The inclusion of the topic ‘Ancient Australia’ in the new Australian Curriculum is causing teachers to rethink the way they teach history in schools. Year 7 students are now required to understand that Australian ‘history’ began with the arrival of the First Australians around 50,000 years ago, not with the arrival of the British First Fleet in 1788. Consequently, a number of epistemological, historiographical, and ethical challenges have emerged. In this paper I discuss the implications of this reconceptualization of Australian history in the curriculum and explore ways in which archaeology can address the ‘difficult’ history of the First Australians.

Item Type:	Refereed Article
Keywords:	Australian Curriculum, history, archaeology, Aboriginal, difficult history
Research Division:	Education
Research Group:	Curriculum and pedagogy
Research Field:	Humanities and social sciences curriculum and pedagogy (excl. economics, business and management)
Objective Division:	Education and Training
Objective Group:	Teaching and curriculum
Objective Field:	Teaching and curriculum not elsewhere classified
UTAS Author:	Zarmati, L (Dr Louise Zarmati)
ID Code:	104893
Year Published:	2015
Web of Science® Times Cited:	2
Deposited By:	Education
Deposited On:	2015-11-24
Last Modified:	2016-08-22
Downloads:	0