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 133 - 144 of 150 results
A streetscape of Bourke street, Melbourne.

Tom Roberts, Bourke Street, Melbourne, 1885, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-134285521

Time and place

Module

Explore how communities evolve over time, how different cultures influence and contribute to communities, and how symbols convey meaning.

Humanities
Year 3
Australian history
Black and white photo of an Aboriginal girl dressed in white clothing

(1910). A real Australian native girl, Australian Aborigines' Mission, La Pérouse, New South Wales, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-137118878

Timeline: Events that led to the 1967 Referendum

Topic

Timeline of events from 1901 to 1967

Humanities
Year 10
First Australians
Government and politics
A black and white photo showing how two half shells and the round pieces cut out of them

Frank Hurley, [Cut shell] showing the method of cutting shells commercially, 1921, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-149364077

Torres Strait Islander conservation

Module

This resource is aligned to the Australian Curriculum: Geography for Year 10 students. It engages students with a rich selection of sources and challenges them to draw their own conclusions about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples’ approaches to custodial responsibility and environmental management in different regions of Australia.

Humanities
Year 10
First Australians
Geography
Law books stacked on a desk
Trailblazing women lawyers

Module

Explore the stories of Australian women who broke barriers in the legal profession in this learning module.

Humanities
Year 10
Australian women
Law and legislation
watercolour reproduction of pacific island

William Hodges, (1773), Otaheite, 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
etching of the Endeavour in  Botany Bay

Geoffrey C. Ingleton, (1937), H.M. Bark Endeavour, 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
A collage of black-and-white photographs showing different items and types of clothing worn by members of the Australian Women's Land Army, including socks, gloves, boots, shirts, overalls, frocks, coats, and hats.

Australia. Department of Supply and Shipping, The uniform dress, Australian Women's Land Army, 1943, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-14120362

War as a catalyst for change

Topic

Examine the evolving roles women took on during the First and Second World Wars and how they impacted on women's labours, gender expectations and women's rights in Australia.

Humanities
Senior Secondary
Australian history
Australian women
Democracy
Government and politics
Law and legislation
Protest and dissent
British Prime Minister Winston Churchill is seated at a table wearing glasses. He is signing a document. Standing behind him and leaning over his shoulder is Australian Prime Minister Robert Menzies. Both men are wear dark suits with white shirts. Menzies is wearing a dark tie, Churchill a bow tie.

Portrait of Prime Ministers R.G. Menzies and Winston Churchill at Downing Street, London, 1941, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-137388175

War in Europe again - 'My melancholy duty'

Topic

At 9:15 pm on Sunday 3 September 1939, Australia’s Prime Minister, Robert Menzies (1894–1978), gave a radio address, announcing that Australia was at war with Germany

Humanities
Year 10
Military history
This image shows two handwritten journal pages: the left features structured, titled entries, while the right is filled with continuous cursive text, densely covering the page in a narrative style.

James Cook, Excerpt from Captain James Cook's Journal of the H.M.S. Endeavour, Friday, 23rd March, 1770, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-2354391495

Who writes history?

Topic

How did our national story take shape? In this lesson, students explore how and why Captain James Cook has been portrayed so prominently in Australian history.

Humanities
Senior Secondary
Australian history
Explorers
First Australians
Man leaning against gate

Sievers, Wolfgang, 1913-2007. (1991). [Photograph of Wolfgang Sievers], Berlin, Germany, 1991 [picture] / Wolfgang Sievers. nla.gov.au/nla.obj-161009403

Wolfgang Sievers

Topic

Wolfgang Georg Sievers, AO (1913–2007) was a well-known modernist photographer who documented Australian architecture and industry over a career spanning almost 60 years.

Humanities
Technologies
Year 5
Year 6
Architecture and design
Photography
Science and technology
A gold medal standing upright on a white cotton surface. The medal shows a figure holding a trumped and a wine amphorae. Behind the figure is a bust on a stand. In raised lettering around the edge of the medal are the words 'Olympiska Spelen Stockholm' The year '1912' is also present.

Olympic gold medal won by Miss Fanny Durack at Stockholm, 1912, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-139311257

Women in sport

Topic

Today, at the Commonwealth Games, Olympic Games, tennis tournaments and a host of other sporting events, men and women can compete at elite levels. But this has not always been the case for sports and recreational physical pursuits.

Health
Humanities
Year 7
Year 8
Year 9
Year 10
Sport and recreation
An aerial view of a large street procession with participants dressed in white, marching in rows and carrying banners. The crowded scene is framed by towering buildings on one side and tree-lined streets on the other. Spectators line the sidewalks, watching the organised march as cars and horse-drawn carriages are scattered among the crowd.

Bessie Mabel Rischbieth, Photographs of suffrage demonstrations and campaigning activities, 1900 - 1967, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-439976984

Women's suffrage

Topic

Learn about the history, struggles and triumphs of women in their fight for the right to vote. Reflect on how women's suffrage movement shaped democratic societies and influences political advocacy today.

Humanities
Senior Secondary
Australian history
Australian women
Democracy
Government and politics
Law and legislation
Protest and dissent

Need help?

Our librarians are here to guide you.

Ask a librarian