Students who investigate the past of their local area or town have an opportunity to unearth many rich and multifaceted stories about the place where they live. While history is at the core of such study, there are also interdisciplinary learning opportunities for the study of Civics and Citizenship, Health & Physical Education, Graphics and Art.

The exhibition provides a simple example of the stories and information that can be discovered about any local area even with a minimum of resources. Students can observe how the photographs come from a variety of sources. They could use similar resources and also arrange to interview long term residents or traders to gather information for their own project. Students could choose streets in their local area, find maps of the streets and then research a few of the buildings on the street. Additional suggestions for activities are presented in about the exhibition.

Victorian Essential Learning Structure

Levels 1–6. Younger students can observe the concept of time, change and continuity as they look at the pictures and stories on North Melbourne. They can observe the differences in occupations and clothing worn by workers and footballers, changes to shops and other buildings. They could make basic comparisons with their own area.

Level 3 students can learn about the stories and evidence from the past. They can observe in the stories and pictures changes to the social life, geography, landscape and built environment of North Melbourne. The MMBW plans also illustrate these changes.

Level 4 students will be able to focus on events and people in North Melbourne that illustrate change and continuity over time.

Level 6 students can observe the impact of changes in technology, housing and communication in North Melbourne. They could begin to discuss whether similar changes have occurred in their local area or might in the future.

Graphics and Art students would be interested in the various black and white design features and techniques used by the design company ‘Round’ to present the photographs and archival records as an exhibition.

This image is a sample of one of the panels featuring in this exhihibition.

Notes for teachers/students are available here in print-friendly Adobe PDF format

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