HSIE News

During Week Five, Year 10 students participated in the WW1 living history incursion, as a part of their mandatory curriculum and syllabus requirements. This prepared them perfectly for their upcoming assessment task this term, where they will have to describe the impact of WW1 on Australia, in particular, choosing a specific battle on the Western Front. 

Shane Blackman, who owns and runs living history, has aligned his travelling museum directly with the core study unit of ‘Australians at War’. An historical enthusiast and ex-high school teacher, Shane now invests his time and energy in bringing the museum to the classroom. His display and discussion cover The Western Front, France from 1916-1918.

Students were able to see full-sized pictures of the Australian diggers in WW1 Western Front trenches, as well as hold and view dozens of genuine artefacts, including weapons, tools, communication gear, food stuff, gas defence and hand weapons. They also got to experience what a range of different army personnel would have had to wear. 

Students were given a lot of ownership over the sessions, being able to select what artefacts to talk about and hold genuine wartime items. This gave Year 10 a perspective on the campaign of war, building empathy within the students that could not be otherwise taught. This was done through a combination of “primary source driven story telling” and “primary source hands-on learning”. The students heard stories based on the first-hand accounts of these combat soldiers whilst they handled genuine items from the time.

It was an extremely engaging and beneficial experience. The students were then able to embed their knowledge into their assessment tasks.

I would like to thank and congratulate Year 10 on their participation in the day. We hope to invite Shane back to St Joseph’s in future years as it was a highly valuable incursion. 

Wendy Thomas

HSIE Leader of Learning