Sovereign Hill Education Blog

Visit a cemetery and discover the past

Posted on May 8, 2012 | Leave a comment

Image by Sunday’s Child

Stuck for a great local history excursion? Historic cemeteries offer inquirers a number of insights into life in the past.

The key to a good cemetery excursion is providing the students with an investigative purpose or question. Visiting a cemetery without a purpose would be akin to browsing a database for leisure reading. However, with the right questions, a cemetery visit can provide students with opportunities to form their own understanding of key ideas such as demographics, social tensions, wealth and health.

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Books for Teaching History: The Night We Made the Flag

Posted on May 2, 2012 | 2 comments

The Night We Made the Flag: A Eureka Story

Carole Wilkinson

The Night We Made the Flag by author Carole Wilkinson is a historically based story about the night the Eureka flag was made on the Ballarat goldfields. It is beautifully illustrated by Sebastian Ciaffaglone. The book has lovely end covers depicting the Southern Cross in the night sky, like the constellation that inspired the design of the flag.

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Posted in Books for Teaching History, Victorian Gold Rush

Tagged Eureka Stockade, women

Books for Teaching Biodiversity – Australian Geographic

Posted on April 16, 2012 | Leave a comment

Australian Geographic Magazine

The Australian Geographic is a great resource for explaining Australian landscapes, plants, animals, industry and people to students and teachers wishing to develop their content knowledge. This magazine-style journal contains a poster in each edition as well as high quality photographs, excellent maps from award-winning mapmakers and detailed technical illustrations. All of which are useful visual resources for in any school classroom, especially when it comes to explaining the science behind particular concepts.

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Books for Teaching Biodiversity – Wild Australia Guides

Posted on April 5, 2012 | Leave a comment

A Wild Australia Guide – Steve Parish PUblishing

Steve Parish’s A Wild Australia Guide series of books cover a range of Australian wildlife from birds and butterflies to mammals and moths. Written by a variety of expert authors it contains a range of information including identification, habitat, behaviour and diet. There are 20 guides with a recommended retail price of $14.95, however most school libraries stock at least some of the titles. The photography titles are also available as PDF ebooks.

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Books for Teaching History – To the Goldfields!

Posted on March 23, 2012 | 2 comments

To The Goldfields! By Rachel Tonkin

To the Goldfields! is sadly now out of print. But as many libraries still have it on their shelves (and we hope they keep it!) we thought it was worth mentioning. This picture book tells the story of James, a nine year old boy who travels to the Victorian goldfields with his family.

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Posted in Books for Teaching History, Victorian Gold Rush

Tagged 1850s lifestyles, books, gold rush, teaching resources

Books for teaching history – Scatterheart

Posted on March 19, 2012 | 2 comments

Scatterheart By Lili Wilkinson

Scatterheart sits itself between the First Fleet and the Gold Rushes, but it’s delightful fictional story encompasses the themes of fear and hope in the journey to an unknown land that are common to both periods of history. Lili Wilkinson tells the story of Hannah Cheshire, a well-born London girl who we meet in the midst of her confusion and despair over her sudden change in circumstances. It interweaves her present predicament with reflections of her life past.

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2 Comments

Posted in Books for Teaching History, History Teaching

Tagged books, immigration, teaching resources

Books for Teaching History – Nothing But Gold

Posted on March 16, 2012 | 2 comments

Nothing but Gold: The Diggers of 1852

by Robyn Annear

Rereading sections of Robyn Annear’s wonderful gold rush history is like reacquainting oneself with a beloved long lost friend. Even better, it evokes a witty conversation where all your best thoughts and lines are voiced with perfect timing. Some of Annear’s repartee may make the reader laugh out loud. After quoting a frazzled dispatch from Governor La Trobe explaining the difficulties of the early gold rush Annear writes:

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2 Comments

Posted in Books for Teaching History, Victorian Gold Rush

Tagged 1850s lifestyles, books, gold rush

Books for teaching history – The Seriously Weird History of the Gold Rushes

Posted on March 6, 2012 | 1 comment

Books for teaching history

It’s the Year of Reading and we’re celebrating by sharing our favourite books for teaching (or just enjoying) history! This post introduces Doug Bradby’s Seriously Weird History series.

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