5. How to talk with kids about Australian history

2024-05-14

How do you teach and talk about Australian history with kids?

This is a bonus episode for teachers, carers and parents featuring Professor Anna Clark and Professor Clare Wright.

Teaching and talking about history with kids can be rewarding and challenging.

From their experience studying and teaching history, Clare and Anna tackle questions like:

How can kids in primary school work with history’s complexity?How can primary students consider the moral lessons of what they're learning?How do you encourage kids when they're interested in history but get some facts wrong?What’s one crucial thing to get across to kids about history?

Anna and Clare look at a concern about saying the wrong thing when talking about Australian history, and look at how to do Reconciliation while teaching or talking about history with kids?

And you'll hear why asking questions is an important part of how you talk about history, and how to use primary sources and historical objects to connect kids with the history of our country.

VoicesAnna Clark is a Professor of History at the University of Technology, Sydney.Clare Wright is a Professor of History and Public Engagement at La Trobe University.
Episode image

Photo of Clare Wright (left) and Anna Clark (right) in the recording studio at University of Technology Sydney.

Music

Thannoid by Blue Dot Sessions.

TranscriptDownload How to talk with kids about Australian history transcript in WordDownload How to talk with kids about Australian history transcript as PDF
CreditsMade on Gadigal Country by Anna Clark, Clare Wright, Jane Curtis and Britta Jorgensen.Executive producers are Clare Wright and Anna Clark.Podcast concept, design and development by Anna Clark.Indigenous Cultural Consultant is Katrina Thorpe.Story editor is Kyla Slaven.Learning material by Nick Adeney, Victorian primary educatorCurriculum advisors are Nicole Laauw, Department of Education NSW, and Rose Reid, Association of Independent Schools of NSW

Thanks to all the students whose voices you hear in this episode and their schools and teachers: Princes Street Primary school, Marrickville West Primary School, Westbourne Grammar School, Preshil Primary School, La Perouse Primary School, and Yirrkala Bilingual School.

Hey History! is produced by the Australian Centre for Public History at UTS and UTS Impact Studios.

Impact Studios' executive producer is Sarah Gilbert.

No. of episodes

17

Latest episode

2026-04-29

Where can you listen?

Apple Podcasts Spotify Podtail Google Podcasts RSS

For kids age 8-12, a series on Australian history with stories and music. For teachers, a professional learning series called Hey History Teacher!

Season 1 follows Stage 2 and 3 of the Australian curriculum, and of NSW, Victoria, Western Australia and Queensland. Students can listen in class and use our Learning Materials designed and road-tested by a primary school educator.

Go back in time to the Gold Rush. What happened at the meetings between Captain Cook and First Nations people at Kamay Botany Bay? Experience life as a convict kid, and hear how First Nations people learn on Country.

Season 2 is for teachers, teacher-educators and pre-service teachers. hear conversations and advice about over 8 episodes, including teaching difficult histories, creative history teaching, approaching First Nations histories with care and confidence, complexity in history teaching, advice for new history teachers, great history teaching, and teaching the Australian Wars.

These eight PD episodes are grounded in current research and features fifteen classroom educators and academics from around Australia.

Hey History! is made by history professors, so you'll hear from Australia's top historians and experts. It's produced by The Australian Centre for Public History and Impact Studios at the University of Technology Sydney, in partnership with La Trobe University.

Hey History Teacher! series is made with the support of the History Teachers Association of New South Wales.