Civics and Citizenship throughout History

Welcome back.

In congruence to the Australian Curriculum (Figure 1), students of 6E are going to begin exploring the history of Australian citizenship, with a focus on Indigenous Australian rights. This unit aims to question how legislation and policies become law, and how these rights, or there-lack of, can affect different groups of Australians. This will help students word towards the achievement standard for the year (Figure 2).

Figure 1:

Figure 2:

To do this, we’ll be focusing on the 1960’s and some significant events which lead to the rights and freedoms Indigenous Australians have today. To introduce the topics, students will watch the clip below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pz7hrwgczPg&feature=share&fbclid=IwAR0aksFEcR-EQ8wlV-cbc5bmQI29SMnv3R3JM9l8wgkwpXw7smsnAWbCJ-Q (Behind the news, 2017).

As they watch the clip, students will be asked to put themselves in ‘the shoes’ of Indigenous Australians during this decade, asking questions about how it must have felt during this time, and how the changes would have affected their lifestyle and community. By looking at this perspective, students are more likely to become engaged with the topic, and overcome potential resistance towards the issue (O’Dowd, 2010).

During our first lesson, students will focus on 1962, the year Indigenous Australians were given the right to enrol and vote for parliament. Students will explore the history which lead up to this event, using the below resources:

https://getparliament.peo.gov.au/electing-members-of-parliament/indigenous-australians-and-the-vote (Parliamentary Education Office, n.d.).

https://www.creativespirits.info/aboriginalculture/selfdetermination/voting-rights-for-aboriginal-people (Korff, 2019a).

Students will then be given the opportunity to read Zelda Quakawoot’s Keepin’ It Cool poem (2010) which outlines what this right has meant for many Indigenous Australians.

In the next lesson students will be looking at the 1967 referendum. From this, they will learn what it meant for the Indigenous community to have these rights changed, and what it takes to actually change a constitutional Australian right.

To engage students will look at the primary resource which indicates which clauses of the Commonwealth Institution Australia wanted to change (Figure 3).

Figure 3:

Primary resources such as Quakawoot’s poem 2010 and this ‘How to vote Card’ provide a powerful insight into our history and can help students personalise and understand their own history, providing a framework for deep, engaging debates for students, about the meaning these resources express (Veccia, 2004).

Visiting the website below, will give students the opportunity to explore how the referendum came to be.

https://www.creativespirits.info/aboriginalculture/history/australian-1967-referendum (Korff, 2019b).

The students will discuss why Indigenous Australians were excluded from the constitution to begin with. This sensitive exploration will help students understand the inequalities which have transpired throughout Australian history. By discussing controversial issues in context of citizenship, Cowan & Maitles states that students gain a greater understanding of democracy, with the ability to live fairly in adult life (2012).

We’ll also be having a guest speaker come in from the Indigenous community. Local perspectives have been found to be an effective strategy for exploring different views (Barton &McCully, 2007). Parents can join us for this part if they wish.

An assessment will involve students writing their own poem about the freedom and rights of all Australians, attaining towards the Indigenous community.

References

Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority. (2016). Australian Curriculum: Humanities and Social Sciences: Year 3 (Version 8.3). Retrieved from https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/f-10-curriculum/humanities-and-social-sciences/hass on Saturday 6th April, 2019.

Barton, K., & McCully, A. (2007). Teaching controversial issues…where the controversial issues really matter. Teaching History, (123), 13-17.

Behind the News. (2017). Referendum – Behind the news. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pz7hrwgczPg&feature=share&fbclid=IwAR0aksFEcR-EQ8wlV-cbc5bmQI29SMnv3R3JM9l8wgkwpXw7smsnAWbCJ-Q Saturday 6^th April, 2019.

Cowan, P., & Maitles, H. (2012). Teaching controversial issues in the classroom: Key issues and debates. New York, NY: Bloomsbury Publishing.

Korff, J. (2019a). Creative spirits: Voting rights for aboriginal people. Retrieved from https://www.creativespirits.info/aboriginalculture/selfdetermination/voting-rights-for-aboriginal-people Saturday 6th April, 2019.

Korff, J. (2019b). Creative spirits: Australian 1967 referendum. Retrieved from https://www.creativespirits.info/aboriginalculture/history/australian-1967-referendum on Saturday 6^th April, 2019.

O’Dowd, M. (2010). ‘Ethical Positioning’ a strategy in overcoming student resistance and fostering engagement in teaching aboriginal history as a compulsory subject to pre-service primary education students. Education in Rural Australia 20(1), 29-42.

Parliamentary Education Office (n.d.). Electing members of parliament. Retrieved from https://getparliament.peo.gov.au/electing-members-of-parliament/indigenous-australians-and-the-vote on Saturday 9^th April, 2019.

Veccia, S. H. (2004). Uncovering our history: Teaching with primary resources. American Library Association.

Quakawoot, Z. (2010). Keepin’ it cool. In Korff, J. (2019). Creative spirits: Voting rights for aboriginal people. Retrieved from https://www.creativespirits.info/aboriginalculture/selfdetermination/voting-rights-for-aboriginal-people Saturday 6th April, 2019.

Riley & Ephemera Collection (n.d.). ‘How to vote’ cards from the 1967 referendum. Retrieved from https://blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/such-was-life/the-1967-referendum/ Saturday 6^th April, 2019.