Fakultet Australia: 2011/05

2011/05/29

The Battle of Long Tan revisited

I found a great PPS presentation which may be an alternative for those of you who find watching the Long Tan documentary too difficult.

You can download it from my "chomik" account (link below) using my transfer limit.

Folder: Long Tan
Password: 1966

The Battle of Long Tan PPS

Just to make it clear - I will not be asking any detailed questions on the battle. I simply believe that whoever is interested in Australian history SHOULD have a basic understanding of what happened there.

2011/05/27

Open Day presentation (backup)

2011/05/23

Letters "V" and "W"

This class is all devoted to Australians at war - WWI, WWII and Vietnam.

1. The Boer War

This was the first major conflict Australians were involved in (or rather dragged into by the British) before they even became the Federation. One of the most controversial events of the war was the trial of Harry Morant and his two colleagues. The story was brought to screens in the famous Australian film, Breaker Mornat. Watch the trailer below.

Synopsis:
Breaker Morant concerns the murder trial of three Australian Army officers of the Bushveldt Carbineers serving in South Africa during the Second Boer War (1899-1902). Lieutenants Harry "Breaker" Morant, Peter Handcock, and George Witton are accused of the murder of one Boer prisoner and the subsequent murders of six more. In addition, Morant and Handcock are accused of the sniper-style assassination of a German missionary, the Rev. H.C.V. Hesse. Their defence counsel, J.F. Thomas, has had only one day to prepare their defence.

Great Australian War Drama based on a true story.

2. World War I (the "Great War")

Australian were sent to both Eastern and Western fronts.

Read this general introduction first.

Click the picture below to enter a great interactive website that will help you learn the story behind the tragic Battle of Gallipoli. As you remember it was a turning point in Australian history and an abrupt change in Australia/Britain relations. It gave rise to a strong sense of Aussie identity and resulted in development of "broad" Aussie accent.

Western Front and the controversy of "voluntary" enlisting - click here.

3. World War II

WWII for Australians meant involvement in the military operations in the Pacific Ocean arena (e.g. bombing od Darwin), but Aussie soldiers were also fighting in Europe. It was another importan time for shaping national identity.

Mateship was defined through the experience of trench warfare, concentration camps, hunger, injury, forced labour and the boredom and terror of war.

In the [Japanese POW] camps the Australians discarded their differences and became a tribe, a tribe which was always the most successful group. The core of this success was an ethos of mateship and egalitarianism which not only survived the ultimate dehumanising duress of the death camps, but shone through as the dominant Australian characteristic.
Paul Sheehan, Among the Barbarians, 1998

Mateship between soldiers helped define their manhood, and in turn, this helped define Australia as a nation.

4. Vietnam

The Vietnam War was the longest war Australia was ever involved in. Australian involvement in the Vietnam War was marked by controversy and significant levels of public opposition to conscription and concern about casualties. The Vietnam War was also the first war witnessed 'live' on television.

It was also a war in which ANZAC fought a battle against all odds, one that they should have lost - 108 people against Viet Cong's troops of 1,500-2,500. They didn't have any chance to win... but they did.

Below are five parts of a trully brilliant documentary on the Battle of Long Tan. It may make a difficult listening (no subtitles) but I think it is really worth your while. Such honest and heartwrenching accounts of human bravery and mateship are rare these days.

Click on the pictures:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

5. Recent Australian involvement

I think Aussie attitude is best summarised in this short clip.

2011/05/13

Blogger failure [update: it's fixed now! :-) ]

Oh well, our last lesson is gone... at least for now.

I got following info from Blogger:

"To get Blogger back to normal, all posts since 7:37am PDT on Weds, 5/11 have been temporarily removed. We expect everything to be back to normal soon. Sorry for the delay."

"We’ve started restoring the posts that were temporarily removed and expect Blogger to be back to normal soon."

Anyway, in the meantime you can enjoy this Wednesday's episode of Spicks and Specks.

Remember what I told you about Aussie humour and how Hamish understands it? ;-)

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2011/05/11

The letter "T" - part 2 + the letter "U"

Hey there! This Friday it's the last time I'll see you before the Open Days. So we'll have to devote a little time to discussing what's happening and what you will need for your presentation(s).

The rest of time will be taken up by these topics:

1) Tourism revisited ;-)

2) TV

Now, where do I even start... ;-)

Inevitably this topic is going to be very arbitrary. Imagine that a foreigner asks you to recommend best 10 programmes/soaps/talk shows on Polish television now and in the past. Yes? Well? Czterej Pancerni or Szymon Majewski Show? I bet everyone would come with a unique list...

I've been nagging my Aussie friends for suggestions, plus I've discovered some gems of Aussie TV on my own. It will be a very incomplete list, but I feel that's the only way I can do it - just to share with you my personal favs.

First visit the infallible Culture Portal for a comphehensive insight into the history of TV in Australia.

And now you are ready to look at Top 10 Programmes (or rather categories - but let's not be too pedantic, eh? ;-) )

1. comedians: Adam Hills, Tim Minchin, Judith Lucy

You've seen some clips with Adam and Tim already, but now have a look at the one which unites them on screen :-)

And this one shows Judith at her sarcastic best. :-D I rarely find female comedians funny, but her style of comedy never fails to entertain me.

2. radio presenters guesting on TV shows: Hamish and Andy, Myf Warhurst

Hamish and Andy are a comedy duo with their own radio programme but often appear on Spicks and Specks and Rove.

Here is a little clip in which they instruct their mothers to play pranks on Mother's Day. It is not very highbrow humour, mind you, but it's endearing nevertheless :-)
Look for the expression of sheer dread in the boys' faces when they realise what they have made their moms do. And you have to admit that the ladies are really game to take on any challenge ;-)

Myf appears as team captain on Spicks and Specks. She is the heartwarming, adorable, gentle soul of the show. But her being the only girl in the gang, the host - Adam Hills and Kiwi team captain Alan Brough never miss an opportunity to put Myf in an embarrassing situation ;-)

Here is what happened one of the very rare times when Myf's team actually won...

3. talk show hosts: Rove McManus, Andrew Denton, Paul McDermott
4. comedy shows: Spicks and Specks (newest episode on YouTube)
5. kids TV: The Wiggles, The Upside Down Show, High 5, Marine Girl, Silversun
6. soaps: Neighbours, Home and Away, Blue Heelers
7. modern TV dramas: Love My Way
8. "mystery"/sci-fi: Bryan Brown's Twisted, Two Twisted

From Two Twisted promo:
'Two Twisted' follows on from the 'Twisted Tales'(1996) series produced by Australian actor/producer Bryan Brown. These Australian series' follow the tradition of 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents' and 'The Twighlight Zone', of short dark thrillers which develop with a surprising twist. 'Two Twisted' consists of 14 episodes of 30 minutes each, screened in pairs, with a link connecting each of the two episodes. Can you spot the link?

It's another show which I love to bits! :-) Mostly because when I was your age I used to write such sting-in-the-end stories. Nice to see they sometimes make it to the screen.

Hare is the trailer:

9. spoof documentary: The Games

Love the dry humour!

10. entertainment: Strictly Come Dancing

3) Live, Universe and Everything

That's mostly Aboriginal Astronomy. I'll show you a presentation I prepared last year for Open Days. You don't need to read anything.

2011/05/07

TIMELINE - aftermath ;-)

An easy, "all-in-one" summary of the bit of Australian history we have covered so far. Links will take you to relevant blog entries.

Feb 2009 - "Black Saturday" - the worst bushfire in Oz history