Australian Curriculum | Junior School

When I think of HISTORY and April the first thing that enters my mind is ANZAC Day.

The Share a Story focus for April is “History is a Story”. The question is posed “What’s your family’s story?” We are challenged to read diaries and letters and books from the past, ‘to hear the whispers from history’.

At the JS Library we are going to explore the HISTORY section of the JS Library with a particular focus on the ANZACs.

DEWEY – HISTORY 900’S

See below for some ideas for exploring Australian History through quality literature (with reading lists and suggestions).

Australian history books

Aussie Book Lists: Australian History for Young Readers

One of the suggested books from the lists are from my early days of teaching- Five Times Dizzy. Another more recent recommendation is The Dog on the Tuckerbox (see more resources here) and more recent award winning Mirror by Jeannie Baker.

Such books have deepened my appreciation of Australian culture and allowed me to explore the diversity in our stories. Our rich culture of storytelling is also fortunately deepened by the sharing of Indigenous perspectives through the traditional story structure of The Dreaming to more recent publications of Indigenous picture books that provide an opportunity to view life through the eyes of an Indigenous person.

Additionally the stories of Australia have become more accessible through picture books such as Banjo Paterson’s verse, Waltzing Matilda.

See some resources below from Random House