Investigating Heritage

What was assimilation and how was it applied to both migrants and Aboriginal people? How did the policy of assimilation change to integration in relation to migrants and Aboriginal people? How did the Australian government respond to the threat of communism in Australia?

Sydney Town Hall and Sydney Trades Hall are linked to investigations focusing on citizenship issues for migrant and Aboriginal Australians, communism and changing roles of women in Australia.

• Examine the images and text information relating to Sydney Town Hall and Trades Hall. What can these buildings and artefacts tell us about the past? Look for evidence of labour, government and administration, social institutions and events.
• Now look at the other materials relating to these places. What attitudes and values come through in these materials?
• Examine the information provided on access to Sydney Town Hall in the post-war period. What does the information convey? Which groups are included in the information, and which are not represented?
• Choose one of the groups denied access to Sydney Town Hall and investigate restrictions on the rights and freedoms of this group in other areas.
  History M5.18
• Consider the influences on society that allowed for exclusion of certain groups in the post-war period.
• What can Sydney Town Hall and Trades Hall tell us about the democratic experience in Australian communities?
  History M5.11

Investigating Heritage and Citizenship

• Identify community groups and organisations in your locality that encourage public participation. Notices and advertisements in your local newspaper and on community noticeboards could assist you in compiling a list.
• Talk to people at your community centre about individuals and groups active in community life.
• Contact these individuals and/or groups and create an inventory of issues they are concerned with, their objectives, who participates in activities, where they meet, their links and affiliations to other groups.
• Focus on a contemporary issue – social or political – in your community and examine it for past origins.
• Talk to others in your community about the historical background to the issue.
• Access newspaper coverage of the issue in the local studies section of your community library.
• Invite local government representatives and local parliamentarians to visit the school and speak about the issue.
• Chart the varying perspectives and strategies that public participants have contributed to debate and discussion over the issue. What can you say about the way community members have viewed the issue over time? What factors have caused discussions to change direction?
  Values and Attitudes — develops understanding of strategies for redressing disadvantage and changing discriminatory practices
  
• Examine local meeting places that support or are linked to the issue. What can these tell you about participation and activism in your community? How have these places contributed to debate and community input to the issue?
• Look at the role of your local town hall or union meeting place in local forums and actions. What is the link between these places and the level of active citizen involvement in your community?
• Speak to a local historian or community leader and gain their views on the significance of meeting places where community members are able to express personal or collective views. What are the aspects of these places that are worth preserving? How do we decide what to keep in these places?