Bringing South Australia's Fossil History to Life Through Music

The Primary Schools Music Festival (PSMF) has a new set of songs for its 2027 choral program, based on the story of life. Local composer Glyn Lehmann has written a mini musical, Living the Dream, that takes students back 550 million years to the Ediacaran period, when the tiny Ikaria wariootia lived in what is now Nilpena in the Ikara-Flinders Ranges.

Through song, this fascinating theme explores the fossils and rocks in our own backyard, including the Flinders Ranges, Kangaroo Island and Naracoorte, and how life has evolved since the Ediacaran period.

If your school is affiliated with the PSMF and has Year 5/6 students participating in the choir in 2027, why not extend the learning beyond the choir with a classroom inquiry or investigation into this fascinating Science and HASS topic?

Encourage curiosity and engagement through questioning, researching, evaluating, analysing, interpreting, forming perspectives, making decisions and sharing discoveries.

A unit of work designed by Year 5/6 teachers around Living the Dream could create opportunities for collaborative learning across your school.

The four accompanying tiles provide further insight into the content and context of the six songs, introducing students to South Australia's remarkable fossil history and its significance to our understanding of life on Earth.