Class: Year Four Lesson Duration: 60 minutes

Lesson: First Fleet Cause and Effect

Learning Goals:
After the completion of this lesson, students will be able to identify the cause and effects
of colonial settlement. Students will focus on the key inquiry questions of What was the
impact of settlement on Indigenous Australians? and What was the impact of
settlement on convicts?. Students will develop critical analysis skills by understanding the
negative and positive repercussions of colonial settlement through analysing various
perspectives. Through this, students will further develop on colonial settlements
influence on the current Australian society and identity.

Curriculum Links:
Sequence information about peoples lives and events (ACHASSI076)
Draw simple conclusions based on analysis of information and data (ACHASSI079)
Pose questions to investigate people, events, places and issues (ACHASSI073)
Examine information to identify different points of view and distinguish facts from
opinions (ACHASSI077)
Interact with others with respect to share points of view (ACHASSI080)
Create literary texts by developing storylines, characters and settings (ACELT1794)

Historical Curriculum Links:

Stories of the First Fleet, including reasons for the journey, who travelled to
Australia, and their experiences following arrival (ACHASSK085)
The nature of contact between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples and
others, for example, the Macassans and the Europeans, and the effects of these
interactions on, for example, people and environments (ACHASSK086)
Prior Knowledge:
Ahead of this lesson plan, it is assumed that students will have a basic understanding of
the topic being presented. They will need knowledge circulating the concept that
Aboriginal were the first inhabitants of Australia. In addition, from the previous lesson
plan, they will need to have acquired an understanding of British settlement, but more
specifically, the convicts and settlers involved. If this understanding is prompt, then it will
be easier for teachers to enrich students knowledge to a level following cause and
effect. The structure of the journal entries has been previously explored through the
English content. Approaching this lesson, students will have completed reading Eliza Bird;
Child Convict in class.

Analysing and participating in this lesson plan will help students truly cultivate the history
and creation of their home. They will develop an enhanced insight into the hardship and
suffering of the Indigenous Australians, as well as the convicts who voyaged in
horrendous conditions. It will give students the opportunity to identify different
perspectives of the cause and effects of the British Settlement.
Resources and Materials:
1. Whiteboard and markers
2. Learning Journal
3. Resource: The First Fleet An Aboriginal Perspective
 4. Pencils

Lesson Outline:
Introduction:
Through this lesson students will understand the cause and effects of colonial settlement.
The perspectives of Indigenous Australians and convicts will be explored. It is important
for students to assess different perspectives of the issue in order to gain a critical
understanding of the content.

Body:
1. In the first activity, students will create a Venn diagram as a class. The class will be
split into two groups, where one group focuses on Indigenous Australians and the
other focuses on convicts. Students will investigate and compare the lives of
Indigenous Australians before and after colonisation. The second group will also
complete this for convicts. Once completed, students will then present their
diagrams to the class and the class will discuss their findings. Exploring
perspectives of Indigenous Australians is a cross-curricula priority (ACARA, 2017 ).
2. Following the first activity, students will watch a The First Fleet- An Aboriginal
Perspective, short video (refer below) about the impacts of the settlers on the
Indigenous Australians. It is important for students to understand the negative
impact on which the settlers caused on the Indigenous community. The teacher
can then pose a discussion question of what Australia might be like for the
Indigenous community today if the First Fleet didnt settle in Australia.
3. The final activity requires students to draw on their acquired knowledge to create
a journal entry. This task has general capability links with literacy (ACARA, 2017).
Students will take the perspective of an Indigenous Australian encountering
migrants, or a convict leaving their life in Britain and entering unknown land.
Students must consider and express the emotions and hardships which the person
is going through at the time (How are they feeling? What are their thoughts?).
- Students are prompted to remember the feelings and hardships of Eliza Bird to
guide their writing (class book)

Conclusion:
To complete this lesson, students will go back to their history journal and record
interesting information they found, information they want to find out or something they
are still having trouble understanding. The teacher will then collect the students journals
in order to gauge their abilities and understanding of the content.

Assessment:
The assessment for this course will be a summative journal entry. Students will be
assessed on their content knowledge and their ability to express the emotions and
hardships of these people during the time. Students will use the knowledge they have
from journal entries explored within English to create a journal entry. After this lesson, an
extra half an hour will be allocated for students to complete this assessment task.
Reference List
ACARA. (2017 ). HASS. Retrieved from Australian Curriculum :
https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/f-10-curriculum/humanities-and-social-
sciences/hass/

Lane, K. (2007). Eliza Bird Child Convict. Australia : Pearson Education Australia.

Mullen, E. (2016). The First Fleet - An Aboriginal Perspective. Retrieved from YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUVGNYX8o5U