Water in Australia Defining Moments

Photo: Robin Smith. National Library of Australia obj-1643156435

Year level 7
Investigations 1
Activities 7
Curriculum topic Water in Australia

1. Overview of the learning module

Introduction

This learning module provides resources and classroom activities for teachers to use in their Australian Curriculum — Geography Year 7 classrooms.

It supports the Geography knowledge and understanding requirements in relation to Australia for the Geography element of the curriculum:

Water in the world.

It does so by exploring five case studies that illustrate key elements of this theme.

The investigations provide a rich digital resource for classroom use. They include contextual information, documents, images, scaffolded comprehension, analytical and extension questions, and individual, group and class activities. Using these materials and activities, students can explore aspects of the Year 7 knowledge and skills outcomes specified in the Australian Curriculum — Geography.

The learning module has been designed to draw on the National Museum of Australia’s Defining Moments in Australian History, together with some supplementary resources. Students do not need to visit that site to complete this learning module as the featured Defining Moments used are available on this site.

Module snapshot

This learning module contains:

Investigations 1.1–1.6 Water in Australia

These activities examine attitudes toward water and how water has been used in Australia.

In Investigation 1.2 students look at the first major irrigation colony created in Australia, at Mildura and Renmark, on the Murray River. At this time, water was mainly considered as a practical resource that could be used for economic, agricultural and social developments.

Next students learn about the construction of the Hume Dam (Investigation 1.3), designed to control the volume and timing of natural flows along the Murray River for economic benefits.

The Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Scheme (Investigation 1.4) involved the massive task of altering natural flows from one side of the mountain range to the other. Students learn about how the Scheme works and consider some of the implications for people and the environment.

Investigation 1.5 allows students to start investigating competing interests over water use in the Murray–Darling Basin. They identify how agricultural, environmental, Indigenous and township attitudes and values towards water can make it difficult to govern an area effectively.

Finally in Investigation 1.6 students study the differing attitudes and values people hold toward using the Great Barrier Reef as an economic resource. They see how legislation can determine the way the area of water is managed.

Bringing it together

Students complete their investigation by reflecting on the uneven distribution of water and sustainability in Australia.

2. Student activities

Investigation 1: Water in Australia

1.1 Introduction

1.2 Turning water into food — Murray River irrigation

1.3 Holding back a river — Hume Dam

1.4 Water into power — Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Scheme

1.5 Watering Australia’s food bowl — Murray–Darling Basin

1.6 Protecting an Australian icon — Great Barrier Reef

Bringing it together

Reflections

3. Relevant Defining Moments in Australian history

Defining Moments that are relevant to the different inquiry questions in the curriculum include:

1887	Australia’s ‘fruit basket’ — Murray River irrigation begins	Investigation 1
1936	‘The greatest irrigation work in the Southern Hemisphere’ — Opening of the Hume Dam	Investigation 1
1949	‘A plan for the whole nation’ — Snowy Mountains Hydro	Investigation 1
1975	‘An irreplaceable part of Australia’s natural heritage’ — Great Barrier Reef Marine Park created	Investigation 1
2012	‘We need radical and permanent change’ — Murray–Darling Basin Plan introduced	Investigation 1

Longer versions of the Defining Moments are available on the National Museum of Australia website.

1887	Chaffey Brothers introduce irrigation on Murray River	Investigation 1
1936	Opening of the Hume Dam	Investigation 1
1949	Chifley government begins Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Scheme	Investigation 1
1975	Great Barrier Reef Marine Park created	Investigation 1
2012	Introduction of the Murray–Darling Basin Plan	Investigation 1

4. Australian curriculum level and focus

Geographical knowledge and understanding

By the end of this learning module, students will have increased their knowledge and understanding in relation to Australia of aspects of Unit 1 Water in the world:

The way that flows of water connects places as it moves through the environment and the way this affects places (ACHGK038)
The nature of water scarcity and ways of overcoming it (ACHGK040)

Geographical skills

Students will have exercised these learning skills:

Collecting, recording, evaluating and representing

Evaluate sources for their reliability and usefulness and select, collect and record relevant geographical data and information, using ethical protocols, from appropriate primary and secondary sources (ACHGS048)

Interpreting, analyzing and concluding

Interpret geographical data and other information using qualitative and quantitative methods, and digital and spatial technologies as appropriate, to identify and propose explanations for spatial distributions, patterns and trends, and infer relationships (ACHGS051)
Apply geographical concepts to draw conclusions based on the analysis of the data and information collected (ACHGS052)

Communicating

Present findings, arguments and ideas in a range of communication forms selected to suit a particular audience and purpose; using geographical terminology and digital technologies as appropriate (ACHGS053)

Interdisciplinary thinking

Students will have engaged with the concepts of:

significance
continuity and change
cause and effect
place and space
interconnections
roles, rights and responsibilities
perspectives and action.

Cross-curriculum priorities

Students will have been involved in additional learning about aspects of:

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander societies
sustainability.

_{Source: The Australian Curriculum Humanities and Social Sciences – Geography, December 2016, accessed 1 May 2019}

5. Geography outcomes matrix

Outcome	Elaboration or explanation	Applying this to each case study
KNOWLEDGE	Comprehending the factual elements of systems or features.	Do you know what the key facts are?
UNDERSTANDING	Being able to explain how features and systems operate.	Do you understand how the key features and systems work in the way they do?
PLACE	The significance of places and what they are like.	What are the key natural, environmental and human features of the place?
SPACE	The significance of location and spatial distribution, and ways people organise and manage the spaces that we live in.	What creates the features, and how are they used?
ENVIRONMENT	The significance of the environment in human life, and the important interrelationships between humans and the environment.	What are the key features, how are they used and managed, and with what effects?
INTERCONNECTION	Emphasising that no object of geographical study can be viewed in isolation.	How is a place, space or environment connected to others?
SUSTAINABILITY	The capacity of the environment to continue to support our lives and the lives of other living creatures into the future.	How is the place, space or environment being used and managed, and can this be continued?
SCALE	The way that geographical phenomena and problems can be examined at different spatial levels.	Is the scale personal, local, regional, national or global?
CHANGE	Explaining geographical phenomena by investigating how they have developed over time.	How is it similar or different over a time period?