History Elective: Aboriginal Country as Historical Record

Depth Study: Shared Histories, Experiences and Personal Testimonies

Level: Grade 9–10 History

Big-Picture Goals

By the end of this four-week unit, students will understand that Aboriginal Country is a living historical record containing evidence of continuing Aboriginal connection, knowledge, custodianship and cultural practice. Students will investigate shared histories involving Aboriginal peoples and Catholic communities, using respectful, evidence-based inquiry.

Students will learn to:

• apply the historical concepts of evidence, continuity and change, cause and effect, significance, perspectives, empathy and contestability;
• use historical skills, including questioning, locating and evaluating sources, analysing perspectives, corroborating evidence, interpreting visual and oral testimony, constructing timelines and communicating a historical argument;
• follow a historical inquiry process: ask, locate, select, analyse, interpret, corroborate, explain and reflect;
• recognise Aboriginal Country as more than a physical location: it is connected to identity, story, law, spirituality, relationships, responsibility and memory;
• investigate personal testimonies and shared histories respectfully, without treating Aboriginal experiences as a single or uniform story;
• identify positive, respectful and affirming relationships that developed between Aboriginal people and early Catholic individuals or communities, while also recognising disagreement, harm, power differences and the diversity of Aboriginal responses;
• communicate a balanced historical interpretation supported by accurately cited evidence.

Materials for the Unit

• Large map of Australia and a local or regional map showing the relevant Aboriginal Country or Countries
• Student history journals or digital research folders
• Library books and approved school or museum sources about local Aboriginal history
• Local Aboriginal community-approved sources, including cultural centre publications, language resources, recorded interviews or oral histories where permission has been given
• Sources about early Catholic missions, schools, hospitals, pastoral work, religious orders and Aboriginal–Catholic relationships in the local region
• Copies of the source-analysis questions and inquiry-planning template used in the lessons
• Coloured pens, sticky notes, paper, cards and poster materials
• Access to a library catalogue or teacher-approved digital database
• A school-approved citation guide
• Teacher-prepared copies of the sample sources included below

Research and Cultural Safety Guidance

Before beginning, identify the Traditional Custodians of the place where the class is learning and use the names and terminology preferred by the local Aboriginal community. Explain that Aboriginal peoples and communities are diverse and that not all stories, cultural knowledge or images are public. Students must not copy, publish or interpret restricted cultural material without permission.

Use local Aboriginal-controlled organisations, Elders, knowledge holders, community publications and approved archives wherever possible. When studying Catholic relationships, present Aboriginal voices and Catholic voices together. Positive relationships may include friendship, cooperation, advocacy, shared learning, protection of children or culture, and practical support; these examples should not be used to excuse dispossession, forced removal, cultural suppression or other injustices.

Historical Inquiry Process

1. Ask: Form a focused historical question.
2. Locate: Find relevant primary and secondary sources.
3. Select: Choose sources that are useful, reliable and appropriate.
4. Analyse: Identify who created each source, when, why and for whom.
5. Interpret: Explain what the source suggests and whose perspective it represents.
6. Corroborate: Compare it with other sources, especially Aboriginal testimony and community-approved knowledge.
7. Explain: Construct an evidence-based interpretation.
8. Reflect: Consider limitations, ethical responsibilities and what remains uncertain.

Week 1: Country as Historical Record

Day 1: What Is Country?

Hook: Ask students, “If a landscape could speak, what history might it tell us?” Display a local map and invite students to record visible and less visible forms of historical evidence, such as waterways, place names, paths, scarred trees, buildings, language and continuing cultural practices.

Explain that Country includes land, waters, skies, living things, ancestors, stories, responsibilities and relationships. Introduce the concepts of evidence, significance and continuity; students write one example of each from the map and discuss why Aboriginal knowledge should be treated as historical knowledge when it is shared through appropriate community-approved sources.

Day 2: Reading Place as Evidence

Show students three teacher-approved sources: a map, a photograph of a local site and a short community-approved description of that place. Model the questions: “What do I notice?”, “What does this source reveal?”, “What does it leave out?”, “Who created it?” and “How should it be used respectfully?”

Students complete the same analysis in pairs and label each observation as evidence of the past, evidence of continuing connection, or evidence requiring further investigation. Emphasise that a source does not automatically tell the whole story.

Day 3: Historical Concepts in Practice

Introduce continuity and change, cause and effect, perspectives, empathy and contestability using the statement: “A place can change physically while its cultural significance continues.” Students sort prepared cards into the six concepts and justify their choices.

Students then write a short response to: “How can one place have different meanings for different people?” Require them to use two historical concepts and one piece of evidence from Days 1–2.

Day 4: Building a Historical Question

Model the difference between a broad topic (“Aboriginal history”) and an inquiry question (“How has Aboriginal connection to this Country continued despite changes to the landscape?”). Students create three possible questions using the stems “How far…?”, “In what ways…?” and “Why did…?”

Students test each question against three criteria: it is historically researchable, it allows more than a yes-or-no answer, and it can be investigated using respectful sources. Each student selects one provisional question for the unit.

Day 5: Source Types and Reliability

Introduce primary sources, secondary sources, oral histories, material evidence, photographs, maps, official records and community-controlled sources. Explain that reliability is not the same as importance: an official report may reveal government thinking, while a testimony may reveal lived experience that the report ignored.

Students complete a source record using the headings: creator, date, audience, purpose, perspective, useful evidence, limitations and ethical considerations.

Week 1 Check for Understanding

Students submit one focused inquiry question, define historical evidence in their own words, and explain how Country can be both a physical place and a historical record. Check that each response identifies at least one source and one historical concept.

Week 2: Shared Histories and Early Catholic Relationships

Day 1: Encounter, Relationship and Perspective

Explain that shared history does not mean that all groups experienced events in the same way or had equal power. Create a class timeline using teacher-approved local sources about early contact, settlement, mission activity, schooling, health care, pastoral work or other relevant Catholic involvement.

Students add two columns to the timeline: “What happened?” and “How might different people have experienced this?” Include Aboriginal, Catholic, government and local community perspectives where sources support them.

Day 2: Positive and Respectful Catholic Relationships

Present a balanced set of short source extracts about early Catholic relationships. These may include an Aboriginal person describing a trusted Catholic individual, evidence of Catholic advocacy or practical assistance, records of shared work or education, and evidence of Aboriginal people maintaining culture, family and identity within difficult circumstances.

Students identify the relationship shown, the people involved, the evidence of respect or cooperation, and the limits of the source. Discuss how one positive relationship can be historically significant without representing every Catholic institution or every Aboriginal experience.

Day 3: Complexity, Power and Responsibility

Teach students to avoid two inaccurate extremes: portraying all early Catholic relationships as entirely harmful or portraying them as entirely positive. Use a comparison table with the headings “support or cooperation,” “control or restriction,” “Aboriginal agency,” “unintended consequences” and “evidence still needed.”

Students place teacher-provided evidence into the table and write a paragraph explaining how positive relationships and harmful systems could exist within the same historical setting. Reinforce that acknowledging harm does not erase genuine friendship, care or advocacy.

Day 4: Analysing a Catholic Record

Model analysis of a short Catholic letter, diary entry, mission record or school report selected by the teacher. Ask: “What did the writer notice?”, “What assumptions did the writer make?”, “Which Aboriginal voices are absent?”, “What can this source reliably show?” and “What can it not prove?”

Students analyse a second source independently and write a source caption that identifies its creator, date, purpose, perspective and one limitation.

Day 5: Corroborating Accounts

Give students two or three accounts of the same event or relationship, including an Aboriginal testimony wherever an approved source is available. Model how to compare agreement, contradiction, emphasis and silence rather than choosing one account automatically.

Students complete the sentence frame: “Source A and Source B agree that…, but they differ because… . Source C is especially useful for understanding… .” They must use the terms perspective and corroboration.

Week 2 Check for Understanding

Students write a balanced response to: “How can a historical relationship be both positive in some respects and shaped by unequal power?” The response must include two sources, one Aboriginal perspective if available, and the concepts of perspective and contestability.

Week 3: Personal Testimonies and Historical Skills

Day 1: What Is Personal Testimony?

Explain that personal testimony may be spoken, written, recorded, artistic or shared through an interview. It can reveal memory, emotion, identity, experience and interpretation, but it should be read in context and not treated as a complete record of every event.

Students listen to or read a teacher-approved testimony and identify the speaker, audience, setting, purpose, key experience and emotional language. They record what the testimony helps historians understand that an official record might not show.

Day 2: Ethical Use of Testimony

Teach the principles of permission, attribution, cultural safety, confidentiality, respectful language and contextual accuracy. Students discuss why a testimony should not be copied out of context, turned into entertainment or used to make broad claims about all Aboriginal people.

Students rewrite three unsafe research statements into respectful ones, such as changing “The Aboriginal people believed…” to “This testimony from [speaker or community, if appropriate] describes…”.

Day 3: Interview and Oral History Skills

Model how to prepare open, non-leading questions: “What do you remember about…?”, “How did this place matter to you?” and “What would you like young people to understand?” Do not ask students to interview Aboriginal people about trauma or restricted cultural knowledge without community approval and appropriate adult supervision.

In pairs, students practise interviewing each other about a familiar place, then evaluate the questions for clarity, respect and bias. Explain that the unit project may use an existing approved testimony instead of conducting a new interview.

Day 4: From Notes to Evidence

Model how to turn a testimony into accurate research notes: record the exact wording of important evidence, use ellipses carefully, separate quotation from interpretation, and cite the source. Students annotate a short testimony by highlighting factual detail, feeling, viewpoint, historical claim and uncertainty.

Students write a paragraph beginning, “This testimony is significant because…” and support it with one direct quotation or precise paraphrase.

Day 5: Planning the Inquiry

Students complete an inquiry plan containing their question, proposed argument, three to five sources, source types, relevant historical concepts, possible Aboriginal perspectives, possible Catholic perspectives and questions that remain unanswered.

Conference with each student to check that the question is manageable, the sources are appropriate, and the proposed argument does not generalise from one person’s experience to an entire community.

Week 3 Check for Understanding

Students submit a source analysis and inquiry plan. They must explain why one testimony is significant, identify one limitation, and describe how they will corroborate it with another source.

Week 4: Constructing and Communicating a Historical Interpretation

Day 1: Making a Historical Argument

Teach the structure of a historical argument: claim, evidence, explanation and link to the question. Model a paragraph using the sentence pattern: “The evidence suggests… This is shown by… This matters because… However, the source has the limitation that…”

Students draft a thesis that answers their inquiry question and includes a clear position about Aboriginal Country, shared history, testimony or Catholic relationships.

Day 2: Organising Evidence

Students sort their evidence under three or four argument headings, such as “Country as continuing record,” “Aboriginal agency,” “personal testimony,” and “Catholic relationships and complexity.” They identify which evidence supports, complicates or challenges their argument.

Students remove sources that are unreliable, repetitive, irrelevant or culturally inappropriate. They check that their evidence includes more than one perspective.

Day 3: Drafting the Historical Interpretation

Students draft their project using an introduction, two or three evidence-based sections, a consideration of differing perspectives, and a conclusion. Require accurate use of at least four historical concepts and explicit explanation of the historical inquiry process.

Students include a respectful statement explaining how Aboriginal knowledge and testimony have been used, what permissions or community guidance applied, and what the evidence cannot establish.

Day 4: Peer Review and Revision

Students exchange drafts using a review sheet with five questions: Is the inquiry question answered? Is every major claim supported? Are Aboriginal perspectives represented respectfully? Are Catholic relationships presented positively but with historical complexity? Are sources cited accurately?

Students revise at least one paragraph, one source citation and one sentence about limitations. The teacher checks wording that may generalise, romanticise, blame collectively or treat a sacred or personal account casually.

Day 5: Sharing and Reflection

Students present their completed project in a format approved by the teacher and appropriate to the sources: written investigation, annotated map and oral presentation, digital museum panel, podcast script, or exhibition board. Presentations should use respectful language and avoid reproducing restricted images, words or cultural material.

After presenting, students complete a reflection: “What did I learn about Country?”, “Which source changed or deepened my thinking?”, “How did I use historical concepts and skills?”, and “What would I investigate next?”

Week 4 Check for Understanding

Use the completed project, presentation and reflection to check whether students can answer their inquiry question with evidence, explain different perspectives, evaluate sources, use historical concepts and describe ethical responsibilities in historical research.

End-of-Unit Project: Country, Testimony and Shared History

Task: Investigate one local or regional aspect of Aboriginal Country and shared history, including at least one personal testimony and evidence concerning an early Catholic relationship or interaction. Construct a respectful historical interpretation answering a focused inquiry question.

Required Components

1. Inquiry question: A focused question that cannot be answered with yes or no.
2. Historical interpretation: A clear thesis that answers the question.
3. Country: Explanation of how the selected place functions as a historical record and why it remains significant.
4. Evidence: At least four approved sources, including:
   • one Aboriginal community-approved source or testimony, where available;
   • one primary source;
   • one secondary source;
   • one source relating to an early Catholic relationship, activity or perspective.
5. Historical concepts: Correct use of at least four of these terms: evidence, continuity and change, cause and effect, significance, perspectives, empathy and contestability.
6. Source analysis: Explanation of each source’s creator, context, purpose, perspective, usefulness and limitation.
7. Balance and complexity: Recognition of positive, respectful relationships involving Catholic individuals or communities alongside unequal power, disagreement, harm or limitations where supported by evidence.
8. Ethical reflection: Explanation of how the student used Aboriginal knowledge respectfully and what they cannot claim beyond the evidence.
9. References: A complete list of sources using the school-approved citation style.

Suggested Project Formats

• 1,000–1,500-word historical investigation
• Annotated map with a 700–1,000-word explanation
• Digital museum exhibition with six to eight panels and a 500–800-word curator’s statement
• Podcast script of 8–10 minutes with a written source list and transcript
• Oral presentation supported by slides, an annotated map and a written evidence summary

Project Success Criteria

• I answer a focused historical question.
• I explain Aboriginal Country as a living historical record.
• I use Aboriginal testimony and other sources respectfully and accurately.
• I explain positive Catholic relationships without ignoring complexity or unequal power.
• I analyse and corroborate sources rather than simply collecting information.
• I use historical concepts and skills correctly.
• I support my claims with evidence and acknowledge limitations.
• I cite my sources and protect private, sacred or restricted knowledge.