
Books and links for Stages 4-6
Yulunga*: Traditional Indigenous Games > (Download PDF)
© Australian Sports Commission 2009
Content by Ken Edwards, with assistance by Troy Meston, Illustrations by Glenn Robey, Produced by Australian Sports Commission Publishing staff

Lessons and Resources for Stages 4-6
Here are some lessons and other resources you can use with your classes. Click on the icons to download the file in the format of your choice.
Note: the SMART Notebook files are in a compressed form (.zip). Just double click on the file once downloaded to access the Notebook.
Title | SMART Notebook |
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Rabbit Proof Fence Teaching Resource (Judy Adnum) | N/A | ![]() |
ANZAC Day | ![]() |
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Primary Sources (Robey Piggott) | ![]() |
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Totems
- What is a totem?
- What are Les’ totems
- Where is Les’ country?
Connections to Country
- How does the Acacia tell us what is happening to the animals and plants on country?
- How is everything connected?
- How might this concept of connection to country be taught?
- What are the many uses for the acacia?
Plants
- What are the uses for Dianella Longifolia (Lily)?
Natalie talks about her own Yuin background, and gives many practical examples of how Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures can be embedded across the Australian curriculum
Ivan Clarke – NSW Health
Ivan is Barkanji. He was born in far-western New South Wales and grew up on Bunjalung country. This is his story of being taken.
On 10 December 1992 Keating gave a speech on Aboriginal reconciliation addressing issues faced by indigenous Australians such as their land and children being taken away. This speech became known as The Redfern Address. It was given in Redfern Park to a crowd of predominantly indigenous people. Although it was not given a lot of media attention at the time it is now regarded by many to be one of the greatest Australian speeches. Keating was the first Australian prime minister to publicly acknowledge to Indigenous Australians that European settlers were responsible for the difficulties Australian Aboriginal communities continued to face: ‘We committed the murders. We took the children from their mothers. We practiced discrimination and exclusion. It was our ignorance and our prejudice’.
In 2007, ABC Radio National listeners voted the speech as their third most “unforgettable speech” behind Martin Luther King’s I have a dream speech (number one) and Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount (number two).

Stolen Generations
This Behind the News (ABC) program provides kids with some historical background to why Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children were taken from their families

Les McLeod, Park Ranger with NSW Parks and Wildlife came to MQ to explain the food and medicinal applications of some of the plants growing in the MQ Bush tucker garden.

Les McLeod, Park Ranger with NSW Parks and Wildlife explains the significance of rock engravings at a site only 40 minutes drive from MQ, at Guringgai National Park.
Leanne Tobin is a Darug artist. In the video she talks about the creation and conceptualisation of the three murals at MQ, and what it means for her to be a Darug woman and an artist working on-country. Read more about the Mural Project here.
State library First Fleet
This film, available from the State library of NSW documents the voyage of the First Fleet from England to Australia.
Bennelong
Bennelong was a Wangal man, one of the Darug clans. He tried to live with the British rather than oppose them, and this video tells that story.

Campfire – Aboriginal stories and language from Sydney and NSW
This film was made by the DEC for teaching Aboriginal languages in secondary school, but there are excellent stories from Aunty Edna Watson (Darug woman) and others that are suitable for primary children.

Stolen Generations
This Behind the News (ABC) program provides kids with some historical background to why Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children were taken from their families
Paul Keating – famous Redfern speech
On 10 December 1992 Keating gave a speech on Aboriginal reconciliation addressing issues faced by indigenous Australians such as their land and children being taken away. This speech became known as The Redfern Address. It was given in Redfern Park to a crowd of predominantly indigenous people. Although it was not given a lot of media attention at the time it is now regarded by many to be one of the greatest Australian speeches. Keating was the first Australian prime minister to publicly acknowledge to Indigenous Australians that European settlers were responsible for the difficulties Australian Aboriginal communities continued to face: ‘We committed the murders. We took the children from their mothers. We practiced discrimination and exclusion. It was our ignorance and our prejudice’.
In 2007, ABC Radio National listeners voted the speech as their third most “unforgettable speech” behind Martin Luther King’s I have a dream speech (number one) and Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount (number two).
First Australians
This film is the big picture! It cover a lot of concepts that are crucial to understanding how Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people understand the world from their particular standpoints around Australia. For example, we learn that there are many different dreamings, not just one. It also covers the effects of British invasion and colonisation.
A genuine relationship
This clip tells the story of a cross-cultural relationship between Lieutenant Dawes and Aboriginal woman, Patyegarang in the early years of the settlement at Sydney Cove. Lieutenant Dawes established an observatory just under where the harbour bridge is now located, and Patyegarang would visit him there, and teach him Darug.
SBD: the relationship between Patyegarang and Lieutenant William Dawes:

Campfire – Aboriginal stories and language from Sydney and NSW
This film was made by the DEC for teaching Aboriginal languages in secondary school, but there are excellent stories from Aunty Edna Watson (Darug woman) and others that are suitable for primary children.
Bennelong
Bennelong was a Wangal man, one of the Darug clans. He tried to live with the British rather than oppose them, and this video tells that story.
State library First Fleet
This film, available from the State library of NSW documents the voyage of the First Fleet from England to Australia.

This clip tells the story of a cross-cultural relationship between Lieutenant Dawes and Aboriginal woman, Patyegarang in the early years of the settlement at Sydney Cove. Lieutenant Dawes established an observatory just under where the harbour bridge is now located, and Patyegarang would visit him there, and teach him Darug.
SBD: the relationship between Patyegarang and Lieutenant William Dawes:
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Australian Academy of Science: http://primaryconnections.org.au/indigenous/
Indigenous weather knowledge: http://www.bom.gov.au/iwk/?ref=marketing
Indigenous languages map: http://www.abc.net.au/indigenous/map/
Holding our tongues: http://www.abc.net.au/rn/legacy/features/holdingourtongues/default.htm
Australian Broadcasting Commission (2008). BTN: Stolen Generations. Retrieved July 12 2013 from http://www.abc.net.au/btn/story/s2219619.htm

Pre-service teachers at MQ worked with renowned Aboriginal Darug artist, Leanne Tobin and her family to create three murals on campus, a mural with a story which comes from Darug country, in Sydney.
The students were learning what Aboriginal art is by working alongside the artist, rather than learning about Aboriginal art from lectures and books.
They learnt that Aboriginal country produces its own art style and its own story, and to take Aboriginal art out of country and put it in a book is to divorce it from its place, its meaning and its story. Aboriginal art is a practice, an education of children and adults.
These pre-service teachers were also learning how to work with their own school community when they go into schools as fully trained teachers.
Read more about place-based education and the origin of this project here.
Listen to this interview below with Leanne Tobin about the project:
FRESHWATER/SEA COUNTRY (BADU/GURRIGARRANG NORA)
This is the country of the Wallumedigal, the Snapperfish people, a saltwater clan of the Darug who live around the northern waterways of the Parramatta River and Sydney harbour.
The mural was created in 2013 by Leanne Tobin, her brother Chris Tobin and her son, Shay, along with pre-service teachers from Macquarie University for a Community Indigenous Arts Project.
The mural shows the meeting of fresh and saltwater along the Parramatta River, while the flora and fauna represent the totems of various clans living along the length of the river from the heads of Port Jackson in the morning to the upper reaches of the river at night.
The shark and stingray represented at the entrance to the harbour (below) are of special significance to the creation of the landscape of the region. Long ago, the shark and stingray engaged in extended battle and as they did so, they gouged out the bays and inlets of Port Jackson.

Lessons and Resources for Stage 3
Here are some lessons and other resources you can use with your classes. Click on the icons to download the file in the format of your choice.
Note: the SMART Notebook files are in a compressed form (.zip). Just double click on the file once downloaded to access the Notebook.
Title | SMART Notebook |
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Lesson on the Stolen Generation for Stage 3 | ![]() |
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Lesson on Australian History for Stage 3 | ![]() |
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Books and links for Stage 3
Stolen Generations
Australian Broadcasting Commission (2008). BTN: Stolen Generations.
Paul Keating’s Redfern Park Speech (1993).
Australia Says Sorry to Stolen Generation
Willams, ET. & Wingfield E.W. (2000). Down the hole, up the tree, across the sandhills running from the state and Daisy Bates. Alice Springs: Jukurrpa Books. [Stolen Generations]
Saffioti, T. and MacDonald N. (2011). Stolen Girl. Magabala Books
Albert, Trish, Fighting for rights (Plenty stories)
Australian Electoral Commission, History of the Indigenous vote.
Auslit is the resource for Australian literature. There are over 1000 Indigenous writers and storytellers listed on this site.
Garimara Pilkington, D. (2006). Home to Mother. Brisbane: The University of Queensland Press {good readers]
Strong, Dellene, Focus On Indigenous art across the curriculum (ages 9-12)
Thompson Liz, (2008). Turtle Dreaming. Rigby
Tucker, A (1994). Too many Captain Cooks. Norwood, South Australia: Omnibus Books.
Tucker, A. (1998). Side by side. Omnibus books.
For the bright sparks in years 5/6:
Jacinta is from the Boorooberongal clan (Richmond area). Her family heritage goes back to Yarramundi, and then later Sarah Castles (nee Locke). In the video she talks about connections to country, and her concerns about environmental sustainability on Darug land.

Lessons and Resources for Stage 2
Here are some lessons and other resources you can use with your classes. Click on the icons to download the file in the format of your choice.
Note: the SMART Notebook files are in a compressed form (.zip). Just double click on the file once downloaded to access the Notebook.
Lessons on Darug Country for Stage 2

Books and links for Stage 2
Albert, T. (2008). Indigenous sporting greats. Australia: Rigby/Pearson Education.
Morgan Sally (2011). My country (Freemantle Press) AC -Community and Remembrance
Russell, Elaine, (2005). The shack that dad built. Surry Hills, N.S.W: Little Hare Books. Year 3: Community and Remembrance
Bangabaoui: Aboriginal cultural harbour cruise
Burgess, C. and Myers, J (2005). Performing Arts. McGraw-Hill
Griffths, A. (2011). The Naked Boy and the Crocodile. Indigenous Literacy Foundation.
Marsden, J & Tan, S (2000). The rabbits. Melbourne: Lothian Books. (good for first contact)
National Museum of Australia and Rigby (2008). First Australians: plenty stories. Rigby/Pearson Education. (This includes: Indigenous Sporting Greats; Keeping strong through art; Keeping language Alive, Kaisiana’s Journey to Torres Strait; Fighting for Rights etc.)
Biographies (recounts/Life Histories eg. English or COGS, Being Australian) : Neville Bonner; Linda Burney…Mum Shirl
Yulunga*: Traditional Indigenous Games > (Download PDF)
© Australian Sports Commission 2009
Content by Ken Edwards, with assistance by Troy Meston, Illustrations by Glenn Robey, Produced by Australian Sports Commission Publishing staff

Lessons and Resources for Stage 1
Here are some lessons and other resources you can use with your classes. Click on the icons to download the file in the format of your choice.
Note: the SMART Notebook files are in a compressed form (.zip). Just double click on the file once downloaded to access the Notebook.
Title | SMART Notebook |
|
Lesson on Symmetry for Stage 1 | ![]() |
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Healthy Lives for Stage 1 | ![]() |
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Books and links for Stage 1
Enter Art (2000). Ryde, N.S.W.: NSW Dept. of Education and Training,
Muru Mittigar Aboriginal Cultural Centre
[Place] New South Wales Department of Education and Training (2005). Caring for place—Caring for country. DET (kit on the internet)
Papunya School (2001). Papunya school book of country and history. Crows Nest (NSW): Allen & Unwin.
Russell, Elaine, (2000). A is for Aunty. ABC Books.
Russell, Elaine, (2005). The shack that dad built. Surry Hills, N.S.W: Little Hare Books. (also Year 3 – Aust Curriculum)
Stokes, D (2004). Desert dreamings. Melbourne: Harcourt Education.
Strong Dellene, Focus on Indigenous art across the curriculum (ages 5-8)
[Place] Wheatley, N. and Rawlins, D. (1988). My place. Melbourne: Longman.
[Place] Christopherson, C. My home in Kakadu
Germein K. (2000). Leaving. (illustrated by Bronwyn Bancroft) [relationships/ working together]. Roland Harvey Books.
Yulunga*: Traditional Indigenous Games > (Download PDF)
© Australian Sports Commission 2009
Content by Ken Edwards, with assistance by Troy Meston, Illustrations by Glenn Robey, Produced by Australian Sports Commission Publishing staff