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Walking in the footsteps of the dragonBookmark

Learning area: English, History
Year level: Year 5, Year 6
Country: Australia, China
General capability: Intercultural understanding

This module assists teachers of students in years 5 and 6 to implement the Australian Curriculum cross-curriculum priority Asia and Australia's engagement with Asia through a combined English and History unit of work about the history of the Chinese in Australia.


Chinese New Year dragon danceChinese New Year dragon dance


Image: Loong 1970. Dennis O'Hoy collection

Activity 1: Immigration

Key inquiry questions

  • Who were the people who came to Australia?
  • Why did they come?

Guide students in an investigation of immigration through engaging with the graphic novel The arrival and the oral histories of their families and other Australians. They will compare information about themselves and their families with data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics and learn about the countries and continents of the world. Lead them in developing empathy for immigrants to Australia.

Task 1: Images of arrival

Cover for the book The Arrival by Shaun TanThe Arrival by Shaun Tan

Share with the class the wordless, graphic novel The Arrival by Shaun Tan. If possible use a projection device such as a point to view camera or Hovercam so that students can easily view the detail of each illustration. Take the time to view all pages.

Select five or six sets of images from the book (for example the 4th double page spread in Part 1, the 11th and 13th in Part 2, the 8th in Part 3 and the 1st and 2nd in Part 6).

Inner circle – Outer circle

Seat students in two concentric circles with students in the inner circle facing students in the outer circle in pairs. Students will discuss one image, then the inner circle will move one place and students will discuss the next image with a new partner.

Display selected double page spreads one at a time and, using the Inner circle – Outer circle strategy, allow students three minutes to discuss each selection prompted by these questions:

  • What can you see in the image?
  • How does this image make you feel?
  • Does this image remind you of anything?
  • What is the main idea or message in this image?

Form one circle and, in a community of inquiry, discuss the issues and ideas that have arisen from the Inner circle – Outer circle discussions. Encourage students to make connections: between the book and their own lives (text to self); to other texts including books and movies they have read or viewed (text to text); and to current affairs, for example refugees and asylum seekers (text to world). What is the book about? 

Task 2: Mapping your ancestry

Ask students to collect information about their families' ancestry, in particular the place of birth of the first people from their families to come to Australia. In preparation for framing a historical inquiry in Topic 2, jointly construct a list of questions that will elicit the information the students will use in their inquiry.

Locate Australia on a world map and have students place pins or markers to indicate the country of their birth and, if the information is available, where their parents, grandparents and other ancestors who first migrated to Australia were born.

Link the countries of origin to Australia using string or wool. If immigration dates and reasons for coming are available attach them to the strings. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island students will place their pins with a small Aboriginal or Torres Strait Island flag attached on their country if known. 

Provide students with individual world maps on which they locate and name the continents. Provide time for students to work in pairs or small groups to identify, label and list countries in each continent, starting with those from which their families originate. Discuss the lists and the difference between countries and continents. Point out that Australia is both a country and a continent.

Task 3: Retrieval chart

Use continents as the organisers on a retrieval chart to record the countries from which students, their families and other Australians came to Australia. (While Oceania is not a continent, it is listed with Antarctica for population by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.)

Retrieval chart – countries of origin (sample) 

Retrieval charts are graphic organisers used to help student's thinking. They can be used to compare and contrast information. The following retrieval chart is also available for download.

Continents Australia Europe Africa Asia North America South America Oceania & Antarctica
Country of birth – students 17 students
Sudan 1 Vietnam 1 China 1 India 1 Samoa 2 New Zealand 3
Ancestry – students' families(country of birth of first family members to come to Australia) Darug 1 Biripi 1 Wiradjuri 1 Scotland 5 Poland 1 England 9 Ireland 6 Italy 1
Sudan 1 Egypt 1 Vietnam 1 China 1 India 1 Philippines 1 Samoa 4 New Zealand 2 Tonga 5
Country of birth – 2011 census
Country of birth – 1901 census

Use quantifiers such as mostallfewmany and some to make statements about the contents of the chart. For example, 'Most students in our class were born in Australia. Few students have African or Aboriginal ancestry. No students have North or South American ancestry. More students are of European descent than any other'. (Note that numbers in the ancestral birth place row will be greater than the number of students in the class.)

For an analysis of changes over time, compare census data for 1901 and 2011 from the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Information for countries of birth in 1901 can be found in 'Birthplace' under A snapshot of Australia. For statistics involving countries of birth in 2011 go to 'People', then 'Country of Birth" on the 2016 Census QuickStats website. Students add this information to the retrieval chart and discuss. Use the retrieval chart as a discussion starter about the countries of Asia. List other countries that do not appear on the chart. Use a map to draw students' attention to the close proximity of Asia to Australia.

Task 4: Defining migration 

Students list and define terms such Students list and define terms such as migrant, migration, immigration, refugee, ancestor, ancestry, foreign, travel, newcomers, indigenous and multicultural that arise as a map, lists and retrieval charts are discussed. Add to the list throughout the unit of work.

List base words such as migrate and refuge and add prefixes and suffixes. Discuss the way these variations change the meaning of words and how an understanding of affixes can help when spelling unfamiliar words.

Base word
Meaning Variations
migrate to move from one country, place or locality to another migration emigrate – e = out of immigrate – im = into migrant migration immigration emigration

Task 5: First-hand accounts

Invite students, parents or community members to share their own stories or stories of their parents or grandparents of coming to Australia. Students prepare questions to send to speakers prior to the presentations. For example:

  • From where did you emigrate?
  • When did you come to Australia?
  • Why did you leave your country of birth?
  • Did you speak English when you first arrived?
  • Could you tell us about the journey?
  • What are your first memories of Australia?
  • What were the differences between Australia and your home country?
  • How did you feel when you first arrived?

What are the themes, words and ideas that run through these stories? List common elements from these immigration stories, for example loneliness, fear of the unfamiliar, frustration at not being able to explain or ask questions, or homesickness.

Return to The Arrival and discuss how Shaun Tan has explored these elements in the book.

Activity 2: Historical inquiry

Key inquiry questions

  • What were the significant events and who were the significant people that shaped Australian colonies?

Introduce the concept of a historical inquiry. Guide students in posing questions and discussing sources, and activate prior knowledge about China and the Chinese in Australia to set a context for the inquiry and an analysis of the Harvest of Endurance scroll. Introduce students to the author Christopher Cheng and start to read New gold mountain. Guide students as they start work on two formative assessment tasks.

Task 1: What is a historical inquiry?

Introduce students to the title of the module, Walking in the footsteps of the dragon, and explain that they will be conducting a historical inquiry about this focus area.

Share the glossary definition:

'Historical inquiry is the process of investigation undertaken in order to understand the past. Steps in the inquiry process include posing questions, locating and analysing sources and using evidence from sources to develop an informed explanation about the past.The Australian Curriculum: History

Outline the stages of the process they will use in the module. Refer to What do historians do? in the History Teachers Association's AC History units.

Task 2: Activating prior knowledge

By activating prior knowledge students are able to make connections between what they already know and new knowledge, understandings and skills.

Locate China on a world map.

Working in groups of three, students fold a sheet of chart paper into thirds. In the first third of the paper they collaborate to write everything they know or think they know about China.

After 10 minutes they move to the second third of the paper where they write everything they know or think they know about the history of Chinese people in Australia.

After another 10 minutes groups come together as a class to share their charts. As each group reports, students tick anything that they also have on their charts and put a question mark beside anything that is contrary to what they have written.

Reveal the key inquiry questions from the Australian Curriculum: History, listed above, and as a group reword them to narrow the focus to the Chinese in Australia.

Task 3: Posing questions

After all groups have had a chance to share, students return to their original groups and in the remaining third of the chart paper they write any questions they now have about the history of the Chinese in Australia.

Demonstrate the difference between thin and fat questions by providing examples. An example of a thin question is: how did the Chinese travel to Australia in the 19th century? An example of a fat question is: why were the Chinese on the goldfields discriminated against?

A thin question can be easily answered using factual information and usually has only one answer. A fat question involves judgement and opinion, may have more than one answer and may generate discussion and more questions.

Add these questions to the key inquiry questions.

Display the charts and combine them to form two lists, one for fat questions and one for thin questions. A small group of students could be allocated this task while other students hang the chart papers or clip them together to be referred to throughout the unit of work.

Review the questions weekly. Add answers to the thin questions and discuss the fat questions in a community of inquiry.

Task 4: Sources

Students will be required to identify and analyse sources to inform the historical inquiry. Introduce the terms source, primary source, secondary source and evidence and provide examples for students. Provide as much scaffolding as is needed for students to understand these historical concepts.

'In history a source is anything that can be used to investigate the past. It can be an object (artefact) that remains from the past, such as a tool, coin, letter, gravestone, photograph or building. Or it can be an account or interpretation of the past, such as an online biography, a book or film about an individual from the past.

Sources that come from the time being investigated are called primary sources. Sources produced after the time being investigated, such as a textbook, documentary or film, are called secondary sources. Both primary and secondary sources are vital to the study of history.' Key Concepts, Teaching History, AC History units History Teachers Association of Australia.

Locating and identifying sources

Brainstorm ideas for locating source material. The list may include websites, videos, books, encyclopaedias and asking people.

Use prompts to encourage students to be more specific:

  • What websites would be helpful?
  • What sorts of books would be helpful?
  • Which websites or sorts of books would you choose? Why?
  • How do you know what books or websites might be the most reliable?

Demonstrate this stage of the process using the question: why did Chinese people come to Australia in the 19th century?

On a Google search, millions of results are displayed for this question. Demonstrate how to narrow the search.

Read the list of results on the first two pages and point out the domain extensions .com, .net, .org and .gov.

  • .com – commercial enterprise
  • .net – network
  • .org – organisation
  • .gov – government
  • .edu – education

Note also that there are multiple Wikipedia results listed. Wikipedia is sometimes a good starting point in a search and often lists sources from which entries are derived. At this point talk about obtaining information from more than one source. Historians use multiple sources to aid their inquiry. Museums and libraries are usually reliable sources of information.

Open two or three results and demonstrate how, when assessing the potential usefulness of a website, we need to skim the main page for words and phrases relevant to the inquiry (that is why it is good practice to have developed a list of questions prior to searching), scan for information specific to the current search and read tabs and sidebars.

Use the Culture Victoria website to demonstrate how to navigate a website using links, tabs and sidebars. The web page opens with the main heading 'Chinese Australian families' and a sub-heading 'Dreams of jade and gold: Chinese families in Australia's history' with the tabs 'Stories' and 'Immigrants and emigrants' highlighted. Links to related stories may be found in the sidebar. Demonstrate the way the cursor changes to a hand when scrolling over images or words that are hyperlinked. Open links to demonstrate.

Task 5: The Harvest of Endurance scroll

A part of the Harvest of Endurance scroll depicting Chinese farmersImage from the Harvest of Endurance scroll, courtesy of the China-Australia Friendship Society 

'Harvest of Endurance is a 50-metre-long scroll that represents two centuries of Chinese contact with, and emigration to, Australia. Stories of hardship and survival, resourcefulness and reward are painted in the traditional gong bi style. Artist Mo Xiangyi, assisted by Wang Jingwen, painted the scroll. Mo Yimei carried out the historical research.

The project was sponsored by the Australia–China Friendship Society celebration of the Australian Bicentenary in 1988. The scroll took just over 12 months to complete and consists of 18 elaborately painted panels. The National Museum of Australia bought the scroll in 1992.' – National Museum of Australia

The Harvest of Endurance scroll in the National Museum of Australia is an example of a secondary historical source.

View the interactive or HTML version of the Harvest of Endurance scroll on the National Museum of Australia's website. The HTML version allows students to view an index of scenes and to open each one as a link.

Read the instructions for navigating the scroll and provide students with opportunities to browse the contents. They will refer to the scroll throughout the unit of work. Demonstrate how to copy and save a URL to a document and how to bookmark the website so that students can save time when they regularly access the site.

Using the Harvest of Endurance scroll: Formative assessment task

Explain the formative assessment task to students.

Return to the scroll weekly and match what is depicted with what has been read or discussed that week. Students record their observations on worksheets or in books and add comments. This may be an individual, group or whole class activity depending upon the students' abilities. It may start as a whole class activity then, with scaffolding, become a supported group, independent group and then individual activity.

In the last column students list questions arising from what has been learned. These questions will be listed under the key inquiry questions and will help to frame and amend the inquiry throughout the unit of work and allow students to pursue aspects of the inquiry that are of particular interest to them. Provide time for students to research their individual questions. Each week students report to the group or the whole class about what they have discovered. Encourage and model questions that are about big ideas and will be ideal as discussion starters in a philosophy for children activity within a community of inquiry.

What I read, viewed or discussed this week about the Chinese in Australia How this relates to what I saw in the scroll What is my response to this and do I have any questions?

Task 6: New Gold Mountain

Have students read New gold mountain by Christopher Cheng. This book is written in diary form and is a fictional story based on historical facts. It is set on the goldfields of Lambing Flat in NSW between 1860 and 1861 and is written by the fictional character, Shu Cheong.

On Christopher Cheng's website, students can read about him and also about how he uses photographs and artefacts, for example from Lambing Flat, to generate ideas for writing historical fiction.

Christopher Cheng has written teaching notes for New gold mountain. Read these notes and select questions about the book to discuss with your students.

Task 7: Diaries

Ask students if they have kept a diary themselves or read a book written in diary form and to share their experiences in small groups. In their groups students answer the following questions:

  • What are some reasons for writing a diary? (purpose)
  • For whom are diaries written? (audience)
  • How are diaries organised? There may be more than one way. (structure)
  • Whose voice is heard in a diary? Whose point of view is represented? (perspective)
  • What sorts of things do people write in diaries? (content)
  • What do people leave out of diaries? (content)
  • Is there anything special about the language used in diaries? (language) Think about the way an entry might start. List some entry beginnings.
  • Are diaries factual?

Groups share and discuss their responses with the whole class.

Task 8: Writing a diary – formative assessment task

Students will create a personal multimodal diary. While this diary may contain diarised accounts of personal events it should have as its main focus what the student is learning about the history of the Chinese in Australia as well as their responses to the texts being studied. The diary may contain photographs and captions, video clips created with iPads or iPods, written text, photographs of annotated work samples, diagrams, symbols, drawings and comic strips.

Students may use hyperlinks and QR codes to link to external sources. Students are not expected to contribute to their diary every day but should do so at least once a week as a minimum. Students will be asked to share their diaries weekly with the teacher and with the whole class at the Open Day at the conclusion of the module.

Activity 3: The Chinese in 19th century Australia

Key inquiry questions


The core literary texts used in this topic are New gold mountain and Seams of gold, both written by Christopher Cheng. The focus explored in this sequence is Australia's colonial past: the Chinese in Australia in the 19th century. Assist students to use and analyse primary and secondary sources to answer the key inquiry questions: What do we know about the lives of people in Australia's colonial past and how do we know? What were the significant events and who were the significant people that shaped Australian colonies? Guide students in making connections between local and global events by using a parallel timeline.

Task 1: The arrival of the Chinese in Australia

In the 19th century Australia experienced a huge increase in population. Most of this was the result of immigration. Workers were needed to support the growing colonies and, since the birth rate was low and the transportation of convicts had ceased, people were enticed to come to the colonies. In 1851 gold was discovered in Australia and goldminers came from across the world in their thousands to share in the wealth. Use the questions generated by the students in the previous topic to guide inquiry in this topic.

Students compare and analyse secondary source materials to address the following questions:

  • When did different groups of Chinese people come to Australia?
  • Why did they come?
  • What did they do in Australia?
  • From what parts of China did they come? Who were they?
  • Is information consistent across texts?
  • Why might differences between sources occur?
  • Are there differences in fact or opinion?
  • What are some solutions to the problem of having texts that don't agree? Discuss.
  • How reliable is each source? What makes you think so?

Students complete the following chart:


The Harvest of Endurance scroll
A brief overview of Chinese life and heritage places in Australia Chinatowns across Australia The Chinese in Australia Other source
Student questions from the previous topic (as many as required)

When did different groups of Chinese people come to Australia?

Who were they?

Why did they come?

What did they do in Australia?

From what parts of China did they come?

Parallel timeline

Historical events do not occur in isolation. They are influenced by local and global contexts. Students will make connections between the events on the timelines.

Introduce the concept of chronology.

Model researching timelines of China's history in the 19th century. Search for the Taiping Rebellion (civil war), the Opium Wars and the Boxer Rebellion. See also texts about the British in China.

Read pages 9–12 of the factual text China the story of a nation … and its relationship with Australia (Onslow 2012) or a similar text.

Students research timelines for events in Australia's history, for example: Federation; the 1890–1894 drought; widespread strikes; and the discovery of gold. Return to the Harvest of Endurance scroll.

Ask students to plot the key events in China and Australia on a parallel timeline. Students may use pictures and words when recording events. See pages 16–19 in Connecting with History: strategies for an inquiry classroom (Ditchburn & Hattensen 2012). 

Use sources from each state and territory (see the References section above).

China 1800 1810 1820 1830 1840 1850 1860 1870 1880 1890 1900 1910 1920
Australia 1800 1810 1820 1830 1840 1850 1860 1870 1880 1890 1900 1910 1920
Local or State/Colony 1800 1810 1820 1830 1840 1850 1860 1870 1880 1890 1900 1910 1920

Display the timeline and add to it throughout the unit of work, making new connections as more events are added.

With the students list the push and pull factors that influenced Chinese immigration to Australia in the 19th century. Push factors are things that are less favourable about where a person lives, and pull factors are things that appear favourable somewhere else, and thus attract people.

Push factors Pull factors

Ask students to address the following question:

What push and pull factors influenced the characters in New gold mountain?

Task 2: Chinese culture, beliefs and traditions

Ask students to locate source material about the language and culture of the Chinese in Australia in the 19th century. While most Chinese who came to Australia were from Guangdong Province and spoke Cantonese, that was not always the case.

Invite a guest speaker from the local Chinese community to talk about their traditions and beliefs or send interview questions by email.

Visit a local temple, joss house or museum.

While reading New gold mountain students record information about the language, culture, customs and beliefs of the characters in the novel. 'Respect' is often referred to in the text. Locate examples of this in the novel and categorise them. For example, some mentions may be about respect for tradition, others may be about respect for family or ancestors.

Compare the information in the novel with that located in source materials. Students work in groups to create a collage of symbols or images that they associate with China. This may require a little prompting such as a Google search of 'Images' when searching 'China'. Common images appear for the Great Wall of China, dragons, pagodas, bridges and lanterns.

Display the collages and discuss differences between group projects. Differences in students' backgrounds and cultural knowledge will determine what is represented.

Task 3: Sketch-to-stretch

Model the visualising strategy, sketch-to-stretch, by thinking aloud while reading from New gold mountain. For example:

Wednesday, September 5 (day four)

'As I read this I'm making a movie in my head. I can picture one of those really rainy days when it's grey and miserable and the rain doesn't let up. Then I see Shu Cheong in his blue pants and tunic that look like pyjamas and he's imagining that he's back in China. I think I can see a thought bubble and inside it there's a picture of a rainy day with Shu Cheong in it and he's laughing. Next I can see a tent. It's not like the brightly coloured synthetic ones we see today but just dirty off-white canvas with ropes holding it to the muddy ground. I can see Shu Cheong with his clothes plastered to his body in the wet. Next I see him falling forward and landing on his knees. I can see the water dripping off his clothes and his hair and he's covered in mud. The look on his face is sad. He looks as though he could cry. Then I see him trying to wash the mud off his clothes while he's still wearing them. I can see the dirty marks getting bigger and bigger as he scrubs.'

Sketch the pictures as you think aloud. Stick figures will do.

Students choose a descriptive passage in a diary entry from Monday, September 24; Tuesday, October 2; or Thursday, January 17 then meet with others who have selected the same entry. They read the passage silently and list any unfamiliar words or phrases, then share their lists and help each other to work out the meanings. Any words that cannot be worked out in this way may be looked up in a dictionary.

When students agree that they understand the passage ask them to locate parts of the text that might be hard to illustrate. Students share their ideas.

Model as many examples as are necessary for students to work independently. An example is in the entry dated Tuesday, October 2 when Shu Cheong is lying along the branch and is glad no one saw him swimming in air. He could be drawn with his head turned as though he were looking for someone and with a worried look on his face; a wrinkled brow. 

Read the first paragraph of Shu Cheong's diary entry for Thursday, November 22 and use the sketch-to-stretch visualising strategy to represent what is read. Encourage students to use their knowledge of the goldfields to fill in details in the sketch.

The Chinese invasion, northern QueenslandThe Chinese Invasion, Northern Queensland, Courtesy of the State Library of Victoria 

Students share their work with the class and comment on each others' sketches and how they have interpreted the passage in different ways. Students justify their comments by using examples from the text.

View the sketch below and have students compare it with their own sketches. Ask students if they think Christopher Cheng may have used this sketch to inspire his description of the Chinese walking into Lambing Flat.

This sketch from the Illustrated Australian News, 2 July 1877, reflects contemporary fears the Australian colonies would be 'over-run' by Asian immigration (Illustrated Australian News, National Library of Australia).

Task 4: Artefacts as primary sources

When analysing artefacts, use the Useful questions for 'interrogating' an object on page 2 of Exploring a 'time capsule' of evidence from the National Museum of Australia.

In the preface to New gold mountain Shu Cheong says, 'All I have is Baba's small bag with his ring and weighing scales, his China dirt, cap and coins, which the men gave me'.

Ask students to imagine that this small bag, with all its contents intact, was discovered in an old trunk in 2013. The trunk which is known to have belonged to Shu Cheong now belongs to one of his descendants. Shu Cheong's diary has not yet been found.

What are some of the inferences that could be made about Shu Cheong and his life using only the trunk, the bag and its contents and Shu Cheong's name as sources?

What other sources could the descendant use to support the inferences?

Ask if students have anything in their families that have been passed down through generations either with a story attached or as a mystery.

For example, I have a locket that was given to me after my father died. It contained a lock of hair which I foolishly threw away because my father had said it would bring bad luck. No one in the family knows very much about it. I've seen photographs of my grandfather, who was born in 1891, wearing the locket when he was a young man. An Australian sixpence is attached to one side of the locket but very slightly overlaps the edges, so my sisters and I think it covers a name and was added some time after the locket was originally made. The coin does not show the date but we know it must be dated 1910 because the monarch on it is Edward VII who died in 1910 and the first Australian silver coins were minted that year.

Task 5: Seams of gold

Students read the short novel Seams of gold by Christopher Cheng. Seams of gold was inspired by a small sewing box in the National Museum of Australia's collection.

Students write a short summary of the novel.

Go to the website of the National Museum of Australia: Making tracks which includes a synopsis of Seams of gold.

Students read this synopsis and, working in pairs, compare it with their partners' summaries. Students provide feedback to their partners on accuracy of information, inclusion of key facts and appropriate sequencing of events.

In small groups students read and discuss the questions on the website. These are all evaluative questions. Discuss the way context may influence responses. For example a Chinese 12-year-old in Australia in the 1850s might think very differently to a 12-year-old in Australia today.

As a class discuss the historical concept of perspective or point of view.

  • How does context influence our attitudes and opinions?
  • Can we change our opinions?
  • Can we change the opinions of others?
  • Can we empathise with others who do not share our perspective?

Task 6: Making inferences from artefacts

Grid of nine photos featuring household items of a family new to Australia; items such as clocks, hats, teacups and frying panIllustration from The Arrival by Shaun Tan. Courtesy of Hachette Australia 

Artefacts are found in museums, libraries and galleries. Can these artefacts stand alone as evidence?

In The arrival the following page displays items in the family home.

If we had only this page of the book what could we infer by examining the artefacts?

Students complete the following chart.

Question Inference Why do I think that?
How wealthy is the family that owned these items?

Did the family in the picture own the items?

Did all of the items come from the same house?

Are the items from the same era?

Where were these items found?

What happened to the family that owned the items?

Were the owners greedy?

Can we be certain that our inferences are correct? What other sources could help us build a body of evidence about the artefacts?

Task 7: Interrogating an object

Each student chooses an item from a selection brought to school by fellow students, from a local history museum or one found in an image search.

Ask students to use the Useful questions for 'interrogating' an object to analyse the item.

Using Seams of gold as a model, students write a brief narrative that explains this item in a believable historical context.

Task 8: The riot at Lambing Flat

An old banner encouraging people to protest during the Gold Rush against Chinese immigrantsThe roll-up banner used in the Lambing Flat riots, public domain 
Young, a town in NSW, was once known as Lambing Flat. Thousands of Chinese shared the goldfields there with European miners. Anti-Chinese sentiments were running high and resulted in riots against the Chinese in 1860 and 1861. Similar riots occurred across the country. Students may research local sites and compare causes and effects.

Local students could visit the Lambing Flat Museum in Young. The Roll Up Banner used in the riots is on display there.

When analysing documents and images, remind students to use the Useful questions for 'interrogating' a document.

Read Shu Cheong's account of the Lambing Flat riot in his entry dated Tuesday, July 2. This event was reported in newspapers across the country. Demonstrate to students how to search the Trove database for newspaper items about the riot. What search terms can you use, and how does this affect the search results? How many articles can you find? In what ways can you narrow your search? Try narrowing by decade, year, month, or by newspaper or category.

The Bendigo Advertiser, Wednesday 3 July 1861, has a short report of the incident with little detail. Can you locate this item? (Answer found here.)

The Maitland Mercury & Hunter River General Advertiser, Thursday 11 July 1861, printed an article based on an account by Mr Henley (see diary entry Saturday, March 16) and a letter to the editor on Saturday, 20 July 1861.

Ask students to read the newspaper items and summarise the point of view of the authors. They should refer to emotive and evaluative language contained in the texts when explaining their summaries. 

Compare the reports.

Some of the rioters were placed under arrest and a large mob rioted once more to secure the release of the prisoners. Have students read the report of this in Bell's Life in Sydney, 20 July 1861. The text is not easy to read and would best be done as a whole class activity. What is the point of view of this author? List words that show bias from the text. Compare the points of view of this and the previous authors. 

Students identify and analyse source materials that illustrate the attitudes of the miners towards the Chinese.

With the students, read about Anti-Chinese sentiment in the 1850s in the My place for teachers website.

What were the causes of the anti-Chinese riots? Discuss the events and the descriptions of the Chinese. It is clear that not all people in the colony agreed with the sentiments of the miners. In New gold mountain some of the characters were among them. Who were these people? Were they real people in history or fictional characters? How do you know?

Ask students to use historical documents and information from the novel to write two short newspaper reports about the Lambing Flat riots – one for an Australian newspaper of the time and one for a Chinese language newspaper (not in Chinese) and annotate differences in point of view and emotive and descriptive language.

Students may recreate the riot described by Shu Cheong in an iMovie, animation or picture book. Have the character 'Jeremy' as the narrator.

Task 9: Friends of the Chinese

Jeremy and Shu Cheong

Ask students to read the diary entries in New gold mountain from Sunday, January 17 when Jeremy and Shu Cheong first meet, to Thursday, April 18 when they last see each other.

Organise the students into small groups to decide upon characteristics and circumstances that are shared by the two boys; their similarities. They write these in the centre column of the worksheet.

In their groups, students discuss key characteristics and circumstances of the boys that they do not share and write these in the columns under each boys' name.

Shu Cheong
Shu Cheong and Jeremy
Jeremy Different
Characteristics lonely good at learning from watching friendly keen to learn the customs of the other boy's culture very white skin very round eyes
Circumstances no family living with him living away from home lives with family doesn't know about his ancestors

Students then discuss the boys' similarities and differences and use evidence from the text to support their opinions.

As a class discuss:

  • How does the author build the characters of Shu Cheong and Jeremy?
  • How do we know what Jeremy is thinking?
  • How do we know what Shu Cheong is thinking?

Discuss point of view and writing a diary in the first person.

Ask students to imagine that Jeremy and Shu Cheong each have one opportunity to use Twitter. They each send a tweet describing their new friend. Each tweet can only contain a maximum of 140 characters. Students write the two tweets using conventional grammar, spelling and punctuation. Note that spaces and punctuation marks are counted as characters.

Every letter in an English word is one character but in Chinese, because of the pictorial script, one word may be one or two characters. Ask students to consider the amount of information that could be contained in a Chinese tweet compared to that in an English one. Twitter is used widely in advertising. What difference could it make when choosing a language to use in global advertising?

Create a tweeting wall on a large drawing of the Great Wall of China. On this wall students add tweets about what they find interesting about China and Australia's engagement with Asia. Remember to keep tweets to 140 characters or less. If students learn how to write some words as Chinese characters they may substitute these for the English words.

Task 10: The PEEL strategy

Which boy had the better life?

Students use the PEEL strategy to write a paragraph supporting their opinion. They explain and elaborate using evidence from the text and by making connections with their own background knowledge.

Model writing complex sentences and experiment with connecting subordinate clauses to the main clause to elaborate, extend and explain ideas.

Opinion: I think _____________ has the better life because …
State your point



Link back to your opinion

Task 11: Games

Adults and children's games are referred to in New gold mountain.

Ask students to list the games.

Jeremy taught Shu Cheong how to play jacks and marbles. Go to the eeny meeny website and find instructions for playing jacks (knucklebones).

Students read the instructions individually. Then, as a group, they help each other to understand the text.

Students teach themselves how to play a game by following the instructions for a game of their choice from Chinese Historical and Cultural Project: Traditional games.

Students create an instructional video or poster to teach someone a game that they know how to play. They should try to do so using as few words as possible.

Discuss the part games play in creating and maintaining friendships.

Ask students to imagine that Shu Cheong and Jeremy had the power to influence the miners. What strategies could they use to create friendships among the miners, crossing cultural barriers?

Task 12: Anti–Chinese sentiments

Students locate and identify a range of sources about anti-Chinese sentiments in Australia. They view posters, cartoons, newspaper articles and other documents and analyse them. Suggested sources appear below. Provide scaffolding for complex language and concepts as required.

For each source, students write notes on the following questions:

  • Who wrote/created it?
  • When did they write/create it?
  • Why did they write/create it?
  • What is its message?
  • Is it reliable?
  • Who was it written/created for?
  • Whose 'voice' or point of view is represented?
  • Who might agree with it?
  • Who might disagree with it?

Students use their notes to help answer this fat question: What do these sources tell you about the attitudes and values of people in the Australian colonies in the 19th century?

Source 1Queensland Punch and Figaro, 1888

Cover of the Queensland figaro 14 July 1888Image courtesy of the Collection of John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland

Source 2: The Mongolian octopus – his grip on Australia, 1886

Mongolian octopusImage courtesy of the Collection of John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland 

Source 3: The yellow trash question, cartoon 1895

chinese_sea_cartoonImage from e-Multicultural Research Library 

Source 4: Letter to the editor, excerpt, The West Australian, Thursday 16 June 1892


Sir – If we can be guided by the recent debate in the Legislative Assembly on the Chinese question, the political weather-cock indicates that sooner or later the Chinese will be either restricted or prohibited from coming to Western Australia. There can be little doubt, following the footsteps of the sister colonies as well as the United States, Western Australia will be anxious to rid herself of this alien race; the Chinese Immigration Act will be amended and the "Imported Labour Registry Act" repealed. We retain them (the Chinese) now … because they are indispensably useful. In the process of time, should it so happen, when we can grow our own vegetables, work our mines with European labour, find European cooks, and such like, it will be absolutely necessary that the useful Chinamen no longer useful to us, or at any rate less useful to us, should leave our Western shores and once more seek the land of his birth, when he again may be enabled to perform these periodical duties and ceremonies at the family shrine and the ancestral graves, the most sacred duties imposed upon the Chinese, which have been interrupted during his sojourn in a land which no longer tolerates him. It is not well for us to pause and analyse the reason why we do not tolerate him. As a rule Englishmen are generally fair, but sometimes we err so far as to become unfair.

We see the time coming – it may be very close – when the majority will be agreed that the Chinese shall no longer over-run our land. It is time that we considered the means of adopting whatever course we may decide upon to pursue. It seems to me that in dealing with this Chinese question and in legislating, for the restriction or prohibition of the Chinese, Australian statesmen are seldom if ever struck with the fact that in their discriminate treatment of the subjects of China they are violating international treaties. If we find the Chinese Government indignant at such a state of affairs it is not to be wondered at; they are indignant not because the Australian colonies frame laws of a domestic nature restricting the entry of an alien race, but because the subjects of China are singled out and discriminately treated … they object, and to my mind quite rightly, to the Australian colonies legislating against Chinese subjects and against Chinese subjects alone, and to impose a poll tax on Chinese immigrants and not on the immigrants of other foreign countries … Whatever may be our views in regard to this question … we must claim for the Chinese Government a certain amount of justice in their objection …

More is required of us as a great nation than that we should make restrictive measures of a discriminate character against a particular nation.

Yours, &c,
J.R. Carnarvon, June 6.

From the National Library of Australia
From: The West Australian (Public Domain)

Activity 4: Australia as a nation

Key inquiry questions

  • How did Australian society change throughout the twentieth century?

Assist students in using and analysing primary and secondary source materials to answer the key inquiry questions while investigating the experiences of democracy and citizenship of the Chinese in Australia. Guide students in their investigation of the years following Federation and the implementation and consequences of the Immigration Restriction Act 1901. Introduce The melting pot by Christopher Cheng, which is the fictional diary of a boy living in Sydney in the early 20th century.

Task 1: The melting pot

Direct students' attention to the front and back covers of The melting pot: my Australian story; the subtitle page The Diary of Edward Chek Chee, Sydney, 1903–1904; and to the preface. Then flick through the book, noting organisational features such as dated diary entries, information about the author, acknowledgements and a historical note.

Discuss how these features help readers navigate the text. Discuss the title and what it might mean. Does it have the same meaning as multiculturalism? Discuss.

Students read the preface and use prompts such as who, when, where, what, why and how to summarise it in one paragraph.

'Along with my brothers and sisters, I am the first of the new generation. We are Australian but we are Chinese too. My father continually tells me that I will be the bridge between the nations. I think that I am a very shaky bridge.' (The melting pot, Christopher Cheng 2011, p 4)

While reading the book take notes about the 'facts' and locate sources from which Christopher Cheng may have derived them.

Task 2: White Australia years

In The melting pot Edward's father helps people in the Chinese community in Sydney to write letters and complete forms so that they may leave and re-enter the country. The National Archives of Australia contains many photographs, documents, letters and clippings about the Chinese in Australia in the early part of the 20th century when the White Australia policy was having a devastating effect on the Chinese in Australia.

Students locate and identify primary sources about the impact of the Immigration Restriction Act 1901, the Certificate of Domicile and the infamous Dictation Test. When searching they may locate many objects and documents, or they may focus on the impact on people and their families such as Poon Gooey from Melbourne; the O'Hoy family from Bendigo; and Mei Quong Tart from Sydney.

If necessary, model locating and using resources about Poon Gooey and read A legacy of White Australia: Records about Chinese Australians in the National Archives. Poon Gooey and his family have been used as a case study in this document. Model analysing the sources using questions to interrogate objects and documents.

Students could also research the impact on local identities, especially if descendants still live locally.

This activity could be done as an expert group activity. For an expert group activity, divide students into a number of groups of equal size. Number each member of each group 1, 2, 3, 4 and so on. Re-group the students according to number so all the ones go together, all the twos and so on. Each number group completes an allocated research task analysing sources using questions to interrogate objects and documents. Original groups re-form and the students each present the findings for their tasks.

Task 3: Loong the Bendigo dragon

Loong was the large dragon in the Melbourne Federation parade in 1901. Loong means dragon in Cantonese. Loong is housed in the Golden Dragon Museum in Bendigo and is the oldest imperial dragon in the world. It performed in the Bendigo Easter Parade every year until 1970. His last appearance is pictured above.

Students read about Loong and other Australian Chinese dragons from these sources:

A black and white photograph of a parade with Chinese dragonLoong the Bendigo dragon in 1970, Dennis O'Hoy collection

Students could make their own dragons using the list of body parts such as 'eyes of a rabbit'.

Show the sketches made at the beginning of the unit of work and compare them with photographs of dragons.

Can you organise an excursion to see Loong in Bendigo? The Chinese Museum in Melbourne also houses a collection of dragons, including the Millennium Dragon and Dai Loong.

Task 4: The dictation test

Give a sample dictation test from the national archives to the students. (In a language other than English, if possible.) Mark and give out marks as pass or fail.

Alternatively, direct students to to the Difference Differently website. Ask them to complete the Level 4 History sequence on White Australia, in the 'Who can be an Australian?' section. Make sure you proceed through parts A, B and C by clicking the arrow on the bottom. Part C, The dictation test, allows students to complete the dictation test to an audio recording.

Students read the diary entries in The melting pot from Monday, 13 October to Wednesday, 14 October. Ask them to find evidence in source materials that match what is written in the diary about the dictation test.

Task 5: Newspaper articles

If you haven't already done so, demonstrate to students how to search for old newspaper articles using Trove, or use the opportunity to refresh the skills. Go to the Trove database website and show students how to narrow their search by clicking on the newspaper section and then selecting a year such as 1901, and a month such as May. Model scanning the entries looking for a Melbourne newspaper on or about 8 May 1901 with reference to a Chinese procession. Locate the Argus article The Chinese procession – novel and picturesque display.

Federation celebrationsStereograph – Federation Celebrations, Chinese Procession & Chinese Arch, Melbourne, Victoria, 1901 Photograph by George Rose, Courtesy of Museum Victoria 

Students read the descriptions of the Melbourne Federation procession on page 8. The language used is quite complex and may require scaffolding for students to make sense of it.

Ask students to mark examples of subjective and objective language and bias in the text and answer the following questions:

  • What is the author's opinion of Chinese people?
  • What makes you think that?

Discuss: should newspaper articles share opinions as well as facts?

Students search for other descriptions of the event and view photographs taken at the time. Students then write an objective newspaper article reporting the event. Discuss how difficult it may be to do this. Why is this so?

Students edit their own work and work with partners who will read each other's work, ask questions and offer suggestions.

Task 6: White Australia

Students read the Historical note towards the end of The melting pot. Locate source materials that support what is in this note and on a large copy annotate with references.

Students skim and scan the pages of the novel to find references to the Immigration Restriction Act 1901 and match the information with source materials.

Students skim and scan the pages of the novel to find references to the Certificate of Domicile and match the information with source materials.

Students locate primary source materials that provide evidence that White Australia was a dominant theme in the new nation. Some source materials have been suggested below. Students can use the Useful questions to 'interrogate' a document when analysing the items.

For each source, students write notes on the following questions:

  • Who wrote/created it?
  • When did they write/create it?
  • Why did they write/create it?
  • What is its message?
  • Is it reliable?
  • Who was it written/created for?
  • Whose 'voice' or point of view is represented?
  • Who might agree with it?
  • Who might disagree with it?

This final resource is a picture of a shirt made in the present day. One like it was worn to the Cronulla Riots in 2005. When analysing the information for the items compare this one with the others. Have values changed since the first part of last century? Discuss.

Source 1: White Australian pineapples

White Australian pineapplesImage courtesy of the National Museum of Australia 

Source 2: March of the great white policy

March of the great white policyImage courtesy of the National Library of Australia 

Source 3: The White Australia game

White Australia GameImage courtesy of National Archives of Australia

Source 4: Australia full t-shirt

Australia full t-shirtImage courtesy of the Museum Victoria 

Activity 5: Significant individuals

Key inquiry question


Guide students in researching primary and secondary source materials to answer the key inquiry question. Assist them in their creation of bio cubes as summarised biographies and in their construction of a biography of the person deemed to have contributed the most to Australian society.

This topic should be taught concurrently with Topic 6: A reasoned explanation of the past.

Task 1: Making a bio cube

Individually, in pairs or in small groups students research a notable Chinese Australian from the present or past. Students may choose from the following or from the list of notableChinese Australiansin Wikipedia. They may also choose from local identities.

  • Mei Quong Tart – philanthropist
  • Christopher Cheng – author
  • Kylie Kwong – chef
  • Penny Wong – politician
  • Victor Chang – heart surgeon
  • Li Cunxin – ballet dancer
  • Shaun Tan – author/illustrator
  • Gabrielle Wang – author

To aid their research students should use a bio cube planning sheet for their biography, such as the one for the cube creatorstudent interactive on the readwritethink website.

On the planning sheet students should answer the following questions:
  • What is the person's name?
  • When did/does the person live?
  • Where did/does the person live?
  • What is/was the person's personal background? Add information about family origins, interesting facts about growing up and significant life events.
  • What sort of person is/was he/she? Think about personality traits such as creativity, resilience, perseverance and leadership.
  • Why is this person's contribution to Australian society significant?
  • Did this person have to overcome any obstacles in the course of his/her life? What were they?
  • Is there an important quote or anecdote that is attributable to this person?

Students create a bio cube using the cube creator student interactive and add additional information, photographs and drawings.

Task 2: Using the bio cubes

Students share their bio cube biographies with the class.

In small groups students take turns to roll their bio cubes. The question that is on top when the cube comes to rest is asked of the author of the cube, who answers the question without referring to the cube.

Display cubes on a shelf or suspended from a string across the classroom.

Students select from the biographies the five people who they consider to have contributed the most to Australian society and provide reasons for their choices.

Rank Choice Reason





Collate the results of the rankings and create a list of the five people considered by the class to be the most significant. Display the list.

Students and the teacher jointly construct a written biography of the most notable individual.

Groups create tributes to the person selected. These tributes may be in the form of posters, diamante poems, interviews using Puppet Pals, paintings or a comic strip of the key events in the person's life.

Display the tributes.

Activity 6: A reasoned explanation of the past

Key inquiry questions

  • How did Australian society change throughout the 20th century?

Students are assisted to develop a reasoned explanation of the events involving the Chinese in Australia in the 19th and 20th centuries. They will use evidence from sources analysed in their inquiries and communicate their findings in a variety of ways as they answer the key inquiry questions. Introduce students to concepts such as continuity and change, perspectives, empathy, significance and contestability.

Task 1: Reflecting on formative assessment tasks

Return to the assessment task based on the Harvest of Endurance scroll. Share the completed tasks and display them in the classroom. Pay particular attention to the questions that arose and ask which ones have been answered and which ones have not. Students share information and seek answers to unanswered questions. Discuss the big ideas in a community of inquiry.

Students share one or two pages of their diaries with a small group of students. Students discuss the growth in their understanding and knowledge from the commencement of the module to its conclusion. Choose a page of the diary to be displayed on the Open Day.

Task 2: Summative assessment – prediction bingo

Select an unseen passage about the history of the Chinese in Australia. Ask the students to divide a piece of paper into nine rectangles and write one word in each that they predict will occur in the passage about the history of the Chinese in Australia.

Read the passage aloud to the students who will mark off words on their paper as they appear in the passage. When a student has crossed off all nine words they call 'bingo'. Continue to the end of the passage. Students with a greater knowledge of the field will more easily predict words that might occur.

Task 3: Assessment task – answering key inquiry questions

Students work in small groups of five or six to create a multimodal presentation, including at least one poster, answering the key inquiry questions listed above as they relate to the history of the Chinese in Australia. They use evidence from primary and secondary sources to answer the questions. Posters may be either paper or digitally created using applications such as Glogster EDU. They may use written text, photographs, their own notes and moving images to demonstrate their understandings.

Students use sources to write an explanation of the past making reference to causes and effects, continuity and change, perspectives, and significance. They will edit their own work and work together to refine their writing and plan and deliver their presentation to the class.

Task 4: Concluding the unit of work

Create a display in the classroom and conclude the unit of work with an Open Day to which parents and community members are invited.

Greet visitors using Chinese words and supply some Chinese treats for morning or afternoon tea.

About the module

The aim of this module is for teachers to learn about teaching the Asia cross-curriculum priority through exploring and implementing a unit of work integrating English and History for years 5–6: Walking in the footsteps of the dragon. While the module may be completed by teachers working individually, the preferred model is for teachers to work with one or more colleagues either personally or online to provide opportunities for discussion.

  1. Work through the topics on screen. You will need to complete the activities and read the resources. Keep notes using a paper or digital double entry journal for each topic:
    Double entry journal
    Topic My response/What I need to learn How confident do I feel about teaching this topic? (1 to 5 = least to most confident)
  2. Discuss and compare your notes with a colleague.
  3. Identify the areas where your colleague is least confident and discuss strategies for increasing confidence in this area. Your colleague should do the same for you. Implement your chosen strategies until you are ready to teach the module.
  4. Plan to teach the module. What modifications will you need to make? Consider the time available and resources required, as well as the needs of your students.
  5. Teach the module in your classroom, according to your modifications. Keep records of what worked and what didn't, sharing your progress with a colleague when possible.
  6. After the teaching is complete, compare notes again with your colleague.
  7. Share your learning with your school and wider networks. What can you do to help others complete this professional learning module?

A thorough list of resources has been provided in the References sectionto extend your knowledge.


In this module, students will conduct a historical inquiry. A framework for posing questions, comparing and analysing sources, discussing texts, and stating and justifying opinions is provided within a community of inquiry. This is defined as a group of people – students, teachers, colleagues – who use discussion to engage in deep thinking, explore big ideas, and grapple with the challenges and possibilities in a puzzling concept, idea or circumstance.

On the Museum of Victoria's website, Point 4 under Conducting a community of inquiry talks about 'trigger material'. Trigger material can be a philosophical question or idea, a picture book, a photograph, an artefact or a historical text. It can be an inquiry question. Read theConducting a community of inquiryresource. Discuss with a colleague.

In a community of inquiry, students are able to pose their own questions about the topic before the discussion begins and the group decides the order of discussion. Students drive the discussion and after speaking themselves select the next speaker. To create minimal disruption to the flow of the discussion students can be asked to sit with the palm of one hand facing upwards to indicate that they wish to speak.

Model the community of inquiry process early in the unit of work and provide prompts until students are able to engage independently. Use the process throughout the unit of work for all whole class and some small group discussions.

View the videos fromThe P4C Co-operativeto see a community of inquiry in action. Discuss with a colleague.

Module outline

In this combined English and History module, students will use literary and factual texts, photographs, documents and artefacts to conduct a historical inquiry about the Chinese in Australia. They will explore the focus areas of the Australian colonies and Australia as a nation through the lens of the cross-curriculum priority Asia and Australia's engagement with Asia.

Two important historical events will form the main part of topics 3 and 4: the Lambing Flat riots of 1861 and theImmigration Restriction Actof 1901.

Students will read three literary texts by the Australian author, Christopher Cheng.New gold mountainandSeams of goldfit nicely into Topic 2 as they are both set on the goldfields in the 19th century.The melting potwill be used in Topic 4 as it is set in Sydney in the years just after Federation in 1901 and describes the consequences of theImmigration Restriction Actof that year.

The module title has been chosen because of the symbolism of the Chinese dragon, which is a different creature from its Western counterpart. It is at once powerful and fearsome, but also wise and auspicious. In recent decades, it has come to represent the Chinese people, including those who have come to Australia across the centuries. Chinese people around the world today are sometimes known as 'descendants of the dragon', but it should be noted that the dragon is also strongly associated with Vietnam. There is a wealth of information on the internet on the complex iconography of the Chinese dragon; read this with a critical eye as much of it is overly simplistic.

Before starting the unit of work you could ask students to sketch a mystery creature with the head of a camel, horns of a deer, eyes of a rabbit, ears of a cow, neck of a snake, belly of a frog, scales of a carp, claws of a hawk and the paws of a tiger. This is what a Chinese dragon is made up of. Keep the sketches until Topic 4, when Loong the Bendigo dragon is introduced.

Whenever possible teachers should make use of local knowledge and resources. A list of state-based Chinese Australian History resources is given in the References section.

The module will culminate in a Chinese Open Day when students will present their work and the results of their historical inquiry.

Suggested timeline

Duration Topic
1 week Topic 1: Immigration
1 week Topic 2: Historical inquiry
2–3 weeks Topic 3: The Chinese in Australia in the 19th century
2–3 weeks Topic 4: Australia as a nation
2 weeks Topic 5: Significant individuals and Topic 6: Areasoned explanation of the past (concurrently)

Achievement standards

Year 5 Year 6
English English
History History

Recommended texts

Cheng, Christopher, 2005,New gold mountain, Scholastic Australia,Lisarow, NSW – a class set

Cheng, Christopher, 2007,Seams of gold, National Museum of Australia Press, Canberra – a class set

Cheng, Christopher, 2011,The melting pot, Scholastic Australia,Lisarow, NSW – a class set

Tan, Shaun, 2006,The arrival, Hodder Children's Books, Sydney – one copy

Teacher preparation

Chinese Australian history sources from Australian states and territories

New South Wales

Northern Territory

  • Short history – Chung Wah Society, NT Chinese Museum
  • Queensland
  • New gold mountain – History of Atherton Chinatown, Atherton Chinatown
  • Queensland dragon – Chinese in the north, Museum of Tropical Queensland, Queensland Museum

South Australia



Western Australia

  • Chinese in WA – WA Now and Then (2013)
  • Early Chinese in Western Australia – by Anne Atkinson, Chung Wah 75th anniversary magazine 1910–1985
The full resource can not be displayed on a mobile device.

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