Great South Land: Introducing Australian history (FutureLearn)

Great South Land: Introducing Australian history (FutureLearn)

Get an introduction to Australian history starting with Aboriginal deep time. Explore convictism, colonialism and more. Travel back in time to discover Australian history. On this course you will take a journey through Australian history. You will examine a range of periods and topics including Aboriginal deep time history, transportation and convictism and colonialism.

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This course will also introduce you to the skills and approaches used in the academic study of history – especially the study of Australian history – and help you to understand issues in contemporary Australia in context.
This course is part of the program The Australian Experience, which is one of the building blocks that leads to a degree in Bachelor of Arts.

What topics will you cover?

  • Traditional Aboriginal society
  • Background to the British colonisation of Australia
  • Convictism
  • Relations between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians

What will you achieve?
By the end of the course, you‘ll be able to...

  • Apply a developing understanding of core historical concepts.
  • Demonstrate basic knowledge of key themes, events, and people in the history of Australia’s First Nations and the early decades of European occupation of the continent.
  • Interpret the Australian past within a local and global context.
  • Explain the contested nature of Australia’s early European history.
  • Identify foundational scholarly sources (primary and secondary, oral and written) relating to Australia’s early history.
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