Benarkin State School

This Unit involved the students' researching the history of Benarkin, particularly through the visual histories available - that is the photographs taken over time.

Using these photographs, students compiled a history of the town and area that has been copied onto CD for use by the wider community. We have presented a "hard copy" display of the history of Benarkin at the Stanley River Environmental Centre on August 31 2006 as part of the celebration of the Bunya to Bay project that is exploring the various historical, ecological and environmental aspects of the Brisbane River. Benarkin lies within the upper catchment area of this river.

Sample pages from "From Well Holes to Benarkin" (new window) 284k . For full document please contact Caroline Lawson on the.principal@benarkinss.eq.edu.au or phone: (07) 4163 0201

Benarkin State School

Wide Bay - Burnett Region - Southern cluster

Mrs Caroline Lawson

Teaching Principal

The project was aimed initially at the Year 4-7 students, however with the loss of our second teacher due to a drop in student numbers, the project has involved students at all year levels.

Benarkin had an interesting history involving the railways and forestry. In previous years attempts had been made to record its history- but little progress had been made in collating this information into one resource.

All students have been involved from Year 2 to Year 7. However a large part of the compilation and creation of the "pages" of history has been done by the Year 4-7, as their computer and writing skills are more proficient.

The unit was planned to be completed in Term 2, 2006. However the final compilation and creation of pages were completed in early Term 3. Inroads into time available were created by practice for sports carnivals and the annual school camp.

1.1 Students describe their past and future connecting family ties.
2.1 Students become capable of defining difference between events, artefacts, stories and symbols of different times.
3.1 Students use technology to record the visual history.

ME 2.1 Students are able to select and combine images, sounds and words in sequences to create media texts for historical display.
ME 2.3 Students are able to identify ways in which representations are created in media forms.
ME 3.1 Students are able to combine and manipulate media languages and technologies to convey information of their history.
Me 3.4 Students apply digital technology to publish the media products in print and digital forms.

VA 3.1 Students modify images to improve intended meanings.
VA 3.2 Students make and display images understanding the functions of formal and informal display.

The students ofBenarkin State School have learnt to create a Word Document page importing photographs to create an autobiographical text about their lives.

They then researched the various elements of Benarkin's History - the early settlers, the history of the township, the building of the railway and the subsequent closure of the line and the development of the forestry industry.

Initially the unit focussed on skilling students in an understanding of the elements of visual literacy - camera angles, comprehending elements in photographic images, and creating stories from those images.

ICT skills focussed on making all students in Year 4 - 7 familiar and capable of creating a Word document and importing scanned photos into the text. Children researched and created their personal autobiography employing these skills.

Using small group research, all students have been involved in researching aspects of each historical focus area. Eg Railways; Forestry; Early settlement - Taromeo Station, Benarkin township and the History of the Benarkin School.

As each area was researched, texts were generated and historical photos from the school and community collection were imported. These created "pages" about each topic area have created the 'chapters' of the Benarkin History.

The length of time necessary to skill all students in both research and ICT competencies took far longer than anticipated.

We accessed the Making History Upper Primary Units - History at Home - a local area study.

Also valuable was the Canungra Time Tunnel Collection created in 2005 by Canungra State School through the Commonwealth History Project.

ICT Understandings: Visual Literacy was the prime focus. However we would not have been able to tell the history solely with photos so it was deemed vital to support the visual history with the relevant written texts.

Research Skills: Students used their research to create the story

Representational Expression: using the photograph collection to support their writing up of the history of Benarkin.

As a result of this project we have created an important local resource that can continue to be added to as relevant historical facts are uncovered.

Students are proud of their contribution to the creation of this collection.

We have used a community resource of photographs and information and created a meaningful display and historical record for use by the school and its community

We found that as well as using the existing set of photographs we needed to also use other resources. By taking students to the Railway Workshop Museum we were able to specifically access (by arrangement) information, photos and texts about the Esk/ Nanango Railway which was imperative to our study.

The Bunya to Bay Event provided for us a meaningful and real way of displaying our "Well Holes to Benarkin" display - information about the history of one of the areas along the Brisbane River and its catchment area.

Students have enjoyed being involved with the project.

Each section of research involved them in drama elements - creating freeze frames of different features of the researched topics, small group research and interaction with others; excursions to explore aspects of the Forestry, sections of the railway system, trips to Taromeo Station, Jessie's Well, the Taromeo Sawmill, and the Old Esk Road as well as our trip to do research in Ipswich at the Railway Workshop Museum.

We will be able to give first hand advice about doing a unit such as this. The importance of skilling students in the necessary ICT and research and writing skills is essential to a project such as this.

I welcome other teachers to plan such units, as this real life exploration of our local history has been very valuable from many different aspects.

My email address is: the.principal@benarkinss.eq.edu.au and my phone number is: (07) 4163 0201