Investigating Heritage

How and why did Australian society and culture change in the 1920s and 1930s? What were the differing experiences of various groups in Australia during the Great Depression?

Richmond Main Colliery and Glennifer Brae are linked to investigations focusing on social change in Australia during the 1920s and 1930s.

• Examine the images and text information relating to Richmond Main Colliery and Glennifer Brae. What can these buildings and artefacts tell us about the past? Look for evidence of mining, labour and industry.
• Now look at the other materials relating to these places. How have the people associated with Richmond Main Colliery and Glennifer Brae/AIS contributed to change in the Kurri Kurri and Wollongong communities? What responses to change come through in these materials?
• Look at the way place, landscape and activism are represented in the materials. What do these materials tell us about workers’ experiences in the period between World War I and World War II?
  Values and Attitudes — [Develops concern for the welfare, rights and dignity of all people]
  
• Read Turner’s extract and prepare a chronology of union activity between the wars. Each class member could contribute an accompanying visual that gives a sense of the issues confronting workers and employers during this period. In what ways were the conditions workers fought for in the 1930s related to political, economic and environmental concerns at the time?
  History M5.12 and History M5.19

Investigating Heritage and Citizenship

• Focus on an industrial site in your locality. Look at the way the buildings and structures connected to the industry are placed in the wider natural and built environment of your community.
• Access local records, local histories and archival collections for information on the history of the industry on this site.
• Look at the changes to landscape over time and some of the historical issues associated with the site.
• Prepare parallel chronologies — a chronology of landscape change and another of industry development.
• Use the chronologies as the basis for creating a visual chronology of the industrial site.
• Reflect on present and future issues facing the industry. What factors might lead to its growth or decline? If industry operations were to decline, what might be preserved on the site and what might be lost? Does your community value the industry enough to ensure certain aspects would be preserved?

On-going action

Develop a leisure concept for the site. This could involve gardens, a recreational space, a mural or an exercise area. You will need to survey people associated with the site to gather their ideas and hear their responses to your ideas.

Investigate local authorities or organisations that you could approach to subsidise and support your plan.

Present your leisure concept to representatives of the industry. You could invite representatives and supportive community members to the school to discuss the plan and the possibilities it offers for community participation.