Links to the Australian Curriculum

This resource links to the Civics and citizenship, and History areas of the curriculum. Some activities also connect strongly with Visual arts, and the case study content could be used for various English activities. A summary of curriculum connections for both primary and secondary levels is shown below:

Primary

Skills

This resource presents opportunities for students to locate and collect relevant information from primary and secondary sources. Activities are designed to encourage source analysis and evaluation, while examining different viewpoints on actions, events, issues and phenomena in the past and present.

Knowledge

Civics and citizenship

Anzac Diversity has a strong focus on the shared values of Australian citizenship and the formal rights and responsibilities of Australian citizens. Students can discuss how people with shared beliefs and values work together to achieve a civic goal, and obligations citizens may consider they have beyond their own national borders as active and informed global citizens. Readers are encouraged to form their own opinions about how values, including freedom, respect, inclusion, civility, responsibility, compassion, equality and a “fair go” can promote cohesion within Australian society.

Students can also investigate how groups, such as religious and cultural groups, express their particular identities; and how this influences perceptions of others.

History

Through case studies and activities, students can explore the experiences of Australian democracy and citizenship, including the status and rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and migrants. The resource also shares stories about the contribution of individuals and groups to the development of Australian society since Federation.

Visual arts

Within the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander section, students can explore ideas and practices used by artists to represent different views, beliefs, and opinions. They are encouraged to discuss how visual arts conventions communicate meaning by comparing artworks from different social, cultural and historical contexts, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artworks.

Secondary

Skills

Through Anzac Diversity, students will have opportunities to identify, gather, and sort information and ideas from a range of primary and secondary sources. They can practice source analysis, including examining the origin, purpose, reliability and usefulness of sources, before drawing conclusions and sharing opinions based on evidence.

This resource encourages students to identify and analyse multiple perspectives of people from the past, accounting for different interpretations and points of view.

Knowledge

Civics and citizenship

Students can explore the idea that values, including freedom, respect, inclusion, civility, responsibility, compassion, equality and a “fair go”, can promote cohesion within Australian society.

Students can participate in discussion around national identity and how this can shape a sense of belonging. There are opportunities to investigate how and why various religious and cultural groups express their identities (or choose not to), and this influences perception of others. There is a strong focus on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives, and what it means to be Australian.

The case studies and activities can be used as a starting point to investigate how and why individuals contribute to civic life, and participate in Australia’s democracy. Historical perspectives focusing on those who were denied the ability to contribute and participate can also be considered.

History

This resource introduces students to legislation from 1901-–1914, including the Defence Act and Immigration Restriction Act.

Students can investigate the extension of settlement, including the effects of contact (intended and unintended) between European settlers in Australia and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples.

In relation to the First World War, this resource explores the reasons why men enlisted to fight, the places where Australians fought, and the nature of warfare, including the Gallipoli campaign. There is also scope to research the impact of the war, and commemoration including debates about the nature and significance of the Anzac legend.

Visual arts

Within the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander section, students can explore techniques used by Indigenous artists to represent a theme, concept, or idea. They can identify and connect specific features and purposes of visual artworks from contemporary and past times to explore viewpoints, and to understand how artists use visual conventions.

Students are also encouraged to apply their own techniques and processes to represent ideas in art-making.

Cross-curriculum priorities

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures

OI.2: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities maintain a special connection to and responsibility for Country/Place.

OI.4: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander societies have many Language Groups.

OI.6: 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.

OI.9: The significant contributions of Aboriginal Peoples and Torres Strait Islander Peoples in the present and past are acknowledged locally, nationally and globally.