QCAA ATSI Studies study guide
QCAA ATSI Studies · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies is a Queensland senior secondary subject administered by the Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority (QCAA), which publishes syllabuses, assessment information and results guidance for senior subjects. The subject sits within the humanities and social sciences learning area. Students in Years 11 and 12 typically take it as part of the Queensland Certificate of Education, and schools deliver it according to the relevant QCAA syllabus. Assessment in QCAA senior subjects generally combines internal assessment, set and marked by schools under quality-assurance processes, with external assessment. Topics on this exam: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (content domains not enumerated in source) and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (content domains not enumerated in source). The QCAA ATSI Studies study guide has 2 sections and about 661 words.
01Foundations: Country, Kinship and Identity in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies
Begin with the idea that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are not a single group. There are hundreds of distinct nations, language groups and clan estates, each with its own law, ceremony and relationship to Country. "Country" is more than land: it is an enduring relationship of obligation, kinship and custodianship, including sea Country and sky Country. Understand the difference between Welcome to Country (performed by a Traditional Owner of that land) and an Acknowledgement of Country (which anyone may give).
342 words, about 2 min02Continuity, Colonisation and Self-Determination: Analysing Evidence and Perspectives
This domain rewards students who can analyse change and continuity across time. Understand colonisation as an ongoing structure affecting land, law, language and health, and know key turning points: frontier violence and dispossession, protection and assimilation policies, the 1967 referendum, the 1992 Mabo decision recognising native title, the 1997 Bringing Them Home report on the Stolen Generations, and the 2023 referendum on a Voice to Parliament. Know that the 1967 referendum allowed the Commonwealth to legislate for Aboriginal people and to count them in the census; it did not grant citizenship or voting rights, which are common traps. Grasp self-determination , sovereignty (never ceded), and cultural continuity - the persistence of language, ceremony and law despite disruption.
319 words, about 2 min