Colonial Brisbane is a day Education Program at Brisbane’s Newstead House. Through immersion in museum theatre and hands-on learning experiences, students experience life in the 1800s to gain an understanding of the role significant individuals and groups played in shaping a colony.
A suite of education experiences and activities are designed to inspire students to compare daily life in Brisbane in the 1840’s to daily life in Brisbane today. Students, invited to be History Detectives, participate in activities including ‘Kate’s Garden’, ‘Wash Day Wonders’, ‘Mrs Fletchers Kitchen’ and ‘Games on the Green’ to experience life from the past. Students investigate Newstead House and formulate questions to discover what life was like for different social groups in Colonial Australia.
Specialised Theatre-in-Education actors set the scene, bring history alive and foster an emotional attachment to the place. As a result, students are motivated to continue to engage with Brisbane’s history and understand the importance of protecting heritage sites.
Curriculum Intent
Humanities and Social Sciences
Inquiry and Skills
Questioning
- Develop appropriate questions to guide an inquiry about people, events, developments, places, systems and challenges (ACHASSI094)
Researching
Locate and collect relevant information and data from primary sources and secondary sources (ACHASSI095)
Organise and represent data in a range of formats including tables, graphs and large and small scale maps, using discipline-appropriate conventions (ACHASSI096)
Sequence information about people’s lives, events, developments and phenomena using a variety of methods including timelines (ACHASSI097)
Analysing
Examine primary sources and secondary sources to determine their origin and purpose (ACHASSI098)
Examine different viewpoints on actions, events, issues and phenomena in the past and present (ACHASSI099)
Knowledge and Understanding
History
Reasons (economic, political and social) for the establishment of British colonies in Australia after 1800 (ACHASSK106)
The nature of convict or colonial presence, including the factors that influenced patterns of development, aspects of the daily life of the inhabitants (including Aboriginal Peoples and Torres Strait Islander Peoples) and how the environment changed (ACHASSK107)
The role that a significant individual or group played in shaping a colony (ACHASSK110)
Geography
- The environmental and human influences on the location and characteristics of a place and the management of spaces within them (ACHASSK113)
General Capabilities
Critical and creative thinking
- Inquiring - identifying, exploring and organising information and ideas
Literacy
- Comprehending texts through listening, reading and viewing
Cross-curriculum Priorities
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories and Cultures
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities maintain a special connection to and responsibility for Country/Place
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples live in Australia as first Peoples of Country or Place and demonstrate resilience in responding to historic and contemporary impacts of colonisation
Sustainability
- Sustainable futures result from actions designed to preserve and/or restore the quality and uniqueness of environments
C2C
HASS Unit 3 ‘Communities in colonial Australia (1800’s)’