Local history for schools

Resources in the library

Local History, located on the lower ground floor at Joondalup Library, has a range of resources, including photographs, oral history interviews, newspaper clippings and other material documenting how the local area has changed over time, suitable for use by teachers to support the HASS curriculum.

Resources to borrow

All City of Joondalup schools can join the library as Institutional Members. Institutional Membership enables teachers to borrow a range of materials from Local History.

Aimed specifically at curriculum outcomes for Year four students, Investigating Joondalup’s Past kits contain:

• Photographs
• Maps
• Oral history excerpts
• Stories from the Suburbs booklets which document the history of each suburb.

To assist teachers with meeting outcomes in the primary history curriculum, the Local History staff have developed the resource My Learning Journal, which is available for loan on USB. This is relevant for years two to five, and topics covered include:

• Who lived here first and how do we know?
• How has the community changed?
• Which environmental features have been lost, and which have been retained?
• What contribution has been made by different groups and individuals in the community?
• How and why do people choose to remember significant events of the past?

The Commemorating ANZAC kit – which tells students about ANZAC Day and the local men and women who served in Australia’s military forces, is available for loan on USB.

School tours and activities

School groups are welcome to participate in curriculum-linked activities as part of a Civic Centre and Library tour. Teachers and home-schoolers are welcome to contact Reference and Local History staff to organise library visits for students wishing to undertake research.

Year 12 ATAR Geography teachers can book classes in for an incursion, enabling students to access resources and information supporting a Unit 4 case study for Depth Study One, focussing on either the Ocean Reef Marina site and adjacent coastal areas or Lake Goollelal and the surrounding area.

Year 9 HASS teachers can book classes in for an incursion to support the Geographies of Interconnection module, focussing on planning, transport and land use in the City.

Materials to support other units of study are also available. Please contact Local History on 9400 4746 or email local.history@joondalup.wa.gov.au for further information.