The Life and Times of Ned Kelly

This topic lends itself to active learning because students need to feel the isolation and physical demands of life in the bush. Hands-on activities help them move beyond textbook descriptions and connect emotionally with the daily realities faced by squatters and selectors.

• Year 5
• HASS
• 3 activities
• 30 min–60 min

Learning Objectives

1. Explain the social and economic conditions in 19th-century Victoria that influenced Ned Kelly's family life.
2. Analyze primary source accounts to identify key events leading to Ned Kelly's initial conflicts with the police.
3. Classify the types of hardships faced by selectors and their families in the colonial Australian bush.
4. Compare the perspectives of law enforcement and outlaw figures in the context of Ned Kelly's early life.
5. Predict how specific formative experiences, such as land disputes or family arrests, may have shaped Ned Kelly's later actions.

Stations Rotation

⏱ 60 min·Small Groups

Stations Rotation: Bush Survival Skills

Stations include 'The Slab Hut' (building techniques), 'The Bush Doctor' (natural remedies), and 'The Campfire' (cooking with rations). Students learn about the ingenuity required to survive without modern shops or services.

Prepare & details

Explain the social and economic context of Ned Kelly's upbringing.

Facilitation Tip: During Station Rotation: Bush Survival Skills, set a strict 6-minute timer per station to mirror the relentless pace of bush work and prevent over-explaining.

Setup: Tables/desks arranged in 4-6 distinct stations around room

Materials: Station instruction cards, Different materials per station, Rotation timer

• Remember
• Understand
• Apply
• Analyze
• Self-Management
• Relationship Skills

Simulation Game

⏱ 45 min·Whole Class

Simulation Game: Squatters vs. Selectors

The classroom is divided into large 'runs' owned by squatters. 'Selector' students must try to claim small blocks of land within those runs, leading to a simulation of the legal and social conflicts that occurred in the 1860s.

Prepare & details

Analyze the events that led to Ned Kelly's first encounters with the law.

Setup: Flexible space for group stations

Materials: Role cards with goals/resources, Game currency or tokens, Round tracker

• Apply
• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Create
• Social Awareness
• Decision-Making

Think-Pair-Share

⏱ 30 min·Pairs

Think-Pair-Share: A Letter Home

Students imagine they are a child living in a remote bush hut. They discuss with a partner three things they miss from the city and three things they have learned to do in the bush, then draft a short letter to a cousin.

Prepare & details

Predict how Kelly's early experiences might have shaped his later actions.

Setup: Standard classroom seating; students turn to a neighbor

Materials: Discussion prompt (projected or printed), Optional: recording sheet for pairs

• Understand
• Apply
• Analyze
• Self-Awareness
• Relationship Skills

Teaching This Topic

Teachers should use role-play and primary sources to humanize historical figures rather than glorify them. Avoid romanticizing Ned Kelly’s outlaw status, and instead focus on the systemic pressures that led to conflict. Research shows students retain more when they analyze diary entries alongside policy documents to see cause and effect.

What to Expect

Successful learning looks like students describing specific challenges of bush life with evidence from simulations and primary sources. They should articulate how these challenges shaped decisions and behaviors, not just list facts about Ned Kelly.

Watch Out for These Misconceptions

Common Misconception

During Station Rotation: Bush Survival Skills, watch for students assuming life in the bush was thrilling or glamorous.

What to Teach Instead

Use the station materials, such as replica tools and diary excerpts, to redirect students’ focus to the repetitive, exhausting nature of daily labor.

Common Misconception

During Simulation: Squatters vs. Selectors, watch for students believing the bush was an empty, ownerless land.

What to Teach Instead

Have students refer to the land-use maps and First Nations oral histories provided to highlight dispossession and contested ownership.

Assessment Ideas

Discussion Prompt

After Simulation: Squatters vs. Selectors, ask students to cite specific examples from the simulation to explain why Ned Kelly might have developed a distrust of authorities, using hardship or legal conflicts discussed during the activity.

Quick Check

During Station Rotation: Bush Survival Skills, provide students with a short timeline of key events in Ned Kelly’s early life and ask them to connect each event to a potential consequence on his later actions, referencing the skills or challenges they practiced at each station.

Exit Ticket

After Think-Pair-Share: A Letter Home, ask students to write two challenges faced by selectors and one sentence predicting how these challenges influenced Ned Kelly’s decision to become an outlaw, using evidence from the letters they composed.

Extensions & Scaffolding

• Challenge students to research and present a modern equivalent of bush survival skills, comparing challenges faced by early selectors with those of today’s remote farmers.
• Scaffolding: Provide sentence starters for the Think-Pair-Share activity, such as 'One challenge I read about was... because...'.
• Deeper exploration: Have students examine how the Australian bush environment influenced the design of tools and homes used by selectors.

Key Vocabulary

Selector	A person who selected or took up land under the terms of the Land Acts, intending to farm it. These settlers often faced difficult conditions.
Squatter	A person who occupied and grazed stock on large areas of Crown land, often before it was officially opened for selection. They held significant social and economic power.
Land Act	Legislation passed in the 19th century designed to encourage settlement and farming by allowing individuals to select and purchase parcels of land, often with specific conditions.
Constabulary	The police force, particularly in colonial Australia. Encounters with the constabulary were frequent for those living on the fringes of the law.
Bushrangers	Outlaws, often mounted, who roamed the Australian countryside, typically robbing travelers and mail coaches. Ned Kelly became one of the most famous.