Diary Chapters
Our Place
Wise Words
I love a sunburnt country, a land of sweeping plains, of ragged mountain ranges, of droughts and flooding rains. Dorothea McKellar
Australia is the oldest land mass in the world. Over the years,
our country has seen many different types of plants, animals and
people.
Australia has an amazing mix of
landforms: rainforests, deserts, mountains, coral reefs, beaches
and bushland - making it possible for more than 600,000 animal
species and 18,500 plant species to survive.
Our Big Backyard is also home to more
than 22 million people from over 200 different countries. Of the
people, Indigenous Australians have been here the longest. For more
than 40,000 years, Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders have
practiced Kanyini by caring for our land and passing on their
wisdom to each generation.
Watch this
video to learn about Kanyni in the Northern Territory!
Map it! Which states are rich in coal, gas,
iron and uranium? Locate these areas on a map of Australia. Check
out this online map of world heritage
sites and locate National Treasures. Find out why are these places
listed as World Heritage sites and see if there has been any recent
news about any of them: Blue Mountains, Ningaloo Reef, Pumululu
National Park, Tasmanian wilderness, Great Barrier Reef?
500 -180 million years ago Australia, Antarctica, South America,
Africa, the Arabian Peninsula and India were all joined together as
one supercontinent called GONDWANA.
Landmarks are part of nature. Attractions are often man-made.
Make a list of each.
Portside Christian College, SA
Looking after the planet is something that students at
Portside Christian College take very seriously. Everything from
revegation projects, recycling batteries and ring pulls,
collecting postage stamps to sell for aid projects, collecting old
glasses and hosting conferences for students. There are big plans
for vertical gardens, food acquaponics and hosting sessions to help
families live green.
- Find out about your local traditional owners. Read some
dreamtime stories and have a go at writing your own. Have a look at
this amazing languages map.
- Design a wildlife-attracting garden for your school or home
featuring native plants with this amazing landscaping tool, Flora for Fauna, based on our
amazing Wildscape technology.
SPECIAL PLACES
Tourism is an important industry in Australia. Each year we
welcome millions of visitors to see our precious places, such as
Kakadu, Fraser Island and the Blue Mountains. All of these and more
are on the World Heritage List. This means they are important
ecosystems and worth conserving for everyone to enjoy forever.
You could be living right beside a
national treasure and not even know it!
Maybe you've got some native,
endangered neighbours such as the
Northern Hairy-Nosed Wombat, the
Woylie, the Tasmanian Devil, the Grey Nurse Shark, the Corroboree
Frog or the Southern Cassowary. Your local council or environment
group will have lots of information about the ecosystems around you
just like the Redland Indigiscapes Centre
does!
You can also find out more about
endangered animals in your local area here!
DREAM TIME STORY!
Indigenous Australians told the story
of their country, the animals and their
spirits through the stories about how
life was created the way it is. Watch this
video about the Wattji
Pulyeri (the Blue Wren) !
Stuff to Check Out
Science is an incredible subject - so many questions to explore
and experiments to try. Young inventors are coming up with
amazing solutions to some of the big and little problems we face.
Check out this video to
learn more - maybe be inspired yourself!
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DEEPER UNDERGROUND
As well as being lucky enough to have some of the most
incredible places, people, plants and animals on the planet,
Australia is also rich with natural resources such as coal, uranium
and iron ore. As we know, there are always two sides to the story
and there are some positive benefits to mining our natural
resources but we also need to consider the impact on our
environment and the health of our people.
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