Our study: A Vision and an Outline

My educational philosophy states that I am educating my children for liberty. Thus liberty is a frequent underlying theme in all of our studies, and an important historic principle according to the biblical principle approach.

The Principle of Individuality, emphasizing uniqueness and diversity, has a natural connection to Australia. As an island continent, it remained separated from the "known" world for many centuries. There is great diversity of life found nowhere else on earth, interesting land forms and a unique culture. The Australia of today is influenced by all of these factors as well as its English heritage.

This English heritage is very interesting to look at in connection with thoughts on liberty. Australia's government is born out of some of the same traditions as our own with one marked difference: we were a nation of religious dissidents while they were a nation of convicts. There is a long period in Australia's history that is wrought with violence, class struggle and yearnings for a degree of liberty from British rule which represented oppression much more vividly than it did here. I am reminded of an Australian folk song highlighting this aspect of its history:

You beat your drum
You drink your rum
You threaten' me with hangin'

Such was the life of a convict living in a penal colony. Being a penal colony, however, one thing was noticeably absent from Australia: education. While America quickly became one of the most literate nations of the world given its people's desire to educate children in the scriptures, little attention was given at all to the education of Australians.

After all, they were only convicts.

We will continue to share our studies more or less in the same format as we have been. We will try to provide some interesting information, thoughts from our discussion and plenty of links so you can learn more. The following is an outline of what we roughly have planned for the summer. This will get extended as we progress, and I will continue to update the links to individual posts regularly (although not necessarily after every posting). We will be studying three days per week, and will generally look at some children's literature on the fourth day. I may include some thoughts and reflections on other days.

Alongside the documents, we will also be utilizing a number of Australian folk songs, well-known poems, and other products of Australian culture to illustrate historic principles and to provide a glimpse of what Australians think of their own history.

Feel free to ask any questions or provide any resources you know of. We certainly are not experts!

Unfortunately, I don't know how to make a simple outline look nice in this thing, so here is my best alternative:

I. Introduction
Studying History: scriptural premise, research practice
Australian Geography: procedure

II. Before the colonists
The People
The Landscape

III. Rumors of a Southland
Early tales of "australis incognito"
The first explorers: Captain James Cook

IV. Australia as a penal colony

V. Toward liberty (significant events shaping the history and character of Australia)