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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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A scene of a hillside completely ablaze. A large fire front is moving up the hillside. The image is blanketed with smoke. The lights of a fire engine can be seen through the smoke. A station wagon is parked in the forground.

Cutting, Jeff, 1945-. (2003). Freshening north-westerly winds drove the Stockyard fire down Apollo Road onto Ballineen in the hour before midnight on 17th January 2003. [picture] / Jeff Cutting. nla.gov.au/nla.obj-149584789

Forces of nature

Topic

The Earth and its environments are constantly changing. For millions of years, the wind has shaped and eroded mountains and sand dunes; the constant crashing of waves has changed and sculpted the coastline; and drought and fire have charred and renewed bushland. This process is ongoing and is a natural part of life.

Science
Year 4
Environment and biodiversity
Clipping of a newspaper article titled 'Weather Prophets'.

WEATHER PROPHETS. (1937, November 4). The Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 - 1954), p. 17. nla.gov.au/nla.news-article205560442

Forecasting weather

Topic

As cub reporter Betty Wilson (aged nine in 1937) tells us, forecasting the weather is not all about maps and laboratory science!

Humanities
Science
Year 4
Year 5
Year 6
Environment and biodiversity
Geography
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 page from a French newspaper titles Courrier Australien.

LA CLIQUE DARLAN (1943, January 1). Le Courrier Australien (Sydney, NSW : 1892 - 2011), nla.gov.au/nla.news-article161749598

French

Topic

French settlement in Australia commenced soon after the arrival of the First Fleet.

Languages
Year 7
Year 8
Year 9
Year 10
Languages
A water colour painting of men firing rifles from a tent at a tribe of First Australians on an outback plain.

Hodgkinson, W. O. (William Oswald), 1835-1900. (1861). Bulla, Queensland, 1861 [picture] / W.O. Hodgkinson. nla.gov.au/nla.obj-147606769

Frontier conflict

Topic

This image, depicting frontier conflict, is contained in an album compiled and originally owned by Miss Eliza Younghusband.

Humanities
Year 5
Australian history
First Australians
A page from the Adelaider Deutsche Zeitung, 1851.

(1851). Adelaider Deutsche Zeitung (SA: 1851–1862), nla.gov.au/nla.news-title277

German

Topic

German migrants came to Australia as founding pioneers following colonisation, with 10,000 migrating during the gold rushes of the 1850s.

Languages
Year 7
Year 8
Year 9
Year 10
Languages
Photo portrait of Gillian Triggs with a small smile

Gillian Triggs interviewed for oral history

Gillian Triggs - Human Rights Lawyer

Topic

Gillian Triggs is a lawyer and former President of the Australian Human Rights Commission. She has held the position of Professor of Law at the University of Melbourne Law School and published books about her work to advocate for human rights in Australia.

Humanities
Year 10
Australian women
Law and legislation
A detailed 1867 wood engraving illustrating Chinese miners engaged in ground-sluicing near Beechworth, Victoria. The scene captures a forested landscape with miners working along a wooden sluice system directing water through rocky terrain. The foreground features a still water pool, while the background shows cascading water and dense trees.

Nicholas Chevalier and Frederick Grosse, Chinese people ground-sluicing, near Beechworth, Victoria, 1867, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-135653408

Gold and exploration

Topic

Explore the impact of migration during the gold rush and how people from around the world shaped Australian cities and industries and transformed the nation with this teaching resource.

Humanities
Year 6
Migration and immigration
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
Sepia photograph of World War One soldiers mounted on camels lined up for inspection on the sand

(1917). Imperial Camel Corps in Palestine, 1917-1918. nla.gov.au/nla.obj-153422443

Historian interview: Australia's context in a global war

Topic

Military historian, Dr. Aaron Pegram, explores the experience of Australian men and women across the 4 year conflict.

Humanities
Year 9
Military history
A war memorial
Historian interview: Commemoration

Topic

Historian Dr. Jennifer Wellington explores the similarities and differences of commemorative ceremonies in Australia with the rest of the world and unpacks the question of whether what we are commemorating is based in truth or myth.

Humanities
Year 9
Military history
fan depicting king parrot eating an Arnott's cracker

[Food industry - biscuits and cakes : trade catalogues ephemera collected by the National Library of Australia], nla.gov.au/nla.obj-84640628

Iconic brands and early ads

Topic

Advertising campaigns for iconic Australian brands and early ads.

Arts
English
Humanities
Year 10
Art, drawing and illustration
Australian history
Literature and writing

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