Digital resources tagged with ‘Australian History’

A Land of Milk and Honey and English Lessons

Australia needs new migrants to populate the country and build a more prosperous nation. English lessons are available everywhere, including through correspondence and radio courses.

A Telegraph Line across the Continent

The story of the struggle to cross a vast continent and build the telegraph line that would bring Australia to the world and the world to Australia.

Aboriginal People in the Gibson Desert

In 1966 a few Aboriginal families were living nomadic lives in the heart of Australia's Gibson Desert. Women would collect seeds from Woolybuck grass to make bread whilst their husbands searched for old spearheads and tools for hunting.

Aboriginal People Make a Canoe and Hunt a Turtle

Arnhem Land in Australia's Northern Territory is the home of coastal Aboriginal People. On the beach it's time to play out one of the dramas of daily life - the return of the hunters.

An Australian Wedding, 1968

Powerhouse Museum Curator Dr Kimberley Webber looks at how collections bring to life Australian stories in museums.

An Outback Policeman's Life

In the remote outback, a policeman sets out with two Indigenous stockmen to inspect the many hundreds of kilometres he patrols. His duties cover everything from punishing lawbreakers to acting as postmaster.

Andrew Fisher’s Lunch Box

Andrew Fisher’s tin lunch box reminds us that humble beginnings informed his political career: he went from union organiser to three-time Prime Minister, inventing the Australian ideal of a ‘fair go’ along the way.

Anna Naupa on Vanuatan heritage

Ni-Vanuatu writer and historian Anna Naupa discusses different views of South Sea Islander labour trade history.

Australia's First Nuclear Reactor

Prime Minister Robert Menzies opens the Lucas Heights nuclear reactor, and marvels at nuclear energy being a relatively new phenomenon in the world.

Australian Biography - Sir Marcus Oliphant

The first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. Sir Mark Oliphant helped to create the bomb, but even though it ended the war he can never reconcile himself to the loss of civilian life.

Australian South Sea Islanders Discover the Past

Joe and Monica Leo are the descendents of ni-Vanuatu who helped build Queensland's sugar industry.

Ben Chifley’s Pipe

Possibly our best loved Prime Minister, and a former train driver, Ben Chifley was rarely seen without his pipe, as he guided the country through the austere post-war years.

Bradman's Bats

Donald Bradman’s bats are a reminder of how this cricket legend played himself into the record books, earning the status of Australian icon.

Bruce Dawe - Anti War Poet

This encounter with highly regarded Australian poet Bruce Dawe allows us an insight into the motivation and methods of a very fine writer. His ability to express the drama and beauty of everyday life has made his work readily accessible to the general public.

Bruce Dawe Reads "Little Red Fox"

Bruce Dawe reads his poem "Little Red Fox". This encounter with highly regarded Australian poet Bruce Dawe allows us an insight into the motivation and methods of a very fine writer. His ability to express the drama and beauty of everyday life has made his work readily accessible to the general public.

Building the Bridge

In 2007 Australia celebrates the 75th anniversary of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, a giant steel arch resembling a coat hanger that has became one of world's most recognised structures and an engineering triumph.

Cane Cutters and Mateship

A group of men get together in a pub and form a cane - cutting gang. Five million tons of sugarcane have to be cut by hand in back breaking conditions in North Queensland.

Captain Cook - Cook Claims New South Wales

After spending some time observing an Aboriginal tribe, Cook commits the most controversial act of the voyage: he claims the entire east coast of New Holland for Britain, without permission from the local inhabitants.

Captain Cook - Great Southern Continent

In his first great voyage of discovery, James Cook is chosen to find and explore the 'Great Southern Land'.

Captain Cook - In Search of the North West Passage

Cook’s obsession with discovery continues as he searches for the mythic North West Passage, but is it a journey too far? Now retired and promoted to Post Captain, James Cook is bored. He jumps at the chance to take on a third great voyage: to find a fast route to China to secure Britain’s place in the lucrative tea trade.

Captain Cook - James Cook Joins the Navy

Influential patrons help the bright boy James Cook to an apprenticeship in the merchant navy that would make him a ships’ master. But with an eye for the main chance Cook switches to the Royal Navy.

Captain Cook - The Death of Cook

James Cook’s temperament has become unstable during the long and unsuccessful hunt for the North West passage. He picks a fight with the Hawaiians after a series of thefts by them from the ships and dies on the beach after a fierce battle.

Captain Cook - The Polynesian Tupaia Joins the Endeavour Voyage

Cook takes on board an additional passenger, Polynesian priest and fellow navigator Tupaia. Tupaia shares his remarkable navigational skills, convinced that the notion of a great land mass is a European fantasy.

Censorship in Media

John Safran discusses censorship in Australian media.

Charles Perkins - Freedom Ride

Charles Perkins’ involvement in the Freedom Ride through rural New South Wales in the early 1960s played a crucial role in demonstrating that Aboriginal people could begin to stand up for themselves.

Constructing the East-West Rail Link

Rare archival footage from 1910 shows camels carrying heavy supplies across the desert. Railway labourers are building the 1400 km railway that will finally link Western Australia with the Eastern States.

Cuc Lam's Suitcase

It may be just a small red vinyl suitcase but for Vietnamese refugee Cuc Lam it’s a symbol of a new beginning in a new country.

Dreamings, Through Indigenous Art

Indigenous art is like topographic mapping of land and culture. Michael Nelson Tjakamarra works at painting concentric circles which represent sacred sites.

Edmund Barton and the Velvet Soap Advertisement

The Velvet Soap advertising campaign is a tongue-in-cheek reminder of Edmund Barton’s hand in formulating the White Australia policy.

Endeavour Journal

Written on board the Endeavour during his trip down under in 1770, James Cook’s journal records the beginning of Australia as we know it today.

Faith Bandler - 1967 Referendum

Civil rights activist Faith Bandler has made an enormous contribution to the peace movement and indigenous politics.

Faith Bandler - Activist

Civil rights activist Faith Bandler has made an enormous contribution to the peace movement and indigenous politics.

Federation and Defending Our Shores

Federation was a time of jobs and opportunities. With our 12,000 mile coast Australia needed a defence force.

Gallipoli Boat

A small lifeboat, retrieved from the shores of Gallipoli, is a direct link to the first Anzacs and the day that helped forge Australia’s identity.

Gold Rush in the West

Gold, more than any other single factor, transformed the Australian colonies.

Harold Holt’s Briefcase

The disappearance of our seventeenth Prime Minister, Harold Holt, during a beach holiday sparked countless conspiracy theories. The items left in his briefcase are a significant time capsule of his last days as Prime Minister.

HMAS Sydney's Carley Float

A tiny, war-ravaged liferaft from the HMAS Sydney is our only physical link to Australia’s worst-ever naval disaster.

Ideology and the Curriculum

Who decides what is taught in Australian History in schools?

Indigenous Business - A Cattle Station

The Yugal Cattle Co was given a grant of $336,000 to go into business running a cattle station. Their dreams of making money from cattle and beef export are big but there are problems. Traditional Indigenous laws are different from white man's law.

Indigenous Rights - Repatriation

The repatriation of aboriginal remains is an issue close to Aboriginal peoples' hearts and spirit and play a significant part of the reconciliation process.

Jack Hazlitt - World War 1 Digger

A World War 1 digger reflects on his work as a runner in the trenches at Gallipoli. Hopping across the trenches in full view of the Turkish snipers, the average life of a runner was 24 hours.

James Scullin And The GCMG

James Scullin inspired the people when he offered to rent out The Lodge during the Depression, but his fierce nationalism is best revealed in his campaign to install an Australian-born Governor General.

John Curtin’s Australian Journalists’ Association Badge

John Curtin’s journalistic instincts came in handy during World War Two when he kept the media onside with secret press briefings. He wore his AJA badge every day he was in office.

Joseph Lyons’ Love Letters

Politics rarely produces impassioned romantics, which makes the hundreds of letters Joseph Lyons wrote to his adored wife and confidante, Enid, as fascinating as they are unexpected

Kokoda - War on Film

Alister Grierson, director of the 2006 feature film "Kokoda" talks about historical accuracy and representing war experience on film.

Lowitja O'Donoghue - The Stolen Generation

Lois O’Donoghue was born in 1932 in a remote Aboriginal community. She never knew her white father and, at the age of two, was taken away from her mother, who she was not to see for 33 years.

Mawson's Expedition to the Antarctic

In 1912, Mawson's expedition arrived in the Antarctic. Little did they realise it was the windiest place on the globe.

National Peak Indigenous Body?

Students and the Honorable Mal Brough look at how best peak bodies work for the community they represent.

Neville Bonner - Beginnings

Neville Bonner grew up on the banks of the Richmond River and started his working life as a ringbarker, canecutter and stockman. He spent 16 years on the repressive Palm Island Aboriginal Reserve where he learned many of the skills that would help him later as a politician.

Neville Bonner - Change

By the early 1960s, it was clear that Indigenous people were not being assimilated — discrimination against Indigenous people continued and many Indigenous people refused to surrender their culture and lifestyle. The assimilation policy had failed.

O'Connor's Dream for Water

In 1890 C. Y. O'Connor was recruited to work as Chief Engineer in the newly self-governing colony of Western Australia, where he formed a dynamic partnership with the colony's larger-than-life Premier, John Forrest.

Parliamentary Representation of Indigenous People

The strength of democracies is founded on the breadth of the representation of it's parliamentarians.

Phar Lap's Hide

In the 1930s, a New Zealand-born horse called Phar Lap won the hearts of Australians and became one of our most loved and enduring icons.

Remembering Eddie Mabo

Aboriginal Elder and teacher Douglas Bon remembers Eddie Mabo and the landmark land rights case he fought.

Robert Menzies’ Camera

Robert Menzies’ lifelong passion for home movies resulted in a surprisingly personal record of the war years, including footage of a young Princess Elizabeth.

She Wanted To Fly

In the 1930s Nancy Bird Walton became known as the "Angel of the Desert", working with the Royal Flying Doctor Service. Some tried to discourage a woman flying on her own in the turbulent conditions of the outback.

Stanley Melbourne Bruce's Cigarette Case

Stanley Melbourne Bruce treasured Turkish President Mustafa Kemal Atatürk’s gift of a gold cigarette case throughout his life.

Stuart encounters Outback Aborigines

When John Stuart crossed the interior of Australia, he did so in ignorance of the complex set of boundaries and rules for the use of shared resources that existed among the Aboriginal people.

The Bark Petition

In 1963 the Aboriginal Elders at Yirrkala presented the Federal Government with a bark painting, the title deed to their country.

The Bridge Workers

The construction of the Sydney Harbour Bridge was a massive investment for the NSW government. The cost was not only in monetary terms but also the destruction of significant areas of Sydney’s heritage and the loss of lives.

The Effects of World War 1 on the Australian Economy

When our troops were sent off to war in 1914, industry in Australia boomed. Steel was necessary for guns and ships.

The Founding of Canberra

In 1913 the Basic Living Wage of 2 pounds 8 shillings a week is introduced. Politicians, including William Morris (Billy) Hughes, lay the Foundation Stone for the new National Capital in Canberra.

The New Curriculum

Talkback Classroom participants argue that students have a say in developing curriculum.

The Sugar Labour Trade

Phyllis Corowa's father and grandmother were taken from Vanuatu to work on a Queensland sugar plantation.

The West and Federation

Some sort of federation of the Australian colonies had been suggested as early as 1846. Ferocious political struggles over the shape of the new nation continued to the eleventh hour.

Todd completes Telegraph

In 1870 Charles Todd, using explorer John McDouall Stuart's maps, organised and lead three teams to lay the overland telegraph wire.

Todd's Telegraph Dream

Charles Todd dreamt of constructing a telegraph line through the heart of the continent.

Todd/Stuart challenge Burke/Wills to cross Continent

There was enormous public and media speculation about whether the Victorian backed Burke and Wills or South Australia's Stuart expedition would be the first to cross the continent's interior.

William Hughes and the 1916 Conscription Badge

William Hughes, “The Little Digger”, campaigned twice for national conscription to boost an Australian army decimated by World War One.