Inquiry Menu

Hi everyone,

In inquiry this term the grade 5/6´s have been looking at Australia´s migration story, whilst learning about migrants, refugees and the reasoning behind migrating.

To end this wonderful inquiry unit we have put all of the learning that we have gathered into a project which was set out in a menu form with an entree, main and dessert. The topic that I investigated during this project was European Settlement and all of the cultures that migrated to Australia over time.

For my entree I created a timeline showing the history of Australia’s European Settlement and all of the different people that migrated dating way back to the 1700´s.  For my main I wrote an exploding the moment piece about a passenger on the First Fleet´s boat and all of the things that they experienced whilst travelling. I wrote about all of the feelings that they may have felt and listed the five senses of, sight, smell, hear, taste and touch. For my dessert I wrote a rhyming poem from the perspective of a member of the First Fleet stepping into Australia for the first time, whilst talking about the new surroundings and landscape.

The most important thing that I have learnt during this whole European Settlement investigation would probably be, that anyone can migrate to any country no matter their background, culture, colour, race or just for being who they are. In today’s world, there still may be conflict or misunderstandings between different people but the reality is we are all humans and are all the same.

I enjoyed writing my exploding the moment piece because I find writing really fun and enjoyable, so getting to brainstorm a variety of adjectives and descriptive language was great. It was hard when I had to research and gather all of my information, because it is vital that you get useful facts so that it can help you later on in the project.

I think that European Settlement is definitely a very important part in Australia’s history because without it Australia would not have the population that it has today, and also we would not have all of the cultures resources that we have.

Next time I complete an investigation I want to make sure that I gather all of my information in advance instead of researching a bit more later on in the project, so that I can refer back to it knowing that I have everything that I will need to complete the task.
I hope you enjoy my project about European Settlement.

Feel free to leave any comments or feedback down below as it would be greatly appreciated.