Stitch and Resist | Civics and Citizenship
New in 2025
Link Visual Arts, Civics & Citizenship, and History with a new joint program from the Parliament of South Australia and AGSA in 2025.
Part 1: 90 mins | Parliament House
Students visit Parliament House, explore the building, and recreate passing the 1894 law that saw women get the right to vote and the right to run for Parliament. Students reflect on the arguments used at the time, and how they can use their voice and have a say in 2025.
Part 2: 60min | Art Gallery of South Australia
Explore the exhibition Radical Textiles through a civics and citizenship lens where students will see works of art such as Women’s Suffrage Centenary Tapestries, union banners and the pink shorts worn by South Australian Premier Don Dunstan. Alongside these works are textiles made by contemporary artists that respond to ideas of protest, resistance and equality.
Your class will also get an opportunity to take home a collaborative making activity to do back in the classroom post visit.
Term 1, Weeks 1 - 9
Maximum of 30 students per session
Suitable for years 5-12
Cost: Ticket to Radical Textiles, $50 per class, $30 equity.
Mondays (9.45am – 1pm)
9:45 – 11:15 am – Parliament House Session
11.15 – 12pm – Walk to AGSA, check in at the Atrium desk, allow time for students to have recess/lunch
12pm – 1pm – AGSA Session
Friday (10am - 1.15pm)
10 - 11:30 am – Parliament House Session
11.30am - 12.15pm Walk to AGSA, check in at the Atrium desk, allow time for students to have recess/lunch
12.15pm – 1.15pm – AGSA Session
If your school is unable to visit on Mondays and Fridays for the joint session with Parliament House, Civics and Citizenship Tours (part 2 only) at AGSA can be booked any day throughout term 1, weeks 1-9.
Please note:
- Times for this joint experience cannot be modified due to Parliament sitting times.
- Gallery Guides at AGSA are volunteers and can not always be guaranteed. In the event that you will need to self guide, we will suggest resources to support your visit. We advise that teachers are always prepared to self-guide in the event that Guides are unwell at short notice.
Year 5: elections, what is democracy, how can people participate?
Year 6: levels of government, how Parliament makes law, how can I make change?
Year 7: structure of Australia’s democracy, influences on democracy, courts, how can I use our systems?
Year 8: politics in our democracy, law making in detail, participation in detail, how am I being influenced?
Year 9: Australian Constitution, courts, how can I influence others?
Year 10: International comparison
SACE: Women’s Studies, Social Studies, Politics, Legal Studies
The cross curriculum priority of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories and Culture is also highlighted in this tour.
Stitch and Resist Collaborative Activity
Stitch a word or symbol onto a square of fabric that represents a social or environmental cause or issue that you are passionate about.
AGSA will be collecting contributions for a large collaborative piece that combines each square completed by a South Australian young person.
Contributions are to be sent or delivered to AGSA Education by the end term 1.
The fabric squares will be joined together for display at the Gallery during SALA 2025.
Women’s Suffrage Centenary Tapestries
Two tapestries hang, facing each other among portraits of former Premiers and Speakers, in the House of Assembly Chamber of the South Australian Parliament. Conceived by a bi-partisan group of women politicians, they were woven in public and were hung in the Chamber in 1994 to mark one hundred years of ground-breaking legislation in South Australia, legislation that gave women the right to vote and equality before the law.
- Kay Lawrence, Radical Textiles catalogue, 2024.
Hear more about these tapestries from Education Manager, Parliament House, Natalie Badcock. The works of art will be on loan to AGSA for the Radical Textiles exhibition from 23 November 2024 - 30 March 2025
Education programs at the Art Gallery of South Australia and Parliament House are supported by the Department for Education.