Federation Time-Travellers

Introduction

This Year 6 HaSS unit will teach you all about Australian Federation - the significant events and people that helped unite the colonies and establish the Commonwealth of Australia. 

Australia Coat of Arms

What does FEDERATION mean?

Watch this video and find out!

Task

You are an Australian Historian, sent back in history to the time leading up to Australia's Federation.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/janettepaltian/27734478692/in/photolist-J…

Your mission is to return to 2020, with an artefact that you have retrieved from one of the significant events or significant people, that relates to its impact on Federation.

The artefact can be any one of a number of things: 

  • a media piece (newspaper article, news footage, radio news broadcast, poster, political cartoon, comic strip, painting etc.)
  • a model (made from your choice of materials)
  • an expressive piece (song, poem, soundscape, drama piece or dance)
  • a person (significant or otherwise, that can 'tell' what they witnessed or experienced)

Using the information you gain from your research tasks, you need to create the artefact and explain its significance to Federation to Year 6 at the end of Week 6.

Process

Activity 1:

Watch the clips Federation of Australia and Federation Explained.

Read the information explaining the main reasons why Australia became a Federation.

Complete the Activity 1 questions in your OneNote notebook.

Activity 2:

You can find a Timeline of Federation here

Complete the Federation Timeline Flipchart by matching and sequencing the significant events that led to Federation.

When you have finished the activity, answer the Australian Federation Timeline questions (p10) in your HaSS Notebook.

Activity 3:

Make your Federation Famous Faces Hall of Fame (p3-5) by:

  • cutting out the famous faces
  • matching them with the correct name
  • writing some dot points beneath each Famous Face (why are they known as a significant Federation personality? What key events leading to Federation were they involved in (check your flipchart)? How did their actions contribute to Federation?)
Evaluation
 

Year 6 Achievement Standards

HaSS Achievement Standard

By the end of Year 6, students explain the significance of an event/development, an individual and/or group. They identify and describe continuities and changes for different groups in the past and present. They describe the causes and effects of change on society. They compare the experiences of different people in the past. Students describe, compare and explain the diverse characteristics of different places in different locations from local to global scales. They describe how people, places, communities and environments are diverse and globally interconnected and identify the effects of these interconnections over time. Students explain the importance of people, institutions and processes to Australia’s democracy and legal system. They describe the rights and responsibilities of Australian citizens and the obligations they may have as global citizens. Students recognise why choices about the allocation of resources involve trade-offs. They explain why it is important to be informed when making consumer and financial decisions. They identify the purpose of business and recognise the different ways that businesses choose to provide goods and services. They explain different views on how to respond to an issue or challenge.

Students develop appropriate questions to frame an investigation. They locate and collect useful data and information from primary and secondary sources. They examine sources to determine their origin and purpose and to identify different perspectives in the past and present. They interpret data to identify, describe and compare distributions, patterns and trends, and to infer relationships, and evaluate evidence to draw conclusions. Students sequence information about events, the lives of individuals and selected phenomena in chronological order and represent time by creating timelines. They organise and represent data in a range of formats, including large- and small-scale maps, using appropriate conventions. They collaboratively generate alternative responses to an issue, use criteria to make decisions and identify the advantages and disadvantages of preferring one decision over others. They reflect on their learning to propose action in response to an issue or challenge and describe the probable effects of their proposal. They present ideas, findings, viewpoints and conclusions in a range of communication forms that incorporate source materials, mapping, graphing, communication conventions and discipline-specific terms.

 

Conclusion

Before 1901, Australia was not a nation. At that time, the continent consisted of six British colonies which were partly self-governing, but subject to the law-making power of the British Parliament. Each colony had its own government and laws, including its own railway system, postage stamps and tariffs (taxes). Through the hard work and perseverance of some passionate Australians, our nation became the Commonwealth of Australia. 

I know I am successful when:

  • I can identify and explain the four main reasons for Federation
  • I can understand the significant events leading up to Federation
  • I can identify the significant people involved in the Federation of Australia
  • I can share my learning and understanding with others