I’m delighted to announce that the latest case study in the Museum’s Australian History Mysteries (AHM) curriculum resource, ‘What are the Mysteries of Lake Mungo?’, will be launched at the Lake Mungo Visitor Centre next week on Monday 4 June 2012. Museum Director, Andrew Sayers, will be on hand to thank all those who have contributed to the new resource and in particular Aboriginal Elders from the area, staff from the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage, Professor Jim Bowler and our partners, Ryebuck Media.
The new case study – number 16 in the AHM series – tackles the mysteries associated with the remarkable discoveries of Mungo Lady and Mungo Man at Lake Mungo in the Willandra Lakes region of NSW in the late 1960s by Professor Jim Bowler. These discoveries eventually led to a comprehensive revision of the length of Aboriginal occupation of Australia as well as a revision of the nature of Aboriginal society itself. As Professor Bowler says in the film for the new resource:
We were looking at something of global importance, we were dealing with art, with creative art, and creative ritual, at that extraordinary time in this part of Australia.
‘What are the Mysteries of Lake Mungo?’ consists of a 25 minute film, a 56-page booklet containing teacher’s notes and comprehensive student activities and a computer interactive. The film introduces students to the mysteries or key investigations that need to be solved, and the student activities provide further evidence and suggest approaches to solving these mysteries. The interactive explores issues surrounding Lake Mungo as a World Heritage area and how this precious place can be properly maintained and cared for.
The resource is aimed squarely at Year 7 in Australian Curriculum: History where one of the depth studies requires students to explore the ancient world, including Australia. As one of the most important sites for the discovery of ancient Aboriginal remains, Lake Mungo will be a popular option for teachers looking to cover this part of the course. We are hopeful that this new resource will make an important contribution to teaching about this fascinating part of our history.
To whet your appetite I’ve provided two short edited snippets from the film of the new resource: the first (at the top) provides a sense of the extraordinary landscape of Lake Mungo and its significance; the second shows presenter, Tim Gurry, introducing the well known Giovanni Caselli artwork and challenging the students to work out how accurate it might be:
‘What are the Mysteries of Lake Mungo?’ will be available to schools either through the Australian History Mysteries subscription website – australianhistorymysteries.info – or as a stand-alone resource from Ryebuck Media – ryebuckmedia.com.au You can order the stand-alone version from Ryebuck immediately while it will be available through the subscription website shortly – see a further blog post about this shortly.
Fantastic! Wish I was there!