Teacher brainstorm on the development of classroom activities

Investigating Heritage

What was life like at the beginning of the 20^th century? Was Australia a ‘working man’s paradise’?

Eveleigh Railway Workshops and Lithgow Blast Furnace are linked to investigations focusing on living and working conditions at the beginning of the 20^th century.

• Examine the images and text information relating to Lithgow Blast Furnace and Eveleigh Railway Workshops. What can the buildings and artefacts tell us about the past? Look for evidence of transport, labour, industry and technology.
• Examine the interpretative materials developed for the Industrial Park at Lithgow and video footage of Bays 1 and 2 at Eveleigh Railway Workshops for evidence of living and working conditions one hundred years ago. What attitudes and values come through in these materials?
  History M5.7
• Examine the other materials provided. What can these tell us about the experience of technological innovation in Australian communities?
  History M5.16
• Visit the Lithgow Tourism and Australian Technology Park web-sites (links) and look at the ways technological change and innovation are presented.
• Visit some other web-sites connected to industry and examine other chronologies that highlight changing technologies.
• Reflect on the elements of the industrial past that are preserved. How do we identify what is worth preserving?

Investigating Heritage and Citizenship

• Focus on the past in your school’s street and/or community.
• Decide on the area you will investigate and draw a map of the site on graph paper.
• Begin by walking around the area and observing the houses, shops, buildings, streets and open spaces. What do your observations convey about values in your community, including attitudes to the past?
• Identify those features of the area that might indicate something about changes in life and work in your locality.
• Now identify some people who have lived in your street/community for a long period and invite them to share their stories about life and work in your locality. What were their experiences of living and working in the area? What forms did early employment take? Were these temporary or permanent? If temporary, why did employment conditions change and how did changes affect the area?
• Use a variety of sources — including local studies collections and local government records — to investigate the key technological developments affecting your community.
• Identify the impacts of technological change on the community. Can you reach any conclusions about the effects of changing technologies on life and work? In what ways has technological change impacted on open spaces and ecological features? What can the buildings and structures in your community tell you about technological developments over time?
• Check your conclusions against information — for example, local histories — in the local studies section of your community library.
• Reflect on why some aspects of the technological and industrial past are preserved and why some are lost.

Extension

Create a community display that shows changes in life and work in your street/community over time.
Values and Attitudes — develops appreciation of environments and a sense of responsibilty for their future

Write a proposal — to go to school administration — for maintaining certain elements of the school environment that you consider important to the story of your locality. Your proposal might include features such as pathways, gardens, monuments, trees and entrances to the school.