The Bicentenary

• Ask students to visit the following websites:

1. Screen Australian, 'Australia Daze (1988)', http://aso.gov.au/titles/documentaries/australia-daze/clip3/
2. Koorie History Website Project, 'The Sydney Morning Herald and Representation of the 1988 Bicentennial', http://www.kooriweb.org/foley/essays/essay_11.html
3. Wikipedia, 'Australian Bicentenary', http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_Bicentenary

• Students should develop a fact sheet responding to questions about the significance of the Australian Bicentenary:

1. What is a bicentennial celebration?
2. Why is it a celebration for a nation?
3. Who organised the celebration?
4. Why did some Indigenous Australians not celebrate this occasion?

• Ask students to research merchandise that was designed for the Bicentenary. Before and during the celebration of Australia's Bicentenary there were commemorative stamps, coins, posters and other products made to mark the occasion. School children were given special plaques and coins.

• Ask students to find as many examples of Bicentennial merchandising as possible. They should list them and find images for them. The information can be presented as a pamphlet, either electronically or on paper.
• Ask students to design their own commemorative item for the Australian Bicentenary and include it with their research.

Student Activity Sheet H3.4: Bicentennial information pamphlet

• Watch a short film, 'Australia Post – 200 Years (1988)', at australianscreen, http://aso.gov.au/titles/sponsored-films/australia-post-200-years
• (Notes written by curator Adrienne Parr describing the re-enactment of the First Fleet on 26 January 1988 appear in Student Activity Sheet H3.5.)
• Ask students to refer to the following websites:

1. National Museum of Australia, 'Australian Bicentennial Authority collection', http://www.nma.gov.au/collections-search/results?search=adv&ref=coll&collname=Australian+Bicentennial+Authority+collection
2. National Archives of Australia: Virtual Reading Room, 'Aboriginal protest in Hobart against the Bicentennial celebrations', http://vrroom.naa.gov.au/print/?ID=24748

• Ask students to write a brief essay on the significance of the First Fleet re-enactment and whether it was a true celebration of Australian history. To prepare for this, they should research and evaluate significant facts about the First Fleet:

1. Who led the First Fleet and when?
2. Where did the fleet sail from and where did it land?
3. How long did it take to get here?
4. Who arrived on the First Fleet?
5. How did the fleet know where to come?
6. Which ships arrived and what type of ships were they?
7. What did the fleet bring?
8. What did they do after they landed?
9. Who met them after they landed?

Student Activity Sheet H3.5: First Fleet re-enactment essay

• Ask students to research what life was like for convicts and then develop a fact sheet, answering the questions:

1. Who were the convicts?
2. Why were they transported?
3. What type of crimes had they committed?
4. Who were some notable people on the First Fleet?
5. How were the convicts treated?
6. Which Indigenous groups were encountered in the early years of the colony?
7. What was the relationship like between Indigenous Australians and the new settlers?

Ask students to locate some personal stories of the time. They could use these insights to write a diary entry for a day in the life of a convict, soldier or administrator from the First Fleet.

Student Activity Sheet H3.6: Convict fact sheet

• In this clip the class is constructing a banner to celebrate Australia's 200th year since colonisation. The 1988 Bicentennial celebrations were an integral part of the Australian school curriculum in this era. Students were immersed in activities relating to the re-enactment of the 1788 First Fleet in Sydney Harbour.
• Create a word splash with students adding words around the main topic, 'The Bicentenary'. Ask students to define what the word 'bicentenary' means. Have students explore other words that are associated with the prefix 'bi', such as 'weekly', 'annual' and 'plane'.

• Organise the students into small groups and ask them to create a separate list of words with the prefix 'bi'. Ask them to find and record as many words starting with 'bi' as they can. Once they have completed their list, each group should nominate their best speller. Conduct a spelling bee about the Bicentenary.

Student Activity Sheet E3.4: The prefix in 'bicentenary'

• Ask students to imagine what Australia was like in 1788. Have students visualise and then brainstorm what Aboriginal people may have experienced when the First Fleet sailed into Botany Bay. Ask students to research different points of view on the First Fleet.
• Read and look closely at the picture book, The Rabbits, by John Marsden and Shaun Tan (1998). Discuss this portrayal in comparison with the version enacted by Lily's classmates.
• Refer to:

1. Video clip 3 from australianscreen, 'My Survival as an Aboriginal' (1978), http://aso.gov.au/titles/documentaries/my-survival-aboriginal/clip3
2. Video clips from SBS, 'First Australians', http://www.sbs.com.au/firstaustralians
3. R6798 Painting of the First Fleet in Sydney Cove, 1938
4. R6799 'Founding of Australia', 1937

• Ask students to imagine the arrival of the First Fleet as seen from the shore by an Aboriginal person at the time. Ask students to create a storyboard depicting what they imagine Australia would have been like in 1788, in particular focusing on the arrival of the First Fleet from an Aboriginal person's perspective. Students must label and caption researched information to present these storyboards to the class.

Student Activity Sheet E3.5: Imagine 1788

• After viewing this clip, encourage students find out more about the celebrations and protests around the 1988 Bicentenary in Australia.
• Explain to students that there are many versions of historical events, each portraying a different point of view. Refer to R11296 'Day of Mourning protest', a collection of teacher resources about Indigenous protests on the 150th anniversary of the arrival of the First Fleet. Refer also to R11020 'Aboriginal protest in Hobart against the Bicentennial celebrations, 1988', a photograph of this event.
• Ask students to compare and contrast different points of view on the Bicentenary.

• Ask students to create a painting or drawing representing what they have learned about the bicentenary celebrations and the First Fleet.
• Ask them to put together a presentation about celebrating something important to them and their families, or a personal account of a festival that has some cultural significance.

Student Activity Sheet E3.6: Bicentennial celebrations