Learning Experience 1: Convict Clothing Research and Dress Up
The children will spend time researching the kinds of clothes worn, materials available and the effect of social class on what was worn. The students are then to create and plan outfits that would be time, culture and material accurate to the colonies. Students are to then work with their families to replicate an outfit such as those worn by people their age, gender or from specific roles/jobs to wear to school on a dedicated ‘convict’ day. Students are then encouraged to look at the clothes they wore as a cohort and reflect on the accuracy through looking at paintings, materials and images. In this hands-on, inquiry based learning approach the students will feel encouraged to investigate on their own, communication skills and become more aware of the Australian Colonies. This learning experience does use assessment through reflection and analysing the accuracy of the students planned outfits (initial designs not the ones worn to school). Students are to use the information learnt from visiting the site to motivate further research into the clothing, materials and the context to how clothes were made, worn and accessed by different classes. By understanding the context, availability and use of clothing in the past students can become more confident in seeing the progress of society, to learn from the past and to gain a deeper perspective on the lives of the people who lived on this land before us. This task’s research aspect is also to be completed in small groups or pairs, to allow teamwork, communication and for students to support and learn together. Students with diverse needs can be catered for by assisting in providing some base research, assisting with rewording questions and/or through working with their families to assist in making a suitable costume that meets their needs.
Supporting Resources
The Museums of History New South Wales also provides appropriate information and is a beneficial source of information for students. Their ‘1801 Day in the Life of a Convict’ page provides a range of information about daily life for the convicts (Starr, 2022). This information can give students an introduction to the many factors that influenced the convicts’ lives. In looking at the information about daily life students are able to see what was normalised, common and expected of life, information that is useful for the task. They can utilise the knowledge formed from the excursion, this content and their own research.
Link: https://mhnsw.au/stories/convict-sydney/1801-day-life-convict/
Another website based set of resources that would benefit this learning activity is the information, worksheets, images and questions found on the site Twinkl (2022) under their ‘What was Australian Convict Clothing?’ page. This site not only provides information for students to read through, talk about and investigate but also worksheets, further activity ideas and appropriate supporting images and videos. This site provides context into what convicts clothing was like and why they were that way, continuing from what they learnt on the excursion. This aids in understanding, planning out and creating their own set of clothing (gender, age, social class and contextually appropriate).
Link: https://www.twinkl.com.au/teaching-wiki/australian-convict-clothing
Teachers can also utilise resources such as the learning supports, plans, summaries, notes and suggestions from the State Libraries such as the one linked below (State Library NSW, 2016). These can be used by teachers for resources, ideas, activities and to improve their confidence. For example, this content linked below aids in connecting content areas with activities, specific content knowledge and can be used to further develop the chosen clothing based research task. It is important to give students an empathetic, deep learning experience about what life was like in the colonies.
Link: https://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/learning/migration-australia-1800s
Copies of original paintings, drawings and images can be brought into the classroom as an additional support to this activity. These images will give visual representations of period specific groups of people, what they wore, what they valued and what they wanted people to focus on. For example, the two images below would be a great resource to support the students development of ideas, creativity and is a good visual aid. This encourages students to look into the experiences people faced and what implications this had on their idea of clothing and fashion.
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