Handmade Collage - First Contact

Year 9/10
History / Visual Arts

Suggested duration: Three lessons

Summary

Through this project, students will learn about a group of Pintupi people from Western Australia’s remote Gibson Desert whose first contact with white people occurred in 1984. They will conduct research to further investigate the ways in which life changed for this group of people. Students will use information from The Little Red Yellow Black Book and the online resources from the AIATSIS website during the course of their research.

In 1984 a group of Pintupi people from the Western Desert made contact with settler society for the first time. The family had been living in the Gibson Desert region and became known in both national and international media as the Pintupi Nine after they connected with their kin who were living in the Kiwirrkurra Community in Western Australia (The Little Red Yellow Black Book, p. 41).

Learning outcomes

  • Students will be able to identify and analyse issues resulting from first contact between white people and a group of Pintupi people.
  • Students will demonstrate presenting ideas in artwork (handmade collage) to communicate meaning.
General capabilities Cross-curriculum priorities
Literacy Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures
Critical and creative thinking Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures organising ideas: 2, 5, 6
Intercultural understanding  

Australian Curriculum content descriptions

Year 9 History

  • Use historical terms and concepts (ACHHS165).
  • Identify and locate relevant sources, using ICT and other methods (ACHHS168).
  • Identify and analyse the perspectives of people from the past (ACHHS172).
  • Select and use a range of communication forms (oral, graphic, written) and digital technologies (ACHHS175).
  • The extension of settlement, including the effects of contact (intended and unintended) between European settlers in Australia and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples (ACDSEH020) For the Depth Study Making a nation.

Year 10 History

  • Use historical terms and concepts (ACHHS183).
  • Identify and locate relevant sources, using ICT and other methods (ACHHS186).
  • Identify and analyse the perspectives of people from the past (ACHHS190).
  • Select and use a range of communication forms (oral, graphic, written) and digital technologies (ACHHS193).
  • Background to the struggle of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples for rights and freedoms before 1965, including the 1938 Day of Mourning and the Stolen Generations (ACDSEH104) For the Depth Study Rights and freedoms (1945 – the present).

Year 9 and 10 Visual Arts

  • Present ideas for displaying artworks and evaluate displays of artworks (ACAVAM129)

Provisions for differentiation

Learning support

Students with special learning needs may require some teacher assistance to locate suitable resources.

Extension

Students could watch the video, Contact, Butler, M and Dean, B(Director/Producer), produced by Screen Australia, 2010. This film traces the history of a group of Martu people and their experiences with the military research complex at Woomera in the 1940s-60s.

Resources

  • Teacher resource sheet (PDF)
  • A3 paper or cardstock
  • Scissors and glue
  • Old magazines and newspapers
  • The Little Red Yellow Black Book - an introduction to Indigenous Australia (4th edition), ‘Who we are’, Aboriginal Studies Press, AIATSIS, Canberra, 2018.

For teachers

Ensure that the guidance notes included in The Little Red Yellow Black Book teacher resources have been considered.

Vocabulary

  • Collage

Preparation: Ask students to bring in some old magazines and newspapers from home. The more varied the styles, the better. Ensure that they have access to scissors and glue.

Step 1.

Begin the activity by reading the material in the Teacher resource sheet. This defines the collage project and provides examples of some of the themes that students might like to incorporate in their collage. Write these themes on the whiteboard to help students think through the impacts of white society on Australian Indigenous peoples. Discuss some words and images that capture a few of these ideas. Show a sample collage to model the expectations of the task.

Step 2.

Hand out a sheet of A3 paper or a large sheet of cardstock.

Step 3.

Set a deadline for the collage project to be completed. Students may need some additional time out of lesson time to complete the task.

Assessment ideas

  • Presentation of collages
  • Q and A on issues that were faced as a result of the contact
Last reviewed: 11 Nov 2019