The ideas of land and County are demonstrated through Eckermann’s poem, ‘Ngingali’, as well as through Oodgeroo Noonuccal’s poem, ‘Community Rain Song’, both depicting an Aboriginal link to the land and Country. Another idea of land and Country is expressed through Martin Harrison’s short story, ‘Country and How to Get There’, concentrating on the outcomes of European settlement which included the issues involving the land and Country. Eckermann’s poem, ‘Ngingali’, conveys an Aboriginal link to the land and Country. Furthermore, Eckermann utilises the simile through the line, “my mother is a granite boulder”. This demonstrates that the connection to the land and Country as well as it being hard to shift. Eckermann using narrative perspective through “my mother” appears deeply personal and further depicts an Aboriginal connection to the Country. Additionally, through the line, “gulls nestle in her eyes” Eckermann conveys the utilisation of both, metaphor as well as imagery …show more content…
This is evident through the line, “Rain come down! Rain come down!” (Noonuccal p.56). Noonuccal utilises repetition in order to emphasis on the collective voices that are chanting as well as the sound of rain being repeated. Additionally, Noonuccal further expresses the connection to the land as well as to the Country through the line, “the universal sound of heavy rain” (p.58). This conveys the collective voices chanting about nature which further links an Aboriginal connection to the Country as well as to the Land. Moreover, Noonuccal utilises imagery as well as sonic elements through, “leafy boughs, rattling gravel” and “toneless monotone” (p.58) in order to depict that natural elements are also chanting. This further portrays the natural elements interacting with the human voices through the chanting as well as the collective sound having a cooperative value to
The distinctively visual provides a means of which a composer can connect with his or her audience in order to create a clear, distinct visual image of other people and their worlds - conveyed through the use of visual or literary techniques in their media. Composers such as Henry Lawson and Dorothea Mackellar are able to effectively depict an image through an exceptional use of language and techniques that help shape our understanding of the Australian people and their world. In particular, Henry Lawson’s short stories ‘The Drover’s Wife’ and ‘The Loaded Dog’ and the Dorothea Mackellar Poem ‘My Country’ are able to effectively depict the unique environment of the Australian bush landscape.
Eddie Mabo is widely known for his plight to regain land rights for both Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. In 1982, along with four other Meriam people from Murray Island, he initiated legal proceedings in the Queensland Supreme Court claiming customary ownership of their lands on Murray Island. This original claim was rejected by the Supreme Court, but rather than backing down Mabo chose to present his case to the High Court of Australia. The basis of his case explores how “’Australia’ is morally illegitimate to the extent that it is founded on European denial of the continent’s prior ownership by indigenous people…” (Rowse, 1994)
It is rare to find a book that is as informative as a textbook but reads as easy as a short story. But Keith H. Basso is successful in creating an interesting ethnography about the Western Apache culture by using two usually overlooked topics, geography and oral history. Geography and the location of places is usually forgotten or seen as just topography, but Basso proves that geography is more than a location. It is the forgotten history of the name of a place that makes the locality more important than it seems. While whitemen (a term frequented by the Apache to describe White European culture) has constantly renamed places for convenience and prove of colonization, Basso overturns this ignorant and offensive practice and attempts to understand and map the geography of Western Apache by using the original place-names. Therefore this paper will be an attempt to explore the "sense [sic] of place as a partake of cultures, of shared bodies of 'local knowledge' with which whole communities render their places meaningful and endow them with social importance" (Basso 1996:xiv). And from Basso's detailed accounts of interacting with the natives of Western Apache, I will also attempt to demonstrate the importance of spoken (oral) language in relating and learning about ancestral history.
The authors begin by outlining the historical problems which white settler society construct presented. First, they point out that as white settlement began in earnest, the confiscation of the Aboriginals land was justified in terms of their failure to qualify as a ‘civilized’ community (98). As Stasiulus and Jhappan outline, the violence that went into colonizing the Aboriginal community, is therefore seen as justifiable because the Aboriginal communities’ different world-views, cultures, notion of property and ‘pagan’ beliefs are presented as evidence for their unfit ownership to the land.
This book is appropriate for three-to-five years of age children as the story is very engaging and children are exposed to the Aboriginal culture. The book is illustrated in oil paint in impressionism and the whole story is in double-page illustration, which shows the landscape of Cape York and Aboriginal people. The pictures use vibrant colours including forest green and many shades of brown and the kangaroos and the snake people have red eyes. Educators can guide children to discuss the information in the image which can help children to understand how these details support meaning construction (Spence, 2004). For example, educators can tell children that the kangaroos and snake people who have red eyes reveal that they are evil, so that children can understand that adding more details in both writing and speaking can provide more information for audiences and the explicit language is very effective in constructing the meaning. Educators can use toy snakes and toy kangaroos and other materials to retell the story with children or make a small display that shows part of the
This poem describes the lack of patriotism our country expresses. In the first line “Despite what Dorothea has said about the sun scorched land, you’ve never really loved her” not only shows personification (a reoccurring poetic device) but it also focuses on the true feelings of the Indigenous Australians, in particular Kevin Gilbert. The personification within this line creates a sense of a personal relationship between the reader and our country. This starting line of the poem sets the tone for the entire poem, astringent and solemn. Even before reading the poem it is easy to decipher the inimical tone through the title “The New True Anthem”. Kevin Gilbert never ceases to accentuate the disesteem he feels for the Australian public. The pride Australians exhume for our country is quickly challenged with his 4th – 6th lines - “you pollute all the rivers and litter every road, your barbaric graffiti”. This poem also challenges the beloved poem “My Country” written by Dorothea McKellar. Which also relates back to the first line “Despite what Dorothea has said…” as it is a jab at the iconic poem “My Country” and its subject matter.
The impact on the original inhabitants of Australia has been greatly influenced by the arrival of white settlers, particularly in the time period from the early 1800s. As a result of this, particular bodies of work emerged in order to capture the sense of loss and suffering, as well as the rare aspects of joy and contentment. Kim Scott’s That Deadman Dance provides us with a distinctive opportunity to experience the life of Indigenous Australians from Western Australia who regarded themselves as the Noongar people. Through their differing responses, we gather a strong understanding of the effect white settlement had on their lifestyles and thus how it permeated their culture. Similarly, authors like Oodgeroo Noonuccal and Bennelong provide a unique and far more personal view of the joy and suffering that the original inhabitants of Australia became accustomed to.
“It might help if we non-Aboriginal Australians imagined ourselves dispossessed of the land we lived on for 50,000 years, and then imagined ourselves told that it had never been ours. Imagine if ours was the oldest culture in the world and we were told that it was worthless.” (Keating, 1993)
it is as if the ‘beast’ is tired and retreats slowly, so it is said to
Describing the rain, lightning and thunder allows us to visualize what is happening – and understand just how bad the weather is. An example of visual imagery that describes the rain can be found in stanza one and is “Blustering over the Harbour, brilliant rain slaps and blathers at the rusty Bridge”. The effect is that is allows the audience to better understand and see the actions occurring. John has also used another technique, which is personification and an example of personification can be found within stanza two and is “The echo whacks the concrete.” The purpose of personification was to describe how hard the ‘echo’ hit the
The poem, Then and now written by Oodgeroo Noonuccal; an aboriginal woman. cleverly tells the audience a story about her struggles through changing to the ‘white’ way and living without aboriginal culture and identity in her adulthood. Noonuccal skilfully uses emotive, evaluative and figurative language to create a strong poem that represents what it was like before white civilisation, how life was based on their culture and how they prefer to live that way.
Australia has been depicted through several different artforms – paintings, songs, poems – in order to reflect the multicultural national identity of Australia. These artforms in particular, had influenced the nation and advanced thought provoking ideas during the era of the oppressed indigenous people. Indigenous authors enlightened the hardships they faced, through artforms such as poems and contributed greatly to the Australian national identity. Oodgeroo Noonuccal, was the first Aboriginal woman to be a published author, and her poem “No More Boomerang,” highlights the impact the white settlers had on the indigenous community by showing the contrast in their daily lifestyles and the affect of the loss of their culture. These are revealed, through poetic techniques, imagery and symbolism, in order to deliver the subject matter to the audience. The message of the forced cultural differences the indigenous people faced was emphasised boldly and marked the white settlers as thieves of their land and culture.
Throughout the poem ‘No More Boomerang’ it suggests that the Aboriginals lost their culture, land and traditions, and that Australia needs to learn about the Aboriginal’s experiences. There are many techniques used in this poem to provide more meaning to the
In many works of literature, readers are able to explore the relationship and possession between Americans and land. Stephen Ambrose, John O’Sullivan, and John Gast all display accurate examples of this. The feelings between American settlers and has for undiscovered land are often unfolded in history.
In this essay I will consider the roles of city and country in three short stories; Water Them Geraniums by Henry Lawson, Short-Shift Saturday by Gavin Casey, and Trees Can Speak by Alan Marshall. I will argue through contributing to character development, they provide insight into the construction of contempory Australian identity. In Water Them Geraniums the outback is shown to be an emasculating force, particularly for women, that strips away their humanity until they function in a mechanical way to survive off the land. In Short-Shift Saturday the narrator is a product of an inherited colonial culture and imagines that it is the alien landscape and culture in which he lives that is the agent of his suffering. In reality, the countryside is used as a device to allow pathetic fallacy, reflecting the emotional state of the main protagonist. In Trees Can Speak the main character is the personification of the land and demonstrates the desirable state of being in harmony with the bush. I will put forward that across these three stories, the relationship between the characters and their environment is used to chart a period of progression from English myths and ideals onto the emergence of an Australian identity.