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ORDER OF AUSTRALIA
NOMINATION FORM

AUSTRALIAN BRAVERY DECORATIONS
NOMINATION FORM

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FLYING THE FLAG

Educational resources for our honours system

SOSE / HSIE / The Humanities / Society and History

• Organise a class excursion to the Australian War Memorial, or to a war memorial in your town or city.  Look carefully at the symbols and images used to honour those who fought for our country.  Analyse and discuss the symbols and words used.
• Students to record their thoughts about why we award ‘honours’ to people.  Why do they think that it is important to formally recognise these people and what they have done?  Discuss.
• Students to complete the ‘Australia’s Honours and Awards’ activity sheet.
  Australian honours and awards activity sheet - PDF 88KB | RTF 54KB
• Students to complete the ‘Honoured Australians’ activity sheet.
  Honoured Australians activity sheet - PDF 55KB | RTF 62KB

English / English Language / English - History

• Students to define the following words: honour, nomination, nominator, nominee, awards, Imperial, bravery, valour and gallantry.  Students to then use each of these words in sentences to show they understand their meaning.  Perhaps use these words to build a word bank on your classroom wall.
• Ask students to nominate a person whom they feel has made a significant contribution to Australia and could be appointed to the Order of Australia.  They need to provide at least three paragraphs of written text outlining why the person deserves such an honour.  Students to prepare a four-minute talk for the class about why their chosen person should be nominated.
• Students to research and then write a speech on the life of an Australian recipient of the Victoria Cross.  Students to complete a ‘Victoria Cross recipient profile’ activity sheet for this person.
  Victoria Cross recipient profile activity sheet - PDF 7KB | RTF 44KB
• Students to research and then write a speech on the life of a recipient of an award in the Order of Australia.  Students to complete an ‘Order of Australia recipient profile’ activity sheet for this person.
  Order of Australia recipient profile activity sheet - PDF 7KB | RTF 43KB
• Students to research and then write a speech on the life of a recipient of an Australian Bravery Decorations honour.  Students to complete an ‘Australian Bravery Decorations recipient profile’ activity sheet for this person.
  Australian Bravery Decorations recipient profile activity sheet - PDF 7KB | RTF 44KB
• Students to complete the ‘Australian Honours System’ KWL Chart.
  Australian Honours System KWL Chart activity sheet - PDF 6KB | RTF 45KB
• As a class, students to brainstorm ways in which Australians have been, and can be, honoured or commemorated. These can include: the Order of Australia, Victoria Cross and Australian Bravery Decorations. As a homework activity, have students ask members of their families whether they know someone who has received one of these honours. Students to report to the class with details of their findings.
• As a class, play ‘Who Am I?’ based on past recipients of an award in the Order of Australia.  Teacher to read out various facts about a person and students try to name that person.
• Students to research a past recipient of an award in the Order of Australia and justify to their peers why they think this person received the honour.
• Students to create a picture book for junior primary children in their school, featuring recipients of an award in the Order of Australia (one page per recipient). These can be researched on www.itsanhonour.gov.au
• Students imagine that they are the recipient of a bravery decoration such as the Cross of Valour, and write a letter or email to a friend describing the events surrounding their brave deed.
• Students to write a feature article for their local paper describing chosen elements of Australia’s honours system.

The Arts / Creative Arts

• Students to design an Australian-themed congratulations card which they could send to a recipient of an award in the Order of Australia.
• In pairs, students to design a poster explaining the range of honours awarded in Australia.
• Students to create a collage using pictures of people whom they consider to be brave.
• Students to paint a portrait of one of the recent recipients of an award in the Order of Australia.
• In small groups, students to write and perform a two-minute play entitled ‘It’s An Honour’, dramatising the events surrounding an act of bravery, or the life of an Order of Australia award recipient.
• In groups, students to write a rhyming poem about the life of someone who has received an award in the Order of Australia, or another honour or award. Students to recite the poem with rhythm and include gestures and movement to dramatise it as much as possible. Perhaps students could perform their poems at a school assembly.

Science / Science & Technology / Design & Technology

• In pairs, students to search the Australian Honours List for recipients of the Victoria Cross.  Research one of the recipient’s lives and present the information as a PowerPoint presentation.
• Students go to www.itsanhonour.gov.au to find out as much as they can about the people responsible for designing medals such as the Order of Australia.
• Students to research recipients of Australian honours who have received awards because of their contributions to the field of science.

Mathematics / Mathematics – Numeracy

• Students to create pictograms to represent and graph the number of Australians awarded the Victoria Cross, and which conflict/s the awardees were involved in.
• Students to research recipients of Australian honours who have received awards because of their contribution to the field of mathematics.
• Students to research recipients of Australian honours and categorise them into their fields of endeavour e.g. sport, medicine, community work etc.

Languages / LOTE / English - Literacy

• Students to investigate the names and types of honours that some other countries in the world award to their citizens.
• Students to investigate which Australian honours and awards can be received not only by Australian citizens but also by people who are living in Australia but are not yet Australian citizens.

Health & Physical Education / Personal Development / Health & Wellbeing

• Students to investigate some of the sportspeople who have received awards in the Order of Australia. In groups, students to prepare talks on one or more of the recipients, briefly explaining to the class why the honour(s) was/were awarded.