G'Day Drake,
I am an English Teacher in an Australian Public High School but I have always loved History so I have part of the NSW Syllabus here.
Australian History is of course much studied, particularly in Primary Schools where they also follow themes like Vikings or pirates or knights.
In the Years (or as you'd say Grades) from 7 to 10 in High school teachers have groups of content they can choose from:
Group A:
Ancient Societies:
Egypt, Greece,Rome,Near East,Britain, Celtic Europe, an Asian country, the Pacific, the Americas.
Group B:
Vikings, Medieval Europe, the Islamic World,an Asian country,the Pacific, the Americas, Africa, Revolutionary Europe in the 18th to 19th centuries. From the above lists students have to study at least one society from group A or B and one of them has to be non-European.
In 9 and 10 the focus is more on Australia and the World where the great international events like World War One and Two are studied.
This is just compulsory History- there is an Elective History too which could include the 'History of Rock and Roll' for example among many others.
In Years 11 and 12, students choose from Modern or Ancient History. They focus on Personalities like Julius Caesar or Stalin or Ho Chi Minh or Gandhi etc and particular societies/eras like Nazi Germany or the Vietnam War etc.
There's a lot of flexibility for teachers to pursue their special interests only hampered by what resources are in the book room. I imagine not much would be done on Ancient societies in the Pacific, for example, as nobody has written any school texts on this topic as far as I know.
Hope this is of use. A current History teacher here could tell you more,
regards