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.
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A large very ornate illuminated letter 'O'. The letter is drawn in gold (the original is guilded and shiny, the digital copy is matt). Surrounding the letter are columns of blue and pink. Leaves and fronds decorate the top and bottom. Within the middle of the "O" is a figure in a blue and red robe riding a white horse. He has a halo on his head. He is leaning off of his horse to drape his red cloak over a naked man walking alongside his horse. The men are looking at each other.

([14--?]). Early Flemish, German, Italian, Spanish, French woodcuts. /Item PIC/14340/41,. nla.gov.au/nla.obj-2902124787

Illuminating the dark

Topic

As time progressed, the number of people who could read did begin to increase, as some countries began to increase the emphasis on educating their people to basic levels.

Humanities
Year 8
World cultures and history
An image from an old Dutch book showing some text with a pen drawing above the text of several tents on an island and many people fighting with each other.

Francisco Pelsaert, Ongeluckige voyagie van't schip Batavia na Oost-Indien uyt-gevaren onder de E. Franç̧ois Pelsaert : gebleven op de Abriolhos van Frederick Houtman op de hooghte van 28 en een half graden by Zuyden de Linie Equinoctiael : vervattende 't verongelucken des schips, en de grouwelijcke moorderyen onder 't scheeps-volck, op't eylandt Bataviaes Kerck-hoff nevens de straffe der handtdadigers in de Jaren 1628 en 1629 ; hier achter is by- gevoeght eenige discourssen der Oost-Indische Zee-vaert als mede de gantsche gelegentheyt der Koopmanschappen diemen in Indien doet. t' Utrecht : Lucas de Vries, Boeck-verkooper in de Snipper-vlucht, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-39984464

Shipwrecked!

Topic

At least four VOC ships were shipwrecked on the Western Australian coast in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

Humanities
Year 4
Explorers
A page one which all the letters of the English alphabet are printed in capital letters. They are printed by type setting.

PIC MSR 14/8/2 #PIC/14340/1-51-Early Flemish, German, Italian, Spanish, French woodcuts. /Item PIC/14340/40., nla.gov.au/nla.obj-2902124765

The press

Topic

Since ancient times, most documents were written by hand. If multiple copies were needed, it would mean making multiple handwritten copies; even with a team of scribes, this was time consuming. It also meant that information could be difficult to read, depending how good a scribe’s handwriting was.

Humanities
Year 8
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

This resource is aligned to Australian Curriculum: History for Year 9 students. It engages students with a rich selection of historical sources and challenges them to draw their own conclusions about the Qing Dynasty.

Humanities
Year 9
World cultures and history
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
Hand inked landscape of the Five Palace Gardens

The Five Palace Gardens 1904, National Library of China

Emperors

Topic

The Qing dynasty ruled China for nearly 270 years, lasting from 1644 until 1911; it was the last of China’s so-called conquest dynasties, the country being governed in this period by the Manchus, an ethnic group from beyond its frontiers.

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) et al. 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.

(1861). 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. 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
A portrait of a man. He has dark skin and hair. He is an Australian Indigenous man and is wearing a European style officers coat and trousers. His trousers are tattered at the cuffs. He is holding a tricorn hat in the air. In the background sailing ships can be see on the harbour. A large fort can be seen on a spit of land.

Earle, Augustus, 1793-1838. (1826). Portrait of Bungaree, a native of New South Wales, with Fort Macquarie, Sydney Harbour, in background [picture] / [Augustus Earle]. nla.gov.au/nla.obj-134114940

Indigenous experiences

Topic

Augustus Earle (1793–1838) was an artist working in the colony of New South Wales around 1825. He painted several portraits of Bungaree, a notable Aboriginal leader.

Humanities
Year 5
Australian history
First Australians
convict assignment uniform

Convict uniform and two caps  between 1830 and 1849, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-139411772

A secondary punishment uniform from the transportation era, coloured to distinguish continuing offenders. Hand stitched. From Van Diemens Land.

Convict experiences

Topic

The convict uniform held at the National Library of Australia is the only complete, original convict uniform in Australia. It consists of a jacket, a pair of trousers marked with a broad arrow, a waistcoat, a leather cap and a woollen cap.

Humanities
Year 5
Australian history
First Australians
Copy of a printed playbill containing details for a performance of Jane Shore at the Sydney Theatre in 1796.

George Hughes (Government Printer), Playbill for a performance of Jane Shore, The Wapping Landlady and The Miraculous Cure at the Theatre, Sydney 30 July 1796, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-1419486 - the earliest surviving document printed in Australia.

An early arts scene

Topic

This playbill, or poster, advertising a theatrical performance at the ‘Theatre, Sydney’ on 30 July 1796, is the oldest surviving printed document produced in Australia.

Humanities
Year 5
Australian history
First Australians

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