The daily life of children in Australia

From playing games with friends to going to school, some parts of childhood never seem to change.

From playing games with friends to going to school, some parts of childhood never seem to change. Showing the daily life of children in Australia in the 20th century, these photographs highlight the differences and similarities between growing up today and in the past.

Curriculum areas

Year 1 History

Questions

Where are the children in the photo and what are they doing?
Imagine you were doing this activity today. What would be different? What would be the same?

Records

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Boy scouts camping near the Murrumbidgee River

A photograph of members of the Fourteenth Canberra Troop of Boy scouts erecting a tent near the Murrumbidgee River in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT).

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Children flying kites at school

This black-and-white photograph shows children flying kites at a school in Canberra.

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Young children diving off a special apparatus at Manly, New South Wales, in January 1960.

Children swimming in the harbour at Manly

This is a colour photograph depicting young children diving off a special apparatus at Manly, New South Wales in 1960.

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Children sitting in a classroom, in a school in Queensland.

One teacher school

This is a black-and-white photograph of children sitting in a classroom, with their male teacher present, in a school in Queensland.

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Four small children wearing smocks standing before painters easels painting.

Children painting at nursery school

This is a black-and-white photograph of children painting at nursery school in Australia, 1945.

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School children at sport, Alice Springs

This is a black-and-white photograph of several girls using a skipping rope and playing a game with a ball.