Kid Curator and the Telegraph Relay
- Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Histories and Cultures
- Design and Technologies
- Geography
- Humanites and Social Sciences
- Science
Kid Curator and the Telegraph Relay
South Australia watched Victoria reap the benefit of a powerful new form of technology before jumping on the idea. Telegrams, the e-mail of the day, needed a range of equipment such as lines and relays in order to function. Several pieces of this equipment are now looked after by South Australia’s Migration Museum. This video delves into the story of the installation of the telegraph in South Australia. It considers the perspectives of a First Nations person, sharing a story of song lines, and of a tradesperson working on the installation of the telegraph.
Kid Curator and the Telegraph Relay
Curriculum v9
Year 4
Geography – the importance of environments, including natural vegetation and water sources, to people and animals in Australia and on another continent (AC9HS4K05)
Design and Technology – examine design and technologies occupations and factors including sustainability that impact on the design of products, services and environments to meet community needs (AC9TDE4K01)
Science – consider how people use scientific explanations to meet a need or solve a problem (AC9S4H02)
Year 5
Geography – the influence of people, including First Nations Australians and people in other countries, on the characteristics of a place (AC9HS5K04)
Design and Technology – explain how people in design and technologies occupations consider competing factors including sustainability in the design of products, services and environments (AC9TDE6K01)
Science – investigate how scientific knowledge is used by individuals and communities to identify problems, consider responses and make decisions (AC9S5H02)
Year 6
Design and Technology – explain how people in design and technologies occupations consider competing factors including sustainability in the design of products, services and environments (AC9TDE6K01)
Science – investigate the transfer and transformation of energy in electrical circuits, including the role of circuit components, insulators and conductors (AC9S6U03) investigate how scientific knowledge is used by individuals and communities to identify problems, consider responses and make decisions (AC9S6H02)
Materials
Find our dedicated teaching resource and activity sheet here:
Discussion Questions
Before watching:
- What methods/technology did people used in the past to communicate over distance?
- Do you know what a telegraph is? What does it need to work?
- Have you heard of “songlines” before? What do you know about them?
After watching:
- Why did the characters in the video have different opinions about the telegraph lines?
- Can you explain the mechanism of a telegraph after seeing the equipment that was used?
- Could the telegraph lines have been built in a way that was respectful to First Nations peoples? Why/why not?
Kid Curator and the Curious Object Series
This video is part of a series, created as a collaboration between Michael Mills and the History Trust of South Australia. The Kid Curator series explores local South Australian history through historical objects. The videos provide a curatorial description of the object and period in history blended with narrative-based re-enactments. Each video focuses on an object from the History Trust of South Australia’s State History Collection and provides differing point of view on the history of the object in question. View the video and use the dedicated education resource for a cross curricular exploration of the history of South Australia.
Kid Curator and the Hawker Van
Kid Curator and the Pink Shorts
Related Resources
For more video resources why not take a look at our YouTube channel?