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Teaching and Learning Proforma -
BUSHRANGERS

(Big idea - The history of European settlement in Australia began with the establishment of a penal colony. the convicts it held were transported as punishment for their crimes. the first Australian bushrangers were runaway convicts. When the gold rushes began a different bushranger emerged.)

Intended Outcomes:

Children will -

• Understand that they are finding out about a certain period of Australian history and about an individual's history.
• Form an opinion about whether the bushrangers were heroes or villains and the types of people who became bushrangers.
• Focus on the two distinct periods of bushranging.
• Find out about the government and public attitudes to bushrangers.
• Find out what aspects of colonial society helped cause the rise in bushranging.
• Collect, analyse and organise information.
• Use co-operative means to bring research together in an organised manner.

Engaging students:

Discuss what the children know about bushrangers - Who were the bushrangers? Why did men become bushrangers? What type of crimes did they commit? What happened to them if they were caught?

Discuss how other countries had their own hero worshipping thieves and murderers. England had famous highwaymen, Ireland had tobymen, other countries had bandits and state coach robbers.

Refining (students’ questions, ideas and teacher’s intentions):

Children will need to be made aware that there were two periods of history when bushranging occurred. Discuss -

• the first Australian bushrangers were the runaway convicts (from 1789 to the early 1830s)
• when the gold rushes began a different bushranger emerged (from the 1850s to about the 1880s)

Children complete the cloze sheet Bushrangers.

Extending:

Children will be given  bushrangers to research. These will be divided into the early period -

• John 'Black' Caesar
• John Donahue
• Matthew Brady
• Mark Jeffries
• Alexander Pearce
• Michael Howe

and from the second period

• Martin Cash
• Fred Ward (Captain Thunderbolt)
• Frank Gardiner
• Ben Hall
• Andrew Scott (Captain Moonlite)
• The Clarke brothers
• Dan Morgan
• The Kelly gang

The following questions will be answered -

1. What was his occupation before becoming a bushranger?
2. Why did he become a bushranger?
3. From what period did he come, the early period or the later period?
4. What types of crimes did be commit?
5. Were any of his crimes violent?
6. Did he have a nickname?
7. Was he finally captured by the police?
8. How did his life end?
9. What did the rest of the community think of him?
10. Were there people in the community who thought him a hero?
11. What do you consider to be his good points and his bad points?

Other activities in which all students will participate -

Design a wanted poster for the bushranger you have researched.

Compile a word list and meanings.

Match and organise information about bushrangers.

Comprehension and cloze activities.

Pretend you are a free farmer on a small farm near Glenrowan, vic in the year 1880. Write a letter to Ellen Kelly telling her how you feel about what is happening in her family and how it is effecting others.

Discuss - If a person feels robbed of their rights, are they justified in having contempt for the rights of others?

You are a journalist for the Melbourne Argus covering the trial of Ned Kelly. Write a report of the trial including some background on the charges, sentence, and words spoken by trial witnesses including Police Constable McIntyre, Ned's family, Judge Barry and Ned Kelly himself. (This could be incorporated in using the Publisher wizard).

In groups of five to six, choose one of the famous incidents in the history of Australian Bushranging and write a screenplay for it. Video the final production.

Read some of the folksongs and poems on Australian Bushranging. Listen to some of the folk songs.

Reflecting on what we have learnt

Discuss - Why did the number of bushrangers increase in the 1850s?
              Why do you think the bushrangers were able to escape from the police so easily?
             

Teaching Resources:

Ben Hall http://www.lisp.com.au/~canowinh/Bushrang.htm
Ned Kelly http://www.netspace.net.au/~bradwebb/
Bushrangers http://wwwcream.une.edu.au/OtherSites/Bushrangers/contents.htm
Australian Bushrangers http://www.bushnet.qld.edu.au/schools/herberton_primary/pages/bushranger.html

Educational Kits -
Ned Kelly - the legend and the man

Video -
Bushrangers: 7 - 10

Brown, Doug  & Monoghan, Bob Comprehension 6   Longman Cheshire Pty Limited  Melbourne  1994
Eshuys  Guest  Phelan  Discovering Australian History  Macmillan Education Australia Pty Ltd  South Melbourne   1996
Fletcher, Helen Cloze in on Themes Book 1   Holding Educational Aids (Australasia) Pty. Ltd.
Walters, Lynley Non-fiction Cloze and Comprehension Activities Book 3 Longman Cheshire Pty Limited  Melbourne  1993
Woods, Andrew J  English Still Matters Books 3 & 4  Addison Wesley Longman Australia  1994

Return to Australian Units

Teacher's Guide. © 1998 Denise Lawson