LEARNING DESIGN TEMPLATE

Unit Title History

Year level(s) Year 5/6

STAGE 1 – DESIRED RESULTS

Established Goals

Relevant aspect of the curriculum you are using…

Australian Curriculum
Elements of Achievement Standards, Content Descriptions, CESA Key Capability/ies (Sub-element/s and possible level) /
Cross Curricular Priority

Achievement standard year 5 (HASS):

By the end of Year 5, students explain the causes of the establishment of British colonies in Australia after 1800. They
explain the roles of significant individuals or groups in the development of an Australian colony and the impact of those
developments.

Achievement standard year 6 (HASS):

By the end of Year 6, students explain the roles of significant people, events and ideas that led to Australian Federation,
democracy and citizenship. They explain the causes and effects of migration to Australia since Federation. They explain
the geographical diversity of places and the effects of interconnections with other countries.

Transfer

Identify the lofty goal of this unit – what is this learning for?
Students will be able to independently use their learning to:.

Learn about Australian history and provide a broad understanding of how it has shaped the country we live in
today.

Meaning
Understandings
Essential Questions
Identify the concepts/big ideas from the established goals
These are open-ended questions based on the identified
Students will understand that: understandings.

(Y5) Individuals and groups in the past and present

have contributed to the development of Australia.

(Y6) Key figures, events and values have shaped

Australian society, its system of government and its
citizenship.
 Acquisition
Skills
Knowledge
Use verbs such as describe, reflect, identify, communicate
Think in terms of nouns to identify what key knowledge etc. to name the skills students will develop
students will acquire
Students will be able to:
- Research meanings, facts, ideas
Students will know:
- Compare ideas with others
- Influences on consumer choices - Brainstorm ideas and link concepts together
- Develop further questions about a topic
- Strategies for informed consumer and financial - Create data from research
choices - Interpret data and create explanations
-

STAGE 2 - EVIDENCE

Performance Task
The authentic, real world task which requires students to apply and use their learning. Use the GRASP
model as a guide.

G
R
A
S
P

Other evidence being used to assess student learning:

Inquiry process journals, conversations, ability to dialogue with others, further questions identified from
original inquiry prompt.

STAGE 3 – LEARNING PLAN

Summary of key learning events and instruction/ outline of teaching and learning activities
Code to Adjustments
indicate
Alignment to
Goals
T – transfer
M- meaning
A – acquisition
 Introduction:
‘The Rabbits’
Provocation 1. Start off by showing students the title and front cover. Ask
Story students what they think this story will be about.
2. The story never identifies the place in which the events take
place. Drawing on the characters and visual cues in the story
where might the story be set? Why? Have a look at the
(1-2 lessons)
characters in the book. What kind of creatures are these? Do they
look like any creatures you have seen before?
3. Read through the story and ask students to make mental notes.

Body:

1. Upon finishing the text, ask students what they really think this
story is about. Come to the conclusion that it is about the
European settlement in Australia.
2. Split students into groups of 2-3 and allocate a particular page
and illustration for them to analyse.
3. Tell students they need to answer the following questions and
prepare a short 1 minute speech to report back to the class.

 What can you see in your picture

 Discuss the link between the illustrations and the text
 Do any objects or characters in your illustration have a symbolic
meaning? May have to discuss what symbolism is here.
 How does this picture make them feel?

Conclusion:

1. Discuss what the students learned and how their perception is

now changed.

Video As there is likely to be a diverse range of knowledge within the class of

Provocation Indigenous history and the history of Colonial Australia, begin by showing
students the first episode of this series.
“First
Australians, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7_1avVKDwc
they have
come to stay!”
Ask students to complete a KWL table on one or more of the topics below:
 Indigenous history and culture (before colonisation and after)
 the colonisation of Australia
 early settlement and farming in Australia
 introduced animal species in Australia
 conflict between Indigenous Australians and European settlers
 the Stolen Generations and the Assimilation Policy

‘The Rabbits’ How do we read an image?

Visual
Introduce students to visual literacy techniques using the visual literacy
Literacy
information sheet. Students will also need to be familiarised with colour
symbolism (task card).

Re-read book
 Re-read the text with the students, pausing to allow them to share their responses to
the illustrations and text.
Ask them again what the they saw, thought and wondered whilst reading The Rabbits.
Discuss how The Rabbits is an allegory. Ask students to complete the allegory
table (task card) to organise their ideas.

‘The Rabbits’
Plot
Outline of key
The story follows the historical progression of invasion –> initial friendship –>
elements of
the story overwhelming expansion –> indifference to Indigenous culture –> resistance –> then
complete domination and control. Ask students to identify the pages in the text
where the themes change. They can plot this on a narrative structure pyramid (task
(4 lessons) card).

Characters
Questions to consider:
 Shaun Tan and John Marsden chose rabbits to represent the colonisers.
Why do you believe they chose rabbits?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3iqMFbLzrf0
 What other characters are included?
 How are the Indigenous Australians represented?
 Why do you think Tan chose (in his words) ‘native numbat-like
creatures’ who are deliberately unrecognisable as native Australian
animals? Why weren’t more obvious native animals chosen like kangaroos
or emus?

Setting
There are no named settings in The Rabbits, however, particular Australian
landscapes can be identified such as deserts and grasslands. As a class, create a list of
the types of landscapes presented in the text (remember that built landscapes can
also be included).
Botany Bay is one of the only known settings in The Rabbits (based on information
provided by Shaun Tan). Ask students to explore modern day Botany Bay
using Google Earth. Students can also learn more about Botany Bay on this website:
https://www.britannica.com/place/Botany-Bay
Ask students to consider the following questions:
 Why would Botany Bay have been chosen as the place for European
explorers to come ashore?
 Why is it named Botany Bay? How might this have influenced Indigenous
people living in this area? How might this have influenced Europeans to
return and set up colonies in this area?
 How has Botany Bay changed?

Point of view
The Rabbits is written from the point of view of the native animals. The text is written
in the first person plural (collective) with the rabbits often being referred to simply as
‘they’.
How do perspectives influence our reading of the text?
When reading a text it is important to consider the point of view or perspective that is
being presented. Consider an event in your life where people have had different
perspectives. What factors might influence someone’s perspective on an event, e.g.
 their physical circumstances, emotions, etc. ?

Discussion questions:
 Why do you believe Marsden and Tan chose to present this text from an
Indigenous perspective?
 What other perspectives could this text be presented from? e.g. European
settlers, convicts, descendants of the settlers and convicts, international
visitors, a narrator or from the third person omniscient point of view.

Characterisation
The characters in The Rabbits are not named, in fact as the text is from the point of
view of the Indigenous peoples, we are not even told what to refer to them as –
simply ‘us’ and ‘we’ and ‘our’, etc. Perhaps this non-statement of identity is symbolic
in the way that the rabbits denied their very existence (perhaps here you could
mention and explain terra nullius). Similarly, the rabbits are also unnamed and simply
referred to collectively as ‘the rabbits’. However, some rabbits can be seen to
represent real-life historical figures such as Captain Cook and their clothing and
accessories make their occupations or roles evident. What do you think the
symbolism of this might be?

Character descriptions
Ask students to write a list of the identified characters – either by dress or role –
in The Rabbits and describe their appearance. They can complete this on a table like
the one below.

Character Description

e.g Rabbit who resembles Captain black coat with white and gold trim and white writing, very large pointed hat, white pan
Cook black boots. dressed differently to the
other rabbits.

Visual literacy techniques

‘The Rabbits’
For this task, students will identify the use of visual literacy techniques on the
Visual Literacy front/back cover of The Rabbits.
Continued
 Provide students with the They Came by Water image, the visual literacy
techniques information sheet as well as the cover analysis table.
 As a whole group, discuss with students what their initial thoughts are when
looking at the cover. You can ask questions like: What do you see/notice?
What does it make you think? What are you wondering?
 In pairs or individually, students are to identify the visual literacy techniques
used in the image and suggest why they are used (the effect). These
observations and suggestions are to be recorded on the analysis table.
VISUAL LITERACY COMPARATIVE STUDY – TASK SHEET

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-09-23/rodney-kelly-story-cooman-aboriginal-
resistance-cook-landing/7868170

https://readingaustralia.com.au/lesson/the-rabbits/#next
 This activity asks students to explore the major events in Australia’s history that are
‘The Rabbits’ depicted in The Rabbits and analyse the information and perspectives presented.
Themes
THEMES – TASK SHEET

‘The Rabbits’
Formative Assessment – Task Sheet
Themes
Major Task
Exploring and explaining themes in The Rabbits
Provide students with the task handout.
Choose one or two of the themes in The Rabbits explored earlier and write one or
two detailed paragraphs explaining how the themes are explored in the story through
the use of visual literacy techniques. Provide students with the TEEL planning sheet to
assist them in organising their ideas.
Your paragraphs should respond to the question: How are these themes explored
in The Rabbits? What messages are Tan and Marsden trying to convey?
Remind students to:

 Write in third person e.g ‘The Rabbits by John Marsden and Shaun Tan
explores the theme of invasion through the use of…’
 Include quotation marks when quoting text e.g. ‘At first we didn’t know
what to think’, and remember to include quotes in a sentence.
 Discuss the main page/pages that explore these themes and include specific
examples of the visual literacy techniques used. Follow the technique-
example-effect format, e.g. the salient point in the first image, They Came
by Water, is the ship which towers over the Indigenous people, making the
colonisers look more powerful and highlighting that they are the invaders
and are dominant.
 Follow the TEEL paragraph structure.
 Proofread and edit work carefully for spelling, grammar and punctuation.

Illustration
‘The Rabbits’
Have students draw a detailed illustration, using similar visual literacy techniques
Art to The Rabbits, to depict the Indigenous people in their fight for recognition in the
Integration 1965 Freedom Ride. They may like to add text that supports their illustration such as,
‘We rode around New South Wales, and made our intentions clear.’ Students can
access famous images from the time that they can use as ideas to present the
perspective of the colonised in their illustration. Please remember to respect
copyright terms and conditions when accessing images.

These images can be viewed on websites such as the following:

 AIATSIS
 Indigenous Rights
 SBS
Postcolonial literary theory also deals with the portrayal of colonisation from multiple
perspectives. Compare the perspective of the colonisation of Australia in The
Rabbits with a more traditional portrayal as depicted in texts such as the mini
series The Secret River (based on the novel by Kate Grenville). Does this text make
you sympathise more with the colonised or the colonisers?

Australia Day advertisement

Australia Day In 2017, Meat and Livestock Australia released an advertisement that celebrated
Advertisement diversity in Australia and acknowledged Australia’s colonial past, but challenged the
 celebration of Australia Day that forefronts the date Australia was invaded. This
advertisement addresses Indigenous land rights and promotes reconciliation.

Discuss with students:

 What is the main message of this advertisement?

 Does it challenge the traditional view of Australia being colonised or
‘beginning’ on 26 January, 1788 when the first fleet arrived? How?
 How does this advertisement make you feel? Do you believe that it is no
longer appropriate to celebrate Australia Day on 26 January?
 Are the contents of the advertisement based on fact?
 What similarities can you identify between the Australia Day advertisement
and The Rabbits (focusing particularly on the first three double pages).

Young Dark Emu

Text Like The Rabbits, Young Dark Emu by Bruce Pascoe also presents a lesser known and
Comparison
radically different perspective of Indigenous history and culture. Have students read
extracts from Young Dark Emu. Ask them to consider the illustrations and how
Indigenous people are portrayed (mention how these were mostly created by
European artists). Ask students to identify and explain any links between this text
and The Rabbits. In particular focus on the misconceptions regarding agriculture, land
use and life style/housing challenged by Pascoe in both this work and the
original Dark Emu. Compare this with the depiction of the environment following the
rabbit plague in the final pages of The Rabbits: ‘The land is bare and brown…’

Ask students to answer the following questions:

 Does Young Dark Emu add to your understanding of Indigenous history and
culture? How?
 What similarities and differences can you find between the two
texts? Complete a Venn diagram (students can draw one in their exercise
book, or you can find many examples online).

Compare how the following themes are explored in the two texts. What messages
does each text convey?

An ‘addition’
ASSESSMENT TASK – SEE TASK SHEET
to The
Rabbits

Task 1
Reflection
Ask students the following question:

 Have your thoughts, opinions or knowledge grown or changed since

reading The Rabbits?

Complete the Connect, Extend Challenge table (task card) after reading The Rabbits to
guide your thinking.

Task 2

Write a reflection using the ‘I used to think…but now I think…’ thinking routine. Ask
students to share their ideas in small groups or as a class, before completing a written
reflection, as this will assist them in being able to explain their thinking e.g. ‘I used to
think that picture books were written for children but now I think that they can be
more complex and can explore themes that many children would not understand.’

Ask them the question:

 Does The Rabbits challenge your expectations of a picture book?

Ask the students to complete the written reflection (task card) using this routine.