Bridging Confidence and Competence: Going further with 65,000 Years: A Short History of Australian Art

Ngarrngga is delighted to release our Support Materials booklet, which rounds out the comprehensive suite of education resources prepared for 65,000 Years: A Short History of Australian Art. 

This booklet includes referenced glossaries for key terms and concepts relating to the booklet 2 case studies, organised alphabetically by artists’ first name, as well as information to look, listen, and learn further with.  

Download Booklet 3

Our Support Materials booklet suggests activities and additional resources educators can use in their classrooms to extend and deepen students’ understanding of the rich cultural narratives woven throughout the case studies and the exhibition more broadly. 

The support materials are organised into three sections. 

• Section 1: Further information about artists/works of art featured in the booklet 2 case studies, including referenced glossaries of key terms and concepts, and materials to look, listen and learn further with. 

• Section 2: Reflection prompts, classroom inquiry and practice-based activities for educators to help students tease out personal connections, values, and meanings related to the case studies, and facilitate further learning. 

• Section 3: Curriculum mapping for where skills, knowledge, and understandings described across a range of Australian and state-based contextualisations of curricular frameworks can be developed. 

The suggested classroom inquiry prompts, activities, and support resources outlined in this booklet are both flexible and invitational, allowing educators to tailor them in accordance with their own and their students' interests, needs, and preferences in mind. 

We encourage educators to use these support materials to help guide students’ coming to better know, understand and appreciate the Indigenous knowledge, perspectives, stories, and concepts shared across the case studies. 

In accordance with Ngarrngga's core Principles and ICIP declaration, the materials have been carefully curated to include freely available Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures content available in the public domain. 

We particularly encourage schools and educators to consider investing in the purchase of a copy of the publication accompanying 65,000 Years: A Short History of Australian Art.   

Edited by Distinguished Associate Provost Professor Marcia Langton AO and Senior Curator Judith Ryan AM, the book features writing from twenty-five leading thinkers across generations and disciplines, celebrating Indigenous Australian art across time, media and language groups.  

Coming to know, hear and understand 65,000 Years: A Short History of Australian Art  

With the release of our Support Materials booklet, educators across the country now have full and free access to the comprehensive suite of education resources developed for the exhibition. 

To recap the design, features and intended use of these: 

• Booklet 1 – Preparatory Materials: The preparatory materials are designed to guide educators in encouraging respectful conversations about Indigenous Knowledge, fostering active listening and shared understandings with students. They provide insights into how to embody relationality, reciprocity, and respect for Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property (ICIP) when engaging with the exhibition, onsite and online.  

• Booklet 2 – Case Studies: Comprising a set of five booklets, one for each paired grades from 3-4 to 11-12, each booklet features carefully curated case studies showcasing a collective 20 works of art and cultural objects chosen by the curatorial team from the exhibition. Developed collaboratively, each booklet 2 contains case studies, storying works of art and key information about their respective artists, and curious questions for educators to facilitate dialogue and discussion. 

• Booklet 3 – Support Materials: The support materials booklet includes referenced glossaries and further information educators can guide students to deepen learning about the exhibition. As museums become more inclusive, they offer avenues to explore colonial histories and inspire future-oriented actions addressing colonial legacies. 

Engaging with the works of art and cultural objects featured in 65,000 Years: A Short History of Australian Art presents a multitude of rich and complex opportunities to foster appreciation for Indigenous artistic expressions, nurture understanding of our shared histories, and cultivate cross-cultural care and connection between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australia. Ngarrngga’s suite of education resources developed for the exhibition equips educators for onsite and online engagement with the exhibition.

The resources strive to emphasise and model the importance of culturally responsive enactment of curriculum and pedagogies that prioritise respect, reciprocity, and relationality when learning with and about Indigenous Knowledge, histories and stories. The full suite of booklets will remain open to feedback, iterating over time as a living document that remains responsive to new information and systemic changes in arts, culture, and education.

By ensuring these resources continue to evolve and iterate alongside developments in these interconnected fields, our curation process strives to support educators and students in coming to know, hear and understand in ways that build educators’ sense of confidence and competence and readiness to bridge now to next.

With the exhibition running through to November 22, 2025, at the Potter Museum of Art, we invite educators Australia wide to embrace the opportunity to learn, unlearn, and learn anew alongside their students, schools and wider community.  

Materials from across the booklets will be further curated into Ngarrngga’s broader constellation of curriculum resources over the coming months, as will further complementing content, ensuring Australian students and educators can continue learning about 65,000 Years: A Short History of Australian Art long after the exhibition has concluded. 

The Support Materials booklet, alongside our complementing Case study Booklets and Preparatory Materials serve as a valuable companion for this adventure, offering a wealth of information, resources and activities for educators to enrich the educational experience of coming to know, hear and understand 65,000 Years: A Short History of Australian Art.