Secondary Catalogue

National Sorry Day is held on 26 May to encourage us to reflect on the mistreatment of First Nations people in Australia. This Miniclip uses European settlement and the Stolen Generation to highlight the grief, suffering, and injustice experienced by First Nations people, and discusses the purpose of National Sorry Day. This clip also provides an overview of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags. Show Less

Off Country follows the lives of seven Indigenous students as they leave home to spend a year boarding at one of the oldest and most elite boarding schools in the country, Geelong Grammar. From inside the boarding house, on the sports field and in the classroom we follow the 2020 school year as the boarding school is thrown into chaos as they tackle the pandemic. Wrestling with their conflicting identities as students move between boarding life and home life, Off Country creates a historic record of one of Australia’s key Indigenous education pathways and a complex portrait of what it is to be an Indigenous child in Australia today. Show Less

Surviving aggressive colonisation, including dispossession to enable atomic testing, and through their tenacious spirit and cultural strength, the Maralinga people fight to retain their country. These lands have been home to the Maralinga people for over sixty thousand years. This deep relationship with their country was challenged by the arrival of a colonising force that lead to the institutionalisation of the Maralinga people in the Ooldea Mission in the 1920s. Show Less

Colonisation was not only about taking land and resources for imperial powers, but also about seeking to convert, or ‘civilise’, indigenous people to European ways of thinking. This video explores the impact of Christian missions on the culture and daily lives of Indigenous Australians, featuring commentary from academics from the Gnibi College of Indigenous Australian Peoples. An informative, curriculum-aligned video for middle secondary students of History. Show Less

When the British invaded the Australian continent in 1788, it ended a way of life that had existed for more than fifty thousand years for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. This video explores the profound impact of European settlement on Indigenous Australians, featuring commentary from academics from the Gnibi College of Indigenous Australian Peoples. An informative, curriculum-aligned video for middle secondary students of History. Show Less

International Women’s Day is celebrated every year on March 8 – but why is this day important? What does the day signify? This Miniclip explores the origins of women’s suffrage throughout Australia’s modern history including the granting of voting rights for both Indigenous and non-Indigenous women and the first women in parliamentary roles. It also discusses damaging stereotypes for both girls and boys, the presence of gender inequality that still exists today, and how to celebrate the women in your own life. Show Less

The gold rush began just over 60 years after Europeans arrived to Australia, but how did this decade transform the cultural, political, environmental, and economic threads of the nation? Ronan takes viewers through the construction of ‘10-mile towns’ which lead to the expansion of settlements throughout the country, the new wealth experienced in communities, as well as changes made to the natural landscape and the impacts on Indigenous connection to land and use of resources. Also explained is the birth of multiculturalism – including how the racism experienced at the goldfields enabled the White Australia Policy, as well as the birth of democracy in our parliament as a result of the Eureka Stockade. Show Less

How did the Australian gold rush begin in 1851? Who kicked it off? Where did it occur, and why is gold so valuable? Join Ronan, an Irish digger come to try his hand at striking rich, as he explores the beginning of gold fever in Australia including the role of Edward Hargraves, the countries from which hopeful miners rushed, and the various roles played by Aboriginal Australians during the period. Students will also learn about the locations that put gold on the Australian map including Ballarat and Bendigo, as well as the catalysts that acted as drivers of diggers out of their homes and onto the shores of Australia such as Ireland’s famine. Show Less

As a dominion of the British Empire, it was inevitable for Australia to be drawn into the First World War. This video explores Australian attitudes towards enlistment during WWI and how these changed over the course of the war and highlights the experiences of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander soldiers. Student will understand how public opinion affected Australian participation in the war effort. Show Less

Woollarawarre Bennelong was a senior man of the Eora, from the Port Jackson area in Sydney. With extraordinary curiosity and diplomacy, Bennelong led his community to survive a clash of cultures, and left a legacy that reverberates through contemporary life. Bennelong is Bangarra at its best. In a unique Australian dance language, the company celebrates the continuation of life and culture through the power, artistry and passion of the country’s most outstanding dancers. With its immersive soundscapes and exquisite design, Bennelong will leave you in awe of Australia’s history – and its power to repeat. Teachers are advised to review the work before selecting it for study, as it includes scenes/themes that some viewers may find challenging. Show Less

This inspiring film celebrates the courage and resilience of those who, for over a century, have fought for the right of Aboriginal children to public education. It traces the journey from when discrimination, prejudice and outright racism deprived Aboriginal children of the right to learn. It highlights the pioneers whose courage, conviction and determination that is contributing to a more equal and richer public education system to the benefit of all. It is a story of the remarkable recent rise of Aboriginal teachers and the community they inspire – the students they nurture and support in our public education system, the culture they share and the positive impact they make to a more inclusive and fairer Australian society. The stories in the film are told with compelling honestly that recalls the grave injustices and enormous challenges that Aboriginal people have confronted to provide a better future for not only their children and descendants but for all Australians too. Show Less

Australia was at war, yet although Indigenous Australians were considered unfit to fight, plenty enlisted, including Reg Saunders who fought in the Mediterranean and New Guinea, becoming the first commissioned Aboriginal officer. This frank account of his valour and the toll that war took on him, is told by his daughter Glenda Humes. It is an outstanding resource for middle and senior secondary level history students Show Less

NAIDOC Week is an annual celebration full of fun and festivities. But what exactly is the purpose of NAIDOC Week? And what is the history behind it? This Miniclip explores the events that led up to the formation of NAIDOC, how the Day of Mourning transformed from a protest march to a celebration, and how NAIDOC Week recognises the contributions of Indigenous Australians! This is a fantastic resource to introduce your young students to the historical and cultural importance of celebrating NAIDOC Week in the Australian community. Show Less

What a feast! Australians eat a huge diversity of food. Join animated friends Norman and Miranda as they tempt us with tasty morsels about the many influences on modern Australian cuisine – geography and climate, a plateful of Indigenous and multicultural food fascinations, technology transforming kitchens and changing eating habits. More than a mouthful, this video is ideal for lower to middle secondary students. Show Less

This is a compelling look at the world’s oldest continuous culture, a culture whose sacred sites are older than any of the world’s most famous monuments. Connection to Country follows a group of Indigenous people from the Pilbara as they battle to preserve their unique heritage from the ravages of a booming mining industry. Show Less

This Miniclip explores the importance of seeking out and listening to Indigenous views about sustainability, derived from continued custodial responsibility to Place and Country, when developing strategies to effectively manage our environments. Developed in consultation with Indigenous peoples, this video will help introduce your students to the use of back burning, traditional bushfoods, and sustainable uses of natural resources. Show Less

The USA Civil Rights Movement ‘Freedom Rides’ used civil disobedience to great effect. They also influenced the Freedom Ride in Australia which involved Sydney University students going by bus through rural NSW and challenging segregation in businesses and communities. This programme explores the Freedom Ride as part of a wider push by Aboriginal Australians to engage in activism and social reform across the nation. Show Less

A persuasive speech aims to convince audiences of the speaker's position. Ethos, Pathos and Logos - or appealing to an audience’s values, emotions and logic – are commonly used. In 1993 Prime Minister Paul Keating delivered a speech in Redfern that proved to be a watershed moment in Indigenous Non-indigenous relations in Australia. This program analyses the language, structure and presentation techniques Keating uses to achieve his purpose. Show Less

'The Drover's Boy' is a 'hybrid' blend of music, documentary and drama. The story is set in the 1920s in outback Australia, and evokes a time when it was illegal for white Australians and Aboriginal people to marry. It was not uncommon for a drover and his Aboriginal wife to pass off their relationship under the guise of her being 'a drover's boy'. In subterfuge, she had to bind her breasts, cut her hair and change her name to disguise herself as an Aboriginal boy. This is one such story, sensitively told, based on a ballad by Australian bush legend and singer-songwriter, Ted Egan. The song, and the film, pay tribute to this form of forbidden union and the significant contribution that Aboriginal women made to the pastoral history of frontier Australia. Show Less

In the third installment, Beyond Australia, Edmund Capon explores how, since the 1960s, Australia and its art went global. Transformed into a migrant nation, Australia's dependence on Britain ended and artists played a huge role in shaping the new Australia at first they adopted American abstraction before a far more ancient art form from the heart of the continent indigenous art emerged. It became Australia's instantly recognisable calling card. Show Less

The second episode, Coming of Age, explores how Australia identity evolved in the 20th century and how modern art down under struggled to emerge. As modern artists expressed both the dreams and the demons of this new nation, they met with decades of disapproval from the old guard. Show Less

Strangers in a Strange Land tells the story of how art helped European settlers come to terms with an unfamiliar land, and how ignoring 60,000 years of indigenous culture, they saw the place through a distorted European lens, until a uniquely Australian impressionism emerged that reflected the emergence of a distinctive national identity and an independent nation. Show Less

'The Future Ancients', written and produced by Luka Lesson. In the future the history books will study us our cities will have been renamed our languages slanged into something new and this moment will one day be ancient The future ancients dig theoretical trenches between settlement and invasion shoot rifles at each other across the plains and place prayers within the screaming bullets they shroud their heads in mourning and afterwards line their soldiers up in cemeteries like voodoo dolls for God The future ancients will be encased behind glass in museums Greek ragtag squadrons with backpacks and shards of Athenian columns for weapons will be installed in exhibitions of either terrorists or freedom fighters depending on who it is that wins this time they will stand side by side with wax dummies of 'good men' in shirts and ties who never leave their suburban blocks but are called to duty through computer screens shooting unmanned cannons in far away places and are called things like husband son sweetheart and Lieutenant The future ancients will have their artefacts locked in storage shards of Molotov cocktails from the Egyptian revolution will be tagged and filed next to Michael Jackson albums smartphones Playboy magazines and the Australian Flag The future ancients will be found by future archaeologists preserved and embalmed in tequila and Chanel Number 5 alongside pop-star prophets who thought they were somehow saying something new this time they will find them praying to gods who believe in Science on a planet of do's and don'ts of factions and fractions of us's and them's and we's and whatever's and maybe never's and never again's the future ancients will be found in thombs of cheap liquor in databases of tradition on screens called culture as relics of broken signals They will hardly be visited as bones but remembered in the symbology of pixel and paranoia The Future Ancients will be remembered or lost depending on what we decide Since democracy has been paraphrased sustainability called primitive refugees criminalised by the first invaders and Indigenous cultures lined up side by suicide in prisons like voodoo dolls for the future the textbooks will study us our cities will have been renamed our languages slanged into something new and our stories will be the only link left between objects and their meanings They will try to twist and turn our histories based on what they find of us so our voices are the only aretfacts worth keeping alive So whose lips will we honour? on whose tomb will we lay our tears? those that risked everything to spreak but spoke anyway those that gave meaning in the darkness those who not only spoke but gifted us a moment of silence in this madness to so that we could lear to jear ourselves Those thoughts are your artefacts your jewellery jade and bronze and your words are your monuments your stone and bone Parthenon and Colosseum everything worth leaving behind In silence is how we surrender speech is the architecture of fate So are we pharaohs of fallacies empresses of nothing? What will they engrave below our statues? In the ancient future. Show Less

The Kimberley is one of the most ecologically diverse areas of the world. Its marine ecosystems are amongst the world's most pristine. At 424500 square kilometers the Kimberley is bigger than Italy or Germany and it has over 3000 uninhabited islands. This documentary takes you on a expedition into this remote region with a team of scientists and an artist. What they find redefines their values and how they view the natural world. It showcases some of the rare species and describes the marine science conducted today to understand one of Australia's last great wilderness areas through wildlife- great and small. Show Less

Choreography by Stephen Page Produced by Bangarra Dance Theatre in 2013. As the colonial fleet arrived on Eora country in the late 18th Century, Patyegarang befriended the colony’s timekeeper, Lieutenant William Dawes, gifting him her language in an extraordinary display of trust and friendship, which now inspires our imaginations about ‘first contact’. Show Less