Year Level: 5

Inquiry Method:
5 Es
Lesson 1 & 2 Engage
Lesson 3 & 4 & 5Explore
Lesson 6
Explain/Excursion

Unit Name: Convicts in the Colony

Focus Descriptor: 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. (ACHHK094)

Duration of Unit: 5 weeks (10 lessons)

Lesson 7 & 8 & 9

Elaborate
Lesson 10 Evaluate
This method of
enquiry allows
students to build
and extend upon
their new and old
knowledge through
five different
phases using
different learning
activities.

Year Level Description

The Australian Colonies
The Year 5 curriculum provides a study
of colonial Australia in the 1800s.
Students look at the founding of British
colonies and the development of a
colony. They learn about what life was
like for different groups of people in the
colonial period. They examine
significant events and people, political
and economic developments, social
structures, and settlement patterns.
The content provides opportunities to
develop historical understanding
through key concepts
including sources, continuity and
change, cause and effect,
perspectives, empathy and
significance.

ACARA 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.

These concepts may be investigated

within a particular historical context to
facilitate an understanding of the past
and to provide a focus for historical
inquiries.
The history content at this year level
involves two strands: Historical
Knowledge and Understanding and
Historical Skills. These strands are
interrelated and should be taught in an
integrated way; they may be integrated
across learning areas and in ways that
are appropriate to specific local
contexts. The order and detail in which
they are taught are programming
decisions.

Historical Knowledge and Understanding

Australian Colonies
Reasons (economic, political and social) for
the establishment of British colonies in
Australia after 1800. (ACHHK093)

Content Descriptors - History

Elaborations
Historical Skills
ACHHK093
Chronology, terms and concepts
investigating the reasons for the
Sequence historical people and events (ACHHS098)
establishment of one or more
British colonies such as a penal
colony (for example Moreton
Bay, Van Diemens Land) or a
colony that later became a state

Elaborations
ACHHS098
compiling an annotated timeline
showing key stages in the
development of colonial Australia
including the date of European
settlement in each state, the date
the colony was established, the date

(for example Western Australia,

Victoria)

of self-government
ACHHS099
Use historical terms and concepts (ACHHS099)

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. (ACHHK094)

understanding the key concepts related

to the content such as settlement,
expansion, migration, protection,
development, rural, urban)

ACHHS100
ACHHK094
investigating colonial life to
discover what life was like at
that time for different
inhabitants (for example a
European family and an
Aboriginal or Torres Strait
Islander Language group, a
convict and a free settler, a
sugar cane farmer and an
indentured labourer) in terms of
clothing, diet, leisure, paid and
unpaid work, language, housing
and childrens' lives'.

Historical Questions and Research

Identify questions to inform an historical
inquiry(ACHHS100)

Identify and locate a range of relevant

sources (ACHHS101)

developing key questions about the

local community or region (for
example: Why was the area settled?
What people came to live in the area?
How did they make their living? How
did men, women, and children live?)

ACHHS101
using internet search engines,
museums, library catalogues and
indexes to find material relevant to
an inquiry (for example primary
sources such as stories, songs,
diaries, official documents, artworks)

ACHHS102
The reasons people migrated to Australia
from Europe and Asia, and the experiences
and contributions of a particular migrant
group within a colony. (ACHHK096)

The role that a significant individual or group

played in shaping a colony; for example,
explorers, farmers, entrepreneurs, artists,
writers, humanitarians, religious and political

ACHHK096
identifying the reasons why
people migrated to Australia in
the 1800s (for example as
convicts; assisted passengers;
indentured labourers; people
seeking a better life such as
gold miners; and those
dislocated by events such as the
Industrial Revolution, the Irish
Potato Famine and the Highland
Clearances)

ACHHK097
exploring the motivations and
actions of an individual or group

finding relevant historical information

about colonial Australia from primary
and secondary sources
Locate information related to inquiry questions in a
range of sources (ACHHS102)

ACHHS103
examining two sources of evidence to
identify similarities and/or differences,
and describing what they reveal about
the past

Compare information from a range of

sources (ACHHS103)

Perspectives and interpretation

Identify points of view in the past and
present (ACHHS104)

ACHHS104
identifying the different motives and
experiences of individuals and
groups in the past (for example the
reasons people migrated to Australia
and their diverse experiences)
ACHHS105
using sources to develop narratives (for
example reasons for the establishment
of colonies, effects of key
developments and events on colonies,
the impact of significant groups or

leaders, and Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait

Islander peoples. (ACHHK097)

that shaped a colony

individuals on development)

Explanation and communication

Develop texts, particularly narratives and
descriptions, which
incorporate source materials (ACHHS105)

creating visual, oral or written journals

reflecting the daily life experiences of
different inhabitants of a convict or
colonial settlement

ACHHS106
using ICT to create presentations which
are suitable for the target audience and
include text, images and/or audiovisuals.

Use a range of communication forms (oral, graphic,

written) and digital technologies (ACHHS106)

Literature
Literature and Context
Identify aspects of literary texts that convey
details or information about particular social,
cultural and historical contexts (ACELT1608)

Responding to Literature
Present a point of view about particular
literary texts using
appropriate metalanguage, and reflecting on
the viewpoints of others(ACELT1609)

Creating Literature
Create literary texts using realistic and
fantasy settings and characters that draw on
the worlds represented in texts students have

Content Descriptors English

Elaborations
Literacy
ACELT1608
Interpreting, analysing and evaluating
describing how aspects of
literature, for example visuals,
Identify and explain characteristic text structures
symbolic elements, dialogue and
and language features used in imaginative,
character descriptions, can
informative and persuasive texts to meet the
convey information about
purpose of the text (ACELY1701)
cultural elements, such as
beliefs, traditions and customs

ACELY1701
explaining how the features of a text
advocating community action, for
example action on a local area
preservation issue, are used to meet
the purpose of the text

ACELT1609
posing and discussing questions,
such as Should this character
have behaved as they did?, and
beginning to make balanced
judgments about the dilemmas
characters face and relative
merit and harm

ACELY1704
selecting an appropriate text
structure for the writing purpose and
sequencing content according to that
text structure, introducing the topic,
and grouping related information in
well-sequenced paragraphs with a
concluding statement

ACELT1612
using texts with computer-based
graphics, animation and 2D
qualities, consider how and why
particular traits for a character
have been chosen

Creating Texts
Plan, draft and publish imaginative, informative and
persuasive print and multimodal texts,
choosing text structures, language features, images
and sound appropriate to purpose
and audience(ACELY1704)

Elaborations

using research from print and digital

resources to gather and organise
information for writing

experienced (ACELT1612)

GENERAL CAPABILITIES
Literacy
Comprehending texts
through listening,
reading and viewing

Comprehend
texts

Navigate, read
and view
learning area
texts

Interpret and
analyse learning
area texts

Word Knowledge

Understand
learning area
vocabulary

ICT
Creating with ICT

Generate
ideas, plans and
processes
Generate
solutions to
challenges and
learning area
tasks

Communicating with
ICT

Collaborate,
share and
exchange

Intercultural
Understanding
Recognising culture
and developing
respect

Explore and
compare cultural
knowledge,
beliefs and
practices

Interacting and
empathising with
others

Personal and Social

Social awareness

Appreciate
diverse
perspectives

Critical and Creative

Thinking
Inquiring
identifying, exploring
and organising
information and
ideas

Identify and
clarify
information and
ideas

Organise and
process
information

Consider and
develop multiple
perspectives

Cross Curriculum Priorities

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island Histories and Cultures
Sustainability
OI. 2: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities maintain a special
OI 5: World views are formed by experiences at personal, local, national and
connection to and responsibility for Country/Place throughout all of Australia.
global levels, and are linked to individual and community actions for sustainability.
OI 6: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples have lived in Australia for tens
of thousands of years and experiences can be viewed through historical, social
and political lenses.
OI 9. Australia acknowledges the significant contributions of Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander people locally and globally.

Lesson
Lesson
Lesson
Lesson

1.
2.
3.
4.

What
What
What
What

Inquiry Questions
Main Inquiry Question:
do we know about the lives of people in the Australias colonial past and how do we know?
is a colony?
were the crimes and punishments in the Moreton Bay Colony?
was the impact of the colony on the Indigenous population of Moreton Bay

Lesson 5. What kind of people made up the Moreton Bay Colony and what were their lives like before and after they arrived?
Lesson 6. How convicts lived in an isolated island and the benefits to the general population of Moreton Bay colony
Lesson7. What happened in a day for someone in a convict settlement?
Lesson 8. How did Moreton Bay colony progress into being a free settling colony?
Lesson 9. What would it have felt like to be a convict?
Lesson 10. What would it have felt like to be a convict?

ASSESSMENT

Of learning
Speech and wanted posters with ICT
elements.

For learning
Social Science Journal which will be
used throughout the whole unit to
track students understandings

As learning
KWHL chart
Worksheet from St Helena Island.