Matthew Brady Digital Storytelling Project
Subject Area and Context
This digital storytelling project explores the life of Australian bushranger, Matthew Brady through a semi-biographical interactive website created on Canva. The project combines factual historical information with fictionalised diary entries, allowing students to engage with both the historical content and imaginative reconstruction. Petousi, et al., state that, “By engaging with interactive digital stories, students can take on the perspectives of historical figures,” (2022, p. 3). This perspective allows students to develop a deeper understanding of the past and an empathy for historical figures.
The My Story series (Scholastic, 1999-2010) provides a precedent for blending historical events through the view point of fictional diaries. The series invites readers to empathise with the experiences of children during historical events such as the First Fleet, Eureka Stockade, and World War II. This approach supports historical inquiry skills by encouraging students to see history not just as dates and events but rather as lived human experiences. My digital storytelling project mirrors this technique of fictional diary entries to support factual information and create a more personal look at Australia’s colonial history.
The project is designed for Stage 3 learners in alignment with the History K-10 syllabus unit, The Australian Colonies (NESA, n.d.). Students are required to investigate the lives of individuals in Australia’s colonial past. Although bushrangers are not explicitly identified in the syllabus, they represent a culturally significant part of colonial life and provide an accessible entry point for students to explore broader themes such as law and order, survival, and social identity in the 1800s. This project is a jumping off point for students to research and create their own semi-biographical journal depicting the life of someone from colonial times, be that a notable person or simply a person living their day-to-day life at that time.
Intended Purpose and Audience
The intended audience for this project is Stage 3 primary school students. The project was designed as a resource to model how students might create their own historical narratives, blending researched facts with creative narrative. The concept is to use this resource within a classroom as a part of a history unit however, it may be adapted to a library storytelling session.
Value & Implementation of Canva
The site, Canva, serves multiple purposes in program delivery. It models digital storytelling as a learning tool and provides students with a clear example of how digital platforms can be used to create multimodal texts. The site also provides opportunities for independent learning, as students can engage with the resource prior to class discussions or activities. Importantly, the inclusion of fictional diary entries gives students a personal narrative voice to connect with, making abstract historical content more relatable while fostering empathy and curiosity. Canva was selected as the tool to create this digital storytelling project as Canva for Education is freely available to all staff and students in the NSW Department of Education and is a sanctioned tool for educators to implement. This program also aligns with the digital learning Technology 4 Learning, digital learning policy (NSW DoE, n.d). It was also selected due to the extensive templates, I used a template by Ruangkasa Studio in Canva (n.d.).
Support for Diverse Learning Needs
The project integrates multimodal features such as text, images and voice-over to allow for multiple access points to engage with the content. For students who may struggle with literacy, the visual and auditory elements support comprehension, while more capable readers can engage with the diary style text. The open-ended, inquiry based approach can be extended or simplified to provide scaffolding or extension depending on the differentiated learning needs within the same classroom (Anis & Khan, 2023). Multimodal approaches like these are used to promote inclusivity, engagement and differentiation in the classroom.
Community and Library Use
Though the resource is intended for classroom use, the digital story can be used within the library or community context to promote Australian and family history. Bushrangers such as Matthew Brady capture public imagination, and his story in particular holds personal resonance for me as part of my own family history. In the library context, the project could be incorporated into history displays, storytelling sessions or even digital literacy programs. This project can be implemented within the community to demonstrate how personal connections can be implemented as a way to explore historical resources, and to invite communities to reflect on the colonial past of our country in an informative and interactive way.
References
Anis, M., & Khan, R. (2023). Integrating multimodal approaches in English language teaching for inclusive education: A pedagogical exploration. 2(3), 241.
New South Wales Department of Education. (2025). Canva for education. Technology 4 Learning. https://t4l.schools.nsw.gov.au/resources/professional-learning-resources/canva-for-education.html
NSW Education Standards Authority. (n.d.). History K–10: Stage 3 – The Australian colonies. NSW Government. https://education.nsw.gov.au/teaching-and-learning/curriculum/hsie/hsie-curriculum-resources-k-12/hsie-k-6-curriculum-resources/the-australian-colonies
Petousi, D., Katifori, A., Servi, K., Roussou, M., & Ioannidis, Y. (2022). History education done different: A collaborative interactive digital storytelling approach for remote learners. Frontiers in Education (Lausanne), 7. https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2022.942834
Ruangkasa Studio. (2025). Brown aesthetic scrapbook group project presentation [Canva template]. Canva. https://www.canva.com/
State Library of Tasmania. (ca. 1826). Sketch of James McCabe, Matthew Brady, and Patrick Bryant [Sketch]. https://www.utas.edu.au/library/companion_to_tasmanian_history/B/Matthew%20Brady.htm