First Fleet Webquest

Introduction

Europeans first came to Australia in 1788 and established a prison settlement because gaols in England were very overcrowded. The First fleet of 11 ships took 8 months to travel from England to Australia. Can you imagine what it would have been like to be a convict on the First Fleet ( a First Fleeter). Information about all the convicts on the First Fleet is available on the internet. Also on the internet are details about the ships in the first Fleet and the provisions they carried.

Task

Your task is to use this information to describe a First Fleeter, the journey to Australia and early days settling in the new colony. You will also include information about the ship and the provisions the First Fleet carried.

Process

1. You are going to complete a PowerPoint presentation. Follow the instructions below to save a PowerPoint presentation called convict in your own folder.

Instructions

Open 3M folder open convict (if the dialog box says read only select read only because there may be other children in the class opening the file as well)

Go to File, then Save As

Select your folder and click save

2. We will allocate you a convict. Here is a list of the convicts

http://www.pcug.org.au/~pdownes/dps/1stflt.htm

and stories of the convicts.

http://members.iinet.net.au/~perthdps/convicts/stories.html

Look up the convict in the convict database.

http://fmpro.uow.edu.au/FirstFleet/

Go to database then simple search

Enter the convict’s name

3. Read about the convict and record answers to the questions below in your research book. Write answers in sentences.

· When the convict was born

· The convict’s occupation

· What was the crime

· Where was the convict tried

· What was the sentence

· What ship was the convict transported on

· Any other interesting information

4. Open your convict PowerPoint presentation in your folder. Change the xxxx xxx to the convict’s name in slide 1, 2 and 3.

5. Create a text box in slide 2 by clicking on the text box icon on the drawing toolbar at bottom of the screen. Write about your convict in first person narrative, using “I” and “we”. Include all the answers to the above questions.

6. Go to http://home.vicnet.net.au/~firstff/ships.htm Find the picture of the ship your convict was transported on.

Click on the picture to open a page about the ship.

Right click on this large image of the ship and select copy.

Click on your Powerpoint presentation on task bar to view your presentation.

Select slide 3 and paste the image of the ship.

Draw a text box and include information about the ship.

Use the websites below to research the ship the convict was transported on; other ships in the first fleet and the provisions of the first fleet.

7. Go to http://www.cowan.edu.au/pa/ecawa/resource/ffleet/ships/ships.htm and copy the names of the ship of the first Fleet one at a time. Paste each ship’s name into the text box on slide 4. State whether the ship was a convict ship, a flag ship, an escort ship or a store ship.

8. Go http://home.vicnet.net.au/~firstff/list.htm. Which do you think were the ten most important provisions they brought? Copy and paste these provisions into slide 5.

9. Look at the map of the journey on slide 6. Answer the questions below by studying the map.

When did they leave?

How long did it take to get to the Canary Islands?

How long did they stay in the Canary Islands?

How long did it take to get to Rio de Janeiro?

How long did they stay in Rio de Janeiro?

How long did it take to get to Cape Town?

How long did they stay Cape Town?

How long did the journey take?

Insert a text box in slide 7 and describe the journey using the answers from the questions above. Add information about the convict’s journey and how they might have felt.

Conclusion

After studying the journey of the First Fleet you might now know how it felt to be a convict on the First Fleet’s journey to Botany Bay. Imagine you are the convict on the First Fleet and write a letter home about your journey. This site http://www.shoalhaven.net.au/~cathyd/history/ffstory.html will also provide some information about the early days of the colony.

Evaluation

Try this quiz at www.convictcentral.com