Teacher brainstorm on the development of classroom activities

Investigating Heritage

What were some of the experiences of Australians as a result of their involvement in the war? How did Australia’s relationship with England and the USA change during World War II? How and why did the Federal Government introduce conscription and censorship on the Australian homefront?

The Grace Building and Cowra Prisoner of War Camp Site are linked to investigations focusing on: the defence of Australia; relations between Australia and the USA and England; and aspects of the Australian homefront during war-time.

• Examine the images and text information relating to the Grace Building and Cowra POW Camp Site. What can these buildings, structures and landforms tell us about the past? Look for evidence of government and administration, defence, commerce and ethnic influences.
• Investigate the impact of World War II on the Cowra region through visual histories of the POW Camp Site. You will find images of the Camp at the Australian War Memorial site. What is recounted and represented in the images? What perspectives on war come through at these sites?
• Now look at the other materials associated with the Grace Building and Cowra POW Camp Site. What can these tell us about the experience of war in Australian communities?
• Visit the Australian War Memorial site to look for visual evidence of the United States Armed Forces on Australian soil. What do the records tell us about government and community attitudes to alliance activities in Australia?
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• Reflect on the elements of the past preserved in these places. How do we identify what is worth preserving?

Investigating Heritage and Citizenship

• Identify the memorials to war in your local area. Also examine the ways that war is commemorated in your locality. Which of the wars involving Australians are particularly significant to members of your community?
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• Talk to family members about any records or memorabilia they have kept that relate to war-time.
• Use the information you have collected to develop themes for a class discussion about the recording and remembering of war.
• Conduct an internet search of Australian sites showing images of war.
• Consider the purpose and scope of the images presented. What can you say about the depiction of war at these sites? Who is represented in the images of war-time encounters? Who is missing?
• Reflect on what the images tell us about preserving memories of war in Australia.
• Now examine overseas web-sites that focus on war — Australian War Memorial links provide a starting point for this search.
• Look at the meanings conveyed by the image collections and compare these with the perspectives evident in the Australian sites. What can you conclude about the public recounting of war?
• Discuss your responses to the album and compare these with your responses to images viewed on the internet. What can family memorabilia — such as photo albums — tell us about the war experience in Australian families and communities?
• Refer to the family records and memorabilia used in the class discussion. What is represented and what is missing? Reflect on why some of the past is preserved and some is lost.

Extension

Create a class collage of war-time images.

Use the collage as the basis for a performance presentation.

Approach this task from the perspective of one of many participants with differing appreciations of the climate surrounding war. Your performance could take the form of a radio segment, a sound and movement piece, a poetry reading, the testimony of a witness/survivor.

Values and Attitudes — [Develop skills to participate in society in an informed way as individuals or as members of groups]