End of topic reflection

This topic has been invigorating. We were able to talk to some people who had experienced, or ancestors had experienced, what it was like in the past and the impacts of settlement in Australia. We were able to view our task at all times through the class Wiki page and we could post questions etc which always got answered. We completed reflections (much like this one) so we could then develop our understanding and knowledge with other students. I really enjoyed how we had individual and group tasks, but I particularly liked the group task where we had to develop our own argument and support this using literature etc in which we had to find and evaluate. We really dug deep for this task as we had to present it members of the local Indigenous community, our parents, the school Principal and some other teachers came. We thought long and hard about our argument to make sure it was appropriate and we could support it fully. We chose to base our argument on the impacts of settlement on Indigenous culture and then we related this to the boat people being turned away in Australia. We drew similarities and differences between them and from there we were able to consider what would happen if we allowed boat people into Australia and how this would impact our culture. This topic has demanded a lot of hard thinking, evaluation, discussion and debating.

Q&A reflection

We just had the opportunity to speak to members of our local Aboriginal community. We were able to ask questions about how migration and settlement has impacted them and how it is still impacting them. I learnt a lot from our visitors. They answered all our questions with detail and we have gained much more knowledge on the impacts of European settlement. It was great being able to discuss this with someone who has so much knowledge and experience with it. Although over the past few years we have investigated settlement, nothing prepared me for how Indigenous people felt.

Questions for Q&A with members of local Indigenous community

How did settlement impact your community?
What happened after settlement?
How did it effect your way of living?
Did your culture change at all?

Blog Post 1: Making a Nation

Impacts:
Land, culture, rights, food, environment, violent conflict

From my understanding, European settlement impacted Indigenous people greatly. This has shaped Australian history as Indigenous peoples had to fight for their rights for many many years. There was an official apology made by the Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to the Indigenous population, however, they still fight today. Indigenous people are still discriminated against.

Blog Posting 2: Reflection

Blog Posting 2:

The teacher started with us answering 2 questions (see blog posting 1) on our blog. I found this to be quite hard because I didn’t know much about the topic. We then had a class discussion on migration, which I found really good as we were able to ask questions as we went along and the teacher asked us questions. The teacher then asked us to complete a 15-minute presentation in response to a question the teacher provided to us. We were able to complete the task in groups. I was a bit nervous completing the task because we were in groups and blogging is new to me. I found that working in a group was a positive experience because we were able to gather enough information and were able to work together in developing our ideas. Everyone had an opinion on the matter so we were able to discuss everyone’s ideas and put them into our presentation. We were also able to see the other group’s presentation on the same topic as ours and it was interesting to see how they formed their ideas. I think this allowed me to better my understanding of the topic. Overall, I think this activity really worked for me, as I was able to work with other students, which broadened our understandings.

Blog Post 1: Migration and Settlement in Australia

Blog Posting 1:

1)    Based on what you already know, what do you think are some reasons people might want to explore other parts of the world?

Find, explore and experience new things

2)    Based on what we have learned about Aboriginal people in Australia, how do you think their way of life might have changed when settlers from other parts of the world arrived? 

Everything would have changed, competition for food and land.