunnawali.org.au/about/terminology-guide/) on language.

Find Out: Exploring First Nations Countries

Step 1

Display a map of Australia showing the states and territories we use today.

Ask your students:

if they can find where they live on this map
if they can name the different states and territories shown here.

Now show your students this map: AIATSIS Map (aiatsis.gov.au/explore/map-indigenous-australia)

That map looks quite different! Explain to your students that this map shows the different First Nations Countries. When the British colonists arrived in Australia, they didn’t recognise all these different Countries. They gave the land a new name, ‘Australia,’ and created new borders, ignoring these First Nations Countries. However, these Countries had been here for a very long time before these colonists arrived.

Step 2

Explain to your students that we know that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have lived in Australia for at least 65,000 years.

Learning extension: How do we know that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have lived in Australia for over 65,000 years? Explain to students that advancements in dating techniques (tests that tell us how long something has been around) give us a clearer understanding of how long First Nations peoples have lived in Australia. Some of the oldest archaeological sites are located in northern Australia. For example, dating techniques have shown that an ochre fragment dug up from the Madjebebe rock shelter in Arnhem Land is around 65,000 years old. Other ancient sites, like Lake Mungo in New South Wales and Devil's Lair in southwest Western Australia, are still being uncovered and studied across the continent.

If your students are keen to know more about archeology in Australia, you can find out about other important archaeological finds on the Bringing Them Home project (bth.humanrights.gov.au/significance/historical-context-ancient-history) or you could explore how dating techniques work through this video produced by The Guardian (theguardian.com/australia-news/video/2017/jul/20/aboriginal-archaeological-dig-80000-australia-video).

Explain that the British colonised Australia in 1788, only 237 years ago! This means Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have been here for thousands and thousands of years before European colonisation. This is why we call Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples the Traditional Owners, or the Traditional Custodians - because they have been living on and caring for the land and waters of Australia long before colonisation.

For this next part you need a large open space, like a playground or inside a hall.

To help put this in context for the students, grab a tape measure and ask one student to hold the end. This student is ‘today’. Stretch the tape measure out a little. Ask another student to find the 2cm point and hold the tape measure there. This is 200 years ago when the British arrived in Australia. Stretch the tape measure out some more. Ask a student to find the 3.5m mark. This was when the last Egyptian Pyramid was built (1500 BC). Stretch the tape measure and ask a student to find the 10m mark. This is when woolly mammoths went extinct (8,000 BC). Keep going back. You might need a second tape measure! We have to go back 65m to reach the known beginning of First Nations peoples’ connection to Country.

Take Action: Exploring stories

Step 1

Explain to students that today we are going to explore more about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples culture through a story (this is the story you selected earlier).

Before you read, share the name of the author and, if it is clear in the book, where they are from (for example, ‘this is a story by… who is a [person] from [Country]’). If you can, find the Country with your students on the map from earlier.

You can also explain that stories aren't just told for entertainment for many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. They are also a way of sharing their knowledge about the world around them and their history. Ask students to consider this point as they listen to the story: what might this story be telling us?

Once complete, engage students in a discussion around the story. Generate some prompts that relate directly to the book you read, for example, ‘I wonder what you learned about caring for Country from this book’. In addition, you could use some of the following prompts:

I wonder what this story was about. What happened in this story?
I wonder if the story was telling us something about Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples and culture.
I wonder what you noticed about the characters in this story.

I wonder if you learnt any new words in a new language from this story.
I wonder what information in this story was new to you.
I wonder what your favourite part of this story was.
I wonder what questions you have about this story. How we could answer these questions?

Step 2

Ask students to choose and draw their favourite part of the story, then write a sentence to accompany their drawing, re-telling their favourite part.

Step 3

Invite volunteers to share their responses with the class.

Reflection

Engage students in a class discussion around the following:

What did you find out today that was new to you?
What questions do you now have about Aboriginal And Torres Strait Islander peoples and cultures?

Thinking About Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples and Cultures

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Summary

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