WHERE DOES MY “STUFF” COME FROM?

WHERE DOES MY
“STUFF” COME FROM?
SUITABLE FOR STUDENTS IN YEARS 4 AND 5
The Port of Brisbane is Australia’s fastest growing container port and this busy and dynamic environment
provides a stimulating setting for students. The learning opportunities extend to just about every part of the
school curriculum.
The following questions and activities can be used as a supplement to a PortEd Tour and link to aspects of
the Queensland Studies of Society and Environment and Science Syllabi (Level 3). The activities can
be completed on the day of the tour or can be used as a reflective exercise upon your return to school.
OBJECTIVES:
Students who undertake this program will:
• consider significant changes to Brisbane and suggest consequential effects on port location and design;
• identify Australia’s major global trading partners on a world map and suggest reasons for possible trends;
• develop an understanding of our dependence on imported products in our everyday lives;
• observe Queensland resources being exported around the world;
• identify how familiar products (our needs and wants) make it from their source to the shelf; and
• investigate the various people and resources involved in transporting and distributing the resources we
consume.
WHERE DOES MY “STUFF” COME FROM? —OUTCOMES:
Study of Society and Environment
Time,
Continuity &
Change
3.2 Students create sequences and timelines about specific Australian changes and
continuities.
3.4 Students organise information about the causes and effects of specific historical events.
Place and
Space
3.4 Students use and make maps to identify coastal and land features, countries and
continents, and climate zones.
Systems,
Resources
and Power
Science
Earth and
Beyond
2.1 Students investigate the origins and processing of a familiar product to describe relevant
conservation strategies.
2.2 Students create a representation of various people and resources involved in the
production and consumption of familiar goods and services.
3.3 Students collect information that describe ways in which living things use the Earth and
sun as resources.

WHERE DOES MY
“STUFF” COME FROM?
NAME: _________________________ DATE: ____/____/_______
Have you ever wondered exactly where your stuff comes from? I mean,
before it arrives in the shop for you to buy? PB is here to tell you the
story behind some familiar products.
People’s needs and wants have changed over-time. As a result, Brisbane’s seaport
has gone through many changes too.
IMAGE ONE: In the mid to late 1800s, port activities occurred in the City Reach of the Brisbane River between Kangaroo Point and Victoria
Bridge—now South Bank.
ACTIVITY: Choose the word that completes the following sentences to explain the
differences between this historical image and what you saw on your tour of the Port of
Brisbane.
• Brisbane’s port has moved to the FOOT / MOUTH of the Brisbane River.
• The railway lines DO / DO NOT run right beside the ships.
• The ships are BIGGER / SMALLER.
• PEOPLE / MACHINERY is now used to load and unload ships.

WHERE DOES MY
“STUFF” COME FROM?
Each of the things we buy has a story attached to it, which tells of the journey it has travelled
before arriving on the store shelf.
ACTIVITY: Listen to the story ‘Around the World in a Morning’. Colour the dots
on the map as you hear a country or city mentioned. At the end of the story you
will see how aspects of your daily life connect you to the global community.
ARCTIC OCEAN
Germany
Saudi Arabia
India
South Korea
Japan
Taiwan
Philippines
Thailand
PACIFIC OCEAN
United States
of America
NORTH
ATLANTIC
OCEAN
Indonesia
SOUTH
ATLANTIC
OCEAN
INDIAN OCEAN
Australia
SOUTHERN OCEAN
ACTIVITY: Tick the items that you have at home.
Many of these goods are not made in Australia, therefore they have to be imported from
another country.

WHERE DOES MY
“STUFF” COME FROM?
In order for us to have the goods that we want and need, it takes many people
and a range of resources to transport these products to our local store.
ACTIVITY: Sugar is a product we buy from the shop to use
on our cereal or in our baking. Below is a list of people who
help this product to reach the shelves in our local shop.
Draw a line matching the jobs to their description.
Plants, grows and harvests sugar cane.
MILL WORKER
Transports sugar cane to the sugar mill.
SHIP MASTER
Makes raw sugar out of the sugar cane.
FARMER
Drives the ship that takes sugar to other countries.
STORE SHELF
STACKER
Stacks the shelves with sugar bags at the shops.
TRAIN DRIVER

WHERE DOES MY
“STUFF” COME FROM?
During your tour of the Port of Brisbane, you saw a number of resources that are used by
humans—both natural and manufactured.
ACTIVITY: Match statements A—D with the correct resources pictured below.
A. This natural resource is exported to Japan where they use it to make newspaper.
B. This natural resource is exported to Japan and Korea where they use it to
generate electricity.
C. This natural resource is imported to Australia from Papua New Guinea, Indonesia
and Saudi Arabia to make petrol for vehicles.
D. This manufactured good contains natural resources mined in Adelaide and
Gladstone. We use this resource to bind bricks together in buildings.
CRUDE OIL
COAL
CEMENT
WOODCHIP
A port is a place where ships come to load and unload goods.
Imports are goods that are coming into Australia.
Exports are goods that are going out of Australia.
Resources: Something we use to satisfy our needs.
Natural Resources: The parts of natural systems such as soil, trees,
water and minerals that we use to satisfy our needs.
Manufactured Goods: Goods that are made (not found in nature).