But Australian traditions are not only limited to the ones originating from Christian faith. As you remember Australia in now a vivid multicultural mix. To learn more about non-christian celebrations look THERE.
Picture credit: Snake Catcher Victoria Australia (via www.theguardian.com)
That’s not tinsel: deadly snake found curled around Australian Christmas tree ‘Tiger snakes are very good climbers,’ professional catcher says after call from surprised Melbourne woman.
Gold Rush of 1850s was a series of events that had some serious consequences for Austrailan society. We'll be talking about:
- migration and ethnic minorities
- representation and Eureka Stockade
- White Australia Policy
and
- the concept of "diggers"
Click on the picture below to read more about the era of Australian gold rush.
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GROUP PROJECT
Sorry I haven't posted the topic for your presentations earlier.
You can choose between:
1. General geography of Australia 2. General climate of Australia 3. Great Dividing Range 4. Great Barrier Reef
Most of the class will be taken up by my presentation, but please read/watch the materials below.
1. Floods and Fires
Australian weather has never been easy on the settlers. Southern regions suffer from severe fires, while the North often faces tropical cyclones and floods.
Watch a heartbreaking account of Black Saturday - the 2009 Victorian Bushfires.
Watch the clip below to learn more about the 2009 Queensland Flood.
2. Federation
"At the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Eve 1900, as the clock ticked into 1901 and the 20th century, whistles, gongs, church bells, rattles, pots, pans, accordions and all manner of noise-makers joined the sirens of boats on Sydney Harbour.
It was to be a special day"
Do you know what special day it was? No? Then go here to find out :-)
"Just after that midnight, a storm broke and winds gusting up to 50 miles an hour swept into Sydney. Forty points of rain drenched the harbour city.
But the New Year’s Day morning of 1901 broke clear and fine, and an eight-kilometre procession headed out to Centennial Park, just beyond Paddington, where the federation rites, uniting the erstwhile separate British colonies into one federal Commonwealth, finally took place."
A bit of catching up (last week's topics) and a look back at Australia before European colonisation. 1.Darwin
Click on the picture to watch a clip showing Darwin from the point of view of an insider.
And then read the inevitable bit of historical trivia. [But please do not memorise the names of ships or numbers of casulties, I'm not going to quiz you on that! ;-) ]
A. Let's start with European discovery and colonisation. We have already talked about James Cook and the First Fleet, but this time please concentrate on non English explorers. Click the map to get some information (focus on nationalities only). Go here to see the chronology of landings, and here to see a cute animation.
B. Our second topic is a little tricky - excavation. But we will not be talking about gold - not just yet! ;-)
In fact what we are going to discuss is Australia's fossil past. Click on the picture to read some fascinating facts.
car 2: Two Hands (1999)
[it's a very vague clue, pay attention to the first shot]
If you are still confused go here, type the title(s) in the search box, and then read "plot" and "trivia" sections.
***For movie buffs only***
The Cars That Ate Paris (1974) - a film from Peter Weir, the same director who later shot the cult classic Picnic at Hanging Rock, and such films as Dead Poets Society and recently Master and Commander.
3. cinema (industry and film festivals)
Australian Tropfest is the world's largest short film festival. Visit their official site, browse around, and find out some information about the rules and the venue. You can also watch some competition films. They are all under 7 minutes long, so it won't take you too long ;-)
- convicts in popular culture: songs, stories, art
- the impact of convict past on Aussie mentality and national pride (concentrate on "social psychology" and "why?" in this article; we'll also touch upon the concept of "mateship")
As you all remember this week we're going to explore the letter "B".
Being the cruel and wicked person I am, I thought it'd be more interesting if I didn't give you a list of topics but just some hints on what you may expect on Wednesday ;-)
So here they go:
1. Watch and listen to this clip. If you want to check the lyrics just follow the link. You'll find some information about the artists here.
2. Click on the picture to find out more.
3. Solve the picture puzzle.
You need two words ( _ _ _ _ _ _ ) ( _ _ _ ). When you read them aloud you should guess the third topic.
(Hint 1: these two puzzle words begin with consecutive letters of the alphabet. Hint 2: the word you are looking for has a well known 3-letter abbreviation)
Australians have a lot of funny and unofficial holidays. One of them is the Wombat Day, celebrated on October 22 by eating lots and lots of chocolate cakes and chocolates. Click on the picture to read more.
If you want to make your own origami wombat to celebrate the day, here are the instructions:
In the coming weeks we will be trying to make sense of Australia - what country it is now, and how it came to be this way.
But first we need to understand the complex interconnections between Aboriginal Australians, Convicts and Free Settlers. As you remember from our first class, societies that developed in isolation were usually disadvantaged when finally the confrontation with foreigners happened. Do you remember why?
Watch the video below to revise the topic:
What kind of people were the Aborigines? We didn't use this particular presentation in class, but it's very useful. Read the first half (Australians).
This presentation was originally written by IJO graduates Magdalena Waligóra and Marcin Piechnik, I just updated some content. The copyright belongs to them and the owners of visuals used in this presentation. All sources have been cited.
Follow up watching.
This is a long documentary but you do not need to watch all of it.
