Teacher notes

Centenary of Federation Play Kit

Teachers’ Manual

HistorySmiths Pty Ltd

A Centenary of Federation History and Education Project

1999

Introduction

A crisis of intergalactic proportions is about to threaten Australia, Planet Earth.

The year is 2038. Over the last ten years, the population of the Universe has grown so huge that the space-time continuum is now desperately overcrowded. To try to find a solution, representatives from all known, inhabited planets of the Universe have attended a meeting on the centrally located Lymmorxia Six. The Intergalactic Council Controlling Universal Population (or ICCUP for short) has devised a plan. ICCUP’s plan is to RECYCLE some countries from every planet in the Universe. Countries are chosen at random and have the right to appeal against being recycled. If a country can prove it has anything to be really proud of, it is allowed to stay in the space-time continuum.

Students take up the compelling challenge of saving Australia from oblivion in this science-fiction play. Smithy (Sir Charles Kingsford Smith) has been propelled through time to the Intergalactic Court of Appeal in the year 2038 to undertake an appeal on behalf of Australia. With the aid of a time-travel-package-tour Smithy can collect significant Australians (the Witnesses) to give evidence supporting Australia’s appeal. The Witnesses are chosen for their achievements, and each represents one of six themes:

	Advance Australia
	Australians all
	Girt by sea
	Golden soil, wealth for toil
	Nature’s gifts
	Young and free

Back at the Intergalactic Court of Appeal, the Witnesses give their evidence. They relate events selected from their respective themes. The events are episodes of Australian history from the century since Federation that aim to demonstrate that Australia has sufficient cause for pride to warrant its place in the space-time continuum.

What is the Centenary of Federation Play Kit?

The Centenary of Federation Play Kit is an online teaching resource available free to schools throughout Australia at www.historysmiths.com.au/CentFedPlayKit .

The kit includes:

Play script: An ICCUP in AustrAlien History.
Starter script: provides scenes students can build on to create their own adaptation of the play, using Role Cards and Event Cards.
Role Cards: give brief biographical details of over 200 significant Australians from all states and territories, including reasons why they represent their themes.
Event Cards: relate stories of Australian history from the 100 years since Federation that are of national significance.
Teachers’ Manual: explains how to use the play kit, and contains SOSE, Drama and English curriculum outcomes, glossary and sources.
Staging the Play: Ideas for Costume and Set Design.

The kit has been designed to meet the outcomes of the Centenary of Federation History and Education Committee:

to educate Middle to Upper Primary school students about Australia’s achievements since Federation
to provide a comprehensive and flexible play kit that gives teachers an enjoyable way to achieve this educational aim
to have performances around the country in 2000 and 2001
to ensure easy access to the play kit via World Wide Web distribution so as to reach a wide range of students, including those in remote rural areas

The Centenary of Federation Play Kit:

marks Australia’s achievements since Federation, by choosing characters who represent or describe key events in Australian history that have taken place since Federation, from a range of eras, places (country and city; states and territories), and types of events (sport, migration, politics, science, arts, war).

marks the emergence of an Australian nation, by weaving the selection of key events into a narrative that traces aspects of the Australian story from 1901-2001, and focusing on the themes that are used to delineate and describe Australia’s character and identity (sport, migration, politics, science, arts, war).

culminates in 2001, by being completed and distributed on the www in time for use in schools throughout 2000 (Olympic year) and 2001 (Centenary of Federation year).

reaches a wide range of Australians, especially students, by free distribution on the www. On-line distribution is financially effective, and has the potential to reach all Australian Middle and Upper Primary students regardless of their location and the size of the school. Students need only the role cards and imagination to participate. Costumes and staging may range from the very simple to the more elaborate, and the in-built flexibility should prove attractive to teachers.

demonstrates enduring value, by allowing students to discover through interaction and role play some of the effects of Federation, and some of the key historical events since 2001, focusing on people at the centre of the events, and bringing history alive. This knowledge will endure beyond 2001; indeed, the play can evolve and continue to be performed well beyond 2001.

offers activities that will benefit regional and/or remote areas, by free on-line distribution, which has the potential to reach all Australian Middle and Upper Primary students regardless of their location.

How to use the play kit

Getting Started

Go to www.historysmiths.com.au/CentFedPlayKit .

Option One: Perform the play

Option Two: Fill in the blanks

Option Three: Start from scratch

Option One: Perform the play

Go straight to the Play script, An ICCUP in AustrAlien History, download it, and start rehearsals! Students begin finding or making costumes, props and scenery for their performance. See Staging the Play: Ideas for Costume and Set Design for ideas about performing the play.

Option Two: Fill in the blanks

Go to the Starter script and download it. Note the missing characters and the gaps in action that students will have to fill using the Role Cards and Event Cards provided. See Staging the Play: Ideas for Costume and Set Design for ideas about performing the play.

Students go to the map of Australia:

choose a state or territory
choose a theme
browse through the names of significant Australians and
choose one from each theme to fill the roles of the six key Witnesses.

Students go to the Events Chart:

choose a theme
browse through the Events Cards and
select six events, one from each theme, for the Witnesses to submit as evidence to the Intergalactic Court of Appeal.

Students write scenes and dialogue to slot into the starter-script. Students also give some thought as to how they could stage the scenes they write. Students begin finding or making costumes, props and scenery for their performance.

Option Three: Start from scratch

Using the Role Cards and/or Event Cards as starting points, assign students to do their own research into significant people and events in Australia over the 100 years since Federation. Then students can create an entirely original play.

Rehearsal tips

Rehearsing a play in the classroom works best if ALL students can remain gainfully occupied at all times! The class can split into groups to rehearse separate scenes, which works particularly well if a student director can be appointed in each group. When one character is required for two or more scenes being rehearsed concurrently, temporary understudies can play the role and the student playing the character can swap between groups.

Other activities for students who are not required in rehearsal of a particular scene include:

studying and being tested on lines in pairs and

planning and making props and items of costume or scenery.

Running time

It takes about one hour to perform the entire play (Option One). If desired the play can be performed in two acts of approximately 35 and 25 minutes separated by an interval.

Performance alternatives

If you want a shorter play it is possible to cut certain scenes from An ICCUP in AustrAlien History, as the Chorus narration will fill in the gaps in the story. The Chorus verses and the following scenes are essential: Prologue, Scene 1, Scene 2 and Scene 6. It is worth noting, however, that Scenes 3, 4 and 5 have proven popular with students and audience.

Links with National Curriculum Outcomes

In November 1999 the Federal Minister for Education Employment Training and Youth Affairs announced that more history would be taught in Australian schools. The Centenary of Federation Play Kit provides teaching resources that focus on aspects of Australian history. The play kit can also be used in countless ways to further educational aims in many subject areas outside SOSE. Teachers involved in the trial of the play at Mackellar Primary School, Delahey, Victoria, saw the potential for this play kit to form the basis of an ‘integrated curriculum’ unit of work or to be a vehicle for a co-production with a secondary school that students can work on as they prepare for the transition from Grade 6 to Year 7. Teachers can select material to meet the specific learning outcomes that best suit their purposes.

Studies of society and environment learning outcomes
ACT	Band: Upper Primary Strands: Investigation, communication and participation; Time, continuity and change; Place and space; Culture; Resources;
NSW	Change and Continuity
NT	Investigating, Communicating and Participating (SEIC04); Time, Continuity and Change (SETC04); Culture (SECU04).
QLD	Links with the core learning outcomes of the upper primary band of schooling which involve investigations of … federation.
SA	These materials may be used to fulfil learning outcomes integrated with other learning areas such as English and Languages. Strands specific to Society and Environment: Time, Continuity and Change; Place, Space and Environment; Social Systems.
TAS	‘These materials support teaching and learning programs in the Studies of Society and Environment (SOSE) learning area for Band B and Band C. They may enable students to achieve outcomes as described in the Time, Continuity and Change, and Investigation, Communication and Participation strands of the SOSE profile.’ Lesley French, Principal Curriculum Officer, Studies of Society and Environment
VIC	[CSF II available in draft only at time of printing.]
WA	Links with the S&E learning outcome Time, continuity and change contains activities that emphasise the process of investigation, including evaluation and application of findings encourages an investigative and participative approach has a strong Australian focus

Vocabulary

Quite apart from the made-up ‘intergalactic’ nouns included in the script, the play kit challenges students to extend their vocabulary! Students involved in the trial of the play at Mackellar Primary School, Delahey, Victoria were introduced to the play in a ‘Readers’ Theatre’, which allowed them to learn unfamiliar words as well as to start working on interpretation and characterisation. As an exercise to extend vocabulary students can:

list words they do not understand and/or cannot pronounce
find and write out meanings and
find and ‘spell out’ pronunciations.

Glossary

adjournment put off meeting until another time
anomaly irregularity or abnormality
antibiotics medicines that kill harmful bacteria
appeal ask a court to change a decision
avowed admitted, agreed
captor person who has taken someone else prisoner
case for the defence the arguments supporting a position
civil war war between people within one country or state
civilian a person not in the army, navy or airforce
colleague someone else doing the same kind of work
colony settlers in a new country still partly ruled by their home country
composure calm behaviour
cost-effective good use of money; relatively cheap
crevasse deep open split or chasm in glacier
cryogenic stasis chamber cubicle to hold bodies frozen (but alive)
customs officers people who collect taxes on imported products
debris pieces of wreckage strewn over a large area
dialogue conversation between two or more people
dimension point in time or space
distort pull or twist out of shape
evidence information used to prove an argument
exterminate completely destroy
federated united under a central government
Federation When Australian colonies united in 1901
foster care for a child as if it is your own
fourth dimensional to do with time
frequent happens often
gummy shark small shark eaten as ‘flake’
hiatus gap or break
horizon line at which sea and sky, or earth and sky, appear to meet in the distance
humanity caring, generous, cultured manner (also, human beings in general)
indefinitely for an unlimited time
infection disease caused by bacteria or virus
intergalactic between galaxies
inter-stellar between stars
judicial something to do with a judge
laudable something that deserves praise
lunacy madness; insanity
manufacturer someone who makes something (eg: a business that produces goods in a factory)
mould a tiny fungus that often forms on food
narrate tell a story
persuasive able to convince someone about something
portable able to be carried
protocol rules of behaviour
protoplasm the slime that is the basis of plant and animal life
re-configure change
representative someone who speaks on behalf of others
reprieved saved
resigned expression the look on a person’s face when they are accepting something a bit unpleasant or annoying
resources supplies of something
safeguard protect against danger or problems
space-time continuum everything in space and time (‘Time and three-dimensional space regarded as fused in a four-dimensional continuum containing all events’ (OED))
testify give evidence before a court
volunteer someone who does something without being paid for it
wind gauge an instrument that measures the speed of wind
witness someone who gives evidence before a court

Sources/Works consulted

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The Australian Encyclopedia. Terry Hills, NSW: Australian Geographic Pty Ltd, 1988 (5^th edition).

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Bergman, G. F. J. Gustav Weindorfer of Cradle Mountain. Hobart, Tas: Mercury Press, 1959.

Blainey, Geoffrey. Mines in the Spinifex. rp. 1987, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, 1960.

----------. The Rush That Never Ended: A History of Australian Mining. rp. 1978; Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1963.

Bolton, Geoffrey. The Oxford History of Australia: The Middle Way 1942-1995. Vol. 5. Melbourne: OUP, 1996.

Bond, David. The Guinness Guide to 20^th Century Fashion. rp. 1988, Enfield, Middlesex: Guinness Publishing Ltd, 1981.

Book of Australian Facts. Sydney: Readers’ Digest, 1992.

Butler, Mark. Leaving the World a Better Place. Carlton: CIS. Cardigan St. Publishers, 1995.

Cidor, Anna. Australia in the Twentieth Century. Vols 1-10. South Yarra: Macmillan Education Australia Pty Ltd, 1998.

Cottee, Kay. First lady: a history-making solo voyage around the world. South Melbourne: Macmillan Australia, 1989.

Cuffley, Peter. Chandeliers & Billy Tea: A Catalogue of Australian Life 1880-1940. rp. 1995, Noble Park, Vic: The Five Mile Press, 1984.

Davison, Graeme, John Hirst and Stuart Macintyre, eds. The Oxford Companion to Australian History. Melbourne: OUP, 1998.

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Who’s Who in Australia 1999. Melbourne Information Group, 1998.

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Who’s Who of Australian Women 1982. North Ryde, Sydney: Methuen Australia, 1982.

1901-2001 Centenary of Federation