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 169 - 180 of 206 results
painting of many indigenous people interacting with Cook

Antoine Phelippeaux and Jacques Grasset de Saint-Sauveur, Tableau des decouvertes du Capne. Cook & de la Perouse, 1798, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-135227083

An enlightened world

Topic

The British colonisation of the Americas began in 1606 with the chartering of the Colony of Virginia.

Humanities
Senior Secondary
Explorers
World cultures and history
etching of the Endeavour in  Botany Bay

Geoffrey Chapman Ingleton, H.M. Bark Endeavour, 1937, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-135348965

Voyages of discovery

Topic

For centuries, explorers had been funded by their governments and by private investors to set out into unknown parts of the world. Many of these adventures were driven by the potential for profit and resources.

Humanities
Senior Secondary
Explorers
World cultures and history
watercolour reproduction of pacific island

William Hodges, Otaheite, 1773, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-135152176

Transit of Venus

Topic

Officially, Cook had been instructed by the British Admiralty to observe the transit of Venus, at Otaheiti (now Tahiti) for the benefit of the Royal Society.

Humanities
Senior Secondary
Explorers
World cultures and history
handwritten letter

James Cook and Great Britain Admiralty, Cook's voyage 1768-71, 1768, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-229102048

Instructions from the Admiralty

Topic

Before sailing from England, Cook had been handed a series of secret instructions by the Admiralty.

Humanities
Senior Secondary
Explorers
World cultures and history
A comic panel on yellowed newspaper paper. A large well-dressed man wearing a top hat that says 'Capital' is pushing a wheelbarrow marked 'Federal Capital' which is full of material marked 'Unearned increments'. He is pushing it towards a a man dressed in workwear wearing a hat marked 'NSW Elector'. The title below the comic reads 'A One-sided Affair'

(1880) The Bulletin, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-683703369

Media and information literacy

Module 

A resource for educators teaching digital and/or media literacy in their classrooms. 

English
Languages
Mathematics
Teachers
Communications and media
The front page of the Tribune newspaper. The headline reads 'USA FORCED TO DROP CUBA INVASION'. There is a black and white photograph of 5 people holding protest signs.

Tribune (Sydney, NSW: 1939–1991), 31 October 1962, p. 1, nla.gov.au/nla.news-page25610837

Print media: The Cuban Missile Crisis

Topic

Under legal deposit provisions of the Copyright Act (1968), one copy of everything that is published in Australia must be lodged with the National Library of Australia. As a result, the Library’s collection holds a vast array of Australia’s printed news media.

English
Languages
Mathematics
Teachers
Communications and media
A photo of a large number of protestors gathered in front of the Victorian state library.

Francis Reiss, Protesters gathered outside the State Library in Swanston Street, Melbourne peace rally, 14 February 2003, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-147324313

Participation and protest

Module 

This resource is aligned with the Australian Curriculum: Civics and Citizenship for Year 8 students. It adopts an inquiry-based learning approach that develops a student’s understanding of Australians’ rights, freedoms and opportunities to participate in Australia’s democracy.

Humanities
Year 8
Australian history
Protest and dissent
A photo of lots of different coloured plastic love hearts on a wire, stuck in a grassy area. The hearts are decorated with writing about freedom, and drawings.

Loui Seselja, [Section of the field of hearts display in close-up view, United Nations World Refugee Day and Field of Hearts event, Canberra, 20 June 2004], nla.gov.au/nla.obj-130944424

Freedoms and rights

Topic

Australia is a signatory of various international treaties and laws. Treaties, conventions, protocols and covenants are agreements between nation states on how best to respond to international issues.

Humanities
Year 8
Australian history
Democracy
Protest and dissent
A photo of 2 people with their backs to the camera, facing Australia's Parliament House, holding hands, lifting them high. Each is holding a large sign in their outside hands that reads 'Australia said Yes to equality' and 'Australia said Yes to equality, not discrimination'.

Sean Davey, Marriage Equality Ambassadors holding up 'Yes' signs in front of Parliament House, Canberra, 7 December 2017, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-735351644

Dissent in society

Topic

Many protest movements in Australia have resulted from dramatic shifts in public opinion on contentious issues, and as a response to how governments of the time dealt with these shifting opinions.

Humanities
Year 8
Australian history
Democracy
Protest and dissent
A black and white photo of a bearded man with collar length hair and a large metal peace medallion hanging down his front, holds a burning piece of paper up high, while several people watch and take photos.

Tim Aickin, A protester burns his draft card, standing in front of Jim Cairns, Vietnam War Moratorium Day, Melbourne, May 1970, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-138060747

Direct action

Topic

Direct action can be separated into two categories: civil resistance and civil disobedience.

Humanities
Year 8
Australian history
Democracy
First Australians
Protest and dissent
A photo of a woman standing and speaking to a room of seated and standing people.

Francis Reiss, [Anna Burke, Federal member for Chisholm, at the Chisholm Aged Care Forum, Mt. Waverly Community Centre, Melbourne, October or November, 2001], nla.gov.au/nla.obj-146654777

Be informed, get involved: Participating in Australia’s democracy

Topic

While the majority of Australians participate in our democracy during elections, there are ways of participating and sharing your beliefs throughout the year.

Humanities
Year 8
Australian history
Democracy
Protest and dissent
A collage of green and purple plant matter, aluminium and perspex, lit from above by a warm, yellow internal light.

Jeannie Baker, Hidden Forest, Endpapers, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-971313378

Australian children’s literature

Module

This resource is aligned with the Australian Curriculum: English for Year 4 students. It has been developed to use National Library collection material as the basis for an exploration of children’s literature as part of the literature strand of the English learning area.

English
Year 4
Literature and writing

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