Websites

Lesson Resources

Make a collage of the different type of Aboriginal Shelters
Do a timeline of how the shelters changed over time
Have a giant map of Australia and together as a class you can map out the different types of shelters in different states and territories. This will give a visual representation of the difference in shelters across Australia. Be sure to include a picture of what they looked like, materials used, size, and tribe it is unique to.
MAKE YOUR OWN SHELTER - This can be an incursion day where parents and family can come in and help the students build their own mini - model of an aboriginal shelter. Other activities for the day would be, Aboriginal art, a presentation by the students on a chosen aborignial shelter, making Aboriginal tools such as the boomerang, face painting and more.

Lesson Activities

Recognises that Aboriginal people have interacted positively with the environment for a long time.
Examines the values that people place on natural and built features

Lesson Indicators

ENS1.6 Demonstrate an understanding of the relationship between environments and people.

ENS1.5 Compares and contrasts natural and built features in their local area and the ways in which people interact.

Lesson Outcomes

Lesson 8 and 9: Aboriginal Shelters

Introduction

Now that you have looked at shelters around the world for your students. It is important to bring it back home. Aboriginal history is very important in understanding who we are as a people. The following lesson will give you ideas on how to teach this unit by making it fun and engaging for your students.

< Video of aboriginal music

Australian Story

Aboriginal Housing

Traditional Life

Development

This is a big subject to cover, however with the right planning it can be successful. When looking at Aboriginal Shelters there a many different types that you can look at. The websites under resources are a great way of researching different types of Aboriginal shelters and where they were most commonly found. You can explore historical significance of Aboriginal shelters and why certain materials were used in certain areas.

Because this is such a big topic you can do two or three lesson on this. The lesson activities can also be spread out to create more lessons on this topic.

Key points that you would look at would be the types of shelters they used. Dome shelters, spinifex shelters, lava stone structures, stone houses, bark shelters and many more. You can also talk about seasonal changes and how they used different materials when it was summer and different again for winter.

Just like any country the Aboriginal people had their own type of building design unique to their own area. So in Tasmania they designed their houses a bit different from those in the Northern Territory.

Creative Spirits

The Need For Shelter