Indigenous plant use: fire, food & land management

Australian Curriculum connections

Year 7

• AC9S7U02: Use models, including food webs, to represent matter and energy flow in ecosystems and predict the impact of changing abiotic and biotic factors on populations.

Year 8

• AC9S8U02: Analyse the relationship between structure and function of cells, tissues and organs in a plant and an animal organ system and explain how these systems enable survival of the individual.

Year 9

• AC9S9U03: Represent the carbon cycle and examine how key processes including combustion, photosynthesis and respiration rely on interactions between Earth’s spheres (the geosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere and atmosphere).

Year 10

• AC9S10U02: Use the theory of evolution by natural selection to explain past and present diversity and analyse the scientific evidence supporting the theory.
• AC9S10U04: Use models of energy flow between the geosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere and atmosphere to explain patterns of global climate change.

Year 11 (Unit 1 & 2)

• ACSBL019: Ecosystems are diverse, composed of varied habitats and can be described in terms of their component species, species interactions and the abiotic factors that make up the environment.
• ACSBL020: Relationships and interactions between species in ecosystems include predation, competition, symbiosis and disease.
• ACSBL027: Ecosystems can change dramatically over time; the fossil record and sedimentary rock characteristics provide evidence of past ecosystems and changes in biotic and abiotic components.
• ACSBL028: Human activities (for example, over-exploitation, habitat destruction, monocultures, pollution) can reduce biodiversity and can impact on the magnitude, duration and speed of ecosystem change.

Year 12 (unit 3 & 4)

• ACSBL069: Darwin proposed the theory of evolution by natural selection to refute Lamarck’s theory. He provided evidence for descent with modification (branching evolution) based on patterns in variation of domesticated and wild species, and patterns of species distributions in time and space.
• ACSBL120: All plants and animals have innate (general) immune responses to the presence of pathogens; vertebrates also have adaptive immune responses.
• ACSBL009: Indigenous knowledge of environmental change and interactions between abiotic and biotic elements of ecosystems in local contexts has developed over thousands of years and provides valuable data for understanding ecosystem dynamics.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories and Cultures (Cross-Curriculum Priority)

• A_TSICP1: First Nations communities of Australia maintain a deep connection to, and responsibility for, Country/Place and have holistic values and belief systems that are connected to the land, sea, sky and waterways.
• A_TSIC1: First Nations Australian societies are diverse and have distinct cultural expressions such as language, customs and beliefs. As First Nations Peoples of Australia, they have the right to maintain, control, protect and develop their cultural expressions, while also maintaining the right to control, protect and develop culture as Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property.
• A_TSIC2: First Nations Australians’ ways of life reflect unique ways of being, knowing, thinking and doing.
• A_TSIC3: The First Peoples of Australia (Aboriginal Peoples) belong to the world’s oldest continuous cultures. First Nations Australians demonstrate resilience in the maintenance, practice and revitalisation of culture despite the many historic and enduring impacts of colonisation, and continue to celebrate and share the past, present and future manifestations of their cultures.
• A_TSIP1: Australia has 2 distinct First Nations Peoples; each encompasses a diversity of nations across Australia. Aboriginal Peoples are the first peoples of Australia and have occupied the Australian continent for more than 60,000 years. Torres Strait Islander Peoples are the First Nations Peoples of the Torres Strait and have occupied the region for over 4,000 years.
• A_TSIP3: The significant and ongoing contributions of First Nations Australians and their histories and cultures are acknowledged locally, nationally and globally.