Burnie Regional Museum

Early Burnie An exhibition exploring the history of our region before 1900

Journeys, Objects, Stories

Education Kit

CONTENTS

Teachers’ notes How to use this education resource Curriculum links Program outline Map of the exhibition layout Activities Additional resources School group visits

TEACHERS’ NOTES

The exhibition Early Burnie explores Burnie’s beginnings as a privately owned enterprise and follows its progress through the 19th century. Students will learn about early exploration and the exploits of the Van Diemen’s Land Company; life in the region for early settlers; and the events which led to Burnie’s transformation from a rural backwater to the shipping hub for the booming West Coast mines.

Two of the activities in the education kit require the use of items that are not available for download from our website. These items are: 1) A copy of a map drawn by Henry Hellyer; 2) Three addressed envelopes. These items can be picked up from the front counter at the time of your visit.

The exhibition utilises significant objects drawn from the Burnie Regional Museum collection to interpret the major themes. To help you find your way around the exhibition, below is a list of the major themes and the titles of the exhibition panels where each theme is interpreted.

The North-West landscape prior to European settlementExplored through panels:

A Changing Landscape

The exploits of the Van Diemen’s Land CompanyExplored through panels:

The Van Diemen’s Land Company Where in the North West? A Nice Piece of Pasture? Making tracks

Life in the North-West for early settlersExplored through panels:

A Ripple in the Backwater Good Red Dirt No Place for a Lady

West Coast mining and Burnie’s consequential developmentExplored through panels:

Progress at Last Linking the Mine and Port A Port City

From the Early Burnie exhibition students can walk into the Federation Street and discover how ordinary people lived in Burnie at the turn of the 20th century. It is recommended that the Early Burnie exhibition is viewed prior to the Federation Street, as the Federation Street explores the next phase of Burnie’s history, when the town was at the height of its first economic boom.

HOW TO USE THIS EDUCATION RESOURCE

This resource is intended to be used as a starting point for teachers and primary students to explore the exhibition Early Burnie. The questions and activities have been designed to address a broad range of study design and curricula in relation to the Australian Curriculum for History; however, opportunities to relate to other subject areas of the Curriculum are also provided. It is suggested that teachers use this resource as a basis for their own exhibition response worksheets or as a launching pad for further investigation.

In addition to this education kit, many of the exhibition panels include some KIDS! interpretation – look for the silhouettes of children!

The information that is provided on the two iPads in the exhibition also encourages interaction and incorporates a KIDS! component. Look for the same symbol of silhouetted children.

CURRICULUM LINKS

This education kit acknowledges the introduction of the Australian Curriculum and identifies with some of the Focus areas and explores a number of the Key inquiry questions that relate specifically to the History Curriculum for Years 2 to 6.

AUSTRALIAN CURRICULUM - HISTORY

Foundation – Year 2

Focus Areas Personal and Family Histories Present and Past Family Life The Past in the Present

Inquiry questions

1. What is my history and how do I know?2. What stories do other people tell about the past?3. How can stories of the past be told and shared?4. How has family life changed or remained the same over time?5. How can we show that the present is different from or similar to the past?6. How do we describe the sequence of time?7. What aspects of the past can you see today? What do they tell us?8. What remains of the past are important to the local community? Why?9. How have changes in technology shaped our daily life?

Year 3 – 6

Focus areas Community and Remembrance First Contacts The Australian Colonies

Inquiry questions

1. Who lived here first and how do we know?2. How has our community changed? What features have been lost and what

features have been retained?3. What is the nature of the contribution made by different groups and individuals

in the community?4. How and why do people choose to remember significant events of the past?5. Why did the great journeys of exploration occur?6. What was life like for Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Peoples before

the arrival of the Europeans?7. Why did the Europeans settle in Australia?8. What was the nature and consequence of contact between Aboriginal and/or

Torres Strait Islander Peoples and early traders, explorers and settlers?9. What do we know about the lives of people in Australia’s colonial past and

how do we know?10.How did an Australian colony develop over time and why?11.How did colonial settlement change the environment?12.What were the significant events and who were the significant people that

shaped Australian colonies?

PROGRAM OUTLINE

The self-guided pathways for Years 2-6 are designed to assist students to make the most from a visit to Early Burnie.

The recommended duration of a visit when using these materials is 40 minutes.

Activities have been suggested under the headings Journeys, Objects and Stories to provide a variety of pathways to interact with the exhibition.

These are starting points for initial engagement with specific objects and themes of the exhibition while considering links with the curriculum.

Pre-visit Activities

The following key inquiry questions can be used to engage students in the exhibition and provide a focus for their investigations and learning.

How can stories of the past be told and shared? What aspects of the past can you see today? What do they tell us? How have changes in technology shaped our daily life? What is the nature of the contribution made by different groups and individuals in

the community? What was life like for the Aboriginal people living in Tasmania before the arrival of

the Europeans? How have methods of transport changed over time? What do we know about the lives of people in Australia’s colonial past and how

do we know? How did colonial settlement change the environment?

Some of the following activities could be included in pre-visit lessons:

1) Brainstorm the challenges of starting a settlement on the North-West Coast. What would be the first priorities? How might the first settlers have gone about meeting basic needs? What would have been the most significant challenges?

2) Students form 4 groups to research what the place we now call Burnie was like in:

1826 (when the first Europeans arrived) 1842 (when the first tenant farmers arrived) 1871 (when the mineral boom began) 1900 (when Burnie was experiencing its first economic boom)

Who lived here? How did they live?

Student groups give a presentation to the rest of the class on their topic.

During the visitGroups will be met by Museum staff in the entrance foyer at the booked time.Please note that this is a self-guided program. While a Museum staff member will be available to assist teachers with questions, it is expected that teachers will be fully prepared for the excursion.

After the visit

Some of the extension activities can be completed post-visit.

The following activities could be included in post-visit lessons:

1) As a whole class create a timeline using everybody’s answers to the timeline activity. Students can work in groups to research some of the significant events on the timeline in more depth and present their findings to the class.

2) Students choose a character from the exhibition (not necessarily a famous person) and conduct research into their life and times, so that the life story of the character is fleshed out.

Students could present their findings in role from the period, via a series of journal entries, or in an interview format.

ACTIVITIES Journeys, Objects and Stories

Journeys

1. Seasonal migration of Tasmanian Aboriginal people

Image source – McFarlane, I. (2008) Beyond Awakening – The Aboriginal Tribes of North West Tasmania: A History. Fullers Bookshop, Launceston, p.226

During the summer, where did the Aboriginal people of the North-West travel to?

Why did they travel to different places at different times of the year?

Can you find a mention of one type of food Aboriginal people ate?

Extension

• What was the North West like before the Europeans arrived?• What impact did the arrival of the Europeans have on Aboriginal life and culture?

2. Van Diemen’s Land Company explorers

In a small group, look at the map drawn by Henry Hellyer. (You can pick up this map from the front counter of the Museum when you arrive for your visit).

Can you find Burnie’s location? What was it called?

Can you find three places on the map mentioned in the exhibition? In your group discuss what happened at each of these places to make it important to region’s history. Write down your answers.

Extension

• Why did Europeans settle in Australia? And more specifically, why did the Van Diemen’s Land Company settle in Tasmania?

3. European migrants

Can you find William Moore’s wooden sea chest?

William Moore was born in the Isle of Man, near the United Kingdom. He moved to Canada and from there sailed all the way to Australia in 1853, where he finally settled in Wynyard. Small sailing ships and whaling boats were the only way to get to the North West Coast at that time and the journey was often dangerous.

Make a list of all the things you think William would have brought in his chest on the long sea voyage to the isolated North West Coast of Tasmania.

Extension

• What do you think were some of the hopes and fears of those who travelled to Van Diemen’s Land?• Imagine you were moving to a new country and could only take a small suitcase with you. What would be in it? What would be the most important item? What would be the hardest thing to leave behind?• How long do you think it took William Moore to travel by boat to Van Diemen’s Land? Did he stop anywhere on the way? What were conditions like on the boat?

Objects

1. Tasmanian Emu egg

Image source - http://www.mdahlem.net/birds/1/emu.phpPhotographer - Michael Dahlem

This is a photograph of an Australian Emu egg.

How is the Tasmanian Emu egg in the exhibition different to this one?

What does the word extinct mean?

Why is the Tasmanian Emu extinct? Can you find a reference to another extinct animal in the exhibition?

Extension

• What impact did the Europeans have on the environment in this area?• How was this landscape different to the one they were familiar with in England?

2. Mailbag

Here are three addressed envelopes containing letters that may have been found in the mailbag on display. (You can pick up these envelopes from the Museum’s front counter when you arrive for your visit).

What do you think may have been written on them?

Rev. Dr. Zachary Pearce PocockPreacherSt. George’s ChurchEmu BayVan Diemen’s Land

Mr.Joseph Gardner Stutterd StorekeeperAraucaria HouseTable Cape Van Diemen’s Land

Mrs.Edward Curr Wife of VDL Co. Chief Agent Edward CurrHighfield HouseCircular HeadVan Diemen’s Land

Choose one of the envelopes and write what you think may have been in the letter inside.

Explain who you are in the letter and why you are writing to the person whose name is on the chosen envelope. What are you telling them in the letter? Are you asking them any questions?

Extension

• How were letters delivered before there were roads in the North-West?• How long might it have taken for a letter to come from England to Tasmania?• Do you write letters? What other ways do we have to communicate with each other today?

3. Circumferentor

Can you find an object that helped explorers find their way through the thick bush? What is it called?

Can you tell which way is north?

What do we use today to help us with finding directions?

Extension

• What are some other items we have today that would have been helpful to Henry Hellyer that weren’t around back then?

4. Agricultural tools

Draw an outline on your page of each of the agricultural tools that are displayed on the wall. Inside the outline write down what the tool was used for.

List 2 crops grown by early settlers. Are those crops still grown in the area today? How can you find out?

Extension

• Find the ‘Working the Land’ button on an iPad and watch the film footage showing horse ploughing. Can you find a single-furrow plough in the Federation Street?• In what other ways might farm work today differ from farm work back then?

Stories

A picture tells a thousand words...

1. Family life

Can you find this photograph in the exhibition? Imagine you are one of the children in the photograph.

Write a story about what you have been doing that day. Have you been to school? Were there jobs you have been doing to help around the house or on the property? What games might you have played?

Extension• In what ways is your family life different or the same as the family pictured?•Think about the impact of changing technology on people’s lives. In what ways might our household chores differ from the household chores of this family?

2. The Port

Can you find this photograph in the exhibition? Imagine you are one of the people in the photograph.

What is your job? What are you doing at the jetty that day? Write a story about the events of that day...

Extension• Name two types of goods you can see waiting for shipment at the port in the photograph. What are Burnie’s main exports today?• How were large ships loaded and unloaded at the time this photograph was taken? How are they loaded and unloaded now?• What changes have taken place at the port to allow big ships to berth in Burnie?

3. The Emu Bay Railway

Can you find this photograph in the exhibition? Imagine you are one of the people in the photograph.

Write a story about your work building the Emu Bay & Mount Bischoff Railway. What are your work conditions like? What tools do you use? Where do you sleep at night?

Extension• Before the iron railway was built, bullock and horse teams were used to transport goods. The iron railway was a big improvement on bullock and horse teams. How are goods transported long distances today?• What modes of transport do you think will be used in 100 years time?

Draw a timeline

Pick five events mentioned in the exhibition and put them in sequence along a timeline. Draw a picture to illustrate each event. Which event do you think was the most important? Why?

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Pink, K. (2000). Campsite to city. Burnie City Council, Burnie.

Pink, K. (1990). And wealth for toil: a history of North-West and Western Tasmania 1825-1900. Advocate Marketing Services Pty. Ltd., Burnie.

McFarlane, I. (2008). Beyond awakening: the aboriginal tribes of North West Tasmania: a history. Fullers Bookshop, Riawunna, Community, Place & Heritage Research Unit, University of Tasmania

Thomas, B. (ed.) (2011). Henry Hellyer’s observations: journals of life in the Tasmanian bush. North Down Press, Latrobe.

Haygarth, N. (2004). Baron Bischoff: Philosopher Smith and the birth of Tasmanian mining.

Mercer, P. Gateway to Progress: Centenary History of the Marine Board of Burnie

Rae, L. The Emu Bay Railway – VDL Company to Pasminco

SCHOOL GROUP VISITS Booking

Please book your visit by emailing museum@burnie.net or phoning (03) 64 305 746

Please provide the following information at the time of booking:

Your preferred date and time (BRM is open Monday to Friday 10am-4:30pm) Number of students Grade of students Name of supervising teacher, email address and phone number Contact details for the school or organisation

Preparation

Brief students about the aims of the excursion and what they can expect to see at the museum. You may also wish to undertake some pre and post-visit activities.

Talk to your students about appropriate behaviour in a museum, including voice volume, touching exhibits and respecting other visitors.

Students will need to bring their own clipboards, pens and pencils.

At the Museum

There is wheelchair access available via the Main entrance to the museum.

School bags should be left on the bus, however, if necessary they may be left in the foyer area of the museum.

Ideally the class should be divided into small groups, with a supervising adult, and each allocated a different starting point in the Museum.

No food or drink is allowed in the galleries.

Cost

Student entry is $2.50. Teachers and accompanying adults on school excursions are free of charge.

Acknowledgements

The production of this education kit has been assisted through Arts Tasmania’s Roving Curator Program.

These materials were developed by Arts Tasmania and the Burnie Regional Museum for use in schools and at the Burnie Regional Museum. They may be reproduced for teaching purposes only. Permission to reproduce images or text for other purposes must be obtained from the Burnie Regional Museum.