Australian History Unit 3: Foundations and Transformations

Prerequisites

There are no prerequisites for this unit.

Course Description

Foundations

In this area of study students focus on the foundations of continuity and change in Australian history. They consider how ideas, perspectives, events and the differing social, political and economic experiences may have triggered changes and the extent of continuity and change in Australia and among Australians. The revolutionary nature of the Australian experience is explored, including how the continent’s distinct environment and landscape has shaped and been shaped by human processes and actions, and the embrace of democratic experiments that placed Australia in the vanguard of individual and political rights and freedoms in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Areas of Study

Unit 3 War and upheaval (1909–1950)

Students investigate the debates and perspectives about Australia’s participation in World War One and World War Two. Students analyse the ways in which social, political and economic cohesion of the nation was influenced by the impacts of these conflicts, including different perspectives about participation in war and conflict, enlistment and conscription and the ways that different groups experienced the war.

Unit 4 Power and resistance (1788–1913)

Students investigate the ways in which the colonisation of Australia began as a complex story of the exercise of power and resistance to authority. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples confronted the challenge of colonisation in a variety of ways, from frontier battles and conflicts that resisted the dispossession of their land, to adaptation and attempts to coexist, survive and preserve their culture. Resistance also emerged among the settler communities and their descendants who challenged governing structures, sought democratic rights, land reforms, and social, political and economic rights and reforms.

Assessment

Outcome 1

On completion of this unit the student should be able to analyse the foundations of continuity and change in Australia, and evaluate the contribution of significant events, ideas, perspectives and experiences to continuity and change.

To achieve this outcome the student will draw on key knowledge and key skills outlined in Area
of Study 1.

Contribution to final assessment

School-assessed Coursework for Unit 3 will contribute 25 per cent to the study score.