Topic 

For students to explore the depiction, representation and meaning of Australian symbols through beloved stories like Blinky Bill and Possum Magic.

Topic 

Learn about Australia’s national emblems and official symbols, and the emblems of your state or territory using images and objects from our collection.

Module

This resource aligns to the Australian Curriculum for Year 3 English - Language, Literature and Literacy.

Topic

Henry Lawson is celebrated as one of Australia’s greatest poets. The Library’s collection of Henry Lawson realia helps contemporary Australians understand Lawson’s popularity in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. 

Topic

The advent of the Internet has transformed the way advertising and consumers interact with each other. Because of the personal information we share either voluntarily or involuntarily online, advertising can now be targeted to a degree that would have boggled the minds of early advertisers.

Module

This resource is aligned to the Australian Curriculum: English for Year 7 students. The module is designed to introduce students to a variety of texts on the theme of cultural perspectives and to enable them to understand how authors, poets and cartoonists reflect their own cultural perspectives through their chosen medium.

Topic

These activities introduce students to the poem Bora Ring, as well as to the poem’s background and author. They also develop students’ understanding of how an author’s perspective can change and enhance the meaning of a text.

Topic

The term ‘cartoon’ is from the Italian cartone, meaning paper. In the middle ages, it was used to refer to sketches that had been drawn for larger works, such as canvases, frescos, tapestries or mosaics. From the nineteenth century, a cartoon came to mean an amusing illustration in newspapers, magazines or online.

Topic

This activity provides students with context and background information about the physical location and cultural environment in which Picnic at Hanging Rock is set.

Module

This resource is aligned to the Australian Curriculum: English, History and Visual Arts for Year 10 students and the Australian Curriculum: Visual Arts for Year 9. It uses examples of advertising and media drawn from the National Library of Australia’s exhibition The Sell: Australian Advertising 1790s to 1990s and looks at their influence over time.

Topic

Advertising campaigns for iconic Australian brands and early ads.

Topic

British tea culture, imported with the arrival of the British in Australia in 1788, has been adapted by Australians into something distinct from its roots. One of the key early differences is the use of the ‘billy’, a lightweight metal can used most commonly for boiling water or cooking over a campfire.