Resource+3







Explanation of the Resource
The three visual resources illustrate various scenes of the British colonisation of Australia. __Image one__ depicts two Aboriginal persons on the shore of Kurnell Peninsula, New South Wales - the first landing place for Captain James Cook in Australia. The image portrays the first contact that was made between the Gweagal Aborigines and Captain Cook in 1770 (NSW Heritage Office, 2008, para. 8). Between 1788 and 1850 the English sent over 162,000 convicts to Australia in 806 ships (Australian History Research, 2010, para. 1). __Image two__ depicts the first eleven of these ships arriving at Sydney Cove, which are known as the First Fleet. These ships contained the convicts and marines that are now acknowledged as the Founders of Australia. __Image 3__ depicts the ceremony of raising the Union Flag at Sydney Cove on 26 January 1788, marking the establishment of British settlement in Australia. The eleven ships of the First Fleet, commanded by Captain Arthur Phillip, had just completed an eight-month voyage from England to establish the penal colony of New South Wales (The Learning Federation, 2008, para. 2).

Relevance to the Outcome
These images specifically relate to the HSIE focus outcome //CCS2.1 – ‘describes events and actions related to the British colonisation of// Australia //and assesses the changes and consequences’// (Board of Studies NSW, 2007, p.23). When used as a trio, these images portray a visual timeline of the British colonisation of Australia. No merit is lost, however if these images are displayed individually as they each provide students with an insight into a historical event of colonisation. Furthermore, these colonisation images can be analysed from different perspectives, either those of the Aborigines or of the Europeans.

Aspect of Literacy Explored
As we are becoming an increasingly ‘visual culture’ (Mirzoeff, 1999, p. 4) the inclusion of visual literacy in the school curriculum is gaining prominence (Callow, 2006, p. 7). These resources will therefore be used in this unit of work to convey how meaning is created through visual images. This meaning will be explored via three metafunctional aspects that combine to describe a visual text (Callow, 2006, p. 11). These aspects include: representational (nature of events, the objects and participants involved), interactive (interpersonal relationship between the viewer and the image) and compositional (the layout of the image) (Unsworth, 2001, p. 73). Within the three metafunctinoal aspects of visual literacy a few prominent visual elements will be brought to the student’s attention through the use of the resources. These include: shot distance, narrative action images and salience. Each resource depicts a long shot, a common social distance employed in colonisation illustrations to capture and describe the vast landscapes and events that are happening. This social distance also caters for a narrative action image to be displayed. In an action image there are often vectors that lead the eye to look at certain parts of the image (Callow, 2006, p.11). This is evident in all three pictures, particularly so in image one where the viewer follows the strong line created by the Aboriginal’s spear, which then leads to Captain Cook’s ships. Finally, the aspect of salience will be analysed, (a feature in the image that the eye is immediately drawn towards). If student’s attention is immediately captured by an object in the image that does not relate to colonisation, the picture is not suitable for this unit of work. The three images provide plenty of elements for exploration of visual grammar techniques. Through examination of these images, students will develop the skills needed to find their own visual images for inclusion in their PowerPoint on colonisation.

References
<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Australian History Research (2010). The First Fleet. Retrieved September 27, 2010 from [] Board of Studies NSW (2007). Human Society and Its Environment K – 6 Syllabus. Sydney: Author.

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Callow, J. (2006). Images, politics and multiliteracies: Using a visual metalanguage. Australian Journal of Language & Literacy, 29(1), 7-23. <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Mirzoeff, N. (1999). An Introduction to Visual Culture. London: Routledge. <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">NSW Heritage Office (2008). Kurnell – Birthplace of Modern Australia. Retrieved September 27, 2010 from [] <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">The Learning Federation (2008). ‘Founding Australia’, 1937. Retrieved September 27, 2010 from [] <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Unsworth, L. (2001). Teaching multiliteracies across the curriculum: changing contexts of text and image in classroom practice. Buckingham, England: Open University