Lyrics.
It IS a bit rude, so hope no one feels offended. The fun is guessing the words which rhyme with the end of the prevous line but are never actually pronounced.
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.
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 (also, we'll watch this CLIP in class)
- White Australia Policy
and
- the concept of "diggers"
Click on the picture below to read more about the era of Australian Gold Rush.
=============================
GROUP PROJECT
Now, here's my chance to check who is reading these posts before the class ;)
Next week your groups will be giving presentations on the topics below.
You can choose between:
1. General geography of Australia 2. General climate of Australia 3. Great Dividing Range 4. Great Barrier Reef
FIRST COME, FIRST SERVED!
If you're one of the first people reading this post, you can grab the best/easiest topic for your group. Use the comments below this post to let me know what you have chosen - name of your group (e.g. Ladybirds) + the topic.
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.
And finally listen to this story of a survivor. Turia suffered her burns in a bush fire in Kimberly just two weeks after I was in the region, so this makes the story particularly emotional for me.
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."
History so far:
- Britain loses American colonies
- Industrial Revolution re-shapes British society
- 1770 Captain Cook lands in Botany Bay
- 1788 First Fleet brings british convicts to Australia
- early 19 century marks the arrival of free settlers ("bounty migrants" and "maiden boats")
It seems like Australia was destined to be an English-speaking country, right?
Well, not quite. It may well have been colonised by completely different nations. This week we'll learn by whom and why. We'll be also talking about a much earlier history in an attempt to explain its flora and fauna.
But before we delve into these topics heare are some materials for you that can be useful if you want to do well in another of our "pub quizzes" ;)
1. Dancing
Just watch the video above ;) 2.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! ;-) ]
The topics below we'll cover in class together but please do the reading/watching: 4. Exploration
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 to read some fascinating facts.
As you remember our course is about BOTH Australian history and its culture.
This week we are going to step aside from the chronological path for a moment in order to delve deeper into the Aussie soul.
We'll be talking about following topics:
1. customs
Two very interesting (if somewhat ridiculous) videos here: Video 1 Video 2
Drinking etiquette as described on my favourite website. Read about the "shout" (somewhere in the middle of the article) and have a look at the quotes at the end.
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 ;-)
Melbourne Cup Day is Australia’s best known horse racing event held on the first Tuesday of November every year. It is an annual public holiday in the state of Victoria. This event is popularly dubbed as “the race that stops the nation”. Read more at Timeanddate
As you can see young Australians attending the race are often up to no good. Read more about what it was like last year on news.com.au
- 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")
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 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 used parts of this presentation in class. 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. Watch about 10 minutes to get a feel of what life was like in Australia at the time when Native Australians were still isolated from other societies.
So you have successfully made it here. Well done! ;-)
Please check this space regularly - I will be adding tons of materials,
clips, links and pictures related to the topics of our classes.
Also please feel free to comment and add your own recommendations. They are most welcome!
Happy exploring!
So, how does it work exactly?
Well, I DO hope you listened carefully in the class, but if someone is still a little confused here is the general idea again:
1. In each class we will be talking about an array of Australia-related
topics, all of which will begin with a given letter of the alphabet.
2. You will know these topics in advance, so you'll be able to find out some information beforehand.
3. In class, first I'll give a short presentation with audio/video
materials, and then will be asking you some very tricky questions or ask you do complete some practical tasks.
Our class is a FLIPPED CLASSROOM. This means that instead of delivering a lecture on a given topic in class, and then giving you homework, I'll ask you to learn on your own at home FIRST and then when you come to the classroom we'll use the information you have obtained to do something practical with it.
Romper Stomper is a film which kick-started the career of Russel Crowe and which tackles the difficult topic of bullying and subcultures. A raw and brutal film, but one of the most iconic in Australian cinematography.
Here is the trailer.
On a slightly brigther note - a clip from Muriel's Wedding.
And here are two movie tips. Both films are a perfect illustration of the topic of youth problems.
Both deal with the insecurities of young people: loneliness, lack of understanding, problems with defining one's identity, lure of the big world and its temptations, and so on...
Both star a very talented female - Abbie Cornish. In both she co-stars with two Australian actors representing the young generation whose potential has been recognised by Hollywood.
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")
see: Battle of Gallipoli.
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 important 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.
OPTIONAL MATERIAL:
Below is a truly 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.
5. Recent Australian involvement
I think Aussie attitude is best summarised in this short clip.
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.
Please click on all interactive elements on the website. It will take you around 20 minutes to watch/listen/interact with information there and you will need some of the facts for the test. So please do do it!
Western Front and the controversy of "voluntary" enlisting - click here.
"Australian sport deserves quality piss taking or none at all."
Australians are a nation of active people and they like to joke that they spend more on excercising than on education, but it doesn't mean that they are going to worship their sportsmen and sportswomen blindly. They always retain a healthy dose of irony and humour.
Asked about cricket, they would say something like that:
Cricket is a game that moves about as fast as a Jamaican on valium. It involves watching 11 men in white clothes stand around a field for a few hours, then break to have lunch, stand around, then break again to have a cup of tea, stand around, then go home. The same thing occurs for another 4 days, and then after all that effort, both teams call the whole thing a draw...
Remember, "Australian sport deserves quality piss taking or none at all." So true ;-)
Australians pride themselves on inventing football. That's correct. Football. (see the link under science). However "footy" may mean different games in different states. More on that here.
Some of you know already that I'm hopelessly in love with AFL
*** We'll watch the video below together in class
Click HERE to watch an episode of Australia’s Heritage – National Treasures which explains the story behind writing the rules of AFL (this is something you'll need for the test).
Talking about sport, we can't possibly forget about Sydney 2000 Olympic Games.
Sydney was the second Olympic Games organized by Aussies. The first one was in Melbourne in 1956.
That date also marks Aussies' love affair with swimming.
Another sport which is synonymous with Australia is surfing. Click HERE to re-watch the video we used in class.
Surfing was also important for local industry. In class we watched a trailer for a movie called Drift. Filmed on location on Western Australia's spectacular and rugged coastline, it is a story of two brothers and the birth of modern surf industry in the early 1970s.
Still, whether you are a professional athlete or an amateur, the main point is to be able to have fun.
Have a listen to this commentary. Pay attention to how Polish audience react to Aussies scoring goals, and how the Australian commentators react to the goal scored by Poland (first two minutes). A bit eye-opening, eh?
This is a playlist with series of videos that explain live in Australia. It's called "Our common bond". We watched part one in which they talk about the people and symbols of Australia. Following videos in the series deal with the country's institutions and its democratic system.
4. RACES AND ETHNICITIES - Koalas (Szlag Karolina, Ślazyk Klaudia, Tokarz Klaudia, Trojanowicz Dominika, Wilczyńska Alicja) If we have some time left, we'll jump to the first batch of our "S" topics. 1. Australian Symbols
Begin with some serious reading here.
And then visit my beloved site for a less "purist" take on Aussie symbols ;-)
(click the pic below)
2. In the second part of the class we are going to celebrate the life and heritage of Steve Irwin, or as we came to know him better - The Crocodile Hunter.
How could you just not love this guy? ;-)
3. (if we have time) Stars: Live, Universe and Everything That's mostly Aboriginal Astronomy. I'll show you a presentation I prepared for Open Days six years ago.You don't need to read anything.
Tomorrow we'll be focusing on the following topics:
1. Radio
We have already seen what the wireless was like at the beginning of 20th century, with its aspiration to become the "new BBC". Click the picture to learn more.
I'm not that much interested in names, dates and details. Instead concentrate on the impact that radio has had on the community in a country where many citizens live in very remote areas.
1a. School of the Air -(long distance) education.
This video gives a wonderful insight into what The School of the Air is and how it operates. Have a look:
(Click on the picture below to visit Alice Springs School of the Air website).
1b. The Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia.
We'll have a closer look at their work and importance for communities living in distant, remote areas of Australia.
3. Before we continue with the rest of topics beginning with "R", we're coming back to the letter "E" or a while.
E: Endangered and Extinct Species.
Read about the factors that threaten Australian wildlife here. (You don't have to read it all - just look at:
A. Habitat loss, change and fragmentation
B. Invasive plants and animals)
We are also going to spend some time talking about the fate of this unfortunate little fellow. Click on the picture to learn more.
"R" PRESENTATIONS:
1. ROCKS AND MOUNTAINS
2. RIVERS
3. RELIGION
4. RACES AND ETHNICITIES
3. Queensland
Have a look at this video. This is just the first random result I got from YouTube, I wasn't searching for it intentionally. And still it just makes you want to pack your things right away and head there ;-)
Queensland is sometimes referred to as the most beautiful state in Australia. And yet they feel the need to address advertisements to prospective tourists. In 2009 they launched the "Best Job in the World" action. Find out what it was all about and what campaigns are running now - maybe you'll get to spend some time in Oz yourself ;-)
We will also spend some time talking about Gold Coast and Surfers Paradise.
Get some ideas from this video :-)
What about POETRY? Don't worry. I'll handle that ;)
Today we'll be dealing with some really heavy topics.
The bulk of our time will have to be devoted to famous OUTLAWS. Australia sports names of many brave men who chose to stand against their opressors, but the two who are the most important, and have become part of Aussie culture and mentality, are Ned Kelly and Ben Hall.
ACTIVITY Ned Kelly
And now something for film buffs among you (you are all encouraged to read/watch these materials, but there will be no questions on this part).
Since bushrangers chose OUTBACK as their real home, we'll also have a closer look at just how it is portrayed in modern culture.
I have already introduced you to the acclaimed documentary Not Quite Hollywood. Among films which are discussed there, are such golden nuggets of Aussie cinema as Razorback and The Long Weekend. While they are in no means of any (or almost any) artistic merit, they offer a surprisingly insightful description of "the red centre."
I was a little hestitant to post this video, but... we celebrate the Australian language in all its richness.
Yeah...
OK, back to serious topics. We'll be watching part of a documentary from which you will learn about: BROAD, GENERAL and CULTIVATED accents and where they came from.
Some reading if you are interested in exploring more.
Australian slang - how language was shaped by various historical events
Before you read and/or watch anything else I'll need you to think about some questions and note down your answers. Imagine that an English speaking friend who has never been in Poland before asked you the following questions: - If there is one book by a Polish writer I SHOULD read, which one is it? - If there is one poem by a Polish poet I SHOULD read, which one is it? - If there is one Polish film I SHOULD watch, which one is it? - Tell me the title of ONE kids' show and/or fairytale/cartoon you watched when you were a child. - Do you remember any characters from kids' stories that traumatised you in your childhood? Have fun ;)
Some clips from the shows we will be talking about in the class:
Koala Brothers
A fantastic look at the Outback and the life there. Stunning voice acting with a variety of broad accents.
Dot and the Kangaroo
This is the whole movie if anyone feels like watching.
The film is one of iconic elements of Australian culture. It's the second ever animated Australian film, and a fantastic mixture of world views represented by the white and the Aboriginal members of Australian society.
We have already seen what the wireless was like at the beginning of 20th century, with its aspiration to become the "new BBC". Click the picture to learn more.
