Gambay - Languages map

Teachers' Notes


Year 7

The importance of conserving the remains of the ancient past, including the heritage of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples. (ACDSEH148)

  • Explore repatriation movements (i.e. the removal of ancient Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander remains and sacred objects over the past 150 years) across Australia from a range of language groups and varying perspectives.
  • Consider the preservation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages and the significance of maintaining and reviving languages for all Australians.

Identify the origin and purpose of primary and secondary sources (ACHHS209)

  • Discuss the difficulties in identifying the origin and purpose of some sources of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages, histories, stories and knowledges. Consider how Indigenous languages across Australia have been recorded and by whom and consider some of the challenges.

Year 8


  • Compare this study with what was happening in Australia at that time and consider the hundreds of nations and Australian language groups and their distinct cultures and how they compared to other societies across the world at that time.
  • Consider the way of life in Australia (social, linguistic, cultural, economic and political features) and the roles and relationships of and between different nations and groups in Aboriginal societies and Torres Strait Islander societies at that time.
  • Explore the systematic way of life that enabled sustainability over many tens of thousands of years dependant on the interrelationships between land, languages and cultures.
  • Investigate the contact and trade with other groups across Australia during that period e.g. Macassans with East Arnhem land from 1720 and the shared language that still exist today as a result of these relationships e.g. Balanda for white person.

Year 10

Background to the struggle of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples for rights and freedoms before 1965, including the 1938 Day of Mourning and the Stolen Generations (ACDSEH104)

  • Research the practices and policies that impacted on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians e.g. Aboriginal Protection and Restriction of the Sale of Opium Act in 1897 in Queensland and the impact it had on all aspects of life including the loss of language.


  • Consider the living and working conditions of Indigenous Australians including their language situation at that time.

Identify the origin, purpose and context of primary and secondary sources (ACHHS187)

  • Explore the context of a source such as the Bringing Them Home Report (1997) and the significance of that context in understanding responses to the report (from varying perspectives noticing language differences).