Endeavour River teacher resources

Our Kspace Endeavour River teacher resources include creative projects, assignment questions, and online activities, all linked to the Australian Curriculum.

They were developed to be used in conjunction with our Kids learning space, where videos, photos and background help provide answers and inspiration for students.

Kspace takes visitors to the east coast of Australia in 1770, where Captain James Cook and his crew met the local Aboriginal people, the Guugu Yimithirr. Disagreement over the ownership of turtles collected by Cook’s crew led to conflict. This was followed by a symbolic truce, or what is now seen as an early act of reconciliation between the two peoples.

Questions children can keep in mind if visiting this scene at the Museum are:

• When and where is this scene taking place? Whose home is it and who are the visitors?
• What sort of clothes and technologies are present? What do they reveal about the time?
• What natural features are there in the landscape? How might this help locate the scene?
• What animals can you see? What do they reveal about the location?

Our free, printable visitor access guide gives a sense of what happens in the game before you visit the Museum. It includes storyboards on the Endeavour River narrative and gameplay and a detailed description of the Kspace experience.

This guide is also helpful for students with hearing impairment, learning difficulties or limited mobility, who may need to prepare before they visit.

An anchor from the Endeavour abandoned on the Great Barrier Reef in 1770 helps to explain events at Endeavour River more than 200 years ago.

Explore the Endeavour anchor

Ten multiple choice quiz questions for students to demonstrate their knowledge of Captain Cook’s stay on the Endeavour River. Suitable for years 3 to 6.

Start the Endeavour River online quiz

Exercise 1: Printable worksheet

‘First encounters with Australia’ is a matching exercise that encourages children to think about when different groups of people first came into contact with the Australian continent.

Students match the explorer or people to the year and event by writing the appropriate number in the circles provided. Suitable for years 3 to 6.

Suggested projects for children to make and do.

1. Create a diorama of the Endeavour River at the time that Captain Cook and his crew were beached there.
2. Write an account of Cook’s arrival on the Endeavour River from the perspective of an Aboriginal child.
3. Write and perform a play based on the moments following the Endeavour striking the Great Barrier Reef.
4. Design a comic book or draw a picture which tells the story of the reconciliation between the Guugu Yimithirr people and Cook and his men.
5. Produce a poster, featuring as many animals as possible that may have been encountered by Cook and his crew while on the Endeavour River (use the journals of Cook and Banks for reference and include any animals that might have been on the Endeavour).
6. Create a PowerPoint presentation on Cook’s first journey to the Pacific.

Suggested assignment questions encouraging children to think and write.

1. Captain James Cook spent time at Endeavour River and Botany Bay while travelling up the east coast of Australia in 1770. Compare and contrast these visits.
2. The term terra nullius was once used to describe the Australian continent before European settlement. What does this term mean and how accurate is it considering Cook’s encounters on the Endeavour River?
3. What did Cook’s experiences with the local Aboriginal people, the Guugu Yimithirr, reveal about the Indigenous inhabitants of the Endeavour River?
4. Discuss some of the main events which occurred during Cook’s stay on the Endeavour River.
5. What actions did Cook’s crew undertake to save the Endeavour after it had struck the Great Barrier Reef?
6. Captain Cook had two missions on his first journey to the Pacific. What were they and why were they important?

Note: inspiration and answers for online activities, projects and assignments can be found in the Kids learning space