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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.
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painting of many indigenous people interacting with Cook

Antoine Phelippeaux & Jacques Grasset de Saint-Sauveur, Tableau des decouvertes du Capne. Cook & de la Perouse. (1798). Tableau des decouvertes du Capne. Cook & de la Perouse, 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
drawing of the Eastern Shore of Murray Island looking North West

Supreme Court and Australia High Court (1981) Papers of Bryan Keon-Cohen [manuscript]: the Mabo case, 1981-2000, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-224081463

Challenging terra nullius

Topic

Explore evidence of Aboriginal agriculture and settlement in pre-colonial Australia to challenge the concept of terra nullius.

Humanities
Senior Secondary
Australian history
Explorers
First Australians
A landscape showing a group of people gathered around two campfires. Some sit and lie near the fires, while others stand. Smoke rises from the fires into the night sky. A body of water and distant cliffs are visible under a moonlit, partly cloudy sky.

Joseph Lycett & Joseph Lycett, Aborigines resting by camp fire, near the mouth of the Hunter River, Newcastle, New South Wales, 1817, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-138500420

Colonising the environment

Topic

Learn about the environmental legacies of Cook's voyages including the impact on Australia's natural resources, Aboriginal land-management practices and connections to contemporary environmental activism.

Humanities
Senior Secondary
Australian history
Explorers
First Australians
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 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
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

First Nations perspectives on Cook

Topic

Examine a range of First Nations peoples and communities perspectives on Cook’s legacy in contemporary Australia in this lesson for senior secondary students.

Humanities
Senior Secondary
Australian history
Explorers
First Australians
handwritten papers

Joseph Banks, Papers of Sir Joseph Banks, 1745-1923 (bulk 1745-1820), nla.gov.au/nla.obj-223065342

Hints offered to the consideration of Captain Cook

Topic

Preserved in the National Library of Australia’s Manuscripts Collection, along with Cook’s handwritten journal, are another set of instructions.

Humanities
Senior Secondary
Explorers
World cultures and history
painting of ship at sea

Samuel Atkins, (1794), HMS Endeavour off the coast of New Holland, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-135273911

Indigenous responses to Cook and his voyage

Module

This resource is aligned with the Australian Curriculum: Modern History for Senior Secondary students, with specific reference to content descriptions for Unit 2: Movements for Change in the 20th Century, and specifically those that fall under the examination of ‘Recognition and rights of Indigenous peoples’.

Humanities
Senior Secondary
Explorers
World cultures and history
handwritten letter

James Cook & Great Britain. Admiralty. (1768). Cook's voyage 1768-71, 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 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

James Cook's Endeavour Journal

Topic

Lieutenant James Cook’s 753-page account of the voyage of His Majesty’s Bark Endeavour (also known as HMS Endeavour) from 1768 to 1771 is the story of one of history’s greatest journeys of discovery.

Humanities
Senior Secondary
Explorers
World cultures and history
handwritten letter

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

James Cook's secret instructions

Topic

James Cook’s famous Endeavour voyage was originally commissioned by the Royal Society of London as a scientific mission. When the Admiralty (Royal Navy) became aware that the Society was planning to commission a sea journey to the Southern Hemisphere to collect scientific data, its members saw an opportunity to become involved. However, their motivations were very different to those of the Royal Society.

Humanities
Senior Secondary
Explorers
World cultures and history

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