One night, Nanna teaches Little J, Big Cuz and Levi about the star constellations through stories of the past. At school, Ms Chen encourages the students to investigate the evidence of dinosaurs. Little J and Levi set out to find evidence of dinosaurs themselves, happening upon the fossil of Diprotodon, also called Wombat Rex.

Explain - Compare objects from the past with those from the present and consider how places have changed over time

Theme - DINOSAURS

After viewing Little J & Big Cuz, Episode 2 ‘Wombat Rex’, engage students with the following activities to support their understanding of continuity and change of, and about, living things; place and space; and perspectives.

Have students think about and respond to the proposition; ‘Did people lived in Australia in the time of the dinosaurs.’

Investigate a timeline of Australian dinosaurs at Museums Victoria, Melbourne Museum Dinosaur Walk. Diprotodon became extinct approximately 45,000 year ago.

• OZ Fossils
• Dinosaurs in Australia
• Dinosaur Walk
• Diprotodon optatum (Wombat Rex)

Compare the dinosaur time map to a time map of human habitation in Australia. Ask students to find out

• When did the Aboriginal peoples and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples migrate to this country?
• Did the First People co-exist with the dinosaurs?

Read selected Aboriginal Dreaming stories and/or Torres Strait Islander Bipo Bipo Tiam (before Before Time) stories and have students question why most animals in the time of the dinosaurs were large and giant.

Access the following websites for facts.

Australian Museums:

• The Yamuti
• The Aboriginal Archaeological Collection
• Indigenous Australia Timeline – Pre-Contact
• Sharing Stories: Aboriginal Collection
• Geological time and the age of rocks
• How First Nations people survived through the Ice Age

Aboriginal Dreaming stories and/or Torres Strait Islander Bipo Bipo Tiam (Before Before Time) stories :

• Giant Eagle - Mullyan
• Giant Emu in the Dreamtime
• Giant Frogs in the Dreamtime
• Giant Kangaroos in the Dreamtime
• Aboriginal astronomy the star of Dreamtime stories
• The Kamilaroi and Euahlayi Emu in the Sky
• Australia’s first astronomers
• Moon and stars

As a class, watch the Melbourne Museum video on Megafauna: Studying Megafauna Fossils

Extrapolate on the fossilised head of Diprotodon: Ask students to explain and/or find information about:

• What is a fossil?
• Where are fossils found?
• Why are fossils important?

Divide the class into pairs and have each pair investigate a fossil from an online museum.

Have students compare the size and shape of the ancient Diprotodon to a wombat living today. Select other dinosaurs and find out which dinosaurs have living relatives today. Make further comparisons to find out whether the living relatives are bigger or smaller than their ancestor.

• Why are birds the only surviving dinosaurs? 

As a class, make a chronological dateline and place the known Australian dinosaurs on it, and their living relatives, using 10 Timeline Templates for kids, Sample Template.