Looking at the impact of the arrival of the First Fleet on
the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and their way of
life, our year four students will be learning about this important part of
Australian History, and at the same time looking at what the impact of their
arrival was and how we, as citizens, can learn from how they were treated. An
important aspect of this unit of learning is allowing the students to develop
their own opinions about the history of Australia’s European settlement. We
will also look at what has been done to repair the relationship between
Aboriginal people and European Australians. This line of study will allow
students to meet the desired outcomes of the Australian Curriculum in the HASS key
learning area (Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority
[ACARA], 2016). Building upon the students’ learning of Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander culture from year 3 HASS learning (ACARA, 2016), they will be
focusing on the European side of history. We will be undertaking a unit
focusing on stories of the First Fleet. Our unit is sourced from Teach Starter
(2018), a website that provides a variety of resources, all targeted at the
various areas of the Australian Curriculum.
The unit plan covers a number of Australian Curriculum
outcomes within the HASS Key Learning Area and allows students to investigate a
number of aspects of the British Colonisation of Australia. The lesson targeted
and investigating the impact of colonisation on Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander Australians will allow students to develop an understanding of how the
colonisation affected the lives of the group of people that they have
previously investigated. Students will work in pairs to investigate one impact
of the below in detail and present their findings to the whole class.
The different impacts of
British Colonisation on Indigenous Australians, Teach Starter (2018)
Students will then look at what the impact of these things
has been in more recent history, and what has been done to apologise to the
community of Indigenous Australians. The goal of the study of British
Colonisation and the impact of it on Indigenous Australians, is for students to
develop an opinion on this part of Australian History, and want to take action
for reconciliation. One way that this could occur is through the creation of a
Reconciliation Action Plan, with the assistance of the resources provided by Narragunnawali
(Reconciliation Australia, 2016). This way the students can create a school
community working towards reconciliation.
Parents can support their children by ensuring that they
provide un-biased support. This topic has two names specifically because students will need to make their own decision about what to call it. Outside bias should not influence how they view a topic. It is important that students develop their own
opinions on an issue such as colonisation/invasion. When teaching historical units,
ensuring a non-biased approach allows students to look at all perspectives of
historical events, and allowing them to form their own opinions on it.
Word count: 499
References:
Australian
Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority [ACARA]. (2016). The Australian Curriculum: HASS (Version
8.3), Year 3-6, all curriculum elements, all curriculum dimensions. Retrieved
from https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/f-10-curriculum/humanities-and-social-sciences/hass/
Reconciliation Australia. Reconciliation
Action Plan. (2016). Narragunnawali. Retrieved from
https://www.narragunnawali.org.au/raps/what-is-a-rap
Teach Starter (2018). The First Fleet and
the British Colonisation of Australia Unit Plan Unit Plan. Teach Starter.
Retrieved 30 March 2018, from
https://www.teachstarter.com/unit-plan/first-fleet-british-colonisation-australia/
