MOVING THROUGH THE COLONIAL HISTORY OF FARMING SETTLEMENTS OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA

The study of history often involves researching the past. Take your students on the next best experience (the best would be an actual excursion). Start with the ruin of a farmhouse. Move through the landscape and observe what is there AND what is was once there but is no longer there. Start wondering and continue the excursion through the area. Keep asking questions and determine to find answers. Search colonial newspaper clippings. Find and use maps. Look at photographs (past and present). Delve into colonial history. Even political Acts have a place. Come across Goyder (not literally) and find out what he was doing on his colonial horse. Find out about the rush to purchase farmland in the Willochra. Share the good years and welcome the train into the Bruce station. Don't become too enthusiastic because the good years passed and there were others that were not as good. That's what this unit is about. You could study this throughout early-mid- secondary levels but it may be more suited to more senior levels. It will probably depend on which curriculum you follow. If you want something that follows a method to research and find answers in a history topic, this unit will certainly help. It's all provided for you to follow but you will have to step into the landscape and pick up the clues.