Year 5 HASS – Term 3 (WA Curriculum): How People Shape Australian Places

What this unit covers

In Term 3, Year 5 HASS in the WA Curriculum centres on the unit “How People Shape Australian Places”.

Students explore how human activities have altered Australian environments and examine the historical reasons for British colonisation while developing skills to analyse different perspectives and make informed decisions about land use.

Lesson sequence (8 lessons)

The unit breaks down into the following lesson-by-lesson sequence — each title below is a teachable lesson, in order:

1. Mapping Australia's Natural Landscapes Before European Settlement
2. How Farming Changed the Australian Environment
3. Building Cities: Urban Development and Environmental Change
4. Fences, Roads and Boundaries: How Infrastructure Shapes Places
5. Why Did the British Come to Australia? Economic Reasons
6. Strategic Location: Political Reasons for British Colonies
7. Comparing Perspectives: How Different Groups View Land Use Changes
8. Making Decisions About Future Land Use in Our Local Area

Curriculum codes in this unit

Content codes:

Skills codes:

Reading the codes: WA codes (the ones starting with WA) pack the year level, learning area, strand and content number into one string, while the national Australian Curriculum v9 uses a different anatomy that starts with AC9 — same content family, different labels. Our complete WA Curriculum guide decodes both, character by character.

Planning notes for Term 3

WA terms run roughly 9–11 weeks, and in 2026 Term 3 runs from Monday 20 July to Friday 25 September — 10 weeks for WA public schools. With 8 lessons in this unit, that leaves breathing room for assessment, moderation and the weeks that disappear to carnivals, camps and public holidays — plan the assessable work to land two to three weeks before the end of term rather than in the final week.