This location study makes a place comparison between Mossley in the North of England and Townsville in northern Australia, focusing on weather and climate.
Near Manchester, a large city in north west England, is the town of Mossley.
Mossley is a hilly town, that experiences many weather types including sun, snow, wind and rain. But on the whole the summers are warm, and the winters mild.
The weather in Townsville, Australia is extreme compared to Mossley. The summers are much, much hotter and the winters are hot too. When it rains it can be very heavy, and the winds are sometimes dangerously strong.
Kyhnaan: My name is Kyhnaan Kennedy and I'm 9 years old, and I'm from Townsville. I live with my Dad, my Mum and my three brothers, Harlem, Lamar and Braden. In Townsville the weather is very, very hot.
Talia: My name is Talia, I am 9 years old and I live in Mossley with, my two sisters and my Mum and Dad. I really like living in Mossley, because there's really good views and hills. Near our house is a hill, it's quite a nice long walk to do when it's snowing. From up here you can see all the weather types: over in Manchester it's really sunny, there's rain and you can see the clouds covering all those towns and it's so cold that we've even got a bit of snow.
Kyhnaan: It never snows in Townsville at Christmas time because it is very hot. We go down to the beach sometimes to play cricket and swim. I'm putting on sunscreen so I don't get sunburnt. The stinger nets protect you from sharks, because if there was no stinger net sharks could easily just come up to you and bite your legs off.
Talia: It rains quite a bit, even in summer sometimes it rains. Sometimes when it rains so much water comes through the roof, so we have to put pots and pans and paper to catch the rain.
Kyhnaan: We don't get much rain in Townsville. The weather is always really hot, and sometimes it can turn to a cyclone. A cyclone is where it's very windy. In cyclone season we've got to clean up our yard and we tape all the windows.
Kyhnaan’s Dad: Do you know why we do this?
Kyhnaan: To not let any cyclones get through the window.
Kyhnaan’s Dad: The tape will hold the window together.
Kyhnaan: When a cyclone comes it's really scary. Usually we just stay all together in one room.
Talia: The good thing about when it's raining is that I get to play the piano.
Kyhnaan: When we play, in the toy boxes we've got to check for spiders and snakes because there's usually always spiders.
Talia: I love skating.
Kyhnaan: Sometimes there can be a big tarantula, and they're very scary, because they are big and hairy.
Talia: We go to 'The Rising Sun' for a pizza on a Friday. And we just get a little break, and a nice fancy drink and stuff.
Kyhnaan: When we go down the park, we have barbecues, and I have sausage, bacon, and tomato sauce, and bread.
Talia: I really like dancing. In ballet you can like express your feelings - if you're sad you can do a sad ballet dance, and if you're happy you just go for it.
Kyhnaan: Rugby League is my favourite game to play because I really like tackling, passing, kicking and trying. I play for the 'Townsville Brothers'. When you've got to catch a ball and you've got sunscreen on your hands, people think that you're gonna catch it but then you just drop it and then they get really mad at you. I want to be a professional football player, and I want to play for the 'Cowboys', because my favourite team is the 'Cowboys'.
Talia: I'd love to be a dancer because I feel that it's really fun to do and you can express your feelings, so it's really nice. I would like to stay in Mossley when I'm older, because I've got lots of memories in my town and my house.
Kyhnaan: I don't want to leave Townsville because if I go to Brisbane I'll have to keep flying back for training like every day, so that's why I want to live in Townsville.
Video summary
Download/print a transcript of the video.
A place comparison contrasting the lives of two children on opposite sides of the world, focusing on weather and climate.
Talia, 9, from Mossley, Greater Manchester tells us what it’s like to live in a town that experiences all weather types but where the weather is generally quite mild. She explains that what she likes to do depends on what it’s like outside: playing the piano when it rains and having snowball fights when it snows.
In contrast, Khynaan, 9, from Townsville, Australia, goes to the beach on Christmas day and wears sunscreen all year round. During cyclone season, his family takes various precautions, taping up the windows and staying inside.
Talia’s family also have to take weather related precautions, using pots and pan to catch the water coming through a leaky roof.
As well as the weather, we learn what it’s like to live in a hilly area, their aspirations, their hobbies, the food that they eat, the wildlife they encounter and why, for very different reasons, they both want to stay living in the same place when they’re older.
Together they illustrate the cultural and geographical differences and similarities of these two distinct places.
This clip was originally broadcast as part of the series Your World.
Teacher Notes
This could be used to ask pupils to compare the similarities and differences between each location and to list the ways in which weather impacts people’s lives in the North of England and northern Australia.
Pupils could be asked to name the different geographical features in Townsville in Australia and Mossley in Greater Manchester. Do they see hills, rocks, beach, sea - how is the environment similar or different to their own?
This clip is relevant for teaching Geography at KS1 and KS2 in England, Progression Step 2 and 3 in Wales, Early and 1st level and 2nd Level in Scotland and Foundation and KS1 in Northern Ireland.
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