Year

5 Unit Overview Australian Curriculum Learning Areas: Humanities and Social Sciences

Unit Title
Duration
Colonial Australia - Immigrants
5 weeks 10 lessons (2 lessons per week)
Unit Outline
There were many significant events, developments and people that shaped the Australian colonies during the 1800s.
These events include the gold rushes and the Eureka Stockade (Rebellion). The people of the time including
immigrants from Europe (England) and Asia, as well as the indigenous people that originally occupied the land.
Throughout the unit students will use relevant sources to investigate a significant individual or group and will
construct a multimodal presentation about he/she/them and the significant events during colonial Australia.
Key Inquiry Question/s
The key inquiry question is:

What were the significant events and who were the significant people that shaped Australian colonies?

A framework for developing students historical knowledge, understanding and skills is provided by inquiry questions
through the use and interpretation of sources. The key inquiry questions at this year level are:

What do we know about the lives of people in Australias colonial past and how do we know?
How did an Australian colony develop over time and why?
How did colonial settlement change the environment?
What were the significant events and who were the significant people that shaped Australian colonies?
Inquiry questions embedded in lessons:-

What do you know about immigrants and how they migrated to colonial Australia?
Why did they come?
How do you think the Indigenous people felt about foreign people coming to live in their home country?
In the 1800s, what reasons would motivate an individual and/or group to migrate to Australia and what were
their connections with other colonies?
How do they think they travelled to Australia?
Would it be different now if they were to travel here?
Would they have travelled in the straight direction?
Who had to travel the greatest distance?
Who would have had the roughest journey?
What do we want to find out?
Where can we best find this information?
How will we collect and share what weve found?
What are the reasons people migrated to Australia in the 1800s and how did they contribute to the society once
there?
How can I get the best marks possible in my presentation?
How are you going to compile your research into a creative and unique presentation?
What other information do you think may be essential to include about your chosen person?
Am I being a fair marker?
How could this unit be improved?
How are you going to compile your research into a creative and unique presentation?
What other information do you think may be essential to include about your chosen person?
Has my view on this topic changed?

Year Level Achievement Strand

History
Year 5 Achievement Standard
By the end of Year 5, students identify the causes and effects of change on particular communities, and describe
aspects of the past that remained the same. They describe the different experiences of people in the past. They
describe the significance of people and events in bringing about change.
Students sequence events and people (their lifetime) in chronological order, using timelines. When researching,
students develop questions to frame an historical inquiry. They identify a range of sources and locate and record
information related to this inquiry. They examine sources to identify points of view. Students develop, organise and
present their texts, particularly narratives and descriptions, using historical terms and concepts.

Geography
Year 5 Achievement Standard
By the end of Year 5, students explain the characteristics of places in different locations at the national scale. They
describe the interconnections between people, places and environments and identify the effect of these
interconnections on the characteristics of places and environments. They describe the location of selected countries in
relative terms and identify spatial distributions and simple patterns in the features of places and environments. They
identify alternative views on how to respond to a geographical challenge and propose a response.

Assessment
Assessment of Learning Evident in following lessons: Test it (1 & 2) and Act
Assessment for Learning Evident in following lessons: Explore, Look (1 & 2), Sort and Act
Assessment as Learning Evident in following lessons: Tune in, Explore (1 & 2),