Digital Classroom | National Library of Australia (NLA)

Digital Classroom

Explore Australia's history at the National Library's Digital Classroom, aligned with the Australian Curriculum. With over 10 million items, we support diverse learning styles, fostering inquiry-based learning for students to analyse sources and draw conclusions about the Australian story.
Showing 1 - 12 of 150 results
A colourful watercolour showing the mountainous coastline of Tahiti. The mountains are shades of grey, blue and purple. The sky has billowing clouds.The shore is dotted with vegetation. In the foreground, two figures row a long canoe along the coast. The canoe is carrying something, although it's unclear what it is.

Nicholas Chevalier, Otaheite [i.e. Tahiti], 1868, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-134623111

Polynesian expansion across the Pacific (c.700-1756)

Module

This resource is aligned to the Australian Curriculum: History for Year 8 students. It adopts an inquiry learning approach that develops students’ skills in investigating Asia-Pacific societies in depth.

Humanities
Year 8
Asia-Pacific
World cultures and history
A watercolour drawing of two canoes and two types of oars/paddles

Louis Choris, Canoes, and a club from Easter Island, 1822, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-136165362

Expansion and exploration

Topic

When European explorers began to enter the Pacific they were astounded by its vast extent and fact that most of the islands were already inhabited.

Humanities
Year 8
Asia-Pacific
World cultures and history
A colourful watercolour showing the coast and mountains of Tahiti. The whole scene is rendered in pastel pinks, greens and blues. In the foreground a grassy shoreline is dotted with palm trees. a bay or inlet seperates the island with the jagged mountains int he background. water craft are dispersed around the water.

Charles Hamilton Smith and Robert Elwes, Sketcher's tour round the world. Parana in the island of Tahiti, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-136489091

Environments, innovations and horticulture

Topic

Looking at Polynesia on a world map can be deceiving, as the vast majority of the Polynesian islands appear as near-identical green specks scattered across vast oceanic areas.

Humanities
Year 8
Asia-Pacific
World cultures and history
Two men are gathered under the shelter of a thatched roof structure. On top of the structure, offerings of meat and fish are strewn. In the foreground there are twelve signs or totems sticking out of the ground. To the left of the structure is a larger thatched roofed hut. The compound is surrounded by vegetation

John Williams, John Webber and James Cook, A human sacrifice in a morai in Otaheite, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-136423378

Religious and social significance

Topic

Many European explorers, sailing across the eastern Pacific islands from the 18th century onwards, reported with astonishment their visits at religious sites, the impressive carved statues and the complex ceremonies they witnessed.

Humanities
Year 8
Asia-Pacific
World cultures and history
black and white photograph of japanese world war two plane

Mitsubishi A6M Zero-Sen, a Japanese single seat monoplane fighter, 1940, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-144931273

Dutch–Australian connections in World War II

Topic

As World War II broke out across Europe in 1939, the Dutch had initially remained neutral. When Germany occupied the Netherlands in 1940, the Dutch lost the ability to defend their colonies in the Netherlands East Indies.

Humanities
Year 10
Explorers
The world famous pop group the Easybeats visited the CBN 8 CWN Channel 6 studios in 1970 for a tape session to be included in a local programme

Stephen Fleay, The Easybeats rehearsing at the CBN 8 and CWN 6 television studios, Orange, New South Wales, 1970, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-151176759

Dutch experiences in Australia

Topic

After World War II, the people of the Netherlands found themselves with a long journey ahead of them, resurrecting a war-ravaged country that was struggling to overcome recent famine and mass casualties in the Holocaust.

Humanities
Year 10
Explorers
Logo saying Dirk Hartog, 1616-2016, Marking our history, celebrating our future
Dirk Hartog 1616–2016: 400 years of Dutch-Australian connections

Module

This resource is aligned to the Australian Curriculum: History for Year 10 students.

Humanities
Year 10
Explorers
french hand inked map of China and Tibet

Jean Baptiste Bourguignon d'Anville & Henri Scheurleer & Gerardus Condet, Carte la plus generale et qui comprend la Chine, la Tartarie chinoise, et le Thibet, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-232293356

Territory

Topic

The Qing dynasty, sometimes referred to as the Empire of the Great Qing, or the Manchu dynasty, was the last imperial dynasty of China.

Humanities
Year 9
World cultures and history
Chinese illustration

The Story of the Stone (Dream of Red Mansions), Suzhou: Book Room of Collected Literature 1791, National Library of China

Literature

Topic

The Story of The Stone is regarded by many as the greatest example of Chinese literature, and as one of the masterpieces of world literature.

Humanities
Year 9
World cultures and history
Painting Manual of the Mustard Seed Garden

Wang Gai (1645–1707), Painting Manual of the Mustard Seed Garden, Nanjing 1679, National Library of China

Art

Topic

Emperor Shunzhi, the first emperor of the Qing dynasty (since the taking of China proper in 1644) died in 1661. His son, Kangxi, took over at the age of seven and reigned for 61 years. He encouraged painting, porcelain making and literature.

Humanities
Year 9
World cultures and history
A colour lithograph showing chinese houses on either side of a long, wide boulevard with block rows of soldiers on horseback as far as the eye can see.

The Earl of Elgin's entrance into Pekin on the 24th of October last to sign the Treaty of Peace between Great Britain and China / sketched by our special artist from the An-Tin Gate (Gate of Peace) of the Tartar Quarter, 1861, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-128383685

Contact and conflict

Topic

In relation to the West, when the Qing dynasty began in 1644, access to Chinese markets for the Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch and English had been restricted to Canton since 1550.

Humanities
Year 9
World cultures and history
Complete Map of the Everlasting Unity of the Great Qing (Da Qing wannian yitong dili quantu)

After Huang Qianren (1694–1771), Complete Map of the Everlasting Unity of the Great Qing (Da Qing wannian yitong dili quantu), Jiaqing period (1796–1820), National Library of China

Celestial Empire

Module

Aligned with Year 9 History in the Australian Curriculum, this resource encourages students to explore compelling historical sources and form their own conclusions about the Qing dynasty.

Humanities
Year 9
World cultures and history

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