Year 3 HASS – Term 3 (WA Curriculum): Exploring Australia and Our Neighbours

What this unit covers

In Term 3, Year 3 HASS in the WA Curriculum centres on the unit “Exploring Australia and Our Neighbours”.

Students explore Australia's natural features, neighbouring countries, and changes in their local community while developing skills to identify different viewpoints and draw conclusions from geographical information.

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 Amazing Natural Features
2. Discovering Our Desert, Mountain and River Systems
3. Exploring Australia's Rainforests and Unique Landscapes
4. Meeting Our Neighbouring Countries
5. Comparing Climates and Animals Across Borders
6. Investigating How Our Community Has Changed Over Time
7. Examining Different Views About Local Development
8. Making Decisions About Our Community's Future

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.