Welcome to NIE's Resources

Tasmania SOS: Saving our Species

China: A Cultural Perspective
Tasmania 200
ANZAC and Remembrance Days
Archived Learning Activity Pages

Archived Learning Activity Pages

On the last Wednesday of every month*, Learning publishes a colour feature which provides students and teachers with great learning activities (*not generally published in January and December). Recent pages are available here for download as PDF files, but they are large files best suited to broadband users. There will be a slight delay after selecting to view each page.

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Tasmania 200

To commemorate the beginning of European settlement in Tasmania in 1803 and the founding of Hobart in 1804, the Mercury published a diary by local author and historian Frank Bolt following the events of 200 years ago. The narrative of this diary starts with the arrival of the first settlers at Risdon Cove, on Hobart's Eastern Shore, on September 6, 1803, and ends in August 1804, with the departure of the transport ship The Ocean from Hobart Town back to Sydney. Its departure marked the end of the first beginnings of the Hobart settlement. The diary follows the struggles on a day-by-day basis, using contemporary documents as its main source. Of course, what with all the problems and hard work the new arrivals had to cope with, there will occasionally be a day when the diary is silent.

The Mercury's Newspapers in Education website lets you follow Frank Bolt's Tasmania 200 diary through to its conclusion in August 2004.

The Founding of Hobart

The Beginning of it all
Preface
The Adventures of Matthew Flinders
The Adventures of Captain Nicolas Baudin

The Frank Bolt Diary Series

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Anzac and Remembrance Days

From the muddy trenches at Gallipoli and Flanders was born a spirit which today we call ANZAC.
It is a spirit that lives on like an eternal flame, commemorated each year on Anzac Day, April 25 and Remembrance Day, November 11 - on the 11th hour, of the 11th day of the 11th month of the year. Australians everywhere observe a minute's silence as a mark of respect.

The Mercury's Newspapers in Education department has a number of resources, produced in conjunction with journalist and teacher Christopher Bantick. The aim of the resources is to help teachers and their students better understand the spirit that is attributed to our Aussie diggers and is a valuable guide to the subject of Australians at war.

Visit the Mercury's ANZAC - Spirit Eternal website by clicking here.

Deployment of Australian troops in recent yers is not the first time Australians have fought on "The Savage Frontier". Hobart based historian and contributing writer Brendon Bowes, has written an extensive report on the experiences of Cyril Cameron, a Tasmanian fighting in Afghanistan 122 years ago, and also the history of conflict on the wild north-west frontier of British India. The full report can be read by clicking here.

Young Digger is the incredible true story of a French orphan boy smuggled into Australia by returning soldiers. The book, by the author of Soldier Boy, is about two Queensland brothers returning from France at the end of World War One who hid the nine-year-old orphan, Henri Hemene , in a sack to smuggle him ashore in Fremantle. Like Soldier Boy, about the youngest Anzac to die at Gallipoli, Hill's latest book is recommended for young readers and great material for classroom studies. Christopher Bantick has provided a guide for teachers about using the book in the classroom, along with some activities. You can access these by clicking here.

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China: A Cultural Perspective

Click here for free downloads

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Tasmania SOS: Saving our Species

Click here for our threatened species page