Core Skills Analysis
Physical Education
Jeremy hiked approximately 6.5 kilometres along the Yankee Hat Trail, moving up a gentle incline through grasslands and bushy foothills. The sustained walk gave Jeremy experience maintaining physical activity over an extended distance and adapting movement to varied outdoor terrain. It also connected exercise with exploring a natural place and reaching a point of historical interest.
History and HASS
Jeremy learned that Indigenous people had been in the Canberra region for at least 25,000 years and in the Yankee Hat area for at least 3,700 years. Jeremy connected the age of the paintings with familiar timelines, comparing their creation with the building of the pyramids in Egypt and the extinction of mammoths, showing recall and chronological thinking. Jeremy also recognised that the paintings had been repainted over hundreds or, more likely, thousands of years, and identified human and animal figures, sometimes using a brochure to help interpret them.
Visual Arts and Material Culture
Jeremy examined the rock paintings and recognised clay and red ochre as materials used in them. Jeremy identified human and animal figures, independently in some cases and with support from the brochure in others. Looking closely at the figures and materials helped Jeremy consider how ancient images were made and how visual evidence can communicate information across generations.
Tips
Tips Revisit the experience by making a simple timeline that places the Yankee Hat paintings alongside the pyramids and mammoths, then talk about how timelines help compare events from different places. Create a trail map together and mark the grasslands, foothills and destination, adding the 6.5 km distance and estimating how the route might feel at different points. Explore ochre as a natural pigment by comparing safe, washable earth-coloured materials on paper, while discussing how artists choose materials for images. Finally, invite Jeremy to share a short “museum guide” talk about the rock art, using careful language that distinguishes what was observed from what was learned through the brochure.
Book Recommendations
- Our Home, Our Heartbeat by Adam Briggs: A picture book celebrating First Nations people and culture, suitable for opening conversations about continuity and identity.
- The First Scientists: Deadly Inventions and Innovations from Australia's First Peoples by Corey Tutt: A child-friendly exploration of First Nations knowledge and innovation that can extend learning about long histories and cultural knowledge.
Learning Standards
- HASS — AC9HS3S02: Jeremy connected information about the region and rock art with a familiar historical timeline; a timeline is a relevant way to record and compare historical information.
- HASS — AC9HS3S03: Jeremy interpreted visual information in the rock paintings, identifying human and animal figures.
- HASS — AC9HS3S07: Jeremy used relevant subject knowledge to discuss the paintings, their materials and their long history.
- Science — AC9S3I07: Recognising clay and red ochre and describing visible figures involved communicating observations using relevant terms.
- Note: The supplied Australian Curriculum standards are for Year 3; these are concept connections, not a claim about Jeremy’s year level or formal assessment.
Try This Next
- Timeline task: Place the 3,700-year-old rock art, pyramid building and mammoth extinction on a comparison timeline.
- Trail map: Draw the route through grassland and foothills; label the 6.5 km distance and destination.
- Rock-art observation sheet: Sketch a human or animal figure Jeremy remembers and list the materials identified.
- Oral presentation prompt: Give a short museum-guide talk explaining what Jeremy observed and what the brochure helped identify.