Let's Time warp back to before, during and after European Settlement!

Let’s imagine you are an Aboriginal Person living in Australia in a small group within Townsville regin. You have been one of the only people who have walked the Australian land so far; you know the plants you can eat, what ones will make you sick and what ones can make you better, you have dances and rituals to celebrate and have knowledge of the land like no one else.

But things are changing the Europeans have just arrived; they have brought their culture, food and animals to Australia what does this mean for you?

Throughout this term you have learnt a lot about the impact of the European settlement upon the Aboriginal culture and practices in Townsville, this task is going to get you to further this knowledge, you will travel back in time to study how things were, how they grew to change and what they are like now, documenting your journey in a diary to share with generations to come. 

Today's webquest is going to have you travel back in time in Australia to when the only people walking the land were the Aborignal People, you will then travel foward to when the Europeans arrived and see for yourself what this was like, all the while documenting your travels in a diary. These will be diaries from your point of view as an Aboriginal Person living before and after European settlement drawing on Historically correct information; you will write them as a journal entry form that person and how there life is during that time. Your diary must be hand written because you will be travelling back in time and you have to remember that computers did not exist then. The information in your diary entries, must be historically correct so you have to use the links provided to make sure what you write is true and can be proven.

Your three dairies will be short exerts from what you can imagine would be a long story of one’s history. Your first Diary will be about before the Europeans came and what life was like, the second from when the Europeans arrived and what things began to change and how you as an Aboriginal were affected. Each diary will consist of 2 entries; one to two paragrahs per entry.    

Step 1:           

First you will collect a flow chart sheet from your teacher. On this sheet you will write a few notes in each coloumn, make sure you pick bits of information that will be helpful because you will use them to write you journal entires later on.

Step 2:

Your next step is to begin your journey, you are now in the shoes of an Aboriginal Person in Australia before the settlement of the Europeans. You are going to have a look at some of the links below. These sites will help you learn how your everyday life would have been, what you would eat each day, when and where you would sleep, your mean of transport and the things you did to celebrate special events and people.

Write dot points in the  Before European Settlement column to come back to when you write your journal entry. 

• A diet of aboriginal people before European Contact
• Aborigines
• Traditional Life
• Australian Indigenous Cultural Heritage
• Introduction to Indigenous Culture

Step 3:         

Some time has passed your life as you have once knew it, this land that was once just walked by yourself and your people is suddenly discovered by people who are strange to you they bring a whole new way of life new; food, animals, housing and trasnport.

This is all new to you and is now known as the European Settlement. What did this mean for you how did your life change? How were you treated?

Go through some of the websites below to travel through how life bean to change for you and how it became better and at times worse, use the After European Settlement column to write down some notes for your second diary. 

• Read this link from Clashes with Colonists and on;

Australian Aboriginal Culture

• Impact of European Settlement on Indigenous Culture
• Impacts of Early Settlement
• One People's Discovery another loss
• Traditional Diet vs Current Diet

Step 4:     

Now you have to use your notes and dot points recorded on your flow chart to help you remember the facts about the Aboriginals before and after the European settlement to include into your written journal entry. Look at the link below to help you understand how to start and help your diray entries flow;

-  How to write a diary entry

Before you start writing your journal entries stop and think about what you think people would most want to know and learn about the lives of the Aboriginal culture and practices before and after the settlement.

 Remember to think about;

-       How the Lives of the Aboriginal People once was.

-       How it was changed?

-       What type of things were changed; food, housing, land?

It is expected that you will have 2 entries for each diary, so in total you will write 4 entries, once you have completed these bring them forward to the teacher for marking. 

Time Warp!

Congratulations you have successfully travelled back in time and discovered what it was like to live in the shoes of an Aboriginal person before and after the European settlement! Did you learn some new things? Did anything surprise you about how the Aboriginal people lived? Do you do anything similar to their culture and practices in your life today? Take a moment to at the end of your diaries on a new page tell me what the most exciting and interesting thing was

that your discovered in your time warp back to Australia before the Settlement and even got to experience it for yourself, Great Work!

References:

Aboriginal Culture. (n.d.). Traditional Life. Retrieved from http://www.aboriginalculture.com.au/socialorganisation.shtml 

Skwirk Online. (2014). Impact of European settlement on Indigenous people. Retrieved from http://www.skwirk.com/p-c_s-56_u-426_t-1075_c-4149/WA/10/Impact-of-Euro…

Better Health Channel. (2014). Fact Sheet on Aboriginal Culture. Retrieved from http://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/bhcv2/bhcPDF.nsf/byPDF/Aboriginal_di… - See more at: http://reffor.us/index.php#sthash.1qz4yoHw.dpuf

- See more at: http://reffor.us/index.php#sthash.oxCsSA9k.dpuf