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7–10History 7–10 Syllabus

Record of changes
Implementation from 2027
Expand for detailed implementation advice
OverviewRationaleAimOutcomesContentAssessmentGlossaryTeaching and learning support

Content

Stage 5

Depth study (core): Australia at war – WWII (1939 – c. 1945)

Content in Working with historical concepts and skills outlines how historical concepts and skills are to be integrated with all other content in this focus area as part of process of historical inquiry.

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Working with historical concepts and skills

  • Evaluate and use relevant historical concepts and skills

  • Engage in historical inquiry, integrating information from a range of sources as evidence where appropriate

  • Create written texts to analyse historical concepts related to Australia at war – WWII

Background and origins of Australia at war – WWII

  • Short-term and long-term causes of WWII

  • Reasons for Australia’s involvement in WWII

Significant groups, individuals, ideas, beliefs, practices or events in Australia at war – WWII

  • Reasons for the enlistment, and the experiences of servicemen and servicewomen in Australia’s defence forces, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples

  • Places where Australians fought, for example North Africa (1940–1941), Crete (1941), Singapore (1941–1942), New Guinea (1942)

  • The Battle for Australia and the War in the Pacific

  • The effect of war on the home front including government controls, the changing role of women and the contributions of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples to the war effort

  • The experiences of prisoners of war (POWs) including those held in Japanese camps and internment of ‘enemy aliens’ in Australia

  • The experiences of Jewish people and other victims in the Holocaust

  • Issues of personnel returning from active service, including reintegration into society, continuation of combat trauma effects due to government policies for veterans and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander personnel who were not honoured or included in the soldier settlement scheme

Impact and legacies of Australia at war – WWII

  • The experiences of the Holocaust for Jewish survivors in post-WWII Australia

  • The significance of the Nuremberg trials (1945) and the creation of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Genocide Convention) 1948

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