Write a historical narrative – life in the early colony.
CCS2.1 Significant events and people
Describes events and actions related to British colonisation of Australia and assesses changes and consequences.
 includes detail of life in the early colony
 demonstrates evidence of learning about colonisation in a narrative
 provides accurate character information based on the application of knowledge gained on British colonisation of Australia.
These criteria relate to outcome CCS2.1 (additional criteria can be developed to assess English outcomes such as WS2.10,
WS2.13, WS2.14)
Task: Write an historical narrative (about 1–2 pages) about life in the early colony. You are one of the people on the First Fleet, or
an Eora person. Write about your life, where you lived, the clothes you wore, the food you ate and your friends. Include an event
that could have occurred (e.g. the complication) and show how this was resolved. Limit characters in the narrative.
The narrative:
Below expected level
Includes limited or inaccurate
detail of life in the early colony
Provides limited information
about own learning of
colonisation e.g. provides own
personal opinions instead of
accurate details of learning
Includes some characters in
their narrative, but provides
very limited or inaccurate
descriptions related to colonial
times.
At expected level
Includes accurate detail with
some description of life in the
early colony
Provides information about
aspects of colonisation that
have been included in teaching
and learning activities
Above expected level
Includes a well developed
description of life in the early
colony
Provides accurate information
on colonisation gained from
support material in addition to
teaching and learning activities
Includes some accurate
information about a character
that portrays an understanding
of life in the early colony.
Includes detailed information
on characters included in the
narrative that shows a
thorough or extensive
knowledge of the colonial era.
HSIE
CCS2.1 Describes events and actions related to
British colonisation of Australia and assesses
changes and consequences
• evaluates the progress of the colony
• develops a narrative about what life would
have been like for an individual in the early
colony.
English
WS2.10 Produces texts clearly, effectively and
accurately, using the sentence structure,
grammatical features and punctuation
conventions of the text type.
WS2.13 Discusses how own texts are adjusted
to relate to different readers, how they develop
the subject matter and how they serve a wide
variety of purposes.
TS2.4 Identifies common organisational
patterns and some characteristic language
features of a few types of predictable spoken
texts.
WS2.14 Discusses how own texts have been
structured to achieve their purpose and the
grammatical features characteristic of the
various text types used.
TS2.1 Communicates in informal and formal
classroom activities in school and social
situations for an increasing range of purposes
on a variety of topics across the curriculum.
A growing colony
On December 11 1792, Governor Phillip left Sydney to return home. He was disappointed at the
progress he had made. There were 700 huts, some substantial homes, a hospital, observatory,
jetties, dockyards, government stores, a Governor’s house, a windmill and two small schools. He
left the colony almost self-sufficient in food, and it was finally over its most difficult years.
Note: some episodes from the ABC schools programs Our History provide background
information for students.
• Discuss: Do you agree that Governor Phillip should have been disappointed at the progress of
the colony? Ask students to give reasons to support their opinions.
Assessment:
• Write an historical narrative (about 1–2 pages) about life in the early colony. Imagine you are
one of the people on the First Fleet, or an Eora person, and write about your life, where you
lived, the clothes you wore, the food you ate and your friends. Include an imaginary event that
could have occurred (e.g. the complication) and show how this was resolved. Limit characters
in the narrative.
• Activites to model aspects of this narrative. Each student could:
- role play and describe themselves as a character set in this time (a drawing and description
of themselves as the character may be helpful)
- write a diary entry of themselves as the character in the first person
- read diary entries of imaginary characters set in a similar time e.g. Journal of Watkin Tench,
by Meridith Hooper
- draw and describe the setting (paying particular attention to historical aspects – transport,
cooking arrangements)
- develop a time line for a possible sequence of events (and discuss whether these are
realistic for this historical period)
• Model the historical narrative using a scaffold to plan e.g.
Orientation
(description of
character,
setting)
what clues will
you give the
reader of the
period of time?
Complication
Sequence of
events
Resolution
what changes –
new character,
new setting, new
event?
1.
2.
3.
what were the
consequences
of this change?
is there an
ending?
Assessment strategy
The teacher:
• analyses student writing for
their understanding of life in
the early colony.
Assessment criteria
The student:
• includes detail of life in the
early colony
• demonstrates evidence of
learning about colonisation in
a narrative
• provides accurate character
information based on the
application of knowledge
gained on British colonisation
of Australia.
These criteria relate to outcomes
CCS2.1, WA2.10, WS2.13,
WS2.14, TS2.1, TS2.4
• Students plan their narrative before writing. Identify the characters, the location, the event and
the resolution. Check and discuss students’ writing plans before they write their narrative.
(Literacy link: writes an historical narrative based on research, understanding of the era and
empathy with the characters. Note: this is a complex task that needs to be modelled in stages for
students.)