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 49 - 60 of 150 results
Photo of Elizabeth Broderick with a large smile

Elizabeth Broderick, courtesy of Helen Melville

Elizabeth Broderick - Human Rights Lawyer

Topic

Elizabeth Broderick AO was Australia's longest-serving Sex Discrimination Commissioner, from 2007 to 2015. She was also Commissioner responsible for Age Discrimination from 2007 to 2011.

Humanities
Year 10
Australian women
Law and legislation
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
A large book open at a midway point. The paper is yellowed and stained. The writing is written in highly decorative cursive. The book is being held open on a stand which sits atop a richly varnished cabinet with draws and a fold out desk surface.

Cook, James, 1728-1779 & Hutchinson, John & Wallis, Samuel, 1728-1795 & Bolckow, Henry William Ferdinand, 1806-1878. (1768). Journal of H.M.S. Endeeavour, 1768-1771 [manuscript], nla.gov.au/nla.obj-228958440

Endeavour voyage

Topic 

Embark on a historical journey with the original journal of Lieutenant James Cook, detailing the HMS Endeavour's voyage from 1768 to 1771. 

Humanities
Year 4
Australian history
Migration and immigration
Erika Feller

Erika Feller, photo courtesy of Kim Rubenstein

Erika Feller - International lawyer

Topic 

Erika Feller is a distinguished international lawyer and humanitarian advocate who has shaped global refugee protection through her groundbreaking work with the United Nations and her commitment to upholding human rights.

Humanities
Year 10
Australian women
Law and legislation
This illustration from 1865 showing Captain James Cook's arrival in Australia. Cook is depicted with his crew raising the British flag as they take possession of the land on behalf of the British Crown in 1770. Indigenous people are shown in the background observing the scene. Ships are anchored in the bay, while a variety of people, including soldiers and sailors, are engaged in various activities.

Calvert, Samuel & Gilfillan, J. A., Captain Cook taking possession of the Australian continent on behalf of the British crown, AD 1770, under the name of New South Wales, 1865, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-135699884

Essay: Unkept promises

Topic

Mark McKenna is one of Australia’s leading historians, based at the University of Sydney.

Humanities
Senior Secondary
Explorers
World cultures and history
A black-and-white photograph of a statue of Captain Cook on a tall pedestal. The statue shows Cook standing with one arm raised and holding a rolled document in the other hand. Trees and part of a lamppost are visible in the foreground.

Frank Hurley & Thomas Woolner, Captain Cook's Statue, Hyde Park, Sydney, 1, 1910, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-160162538

Essay: ‘I’m Captain Cooked’: Aboriginal perspectives on James Cook, 1770-2020

Topic

Professor John Maynard is a Worimi man from the Port Stephens region of New South Wales.

Humanities
Senior Secondary
Explorers
World cultures and history
A watercolour drawing of two canoes and two types of oars/paddles

Choris, Louis, 1795-1828. Voyage pittoresque autour du monde & Choris, Louis, 1795-1828. (1822). [Canoes, and a club from Easter Island], nla.gov.au/nla.obj-136165362

Expansion across the Polynesian Triangle

Topic

When European explorers began to enter the Pacific they were astounded by its vast extent and fact that most of the islands were already inhabited.

Humanities
Year 8
Asia-Pacific
World cultures and history
Image of a colour sketch of a heavily snow covered town of Hobart houses with water and mountains in the background in 1882

H.J. Graham, Severe snow storm over Hobart, 1882, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-135529606

Experiencing weather

Topic

There are many stories of extreme weather and descriptions from those who survived the ordeals of droughts, bushfires, floods and cyclones in Australia.

Humanities
Science
Year 4
Year 5
Year 6
Environment and biodiversity
Geography
A black and white photo of a man with a frostbitten face.

Frank Hurley, Madigan's frostbitten face, Adelie Land [Australasian Antarctic Expedition, 1911-1914], nla.gov.au/nla.obj-145067660

Exploring weather

Topic

Antarctica has been explored by meteorologists since the early 1900s. Blizzards are common there.

Humanities
Science
Year 4
Year 5
Year 6
Environment and biodiversity
Geography
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

Fanny Durack

Topic

One of the most significant events at the 1912 Stockholm Olympics was the admission of women into the Olympic swimming competition.

Humanities
Year 6
Australian history
Sport and recreation
A group of women marches down a city street, holding various protest signs. Signs include messages like "Sexism is alive & living in Australia" and "Dress for comfort, not for style." A large sculpture is visible in the background.

John McKinnon & Australian Information Service, Women on the march wave their placards at the International Women's Day march, 1975, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-137045864

Feminism in Australia

Module

Explore the evolution of women's rights in Australia from women's suffrage to contemporary movements like #MeToo in this learning module. 

 

Humanities
Senior Secondary
Australian history
Australian women
Democracy
Protest and dissent
Digital Classroom: Teaching resources
First contacts

Module

Explore the themes of discovery, cultural encounters, and the European settlement of Australia. 

Humanities
Year 4
Australian history
Explorers
First Australians

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