1828: Alice
When Alice’s father declares a half‑day picnic, Alice and George organise a pig race. Rivalry, bets and trickery (pig swapping and painting) test friendships and community rules as the children learn about fairness, risk and consequences.
1820s Decade Overview
The 1820s were a decade of expanding settlement, convict labour and early pastoral growth that reshaped local economies and social life.
1824–1828: Road and infrastructure works increased demand for convict and indentured labour.
1825: Pastoral runs expanded inland, changing land use and local economies.
1820s: Small‑scale market gardening and port activity linked colonies to regional trade.
First Nations Focus: Students can explore how expanding settlement and labour systems affected access to Country, food sources and movement. Despite dispossession and disruption, First Nations Peoples maintained cultural practices, knowledge systems and responsibilities to Country.
Provocation Question
When is competition fun and when does it harm relationships or community trust?
Clip 1: This Little Piggy
Alice and her family are delivering food to the indentured convicts working at the stone quarry when they have the idea of organising a pig race for the half-day holiday.
Tuning In
Alice and her family plan a pig race as part of a community picnic. This moment shows how children, work and entertainment intersect in town life and raises questions about fairness, labour and community roles.
As you watch the clip, pay attention to:
- How Alice and her family interact with indentured workers
- The ways the pig race is framed as entertainment and community activity
- Who organises, who benefits and who is left out
In small groups, brainstorm big ideas around these questions:
- What does a community event tell us about who belongs and who provides labour?
- How do children contribute to adult economies and social life?
- When is play also work?
As a class, discuss these questions:
- What makes an event feel inclusive or exclusive in a small town?
- How do roles for children differ from adult roles in this clip?
- What responsibilities do organisers have to make events fair and safe?
Finding Out & Sorting Out
Work together in small groups to explore the clip’s core themes of labour, community roles and fairness. In your groups, brainstorm big ideas around these questions and collect short examples from the clip to support your thinking:
- Who does the work in this community and who benefits from it?
- How do play and work overlap for children in the clip?
- What would make a community event fair and safe for everyone involved?
Choose one of the questions above. Use evidence from the clip to sort your group’s thinking into a KWLH (What do you Know, Want to know, What have you Learned, How do you know) class display.
Making Connections
Write a short reflection: what makes a fair competition? Propose one rule to make the pig race fairer.
Clip 2: The Bets
Alice is training her piglet Wilhelmina for the pig race but is unable to convince any of the local workers to bet any money on her. Freddie the bookie is concerned at the thought of losing money as most of the locals have bet on Oink, the favourite.
Tuning In
Gambling and reputation shape the pig race. This clip highlights persuasion, risk and how social status influences choices in a small community.
In small groups, brainstorm big ideas around these questions:
- How does reputation affect who people trust with money or bets?
- What social rules govern persuasion and risk in a community?
- When does friendly competition become harmful?
As you watch the clip, pay attention to:
- How persuasion and reputation influence who places bets
- How characters try to influence others and why
- The social consequences for winners, losers and bystanders
As a class, discuss these questions:
- What makes someone persuasive or trustworthy in a small community?
- Should children be involved in activities that involve money or risk? Why or why not?
- How can communities manage the harms that come from gambling or unequal power?
Finding Out & Sorting Out
Work together in pairs or small groups to investigate how persuasion, reputation and risk shape social relationships. Brainstorm big ideas and note moments from the clip that illustrate each idea:
- How does reputation influence who people trust with money or bets?
- What persuasive strategies do characters use and why do they work (or not)?
- When does friendly competition become harmful to community trust?
Choose one group task to complete and share with the class:
- Collect data: tally fictional bets from the class and calculate simple odds
- Role‑play a scene from the pig races: bookie, bettor, trainer
- Creative writing task: write a short, sharp, persuasive ad campaign to attract bets
Making Connections
Class Debate: Should children be allowed to gamble? Support with evidence from the clip, current research and class discussion.
Clip 3: Pig Forgery
Freddie tells Alice about his forging history while they paint a piglet black. They then switch it with George's piglet Benny in order to fix the race. When Alice awakes she's shocked to find there is something wrong with Wilhelmina.
Tuning In
Deception and consequences come to the fore when pigs are swapped and painted. This clip asks us to consider ethics, accountability and how communities repair trust after wrongdoing.
In small groups, brainstorm big ideas around these questions:
- What motivates people to deceive others in competitions?
- How should communities respond when rules are broken?
- What is restitution and what does it look like in a small town?
As you watch the clip, think about:
- The motives behind the pig swap and how characters justify their actions
- How adults and children react when the deception is discovered
- The immediate emotional and social consequences for relationships
As a class, discuss these questions:
- When is punishment appropriate and when is repair more important?
- How can a community rebuild trust after someone cheats?
- What rules or practices would you introduce to prevent similar problems in future events?
Finding Out & Sorting Out
In groups, explore this clip’s themes of deception, accountability and community repair. Brainstorm big ideas and gather specific clip evidence for each:
- What motivates people to deceive others in competitions?
- How should communities balance punishment and repair after wrongdoing?
- What practical steps help rebuild trust after rules are broken?
Using the ideas you generated, choose one group task and develop a short plan or script that shows how your group would address the wrongdoing:
Ethics chart - list actions, motives, consequences;
Drama - improvise the race aftermath and community meeting;
Problem‑solve - design a restitution plan for those harmed.
Making Connections
This clip raises questions about deception, responsibility and how communities repair harm. The activities below help students deepen understanding through reflection, role play, problem solving and creative response.
-
Civic action: draft a short class ‘Code of Ethics’ for fair play and consequences in the school playground.
-
Restorative circle role play: In groups of five, assign roles - person harmed, person who cheated, two community members, facilitator. Use a simple script: each person speaks once about how they were affected, the person who cheated explains why, then the group suggests ways to repair harm.
Australian Curriculum Links
|
|
Year 3 |
Year 4 |
Year 5 |
Year 6 |
Understanding – Civics and Citizenship |
who makes rules, why rules are important in the school and/or the local community, and the consequences of rules not being followed
|
the differences between “rules” and “laws”, why laws are important and how they affect the lives of people
|
|
|
Skills – Questioning and Researching |
develop questions to guide investigations about people, events, places and issues |
develop questions to guide investigations about people, events, places and issues |
develop questions to investigate people, events, developments, places and systems |
develop questions to investigate people, events, developments, places and systems
|
Skills - Interpreting, analysing and evaluating |
analyse information and data, and identify perspectives |
analyse information and data, and identify perspectives |
|
|
Skills - Concluding and decision-making |
draw conclusions based on analysis of information propose actions or responses to an issue or challenge that consider possible effects of actions |
draw conclusions based on analysis of information propose actions or responses to an issue or challenge that consider possible effects of actions |
develop evidence-based conclusions propose actions or responses to issues or challenges and use criteria to assess the possible effects |
develop evidence-based conclusions propose actions or responses to issues or challenges and use criteria to assess the possible effects |
Skills - Communicating |
present descriptions and explanations, using ideas from sources and relevant subject-specific terms |
present descriptions and explanations, using ideas from sources and relevant subject-specific terms |
present descriptions and explanations, drawing ideas, findings and viewpoints from sources, and using relevant terms and conventions |
present descriptions and explanations, drawing ideas, findings and viewpoints from sources, and using relevant terms and conventions |
|
|
Year 3 |
Year 4 |
Year 5 |
Year 6 |
Language |
understand how the language of evaluation and emotion, such as modal verbs, can be varied to be more or less forceful
|
identify the subjective language of opinion and feeling, and the objective language of factual reporting |
understand how to move beyond making bare assertions by taking account of differing ideas or opinions and authoritative sources |
|
Literacy |
use interaction skills to contribute to conversations and discussions to share information and ideas plan, create, edit and publish imaginative, informative and persuasive written and multimodal texts, using visual features, appropriate form and layout, with ideas grouped in simple paragraphs, mostly correct tense, topic-specific vocabulary and correct spelling of most high-frequency and phonetically regular words plan, create, rehearse and deliver short oral and/or multimodal presentations to inform, express opinions or tell stories, using a clear structure, details to elaborate ideas, topic-specific and precise vocabulary, visual features, and appropriate tone, pace, pitch and volume |
listen for key points and information to carry out tasks and contribute to discussions, acknowledging another opinion, linking a response to the topic, and sharing and extending ideas and information plan, create, edit and publish written and multimodal imaginative, informative and persuasive texts, using visual features, relevant linked ideas, complex sentences, appropriate tense, synonyms and antonyms, correct spelling of multisyllabic words and simple punctuation
plan, create, rehearse and deliver structured oral and/or multimodal presentations to report on a topic, tell a story, recount events or present an argument using subjective and objective language, complex sentences, visual features, tone, pace, pitch and volume
|
use appropriate interaction skills including paraphrasing and questioning to clarify meaning, make connections to own experience, and present and justify an opinion or idea plan, create, edit and publish written and multimodal texts whose purposes may be imaginative, informative and persuasive, developing ideas using visual features, text structure appropriate to the topic and purpose, text connectives, expanded noun groups, specialist and technical vocabulary, and punctuation including dialogue punctuation plan, create, rehearse and deliver spoken and multimodal presentations that include relevant, elaborated ideas, sequencing ideas and using complex sentences, specialist and technical vocabulary, pitch, tone, pace, volume, and visual and digital features |
use interaction skills and awareness of formality when paraphrasing, questioning, clarifying and interrogating ideas, developing and supporting arguments, and sharing and evaluating information, experiences and opinions plan, create, edit and publish written and multimodal texts whose purposes may be imaginative, informative and persuasive, using paragraphs, a variety of complex sentences, expanded verb groups, tense, topic-specific and vivid vocabulary, punctuation, spelling and visual features plan, create, rehearse and deliver spoken and multimodal presentations that include information, arguments and details that develop a theme or idea, organising ideas using precise topic-specific and technical vocabulary, pitch, tone, pace, volume, and visual and digital features |
Critical and Creative Thinking
Students evaluate ideas about fairness, risk, persuasion and responsibility by analysing the consequences of competition, deception and decision-making within the pig race.
Ethical Understanding
Students explore ethical questions about honesty, cheating, gambling, accountability and repairing harm as they consider how communities respond when rules are broken.
Personal and Social Capability
Students develop personal and social capability by reflecting on relationships, trust, cooperation and conflict resolution, and by considering how their actions affect others in a community.