Time+Machine+Through+Australia

** Time machine through Australia 1788-1901: Back to Sydney Cove ** ** Carol Jones. ** **Resource evaluation by: Erin Mealey**

This resource is a nonfiction picture book that looks at the beginnings of European settlement in Australia. It is a useful resource for the HSIE unit of work based on Stage 2 outcome CCS2.1 Describes events and actions related to the British colonisation of Australia and assesses changes and consequences (Board of Studies, 2001).The book is sequenced in a timeline starting from before 1788 continuing through to federation in 1901. This sequencing along with bold headings allows the reader to easily seek out particular information. The book primarily explores the European aspect of colonisation in Australia including aspects such as sightings and landings, place for a convict settlement, the first fleet, exploring the ‘new’ country, convicts and settlers, governors and officers, rebellions and uprisings. Only a small amount of the book touches on Aboriginal life prior to and after British Colonisation of Australia. Further resources will be needed to focus on this aspect of the topic.

 The book features information about some of the most significant people and events in this time period. This resource features both primary and secondary sources that supplement the text and will be useful in engaging students. The primary sources used include paintings, letters, maps and cartoon pictures. The use of sources gives the students an opportunity to look at multiple perspectives at the time and recognise that these sources may be subject to bias. This addresses the problematic knowledge aspect of intellectual quality in the Quality Teaching Framework ( NSW Department of Education and Training, 2003).

This resource could be used when teaching the Stage two HSIE unit topic: British Colonisation of Australia. This resource also can be linked to English KLA’s. From this resource students will learn multiple facts about coloninsation of Australia. From this students can explore English literacy outcomes. In our unit of work a structured lesson may be based on using this book to write an information report, or speech about one particular aspect covered in the book (Droga and Humphy, 2003). Students could also use this text along with other resources to create their own structured timeline of the major events that occurred (students should also use resources that focus on an Indigenous perspective so they create a timeline that incorporates both the European and Aboriginal aspects). This book contains primary sources of letters and other types of messages written by significant people of the time. This would be useful to analyse with students and recreate their own versions with students. Students can use both the written and visual information provided by this resource to create their own literacy text. This will require students to use higher order thinking to organise, analyse, synthesise and evaluate knowledge and information in the book. This directly addresses higher-order thinking in the Quality Teaching Framework (NSW Department of Education and Training, 2003).

**__ References: __**

Board of Studies. (2001). //Human Society and It’s Environment K-6 Syllabus//. Sydney:Author.

Droga, L., & Humphry, S. (2003). //Grammar and Meaning: an Intorduction for Primary Teachers//. NSW: Target Texts

Jones, C. (2004). //A Time Machine Through Australia 1788-1901: Back to Sydney Cove//.South Yarra: Macmillian Education Australia

NSW Department of Education and Training (2003). //Quality teaching in NSW schools. Discussion Paper.// Sydney, NSW: NSW Department of Education and Training.