Year 9
Australia 1851–1914: the gold rushes, Eureka and colonial democracy, non-European experiences, nationalism, the steps to Federation, the White Australia policy, votes for women, the 'social laboratory' reforms, life around 1900, and the debates historians have about them.
Year 9
Australia 1788–1900 from many perspectives: First Nations Countries before 1788, why Britain colonised, Cook's instructions and terra nullius, expanding settlement, frontier conflict and massacres, contested figures, protection laws, resistance and survival.
Year 9
Why people moved, 1750–1914: push and pull factors, the transatlantic slave trade and abolition, the Irish Famine, convict transportation, free and assisted settlers, the gold rush migrations, Pacific Islander indentured labour, and the effects on colonised peoples.
Year 9
Why industrialisation began in Britain, the machines and steam power that built factories and railways, life and work for men, women and children, factory and mines laws, Chartism, new ideas from capitalism to socialism, and the links to Australia.
Year 9
Year 9 history skills for 1750–1918: inquiry questions, chronology, analysing and corroborating sources, accuracy, reliability and usefulness, absent voices, contested interpretations, causes and consequences, significance and writing a sustained argument, with invented practice sources.
Year 8
Start here for Year 8 History exams: which topics your school is likely to study, a map linking all six guides, a two-week plan, every key term as flashcards, and a 60-mark mock exam with original sources and full answers.
Year 8
Life in the Aztec (Mexica) and Inca empires, why Spain sailed west, Cortés and the fall of Tenochtitlan, Pizarro and the Incas, why so few conquistadors won, disease and population collapse, colonial rule, the Columbian Exchange, and different perspectives and interpretations.
Year 8
How nomads from the steppe built the largest land empire in history: life on the steppe, the rise of Genghis Khan, the Mongol army, conquest and its human cost, ruling a vast empire, Kublai Khan and Yuan China, the Silk Roads, and the empire's legacy.
Year 8
From the Heian court to the Meiji Restoration: the rise of the samurai and shoguns, the Mongol invasions, the age of warring states, unification under Nobunaga, Hideyoshi and Ieyasu, Tokugawa society and control, isolation, culture, and the end of shogun rule.
Year 8
The 14th-century plague in Asia, Europe and Africa: where it came from (including the 2022 DNA discovery), how trade spread it, symptoms, medieval beliefs and responses, the persecution of Jewish communities, death tolls and the debate about them, and the long-term effects on society.
Year 8
From the fall of Rome to the Renaissance: feudalism, life on the manor, the power of the Church, castles and cathedrals, towns and guilds, crime and punishment, the Crusades, Magna Carta, women's lives, and how the medieval world ended.
Year 8
The skills every Year 8 History task tests: chronology and dating, primary and secondary sources, reliability and usefulness, perspectives, interpretations, cause and effect, continuity and change, significance, and writing historical arguments. Includes original practice sources.