We’ve All Come from Somewhere…
The story of mass migrations to Australia touches virtually every family on our island nation. As such, this is a great topic to engage students in the factors and stories that prompted migrations from the Gold Rush to the present (with options for the earliest Indigenous migration). History, Geography and Civics as well as students’ families personal experiences enrich the grand story.
This is a slimmed down version of a real WebQuest. It still uses engaging real, rich and relevant Web resources and prompted activities to help students stretch their learning.
Overview of the Migration QuickQuest
Features of this QuickQuest
- Exploration of mass migrations.
- Analysis of ‘Push’ and ‘Pull’ factors.
- Discovery of how Australia’s policies stimulated and discouraged migration flows.
- Question sheet for first-person interviews to learn more of their family history.
- Activities for narrative and persuasive writing.
- Develop keys concepts of ‘continuity and change’ and ’cause and effect.’
- Extra Online Resources help stretch students’ understanding and interests.
DIY or TpT? – You Choose!
Because I want to support education, teachers and students (as I have since the first WebQuests in the 1990s), I provide a hotlist of the resources used in the activities. This way if you want to take the “Do It Yourself” approach, explore the links below and create your own activities. If you’re happy to save time, use my approaches focused on “real, rich and relevant” learning, then use the QuickQuest is available through TeachersPayTeachers at minimal cost.
Hotlist of Resources
- Australia’s Immigration History -1851-Present
- Origins – Museums Victoria – Immigration History by Country
- Australia’s Immigration History, main waves & policies from Virtual MuSeaUm
- New Australia 1945-1965, Objects Through Time, Migration Heritage NSW
- Glossary, Belongings, Migration Heritage Centre, NSW
- Timeline: Australia’s Immigration Policy, from the SBS
- Australia’s migration history, more detailed article from Belongings, The Migration Heritage Centre at the Powerhouse Museum, NSW
- FACT SHEET, Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs
- Waves of Australian Migration – Behind the News
- First Footprints, video from the ABC (long, but excellent)
- Who Are Australia’s Aboriginal People? Video from NowThisWorld
- Australia 50,000 Years Ago, article from the Migration Heritage Centre, NSW
- Migration to Australia, detailed section from Wikipedia
- HOW HAS MIGRATION CHANGED OVER TIME? – an interactive chart
- Snowy Mountains Hydro-electric Scheme, Behind the News
- Refugee experiences upon arriving in Australia, ABC Education
- Ten Pound Poms – video from ABC Education
- Populate or perish – a short article from the State Library WA
- Populate or perish & More Poms, Please, articles from P & O Heritage
- FactCheck Q&A – video from ABC Q&A (transcript)
- A history of Australia’s offshore detention policy, video from SBS
- Operation Sovereign Borders, video from Home Affairs
