Embedded Files
Activity 1: The first contacts
Activity 1: The first contacts
The first contact between the First Fleet and the traditional Gadigal Aboriginal People was a strange and historic time for both groups of people. The English were 'colonising' or taking over the land of the Gadigal people. Look at the picture by James Taylor in 1823, only 35 years after the first fleet's arrival, and around 200 years ago!
How are the English people changing the landscape?
What do you think the effect would be on the lifestyle of traditional Gadigal Aboriginal people.
View of Sydney, 1823, James Taylor. Source: National Library of Australia
First Fleet Entering Port Jackson, 27.01.1788, Source: Wash drawing from Journal 'A Voyage to New South Wales' by William Bradley, State Library of New South Wales
Activity 2: Mapping then and now
Activity 2: Mapping then and now
In 1788 when the First Fleet arrived in Port Jackson (Sydney Harbour), William Bradley, an officer on board, was asked to map the coastline. Look at the 3 maps provided below and answer the questions.
Part of map by William Bradley 1788
Google street map, 2020
Google satellite map, 2020
Do you think the place names in William Bradley’s map above are the original names given to the land by the local people? Or are they names that William Bradley might have chosen himself?
Compare the map from William Bradley with the Google maps. Are the place names the same or different to the place names used by William Bradley?
Look at the Google Satellite map above. Do you think the land would have looked the same when the First Fleet arrived? If it is different how has it changed?
Activity 3: Traditional place names around Sydney Cove
Activity 3: Traditional place names around Sydney Cove
British people name places after people that are important to them. For example, Sydney is named after Lord Sydney who was a British member of Parliament at the time of the First Fleet. Do you think the Aboriginal people do the same?
Which famous landmark is built on number 2 Tybowule (now called Bennelong Point)?
Who was Bennelong? (you might need to research this on another website)
Barrangaroo was Bennelong's third wife.
Activity 4. Sources of history
Activity 4. Sources of history
How do we know about what it was like in the past? Historians use many sources of information to help them find out about the past. These are called primary sources. These sources can then be used to write books or put information on the internet called Secondary Sources.
Match the picture (A - J) below to the best way (1 - 10) to find out about history.
Ways (Sources) to find out about history.
To learn about the daily life of a person a long time ago
To learn about something that was used by people a long time ago
To learn about a famous exploration journey a long time ago
To learn about a famous building from the past like it’s size or materials used
To learn about the discovery of a new Australian plant species by explorers
To learn exactly what people really looked like in the past
To learn about what a town or landscape looked like in the past
To learn about traditions and stories of ancestors who didn’t write
To learn about which ship a convict to Australia might have arrived on
To learn about the life and news of someone who was sent to Australia
A. A painting of Sydney in 1823
B. A convict list from the First fleet ship Sirius
C. An Aboriginal man telling a dreamtime story
D. A photograph of an Aboriginal man
E. A letter written with an ink pen
F. Captain Cook's Journal
G. A scientific drawing of a Banksia
H. A chamber pot found in a well
I. Part of a ruined convict's house
J. A page from William Dawes Diary
Page updated
Report abuse