Mater Amabilis™

  • Home
  • Overview
  • Subjects
    • Religion
      • L1B New Testament
      • L1A- A Life of Our Lord for Children
      • L2-Y1- First Christians Reading Schedule
      • L2-Y2-St. Patrick’s Summer
      • Level 3 & 4 Gospel
      • Level 3 Old Testament
    • Language Arts
    • History
      • National History Outline for Australian Students
      • L1B|L1A-This Country of Ours
      • L1|L2-Introduction to American History
        • L1|L2-Further Reading–American History
      • L1|L2-Introduction to British History
        • British History Lesson Plans
        • L2|Y1-Further Reading–British History
        • L2-Our (An) Island Story
        • L2-Introduction to British History for American Students
        • L1|L2-2year-Introduction to British History for British Students
        • L1|L2-3year-Introduction to British History
        • L2-Introduction to British History for British Students – 3 Year Option
        • L1A|L2|L3-Our Lady’s Dowry
      • L1A -Bible History
      • L1A-Ancient Egypt
      • L2-Ancient Greece
      • L2-Ancient Rome
      • Level 3 World History
        • L3-Y1|Y2 – World History Reading List
      • L3-American History
        • L3-From Sea to Shining Sea Reading List
      • L4-20th Century World History
    • Geography & Earth Studies
      • Introduction to Geography and Earth Studies
      • L1B-Map Location Key
      • L1B-Rivers and Oceans
      • L1A-Weather
      • L1A–Y1– Maps & Mapping
      • L1A-Y1-Earth Studies – Weather
        • British Weather Lore
      • L1A-Y2-Mountains and Volcanoes
      • L3-4 Geography: History of Exploration
      • L4 – Geography of Europe
      • L3|L4-Geology
    • How to Study Shakespeare
      • Shakespeare Plan
      • An Introduction to Shakespeare
      • Comedy of Errors
      • Hamlet
      • Henry V
      • Notes on Julius Caesar
        • Julius Caesar
      • Macbeth
      • Much Ado About Nothing
      • Notes on The Merchant of Venice
        • The Merchant of Venice
      • Notes on The Taming of the Shrew
      • The Tempest
      • Notes on Twelfth Night
    • Science
      • Notes on Nature Study
      • L1B-Nature Study
      • L1A–Y1-Science
        • L1A-Y1-ARCHIVED-Science
      • L1A–Y2-Science
        • L1A–Y2-ARCHIVED- Science
      • L2-Y1-Science In Ancient Greece
      • L2-Y2-Human Body and History of Medicine
      • L3|L4-Science
        • L3-Science Through Time (Secrets of the Universe)
        • L3-ARCHIVED-Science
    • Poetry Plan
      • How to Read a Poem
    • Tales
      • L1A Tales
      • L2 Mythology
      • L3&4 Tales
    • Picture Study
      • Picture Study Resources – All Levels
    • Music Appreciation – All Levels
    • Civics
      • Plutarch
  • Prep Level
  • Level 1B
  • Level 1A
  • Level 2
  • Level 3
  • Level 4
  • High School – Level 5 & 6
    • High School Religion
    • High School English
    • High School History
    • High School Geography
    • High School Government, Economics, and Civics
    • High School Science
    • On Track to Graduation
    • A Sample Daily Schedule

National History Outline for Australian Students

(Levels 1B to 5)

*** Mater Amabilis thanks Ruth Marshall for generously sharing this history outline with us ***

General Notes

This is a general Australian history program, not a specifically Catholic one. If you have suggestions for Australian Catholic history, please send them to us and we will add an additional reading list.

Title marked *** indicates that the author wrote other books which are also worth reading.

Links:

Australian Living Books: An Annotated List by Ruth Marshall

Wonder … to Wisdom – Ruth Marshall’s website, including CM suggestions and resources from an Australian perspective.

Many Australian texts may be found online here.

Level 1B – Australian History

Resources

  • Eve Pownall, The Australia Book [Out of print – available second-hand]
  • Nadia Wheatley & Donna Rawlins, My Place

Read-Alouds (Choose from among the following)

  • Doris Chadwick, John of the Sirius (the other two books in the series are John of Sydney Cove, and John and Nanbaree)
    (Fiction – the First Fleet and the early years of the colony of New South Wales – Very highly recommended) [Out of print – available second-hand]
  • Ruth C. Williams, Verity of Sydney Town
    (Fiction – set in the times of Governor Macquarie; exciting story about bushrangers) [Out of print- available second-hand]
  • Eve Pownall, Cousins-Come-Lately: Adventures in Old Sydney Town
    (Fiction, set in Sydney in 1832) [Out of print – available second-hand]
  • Ethel Pedley, Dot and the Kangaroo (Fiction – this is an Australian “classic”)
  • Matthew Flinders, Trim (Matthew Flinders’ tribute to his ship’s cat.) [In print, or available online]
  • Colin Thiele, River Murray Mary*** (Fiction – set in the years between the wars)

Australian Art

  • Susan Venn, Roy and Matilda: The Golden Locket (or others in the same series)
  • Poetry by:
    A.B. “Banjo” Paterson, including “The Man from Snowy River”, “Mulga Bill’s Bicycle”, “The Man from Ironbark”, Clancy of the Overflow” (and others)*** [Available Online]
  • C.J. Dennis, A Book for Kids [Available online]
Level 1A – British History
  • 1st Year: Romans to the end of the Middle Ages
  • 2nd Year: Tudors to Victoria

Recommended Resources

  • Our Island Story by H.E.Marshall
  • Our Lady’s Dowry by Kathryn Faulkner (in preparation: being made available to Mater Amabilis users through the Teacher Training Forum)
Level 2 – American and Australian History

1st Year: American History

Recommended Resource

  • From Sea to Shining Sea (Catholic Textbook Project)

Note: This book is expensive, but is a high quality, up-to-date summary of American history from a Catholic perspective. We are not aware whether there is an Australian source for this book. If there is, please let us know!

2nd Year: Australian History
Resources (Choose one of these two books as a spine text)

  • Arthur Baillie, Our Sunburnt Country: An Illustrated History of Australia [Out of print – available second-hand]
  • or H.E. Marshall, Our Empire Story (Read the Australian and New Zealand sections) [Available online at the Baldwin Project]

Optional Extra Resources

  • K.M. Adams Seeing History series [Out of print – available second-hand]:
    1. The First Australians, Prehistory – 1810
    2. Australia: Gaol to Colony, 1810-1850
    3. Australia: Colonies to Commonwealth, 1850-1900
    4. Twentieth Century Australia, 1900-1960

Supplementary reading

  • Australians in History series [Out of print – available second-hand]
  • Joan Phipson, Bennelong (Biography)
  • Ian Mudie, River Rivals (Paddle steamers on the Murray River)
  • Nancy Keesing, The Golden Dream (The Gold Rush)
  • Eve Pownall, The Singing Wire (Story of the Overland Telegraph)
  • Nance Donkin, Margaret Catchpole (Biography)
  • George Finkel. Matthew Flinders (biography)
  • K. Langloh Parker, Australian Legendary Tales [Online at Project Gutenberg]
  • H.J. Samuel, A Saddle at Bontharambo (True story of a pioneering family in northern Victoria) [Out of print]
  • Kathleen Monypenny, And the Children Came, Too (True stories from Australian history, seen through the eyes of the children who were there) [Out of print]
  • Mrs Aeneas Gunn, We of the Never Never (Autobiographical account of life on a remote cattle station at the beginning of the 20th century) [In print; also available online at Project Gutenberg]
  • Mrs Aeneas Gunn, A Little Black Princess (Biographical account of an Aboriginal girl)
  • A.B. Paterson, Illalong Children (Autobiography of his childhood)
  • Ethel Turner, Seven Little Australians (Fiction – this is an Australian “classic” – set in the late 19th century)***
  • Ethel Turner, The Cub (Fiction – set during World War 1 – A good title for learning about Australia’s involvement in, and the attitudes of ordinary Australians to the war)
  • Mary Elwyn Patchett, Ajax the Warrior (Account of the author’s childhood in the early 20th century)
  • Mary Grant Bruce, the Billabong series (Fiction)
  • Colin Thiele, February Dragon (Fiction – modern story about a bushfire)***

Independent reading from among the books listed as read-alouds for level 1.

Short Stories, including:

  • Henry Lawson, “The Loaded Dog”
  • Australian Art
  • The Heidelberg School & other artists

Poetry

Choose poetry from the following writers (and others). Be sure to include the following:

  • Banjo Paterson, “Pioneers”
  • Dorothea Mackellar, “My Country”
  • C.J. Dennis, “Green Walls”
  • Mary Hannay-Foote, “Where the Pelican Builds Her Nest”; “The Australiad” [Online]
  • Henry Lawson, “Andy’s Gone with Cattle” [Online]
Level 3 – British History

1st Year: 55BC-1485
2nd Year: 16th-19th centuries

(See Option 2: British History – Level 3)

Level 4 – 20th Century World History
Level 5 – Australian History

Resources

(Choose one of the following three books as a spine – Note that I (Ruth) haven’t yet seen either the Manning Clark book, or Blainey, so can’t vouch for them, though they are recommended by other homeschooling families):

  • Ernest Scott, A Short History of Australia

[Available online at Project Gutenberg – other titles by the same author may be worth finding online]

  • Manning Clark, A Short History of Australia
  • Geoffrey Blainey, A Shorter History of Australia

Supplementary reading

  • Primary documents: Project Gutenberg of Australia includes links to a timeline of Australian explorers, a chronology of Australian history, and more.
  • Rolf Boldrewood, Robbery Under Arms (Fiction – bushrangers) [Available online at Project Gutenberg]
  • Alan Marshall, I Can Jump Puddles (Autobiography – early 20th century)
  • Ion Idriess, Flynn of the Inland (Biography of the founder of the Flying Doctor Service)
  • Ion Idriess, The Cattle King (biography of Sir Sydney Kidman)***
  • Sally Morgan, My Place [Either the adult version, or the three volumes adapted for young people] (Biography/autobiography about an Aboriginal family)

Short Stories

  • Henry Lawson (including “The Drover’s Wife”)

Poetry

  • The Oxford Book of Australian Verse (also available online)
  • Henry Lawson, e.g. from Mary Called Him Mister (Australian Picturemac, Illustrated by John Anthony King – ISBN 0 7329 1266 0), or other collections; Lawson’s poetry found online here.
Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Primary Sidebar

A Catholic Charlotte Mason Homeschool Curriculum

St. Thomas Aquinas & Charlotte Mason

Mater Amabilis

Join us in a private Facebook group for support implementing Mater Amabilis curriculum.

Overview of the Curriculum

VIEW HERE

Getting Started Guide

Click here to download and print our helpful guide to getting started with Mater Amabilis ™ curriculum.

Helpful Resource Pages

Religion

Language Arts

History

Science Overview

How To Study Shakespeare

Nature Study

Geography & Earth Studies

Picture Study

Music Appreciation

Plutarch

Search MA

Amazon Affiliate

This site contains links to Amazon. As an Amazon Associate, Maureen Wittmann earns affiliate income from qualifying purchases made through linked purchases from this site. We are grateful for your support which goes toward the maintenance and upkeep of Mater Amabilis.

Mater Amabilis

“. . . our Blessed Virgin Mary is called Amabilis, or lovable, as being such to the children of the Church.” -Bl. John Henry Cardinal Newman

Copywork Made Clear

Here is a new video on the value and process of copywork.

A Tour of the MA website

Here is a brief tour through the website, including how to find the introduction, overview, subject helps, and level landing pages. We have also included a tour of level 1A as an example of the resources available for most levels, and a quick look at the high school levels.

The Joy of Copywork

by Sally Thomas I’ve always loved copywork. In grade school, the nicest days – aside from the days when the art teacher read us Amelia Bedelia – were the days when the teacher handed us a poem, purple, damp, and vaguely vanilla-scented, fresh from the ditto machine. Generally it was a poem of the season, … Read More about The Joy of Copywork

Mater Amabilis gratefully accepts donations toward the maintenance of the site.

Privacy Policy

Mater Amabilis does not collect, use, or store data from visitors.

Third parties (including Amazon and any other site we link to) MAY collect, use, or store data from visitors, and place or recognize cookies on visitors’ browsers. We are not responsible for the content or privacy practices of such other sites. We encourage our users to be aware when they leave our site and to read the privacy statements of any other site that collects personally identifiable information.

Disclosure:

Mater Amabilis is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to offset fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

Usage:

Copyright © 2003 – 2022. All Rights Reserved. Use of this material is subject to the terms of the Mater Amabilis™ License Agreement.

Use of the Mater Amabilis™ name and/or image is not permitted without written permission.

Follow us on Social Media

Copyright © 2023 · Mater Amabilis