What did children do all day at school in the 1800s? Schools in the past were different in some ways from modern schools, but they also had many features that are just the same today. Ranging from the curriculum to lunchtime food, from games to writing styles, this book compares the past with the present to reveal to modern students the origins of their school day. Education in Australia began thousands of years before colonists arrived in 1788, with Aboriginal children learning important life skills and traditions. This book starts with their history and travels forward to the future, suggesting the changes that Australian schools might experience in the next century.

The style of living we take for granted in Australia today was very different in the past. Many everyday tasks involved using tools and implements that are unrecognisable in our modern world. The Australian Aboriginal history of daily life, as well as that of the first colonists, all provide intriguing stories of how we all used to live and how we gradually moved on to depending on gadgets, fast food and other modern ways of life that our ancestors from the past would find amazing.