History

Grade: 5 Big Idea: Digging for Gold

Term: 2 Related Concepts: Migration, culture, the environment, attitudes and values
Duration: 10 Weeks (2x lessons per week)
Australian Curriculum Content Descriptions
Knowledge and Understanding Other content areas being covered:
 (ACHASSK109) The reasons people migrated to Australia and English
the experiences and contributions of a particular migrant  (ACELA1501) Understand that patterns of language interaction vary across social
group within a colony contexts and types of texts and that they help to signal social roles and relationships
 (ACHASSK112) The influence of people, including Aboriginal  (ACELA1504) Understand how texts vary in purpose, structure and topic as well as the
and Torres Strait Islander Peoples, on the environmental degree of formality
characteristics of Australian places  (ACELT1608) Identify aspects of literary texts that convey details or information about
particular social, cultural and historical contexts
Inquiry and Skills
 (ACHASSI094) Develop appropriate questions to guide an Visual Arts
inquiry about people, events, developments, places, systems  (ACAVAR117) Explain how visual arts conventions communicate meaning by comparing
and challenges artworks from different social, cultural and historical contexts, including Aboriginal and
 (ACHASSI097) Sequence information about people’s lives, Torres Strait Islander artworks
events, developments and phenomena using a variety of Mathematics
methods including timelines  (ACMMG113) Use a grid reference system to describe locations. Describe routes using
 (ACHASSI099) Examine different viewpoints on actions,
landmarks and directional language
events, issues and phenomena in the past and present
 (ACMNA106) Create simple financial plans
 (ACHASSI105) Present ideas, findings, viewpoints and
conclusions in a range of texts and modes that incorporate Digital Technologies
source materials, digital and non-digital representations and  (ACTDIP022) Plan, create and communicate ideas and information, including
discipline-specific terms and conventions collaboratively online, applying agreed ethical, social and technical protocols
General Capabilities Cross Curriculum Priorities

Literacy Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Histories and Cultures

 Use a wide range of informative, persuasive and imaginative texts in multiple modes
 Make increasingly sophisticated language and text choices, understanding that Asia and Australia’s Engagement with Asia
language varies according to context  OI.1: The peoples and countries of Asia are diverse in ethnic
Numeracy background, traditions, cultures, belief systems and
 Organise and interpret historical events and developments. Students learn to religions.
analyse numerical data to make meaning of the past  OI.8: Australians of Asian heritage have influenced
ICT Capability Australia’s history and continue to influence its dynamic
 Access a range of digital sources of information; critically analyse evidence and culture and society.
historical trends; communicate, present and represent their learning
 Critical and Creative Thinking
 Question sources, interpret the past… develop an argument using evidence and Sustainability
assess reliability
Ethical Understanding
 Critically explore the character traits, actions and motivations of people in the past
Personal and Social Capability

Intercultural Understanding
 Learn about the perspectives, beliefs and values of people, past and present, and
the importance of understanding their own and others’ histories… includes learning
about the origins and development of Australia’s national identity and the forging of
its cultural heritage
Enduring Understandings: Significant Inquiry Question:
Students will understand that: How have the effects of the Gold Rush impacted immigration and migration of those from
 Critical thinking skills can be developed through an in-depth Asian countries into Australia?
investigation into an historic event Essential Inquiry Questions:
 Events that have occurred in the past influence the current 1. How have individuals and groups in the past and present contributed to the
world that students live in development of Australia?
 People migrate to Australia for various reasons such as 2. How have events contributed to modern day Australian society?
safety, security and a new life 3. Who were the people that came to Australia?
Knowledge: Skills:
Students will know: Students will be able to:
 What key events caused the Gold Rush to happen in  Sequence events into a coherent timeline
Australia  Present ideas and findings using ICT
 The impact on the economy that the Gold Rush had  Develop an investigation into the Gold Rush and its impact on Australian society today
 The reasons people migrated to Australia in the past
 Influences people have on the environment
Assessment Evidence
Achievement Standard:

By the end of Year 5, students describe the significance of people and events/developments in bringing about change. They identify the causes and effects of change
on particular communities and describe aspects of the past that have remained the same. They describe the experiences of different people in the past.

Students sequence information about events and the lives of individuals in chronological order using timelines. When researching, students develop questions for a
historical inquiry. They identify a range of sources and locate, collect and organise information related to this inquiry. They analyse sources to determine their origin
and purpose and to identify different viewpoints. Students develop, organise and present their texts, particularly narrative recounts and descriptions, using historical
terms and concepts.
Diagnostic Assessment: Formative Assessment Summative Assessment
 KWL Anecdotal notes will be taken throughout all RICH Task: Create a stall about a specific digger and retell
 Eureka poster lessons by teacher, LSA, and also LST. These their story to their buddy.
anecdotal notes will be used to ensure students
Assessment for students with special needs: are progressing in their learning. Any work Assessment for students with special needs:
Bill is our student who is deaf: requires teacher produced throughout the unit. Bill: requires (TA) at all times.
assistant (TA) at all times. Bill uses AUSLAN. Differentiation for assessment task
Differentiation for student Assessment for students with special needs: Bill will create a google.slide with information. When
 Visual aids Bill: requires (TA) at all times. presenting his work to his buddy, he will show it by doing
 Videos must be closed caption Differentiation for assessment task AUSLAN with the TA saying it aloud for the buddy.
 Must sit at the front of the class Bill will use sign language to participate in class
 Differentiated rubric discussions Sally:
Differentiation for assessment task
Sally is our student who has Down Syndrome: Sally: For the RICH Task, Sally will be given the research and the
Differentiation for assessment task Differentiation for assessment task digger, the student will also have a differentiated rubric.
 Dot points/ minimal words for KWL chart Sally will be provided with questioning prompts to This particular student will present their rich task in dot
and Eureka poster help guide her participation in discussions. point form instead of paragraphs.
 Eureka poster mainly pictures Heavily reliant upon work produced.
Differentiation for student
 Visual aids
 Scaffolded work
 One-on-one work
 Differentiated rubric
Learning Sequence
During this unit, the class novel The Night they Stormed Eureka (Jackie French) will be read aloud for the first 10 minutes of each lesson.
Question Lessons
How have the effects of the Gold Rush impacted immigration and migration of 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 17, 18, 19, 20
those from Asian countries into Australia?
How have individuals and groups in the past and present contributed to the 1, 2, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 16, 18, 19, 20
development of Australia?
How have events contributed to modern day Australian society? 1, 3, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 16, 18, 19, 20
Who were the people that came to Australia? 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 14
Phase Teaching and Learning Experiences Assessment Resources
Lesson 1 What do we know? Diagnostic assessment  Interactive whiteboard
TI: Discuss what life could be like in the 1800s.
 KWL chart  Butchers paper for KWL
FO: Gather information about student knowledge regarding the Gold Rush.  Post-it-notes
SO: Put student information of what they know onto a KWL chart. Formative Assessment  Gold rush BTN clip
MC: Watch BTN video Gold rush, make connections to KWL chart.  Anecdotal notes
TA: Reflection on what has been learnt.
Lesson 2 Where was the gold rush? Formative Assessment  Map of Australia
TI: Look at Map of Australia; what can they recognise?  Google.Slides presentation (Appendix 2)
FO: Students research where the gold rush happened in Australia  Observational notes on  IWB
SO: Create a Google.Slide in groups of 4 that shows where the gold rush was in Australia. participation in group  Chromebooks/iPads
Including what type of work had to be done and the tools that were used. 
Tuning In

discussions Google.Slides
MC: Find similarities/connections to the Gold Rush game played in lesson three
TA: What would you do if you found Gold given all the information we’ve learnt?
Lesson 3 Gold rush game Formative Assessment  Gold rush game
TI: Revisit KWL chart and discuss if there's anything that should be added.  Anecdotal notes  Diggers passes
FO: Head to gold rush game where students will find out information about the gold rush.  Student responses in their  Lanyards
SO: The game will allow students with concrete information as they are pretending to be workbooks  Student workbooks
someone who is in the gold rush. Students must have their permits
MC: Draw connections to BTN video with them when participating in
TA: Provide students with diggers permits. Question how this would make them feel being History lessons. This is what they
an official digger. would have been expected to
have on them if they were diggers
in the Gold Rush.
Lesson 4 Timeline Formative Assessment  Key events of the Gold
TI: Discuss with the class any prior knowledge about timelines  Anecdotal notes Rush (Appendix 3)
FO: Recap main dates learnt about the Gold Rush; what else could there be?  Student’s timeline of events  Blank timeline
SO: Create timeline that represents when the gold rush began; when people migrated to
Australia to work in the mines; when main events occurred (e.g., Eureka Stockade)
Finding Out

MC: Compare and contrast timelines with peers.

TA: Think-Pair-Share about what events would go on their personal timelines.
Lesson 5 Gold Digging Articles Formative Assessment  Chromebooks/iPads
TI: Revisit KWL chart and discuss if there's anything that should be added  Observational notes on Jigsaw  Gold digging articles
FO: Read articles of groups or individual people who were apart of the Gold rush, using activity
jigsaw puzzle activity.  Google.Slides presentation
SO: With the information they found out students will create Google.Slides that can be
referred back to in future lessons.
 MC: make connections to background knowledge obtained from previous lessons
TA: Share Google.Slides with other groups.
Lesson 6 Visual thinking Formative Assessment  Stocqueler painting
TI: Observing Gold Rush painting by Stocqueler, 1885.  Anecdotal notes (Appendix 1)
FO: Asking questions and finding out what the students believe is happening.  Student work in books  Student workbooks
SO: Finding patterns in what other people see.  Chromebooks/iPads
MC: Searching up what the painting actually is and what they’re doing.
TA: Find other artworks around the same period of time and make connections between
the paintings.
Lesson 7 How much is a 200g nugget worth now? Formative Assessment  Student workbooks
TI: Question how much students think Gold costs. Do different weights cost more/less?  Anecdotal notes  Chromebooks/iPads
FO: Look into how much a 200g nugget was and what could be bought with it during the  Student work  Difference size ‘gold’
Finding Out

1800s.  Observational notes on nuggets (e.g., balls

SO: Investigate prices of gold in the 1800s compared to now; would we still have a gold student responses / painted gold)
rush today if prices were the same? engagement  Gold nuggets (if any are
MC: Compare price of Gold to what it would be worth now and what you could afford available)
with it.
TA: Investigation into conversion rates and how theses have changed over the years.
Lesson 8 Chinese workers Formative Assessment  Images of Chinese
TI: Look at two pictures that show Chinese diggers.  Anecdotal notes diggers (Appendix 4)
FO: Create a Venn diagram on the floor with the pictures at the top. students will place  Venn diagram  Post-it-notes
differences and similarities in to it.  Information on image  Strips of paper (to
SO: Class is split into two groups; one group with the picture of Chinese people on the way  Observational notes on create Venn diagram)
to Ravenswood Gold fields, with the other group with the picture of anti-Chinese student collaborative skills  Student workbooks
immigration cartoon, 1888. The groups will search information on what happened behind  Chrombooks/iPads
the picture.  SBS information
MC: Gold will show students how stereotypes were created, as a class will makes links to  PrimaryPad
the two artefacts.
TA: Use PrimaryPad for students to put what they have learnt in the past 5 lessons.
Students will also be encouraged to write things they want to learn.
Lesson 9 Anti-Chinese Immigration Formative Assessment  Anti-Chinese
TI: PMI on the anti-Chinese immigration cartoon.  Anecdotal notes immigration poster
FO: Look into conflicts of Chinese immigration through investigating the Historical atlas  Student timelines (appendix 5)
article.  Historical atlas article
SO: Include information onto timelines created in previous lessons.  Student Gold Rush
MC: Reflect on anti-Chinese immigration cartoon, in light of new information gained. timelines
TA: Make links to real world – would you find pictures like this now? Why not?
 Lesson 10 Contributions to Australia Formative Assessment  Chromebooks/iPads
TI: Discuss as a class different types of celebrations; what do they know.  Student’s concept maps  List of Asian
FO: Focus on what unique celebrations, food etc. that Asian countries brought over to  Student’s Kahoots celebrations
Australia.
SO: Investigate significance of a certain celebration in Asia and its significance in Australia;
if the celebration can be found now; anything students have seen in Australia that was
brought from Asian culture.
MC: Make Kahoot about their celebration; see if peers can guess the correct answer.
TA: Exit ticket about what they learnt from someone else.
Lesson 11 View from the tent Formative Assessment  A4 paper
TI: Pose question “what would your life be like on the Gold fields?”  Student’s illustrations  Coloured pencils
FO: Construct a mind-map as class about things they would find on the gold fields.  Observational notes on
SO: Draw illustration about what their surroundings would look like if they were leaving student group participative
their tent in the morning. Include tools, people and landscape. skills
MC: Compare and contrast what students would see leaving a tent compared to leaving
their bed at home.
TA: Share illustrations in small groups, discussing their choices.
Lesson 12 What was the Eureka? Diagnostic assessment  1845 Image of The
TI: Elicit prior knowledge about the word ‘Eureka’ and watch Eureka Stockade video Eureka Flag (Appendix
 Student posters
FO: Discuss important elements of the Eureka Stockade; discuss the flag in particular. Why 6)
Formative Assessment 
Sorting Out

was there a flag? Eureka Stockade video

SO: Create poster of important elements of the Eureka Stockade, including what it was,  Anecdotal notes on student  A3 poster paper
who it involved, why it happened participation  Chromebooks/iPads
MC: Inquire how modern-day protests create change; is this the same as the Eureka
Stockade?
TA: Create poster including information from mind map (will continue to work on in next
lesson)
Lesson 13 Redesigning the Eureka Flag Formative Assessment  Blank A4 paper
TI: Question why the Gold Rush ended and if one could start again.  Student artwork  Paint
FO: Discuss sometimes flags are redesigned to serve a better purpose and why the Eureka  Student responses in  Workbooks
Flag was designed in the first place. workbooks  Posters from previous
SO: Design a new Eureka Stockade flag. lesson
MC: Write a paragraph about why the design was selected and if it was inspired by a
specific event/colour/theme etc.
TA: Add image of flag to poster and share with class.
 Lesson 14 Life on the Gold fields at Mogo Formative Assessment  Old Mogo Town
This activity occurs while students are on camp at Mogo through The Original Gold Rush  Anecdotal notes on student
Colony in Old Mogo Town. Students will explore going to school in the 1850s, making a participation
traditional toy, playing a traditional game and making damper.
Lesson 15 Whole class reflection on Mogo and recap Formative Assessment  KWL charts (used in
TI: Going back to KWL chart and finish the last column  KWL chart previous lessons)
FO: Remembering questions:  Student responses to  Student workbooks
 When did the Australian gold rushes take place? questions, inclusive of  Google.docs
 In what parts of Australia were significant gold discoveries made reflective skills  Chromebooks/iPads
 what happened when the news spread of the gold discoveries?  Student concept map
SO: Individual concept map to answer the questions in the remembering phase.
MC: On google.docs students will write two small paragraphs imagining several nuggets
were discovered in Australia today. What is going to happen?
TA: Sharing and reading the stories that have been written
Making Connections

Lesson 16 Let’s dig for Gold Formative Assessment  Laminated images of

TI: Reflect on ways miners would dig for gold and what tools were used.  Students’ hypotheses, gold pieces (different
FO: Construct and write a hypothesis, method and materials list as if they were digging for method, materials and sizes)
gold in the 1850s reflection  2x gold pieces with
SO: Conduct science experiment where students dig for ‘gold’ using a ‘gold pan’  Observational notes on symbol to represent
MC: Discuss whether the experiment was fair (did some people have more gold in their student participation ‘Welcome’ gold nugget
tubs?). How would students feel if they were a digger and saw their partner finding more and the ‘Welcome
gold? Stranger’ gold nugget
TA: Share findings with peers; who became the richest today?  Dirt and sand
 Plastic tubs
 Sieve (gold pan)
Lesson 17 A letter home from a miner Formative Assessment  Chromebooks/iPads
TI: Teacher read class novel- 10 minutes.  Student letters  Example letter
FO: Teacher reads letter that a miner wrote to his family, as a class think about the  Anecdotal notes on student (appendix 7)
language and the tone of the letter. participation in group
SO: THINK: Students are given scenario, students will individually create a letter on discussions
Google.Docs.
MC: PAIR: in groups of three share their letters.
TA: SHARE: as a class go around the circle and have students share their stories with the
option to pass.
Lesson 18 & 19 RICH Task Formative Assessment  Access to all activities
Taking
Action

TI: Recap all learning to a peer in 2 minutes or less.  Student progress on their used in this unit for
FO: Provide students with their RICH task and discuss it with them. RICH Task (approx. 1-2 students to reflect
SO: Students sent to work on their RICH Task. upon and use
 MC: Discuss with peer an element they have included in their RICH task and why. elements to be completed  Chromebooks/iPads
TA: Write on post-it-note what students are still to do. each lesson  Poster paper
Lesson 20 RICH Task presentation & reflection Summative Assessment  Chromebooks/iPads
TI: Reading over speech for presentation.  RICH Task presentation  IWB
FO/ SO: Sharing RICH Task.  Reflection on unit  Student RICH tasks
MC: Reflection of learning throughout the unit.  Reflective task (self-
TA: Complete unit reflection and a self-reflection on student’s own learning. assessment and unit
assessment)
Reference list of Resources and Technology:
ICT, Books, additional resources etc.
Behind the new. (2010). Gold Rush. Retrieved from http://www.abc.net.au/btn/story/s2823680.htm.
Chapman, G. (2005). Gold! In Australian Topics. South Yarra, Australia: Macmillan Education Australia.
Education services Australia. (2018). Scootle: Gold rush. Retrieved from http://www.scootle.edu.au/ec/viewing/L702/L702/index.html.
French, J. (2009). The Night they Stormed Eureka. NSW, Australia: HarperCollins Publishers.
Hocking, G. (2000). To the diggings!. Thomas C. Lothian PTY LTD.
Migration Heritage centre. (2010). Objects through time. Retrieved from http://www.migrationheritage.nsw.gov.au/exhibition/objectsthroughtime/1854-the-eureka-
flag/index.html.
National Museum of Australia. (2018). Defining moments: Eureka Stockade. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=or5Q3hkztoU.
Queensland Historical atlas. (2018). The Chinese question. Retrieved from http://www.qhatlas.com.au/content/chinese-question.
SBS. (2018). Gold. Retrieved from https://www.sbs.com.au/gold/story.php?storyid=47.
Stocqueler, E. (1885). Gold Rush. Retrieved from https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/26221755?q&versionId=31579624.
Woods, A. (2013). Original Eureka Flag, Ballarat. Retrieved from https://adventuresallaround.com/original-eureka-flag-ballarat/.
Links to Graduate Teacher Standards
Formative: 2.5; 2.6; 3.1; 3.4; 3.6; 4.5
Summative: 2.1; 2.2; 2.3; 3.2; 3.3; 5.1
Appendix
Appendix 1, Lesson 6

1885 by Edwin Stocqueler

Appendix 2, Lesson 2

Hocking, 2000
Appendix 3, Lesson 3

Chapman, 2005, p. 22
Appendix 4, Lesson 6

Chinese people on the way to Ravenswood Gold fields

Appendix 5, Lesson 7

Anti-Chinese immigration cartoon, 1888

Appendix 6, Lesson 12

Eureka Flag
Appendix 7, Lesson 17 Imagine you’re a miner, leaving the goldfields behind after the gold has become scarce. You are moving on to a new
adventure, and just before your ship leaves the Port of Melbourne, you sit down and write a letter to your family in a
faraway place reflecting on you experiences on the goldfields, both good and bad.
 Focus on what we have learnt over the unit