Indigenous Australians’ connections The ways in which Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples maintain special connections to particular Country/Place (ACHGK0011)
Teacher information
Elaboration Identifying the connections local Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander people have with the natural environment in their Country/Place
Key inquiry questions • What is a place? • How are people connected to their place and other places?
Geographical Inquiry and Skills
Teaching notes • The activities in this unit provide students with information they can discuss with the teacher so they can identify the important connection Australia’s Indigenous people have to their particular Country/Place. This unit has a strong ‘connection’ with a Year 2 ), pages 34 to 45. The units could be ACARA history content description (ACHHK045 done in conjunction, by treating the geographical and historical points of view. Refer to ‘Resources’ for an R.I.C. blackline master that includes these history units.
• Pose geographical questions about familiar and unfamiliar places (ACHGS013)
• Provide a large map so students can see where Torres Strait Islanders live and understand what mainland Australia means.
• Collect and record geographical data and information, for example, by observing, by interviewing, or from sources such as, photographs, plans, satellite images, story books and films (ACHGS014)
• Read and discuss the text on page 43 with students, explaining the meaning of unfamiliar words or phrases. Students may offer their own suggestions as to the meanings.
• Represent data and the location of places and their features by constructing tables, plans and labelled maps (ACHGS015) • Draw conclusions based on the interpretation of geographical information sorted into categories (ACHGS016)
• Particular emphasis should be made about the way in which Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders maintain their special connections to Country/Place while using modern methods or tools to practise traditional customs. • Discuss the hunter-gatherer lifestyle of traditional Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders (sections of the latter had permanent housing) and how the people made temporary shelters and took care not to overuse food and water supplies. They would move to another area when supplies diminished to a certain point. This was another way the people maintained their connections to country/place.
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• Present findings in a range of communication forms, for example, written, oral, digital and visual, and describe the direction and location of places, using terms such as north, south, opposite, near, far (ACHGS017) • Reflect on their learning and suggest responses to their findings (ACHGS018)
Geographical concepts • place • space • environment • interconnection • change
• To find out about what local Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islanders’ connections to their Country/Place, an interview plan has been provided on page 45. A visit by a local elder would need to be arranged or students may be able to visit an appropriate museum or centre.
Background information
• Australia’s two Indigenous groups, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, make up 2.4% of Australia’s population. Communities among the two groups consist of people who speak different languages and have varying cultural traditions, practices, beliefs, tools and stories. These change according to where the territory was located as the environment differed. Consequently, relationships to the central concept of Country/ Place differ to varying degrees among language groups, but still forms an intrinsic part of each community and their connections to their particular Country/Place.
Resources • Australian Curriculum History – The past in the present (Year 2 Ages 7–8) R.I.C. Publications. (Refer to pages 34 to 45.) • The Aboriginal people of Australia – by Anne Bartlett. (This book looks at specific Aboriginal cultures, contains many photographs.) • Pigs and honey – by Jeanie Adams (Looks at a day in the life of an aboriginal community in far-north Queensland.) • SANDTRAKS Salt water and sand tracks – is a DVD and accompanying blackline master about the way of life of the Yolngu people in North East Arnhem land live and their connection to country.
Geographical vocabulary connections, Indigenous, traditional, Country, Place, language group, environment, land, sea, waterways, sky, coast, island
Australian Curriculum Geography (Year 2)
Additional activities • View images online or in resource books of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander paintings of the things in their environment they are connected to.
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