ACTF

Deep Time Teacher Guide: Bunda & Barangaroo

Teaching Deep Time with respect, cultural Integrity and empathy in My Place Episode 25: 'Before Time: Bunda'  and Episode 26: 'Before Time: Barangaroo.'

Purpose of this Guide

Episodes 25 and 26 take students far beyond the invasion‑era history of 1788 and into the deep time histories of First Nations Peoples; stories grounded in tens of thousands of years of connection to Country, kinship, law and knowledge systems.

This guide supports teachers to approach these episodes with:

  • truth‑telling
  • cultural safety
  • historical accuracy
  • respect for First Nations sovereignty
  • deep listening to Country and community
  • age‑appropriate clarity for primary students

These episodes are not ‘prehistory.’ They are living histories, carried through story, ceremony, kinship and Country.

Context Overview – Deep Time and Cultural Continuity

Episodes 25: Bunda and Episode 26: Barangaroo shift from invasion‑era history into the deep time histories of First Nations Peoples; stories grounded in tens of thousands of years of connection to Country, kinship, law and knowledge systems. They invite students to understand Australia’s past not as a timeline beginning in 1788, but as a vast, continuous story shaped by the world’s oldest living cultures.

This overview supports teachers to approach these episodes with cultural integrity, guided by the FIRST Framework and the Australian Curriculum Version 0.9 Deep Time History sub-strand.

Understanding Country and Time

First Nations Peoples understand time as non‑linear, relational and deeply connected to Country. Deep time includes creation stories, ancestral beings, and the formation of landscapes, waterways and skies. These stories are not “myths” but law, explaining how people came to be, how they relate to each other, and how to care for Country.

Kinship systems define relationships, responsibilities and identity. Seasonal calendars — often with six or more seasons — reflect ecological knowledge built over thousands of generations.

Key ideas for students

  • Time is cyclical and relational.
  • Country is a living entity with spirit, law and story.
  • Creation stories explain identity, responsibility and belonging.
  • Kinship shapes social organisation and decision-making

Life on Country

Daily life for First Nations communities is grounded in responsibility to Country, family and community. Children learn through observation, story, practice and participation. Roles are shared across kinship groups, and knowledge is taught at the right time, in the right way, by the right people.

Ecological knowledge guides food gathering, fire management, water use, shelter, movement and ceremony. Life on Country is adaptive, sustainable and relational — shaped by climate, seasons, landforms and community needs.

Key ideas for students

  • Learning happens through doing, watching and listening.
  • Roles and responsibilities are shared across kinship networks.
  • Ecological knowledge guides daily decisions.
  • Life on Country is sustainable and adaptive.

Knowledge Systems and Technologies

First Nations knowledge systems are sophisticated, place‑based and intergenerational. They include:

  • Fire knowledge (cool burning, cultural burning)
  • Water systems (fish traps, eel traps, aquaculture)
  • Food systems (seasonal harvesting, land management)
  • Navigation and mapping (songlines, stars, landmarks)
  • Astronomy (sky knowledge, seasonal indicators)
  • Tools and technologies (stone tools, weaving, shelters, canoes)

These technologies reflect deep scientific understanding of ecology, engineering, physics and sustainability.

Key ideas for students

  • Knowledge systems are scientific, ecological and relational.
  • Technologies are adapted to place and purpose.
  • Songlines and astronomy guide movement, ceremony and survival.
  • Fire and water management reflect long-term environmental care.

Cultural Community and Change

First Nations cultures are the oldest continuing cultures in the world, showing both continuity and adaptation across deep time. Knowledge is passed down through story, ceremony, art, song, dance, kinship and Country.

Communities have adapted to major environmental changes — ice ages, sea level rise, droughts — while maintaining cultural identity, law and connection to Country.

Key ideas for students

  • Culture continues through story, practice and responsibility.
  • Knowledge is passed down across generations.
  • Communities adapt to environmental change while maintaining identity.
  • Continuity is a sign of strength, resilience and sovereignty.

Respecting First Nations Voices (FIRST Framework)

Teaching deep time history requires respectful partnerships with local First Nations knowledge custodians.

Teachers should:

  • Find out what local stories and knowledge can be shared
  • Include Indigenous voices through endorsed resources
  • Respect partnerships by seeking permission and guidance
  • Support student learning with culturally safe practices
  • Take time to build relationships and deepen understanding

This approach ensures that teaching is culturally safe, accurate and grounded in community authority.

1. Why Deep Time Requires a Different Approach

Deep time history is not measured in decades or centuries. It spans 65,000+ years of continuous culture, knowledge and custodianship.

For many non‑Indigenous Australians, history often begins with colonisation.

For First Nations Peoples, history begins with:

  • ancestral beings
  • creation stories
  • the formation of Country
  • kinship and law
  • intergenerational knowledge systems

These episodes invite students to understand that:

  • Australia’s history did not begin in 1788
  • First Nations cultures are the world’s oldest continuing cultures
  • knowledge is passed down through story, practice and responsibility
  • Country is a living entity with spirit, law and memory

Deep time is not “long ago.” It is now, because Country continues to teach, guide and hold story.

2. Principals for Ethical, Culturally Safe Teaching

A. Truth-telling with care and clarity

Use accurate, respectful language that honours First Nations sovereignty.

Examples of safe phrasing:

 ‘First Nations Peoples have lived on this continent for tens of thousands of years.’

 ‘Knowledge is passed down through story, ceremony, kinship and Country.’

‘These stories belong to the communities who care for this Country.’

Avoid:

‘prehistoric’

‘primitive tools’

‘myths and legends’

‘nomadic’

B. Country as teacher

Help students understand that Country is:

  • alive
  • relational
  • storied
  • a source of lore, identity and belonging

Encourage noticing:

wind, sound, movement, animals, seasons, sky, water.

C. Kinship and responsibility

Children in deep time stories learn through:

  • observation
  • participation
  • story work
  • responsibility to family and Country

 Highlight that knowledge is taught by the right people at the right time.

D. Cultural continuity, not a frozen past

Avoid presenting deep time as something that ‘ended.’

Emphasise:

  • continuity
  • adaptation
  • resilience
  • ongoing cultural practices
  • living knowledge systems

E. Dual perspectives and multiple truths

Even in Before Time episodes, students can explore:

  • how different communities understand Country
  • how knowledge is held and shared
  • how stories explain identity, belonging and responsibility

F. Respecting cultural authority (FIRST Framework)

Teachers should:

  • Find out what local stories can be shared
  • Include Indigenous voices through endorsed resources
  • Respect partnerships with local custodians
  • Support student learning with cultural safety
  • Take time to build relationships

This ensures teaching is grounded in community authority, not assumption.

3. How to Introduce Episodes 25 & 26 to Students

Before viewing

  • Explain that these stories take place long before 1788, in a time when First Nations cultures were thriving, adapting and caring for Country.
  • Emphasise that these are living cultures, not “ancient” in a distant sense.

Prepare students to notice:

  • relationships
  • responsibilities
  • ecological knowledge
  • how children learn from Country

During Viewing

Encourage noticing:

  • how Bunda and Barangaroo interact with Country
  • how knowledge is shared
  • how tools, movement, sound and story guide daily life
  • how kinship shapes decisions
  • how Country communicates

After Viewing

Use inquiry questions that open thinking:

  • What does Country teach Bunda or Barangaroo?
  • How do they learn from family, community and story?
  • What knowledge helps them live well with Country?
  • How do these stories show continuity across thousands of generations?
  • What can we learn from these knowledge systems today?

4. Curriculum Alignment (AC v9 – Deep Time Adapted for Years 4–6)

In addition to specific curriculum links to HASS and English, Episodes 25 and 26 align strongly with:

  • AC v9 Deep Time History sub‑strand (Year 7)
  • Cross‑Curriculum Priority: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories and Cultures
  • Science: First Nations ecological knowledge
  • The Arts: storytelling, movement, visual representation
  • Technologies: tools, materials, systems
  • General Capabilities: Intercultural & Ethical Understanding

Episodes 25 and 26 align strongly with the intent of the AC v9 Deep Time History sub‑strand (Year 7), which explores First Nations histories, knowledge systems and cultural continuity over tens of thousands of years. For Years 4–6, these concepts are introduced through age‑appropriate themes: Country, kinship, ecological knowledge, cultural protocols, leadership and responsibility.

The Deep Time episodes provide rich opportunities for students to engage with the Cross‑Curriculum Priority: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories and Cultures, particularly through learning about Country/Place, Culture, People, and Knowledge Systems. Students encounter First Nations perspectives not as historical add‑ons, but as central, sophisticated systems of knowledge that continue today.

These episodes also connect naturally with Science, where students explore First Nations ecological knowledge, seasonal indicators, and sustainable practices; The Arts, through storytelling, movement, symbolism and multimodal representation; and Technologies, where students examine tools, materials and problem‑solving systems used in deep time.

Across all learning areas, students build Intercultural Understanding by interpreting gesture, silence, movement and cultural protocols, and develop Ethical Understanding as they consider responsibility, cooperation, fairness and care for Country and community.

Curriculum Matrix (Years 4–6) — Deep Time Episodes 25 & 26

This matrix shows how the Deep Time episodes (Bunda & Barangaroo) connect to HASS, English, Science, The Arts, Technologies, and General Capabilities for Years 4–6.
It mirrors the structure used for Episodes 23–24 and will expand into full tables in the next stage of the Guide.

Years 4–6 focus: First Nations cultures, perspectives, continuity, responsibilities, and ways of knowing.

Year Level

Relevant AC v9 Focus

Deep Time Connection (Ep 25–26)

Year 4

Diversity of First Nations Peoples; social organisation; continuous connection to Country; sustainable resource use

Kinship roles in Bunda & Barangaroo; ecological knowledge (water, yabbies, fishing); cultural protocols; responsibilities to Country.

Year 5

Causes & effects of change; perspectives; significance of cultural practices

Leadership, ceremony and decision‑making in Barangaroo; learning from Elders; continuity of cultural practices across generations.

Year 6

Interactions between people and environments; custodianship; cultural continuity

Seasonal knowledge, reading Country, sustainable practices; deep time continuity of ecological knowledge; responsibilities to care for others and place.

 

Years 4–6 focus: perspective‑taking, narrative structure, multimodal storytelling, cultural context.

Year Level

Relevant AC v9 Focus

Deep Time Connection (Ep 25–26)

Years 4–5

Character motivations, cultural and historical context; interpreting multimodal texts

Understanding Bunda’s and Barangaroo’s motivations; interpreting gesture, silence, movement; retelling scenes from First Nations perspectives.

Years 5–6

Analysing relationships and ideas; creating multimodal texts; ethical storytelling

Digital stories showing cooperation, leadership, kinship; reflective writing on cultural values; respectful representation of First Nations knowledge.

 

Years 4–6 focus: First Nations ecological knowledge, sustainable practices, observation, and seasonal indicators.

Year Level

Relevant AC v9 Focus

Deep Time Connection (Ep 25–26)

Year 4

Living things depend on their environment; sustainable practices

Fishing, water collection, yabbies; understanding ecosystems and sustainable harvesting.

Year 5

Adaptations; survival strategies; environmental interactions

How Bunda and Barangaroo use knowledge of animals, water, seasons; reading Country for safety and food.

Year 6

Scientific knowledge from different cultures; First Nations ecological knowledge

Fire, water, seasonal calendars, animal behaviour; learning through observation and intergenerational knowledge.

 

Years 4–6 focus: storytelling, movement, symbolism, cultural expression.

Arts Area

Relevant AC v9 Focus

Deep Time Connection (Ep 25–26)

Drama

Role‑play, improvisation, character relationships

Dance‑off scene; kinship roles; conflict and cooperation.

Dance

Movement to communicate ideas and cultural stories

Ceremonial movement; dance as decision‑making; expressing leadership.

Visual Arts

Symbolism, representation, cultural meaning

Tools, water carriers, yabbies, Country maps; visual storytelling.

Media Arts

Multimodal storytelling; point of view

Digital stories from Bunda’s or Barangaroo’s perspective.

 

Years 4–6 focus: materials, tools, systems, problem‑solving.

Year Level

Relevant AC v9 Focus

Deep Time Connection (Ep 25–26)

Years 4–5

Properties of materials; design for purpose

Water‑carrying solutions; fishing tools; shelters; everyday technologies in deep time.

Years 5–6

Systems thinking; evaluating solutions

Comparing Bunda’s and Garadi’s problem‑solving; analysing tools and ecological systems.

 

Intercultural Understanding & Ethical Understanding

Capability

Deep Time Connection (Ep 25–26)

Intercultural Understanding

Respectful engagement with First Nations perspectives; understanding cultural protocols; interpreting gesture, silence, movement.

Ethical Understanding

Cooperation, responsibility, fairness; learning from Elders; leadership and care for others; making decisions that honour Country.

 

5. Recommended Teacher Resources for Deep Time

A curated list will be included in the final Guide, drawing from:

ACARA Deep Time History resources

AIATSIS

Australians Together

ABC Education Indigenous collections

Firesticks Alliance

Budj Bim Cultural Landscape

Brewarrina Fish Traps

Nunn & Reid (sea level change research)

Local community‑endorsed resources (FIRST Framework)

6. Teacher Reflection Prompts

How do I understand deep time, and how might this differ from First Nations perspectives?

How can I ensure I am using culturally endorsed resources?

How do I avoid presenting deep time as “ancient history” rather than living culture?

How can I centre Country as a teacher in my classroom practice?

What opportunities exist for students to connect deep-time knowledge to contemporary sustainability and identity?