Willetton Senior High School

Year 8 Interpretative Assignment

Term 3, 2023

Civics and Citizenship: Democracy and law in action

First Nations Customary Law
Civics and Citizenship Knowledge, Understandings and Skills

Elaborations

 The types of law in Australia, including criminal law, civil law and the place of Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islander customary law.
 Organizes information into the best-structured forms of display – oral, static displays,
mind-maps and electronic.
 Locates suitable resources, information/data using a variety of methods. (Internet,
books, video, periodicals)
 Identify and explain different points of view and then identify source against origin and
purpose and distinguish between fact and opinion. Develop texts, particularly
descriptions and explanations, incorporating analysis and subject specific terminology.
 Can use learning technologies (LT) to complete set activities.

Student Name: _________________ ____ /25

First Nations Customary Law Assignment Year 8

Information

Customary Laws of Indigenous Australians have traditionally been passed down by word of mouth and have
developed over generations to determine a system of order and discipline for Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander peoples. The laws that traditional Aboriginal peoples live by were not created in the same way as
our written laws, their origins are from the Dreaming. The Dreaming or Creation Time refers to the ancestral
spirits and their role in creating the Earth and all living things. These stories laid down the rules, morals and
social order to allow harmony and peaceful relationships between the members of Aboriginal communities.

Your Task

Choose a Dreaming story. Deconstruct the story to identify the following aspects.
 A brief description of the main storyline
 main characters
 purpose of the story
 connection to creation
 aspects of customary law (rules) and morals
 actual quotes and extracts from the story to highlight the references to customary laws
 and finally, establish links (similarities and differences) to our contemporary written laws within our
society.

The Final Presentation

Will be made to the class in the form of a visual display- PowerPoint, poster, KeyNote or any other format
you prefer, and you may work in pairs or individually. And all sources used must be appropriately referenced.

The following sources could provide your starting point.

https://www.abc.net.au/education/digibooks/dust-echoes/101734324 (Introductory Teacher Resource)

https://dreamtime.net.au/
https://www.welcometocountry.org/aboriginal-dreamtime-stories/
The library has many dreamtime story books- look at 298 and 340. (These cannot be borrowed)

Marking Rubric

Content Story Key Characters, Customary laws Use of quotes Links to

Appropriateness Purpose & & Morals and extracts written laws
Creation
Marks per
section 1-5

Your Mark _____/ 25

 Key Characters,
Grade / Approximate Content – Story Customary Laws and Use of quotes and
Purpose and Links to Links to written laws
Mark Appropriateness Morals extracts
Creation
A comprehensive and
A thorough treatment
Demonstrates clarity A selection of excellent accurate links identified
provided and a
and a development of examples from the with few grammatical
All aspects relevant to perceptive recognition
A 21-25 key ideas around story that support the /spelling errors and an
topic of the significance of
customary laws from understanding of excellent use of
the story in relation to
the story customary laws appropriate vocabulary
the topic
that is easy to read
Some confident Very good examples An accurate and well
Development of some
treatment presented from the story that supported links
Most aspects are key ideas around
B 16-20 with a very good support the identified with some
relevant to topic customary laws from
recognition of the story understanding of minor grammatical /
the story
significance customary laws spelling errors
A satisfactory Satisfactory links
A satisfactory selection
identification of A basic development of identified with some
Relevant for the most of examples from the
characters and purpose some key ideas with spelling and
C 11-15 part but with some story that support the
and an adequate some omissions and grammatical errors and
irrelevant story content understanding of
recognition of the minor law errors limited use of relevant
customary laws
significance to the topic vocabulary
Inadequate links
Limited references to A poor development of
A sample of poor provided, with many
characters and link to the main ideas, lacking
examples that show a spelling and
D 6-10 Limited relevance creation and poor in clarity of expression
basic understanding of grammatical errors and
recognition of with major law
customary laws a limited use of relevant
significance of purpose understanding errors
vocabulary
Limited or no examples
No development of key presented, or lack of No real linking, difficult
No real description or
E 0-5 No relevance to topic ideas related to understanding to read and limited use
inquiry skills evident
customary laws demonstrated with no of relevant vocabulary
logical sequence