Old Stone Age · At least 50,000 years ago

Sahul: the first Australians

At least 50,000 years ago people crossed the sea to an Ice Age continent called Sahul. Students explore one of the great early voyages and the oldest continuous cultures on Earth, from Lake Mungo to the drowned Bassian Plain.

Teach it live New Open on the map
Length
45 minutes
Ages
11–14
On the map
3 steps, 20000 BC
Live lesson
7 rounds, 3 on the map
Worksheet
Two A4 pages, with Classroom
You need
A projector; phones for live

Live lesson · new in Classroom

Teach it live. The class answers on their phones.

Put the board on the projector. Students join with a six-digit code, no account needed, and tap the map: where was the frontier, where did the grain come from. Their pins drop in together when you reveal, and the closest student takes the round.

€19 per month: every lesson live, every worksheet, cancel anytime. Rome at its height runs live for free.

A live lesson on the projector: the class's pins on the map around Alexandria, the closest students listed beside it A student's phone: the question and a map to tap
7 rounds
3 places to find on the map, quiz questions, a class vote and a one-line answer.
About 15 minutes
Run it as the map step, or to open the discussion. You move on with the space bar.
A report
Every answer, per student and per round, to read back or print after the lesson.
1

Introduction

5 min

Read aloud

At least 50,000 years ago people crossed the sea to an Ice Age continent called Sahul. Students explore one of the great early voyages and the oldest continuous cultures on Earth, from Lake Mungo to the drowned Bassian Plain.

By the end of the lesson, students can

  • Explain what Sahul was and why its first settlers needed boats or rafts.
  • Locate Lake Mungo and describe what its finds tell us about early Australians.
  • Describe how rising seas after the Ice Age reshaped Australia and cut off Tasmania.
2

Explore the map

12 min

Project the map, or let students follow on their own devices. Each step opens the map at the right year and place.

a

20000 BC

One land: Sahul

Open the map in 20,000 BC and turn on Ice Age Seas. Find Sahul, where Australia, New Guinea and Tasmania formed one continent. Which seas have become dry land?

Open this view on the map
b

20000 BC

Island stepping stones

Move west to the islands between Sundaland and Sahul. Even with the sea at its lowest, count the stretches of open water a traveler from Asia had to cross.

Open this view on the map
c

20000 BC

Lake Mungo

Zoom in on Lake Mungo, a dry lake in the southeast. People lived on its shores at least 40,000 years ago. Then drag the time slider forward slowly: when does the sea cut Tasmania off from the mainland?

Open this view on the map
3

Class discussion

14 min

Pick two or three. They run from what happened to why it mattered.

  1. The first Australians crossed open sea at least 50,000 years ago. What would they have needed to plan such a voyage?
  2. Why is Lake Mungo important both to scientists and to Aboriginal communities?
  3. In 2017 the remains of Mungo Man were returned to Lake Mungo. Why do you think this mattered so much to his descendants?
  4. Rising seas turned Tasmania into an island. How would that change life for the people living there?
  5. Aboriginal cultures are among the oldest continuous cultures in the world. How can a culture last for so long?
4

Game round

9 min

Rule History has no rulers from this time. Play one round as Hatshepsut, its earliest ruler, then compare: Aboriginal societies were guided by elders and by deep knowledge of the land, not by kings. Which way of deciding suits a small group about to cross the sea?

Open Rule History
5

Worksheet

5 min

This worksheet comes with Classroom

€19 per month unlocks every worksheet, every live lesson and the class workspace. The free lesson prints without a subscription.