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Canungra State School

Title: Canungra Time Tunnel: A Look Back In History

School Profile:

Name	Canungra State School
Location	SE Queensland in the Gold Coast Hinterland
Cultural mix	Predominately European descent. About 20% Australian Defence Force families.
Sector	Primary
Size	350 including Preschool
Socio-economic status	Middle to low income earners

Program Coordinator:

Name	Kathryn Hodges
Position/role in school	Teacher Librarian

Project Overview:

Where did it fit in the school?	The project supports the SOSE curriculum for Years 3 to Year 7.
Why was this project chosen?	Due to the unique environment and the rich historical past of the district our school has as its focus for each year level a study of an aspect of the community. There was limited access to historical information and photographs to support units of work involving local history. This project aims to support these historical studies.
Which students were involved?	For the RSL Community Link project Year 6 students are involved. Once the website is operational all classes from Years 3 to 7 will use aspects of it in their units of work.
How long did it run for?	The RSL Community Link project has been running all term and will continue for the remainder of this year and next year with this group of students. Each subsequent Year Six class will be involved in the program. The website will continue to be used and upgraded indefinitely.

Outcomes Addressed:

KLA	Strand	Outcome
SOSE	Time Continuity and Change	TCC 2.2 Students record changes and continuities in familiar settings using various devices. TCC 2.3 Students cooperatively evaluate how people have contributed to changes in the local environment. TCC 2.4 Students identify the cause and effect relationships about events in familiar settings. TCC 3.3 Students use knowledge of people's contributions in Australia's past to cooperatively develop visions of preferred futures. TCC 3.4 Students organise information about the causes and effects of specific historical events. TCC 4.3 Students share empathetic responses to contributions that diverse individuals and groups have made to Australian or global history. TCC 4.4 Students critique information sources to show the positive and negative effects of a change or continuity on different groups.

Project Outline:

What did you achieve?	The major achievements have been the construction and launch of a website containing a database of historical photographs and the introduction of the RSL Community Link project into the Year 6 curriculum. The album and the brief pictorial timeline of the school site are still being compiled.
How did you go about it?	Firstly I developed a plan of the website deciding how it would be structured and the titles of the pages of photographs to be included. I then approached the local Information Centre that holds a large collection of photograph albums containing historical photographs. They gave permission for me to scan these for use on the website. The process of decision-making about which photos to include ensued. I decided to use only photographs that were more than 50 years old to avoid complication with copyright. Scanning and enhancing photographs in preparation for the website followed. I was assisted in this process by a teacher aide who is skilled in the use of computers and website construction. Once all scanning was completed we used Microsoft FrontPage to construct the website. This was quite an involved process as now captions had to be written for the photographs in a language that would be easily understood by students from Years 3 to 7.The accuracy of the captions was checked by a local resident who has a great deal of experience in the history of the area. The project was then turned over to our school's computer technician to make any changes needed to launch it on the web. Several complications with the launch to the Internet on our school website have occurred and are still being addressed as I write this report. The photographs have also been burned to a CD-ROM in preparation for printing them for an album on the history of schooling in the district. Five framed photographs of the history of the present school site that will form a timeline are also in the early stages of preparation. The RSL Community Link project arose out of the students' involvement in the gathering of information for the Going to War page of the website. They showed great interest in getting to know more about the veterans who were killed in action and the meanings of some of the abbreviations on the War memorial. I approached the President of the local RSL to assist us in this. He then suggested we become involved in the RSL Community Link project whereby students represent a veteran on such occasions as ANZAC Day, Remembrance Day and other community events. The students have shown great interest in this project and have researched "their veteran" and completed the biographies enthusiastically. This project will continue for the next two years at least.
Any pitfalls or problems?	Microsoft FrontPage is unforgiving and we have encountered many problems by deviating from the layout of our school website and then trying to include this project as part of it. A great deal of technical knowledge is required for a project such as this to proceed problem free. We still didn't manage to combine the photographs and captions when they converted from thumbnails to full size. We intend to continue working to solve this problem. Lack of technical know-how I'm sure is the problem!! A good quality scanner is crucial to the success of this project. We began with a base model scanner and could not get the resolution or clarity we needed for the web. Purchasing a scanner recommended by Queensland State Library enabled us to produce photographs of high quality. Adobe Photoshop Elements was crucial to enhancing the photographs as many had large marks from sticky tape and other flaws on them that needed to be improved.
What did it cost?	$2 500 of Grant money and many volunteer hours by our Computer Technician. I only claimed 1 TRS day for relief from my normal duties but worked numerous hours outside of school time.
Website	http://www.canungrass.eq.edu.au click on Canungra Time Tunnel

Resources Used:

What CHP resources did you use and how?

Making History Upper Primary Units- Investigating Our Land and Legend: Getting connected; History at home - a local area study.

What other resources did you use?

People:

Canungra RSL President
The Community Link Coordinator for Beaudesert Branch of the RSL

Websites:
Australian War Memorial Website. Available: www.awm.gov.au

Queensland State Library. Picture Queensland. Available: www.pictureqld.slq.qld.gov.au

Albums:
Photograph Albums from Canungra Information Centre

Books:
Canungra and District Schools Centenary 1880-1989

Morgan, R. K., 2000. Laheys' Canungra Tramway. Light Railway Research Society of Australia Inc.: Melbourne.

Curtis, M. Canungra Heritage 1879-1979

Everett Jones, G. 2004. Easy Adobe Photoshop Elements, Que Publishing:U.S.A.

Which Historical Literacies were addressed and how?

The following Historical Literacies were addressed through the research involved in the compilation of the Going to War page of the website. Also the subsequent involvement in the research needed for the RSL Community Link project integrates these literacies.

Events of the past
Narratives of the past
Research skills
Language of history
Historical concepts
ICT understandings
Making connections
Historical explanation

Once the website is fully operational all of the above literacies will be integrated into the units of work which the website is designed to support.

Evaluation:

Overall Outcomes	There is a much greater interest by students and teachers in the history of Canungra township and the district as a whole. There has been wonderful community involvement and interest in the school's programs through the contributions made by the Information Centre and the RSL.
Reflection	The project started out with a goal of constructing an easily accessible database of photographs to support local history studies. However, as it progressed, the interest of the students in the War history propelled the project in a much expanded direction. As Canungra is a major site for the Defence Forces in Queensland the students are confronted daily with the importance of the Defence Forces in the community. It was a great opportunity to enhance this aspect by investigating the veterans who "paid the Supreme Sacrifice" and to try to understand them as people from this community. This consequently has resulted in the project moving in directions that I had never imagined at the outset. The major benefit of the website and the RSL Community Link projects is that they will continue for many years and do not rely on the same personnel to maintain the program. Another benefit of constructing a website is that as other historical photographs become available they can be added to the existing site as can new subject collections. I found the timeframe quite short for the project and would have included more pages and photographs if time had permitted. Also the hard copies of the photographs and construction of the album and framing have still to be completed.
Student Comments	Indy: "This is the coolest way to learn about history!" Daniel: "I had no idea that the soldiers who died in the War were so young and also that their brothers died too. How horrible for their parents!" Eleanor: "I thought it was just stories that our school was standing on an old railway station site!! Now I really believe it!" James: "I wish we could dig up that buried train engine and have a look at it!"
What help are you prepared to offer teachers who want to contact you?	The process to go through in planning a website such as this. How to become involved in the RSL Community Link program Any aspect of interest Email: khodg15@eq.edu.au

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