High School Curriculum Series

Thank you for your interest in Australia and this History Unit. This Unit was designed to provide you with ready-made, stand alone lessons that examine Australia as an aspect of world history.

The first question many of you may ask is why Australia? Is the study of Australia relevant to our study of the world and our common heritage? After all, it is isolated, sparsely populated and has a brief recorded history. But it is these very characteristics that makes the study of Australia valuable. Australia's unique geographic characteristics and history serve as a useful case study of key global concepts. The study of the Neolithic period, the Age of Discovery, nationalism, and 20th century global problems have all been chosen as episodes in which Australia's case is an instructive model.

For example, an analysis of Australia in the Age of Discovery brings in all the major players of the period within its own microcosm. Interestingly, Australia is the only continent whose discovery was fully documented. Its gradual discovery took place during a period when people began keeping accurate records leaving us a wealth of primary resources for our analysis. Indeed, much of what we learn about Australia comes from first hand observations.

In many ways Australia stands as a bridge between the past and present; a modern society built within the last 200 years directly on top of the last great link to our hunter-gatherer past. Many faces will emerge as your students examine Australia's history and identity: the Aboriginal past, the European settlement, the creation of a new nationality, and its changing ties to the Pacific rim, the United States and Europe. Australia is still evolving, and a study of its people and history reveals the conflict Australia feels between developed and developing status and Western and Asian ties.

A final point of value in the study of Australia is the historical parallel between Australia and the United States. Both are large countries, colonized by Europeans, who cleared vast wilderness to build modern, wealthy nations in recent times. It may interest American students to know that Australian history displays many of the same triumphs-and-bitter tragedies as their own. This may help them to see American history as well as Australian history within the same global context. In the end, Australia shows us as Americans that we all share the same global heritage, and not just western heritage.

Click on any of the lessons below to start the download process.
Hard copy packages can also be ordered for free from [email protected]

The Australian Education Office would like to thank Mr. John Waldron (Booker T Washington High School, Tulsa, OK) for writing lessons one and two, and Ms. Tamara Lipke (Irondequoit High School, Rochester, NY) for writing lessons three and four.

The curriculum series was developed by the Australian Education Office (AEO) and funded by the Department of Foreign Affairs & Trade through the Embassy of Australia's Cultural Affairs Office in Washington, DC.

The opinions expressed in the lessons are not those of the AEO, the Department nor the Embassy.

We attempted to have all information correct at the time of publication.

Questions and comments should be addressed to Lisa Murphy at [email protected]

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