mostly edward tbh

Brenda Matthews

• author and speaker - lots of titles, + film thing - last daugher $\implies$ autobiographical https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-04-27/last-daughter-film-brenda-matthews-story-stolen-generation/102267702
• Search for family, identity? $\implies$Childhood innocence, cannot recognise their disenfranchising/manipulation
• sad music fr
• Not white, dont fit in with “Blackfellas”, who do you fit in with?
• othering, liminal
• Search for identity, what one can connect with
• assimilation into white society 1973 - age 2, 6 siblings taken from parents, taken into foster system without cause
• contrast: white family was loving, not abusive. child welfare $\implies$ separated her from her now white family, with her new Indigeous Australian parents
• literally separated twice. on a journey to mend the wounds
• bringing sets of parents together, “bridge the gap between the cultural divide in Australia” asked mother
• $\implies$ seeking family affirmation $\implies$ before separation, ordinary indigenous australian family, i.e. small family unit, father was a pastor
• illegally taken children away
• took 7 children, unable to say goodbye to father
• very sad 22nd February 1973 $\implies$ neglected parents neglected children
• contrary to health check: all children were very healthy
• oldest brother had to fill the role of parenthood for the siblings $\implies$ facadical nature of the dolls
• coping with loss

• important things

• sense of identity
• stories of loss, hurt, abandonment, disconnect
• but love :)
• stories - institutionalised children - this is bad (and sad) - separation of siblings, family - deep sense of loss, pain $\implies$ alcoholism - motif, dehumanising - liminal portrayal: sense of unfamiliarity when returned to actual family - thanking white family
• alt reading: brainwashed? into idolising white family, $\implies$ psychological impacts on impressionable youth
• sisterhood
• transcends ethnicity??????
• compounding loss - losing her white sister
• idea that children develop strong emotional bonds, which can be manipulated
• rebecca is not her real sister, yet she feels equivalent loss
• photos - hold memories - same clothing $\implies$ same identity?????
• assimilation - white v. black family alignment???
• cannot decide which one makes up their identity
• insert post colonial term here - untethered
• black or white identity? neither can fully be established
• colour - children dont see colour, they accept reality as told
• childhood innocence - children don’t understand what is happening
• confusing nature of being “stolen twice”
• learning about culture
• connection to country - story is vast
• everyone should consider connection to country, regardless of identity/race
• dual identity?(j and h) - “parenthood passes on values and attitudes, i.e. family gives one their identity/culture”
• forgiveness - reconciliation over violence/hatred/guilt
• both families teach love $\implies$ love is the most important element of this story - social change $\implies$ individual change
• philo gaming - disenfranchising as a societal tool $\implies$ government policy
• not black/white, there is a “grey area”, or an indescribable non-duality of Australian identity in Brenda’s context

I cannot be bothered to assimilate (i don’t want to be coloniser either) so here’s my part

• Regression? Loss, abandonment, rejection; love, search for identity
• Brenda was ‘adopted’ by a white family, though eventually was returned to her original family
• One of the last people to be returned to their families
• 1905 - 1965: Stolen Generation, Matthews was taken from her family three years after the stolen generation and was not recognised as part of it
• 1973: “We’re here to take the children away”; forcible displacement from family
  • By this point, it was illegal to do this; though they went to court, eventually the case was lost
  • Alcoholism –> escapism, coping with issues
• 1977: Returned to family, however, disconnected from siblings, identity stolen
• After some time, she wished to see her family that she was fostered in, but her sister had already passed away
• Dressed up the same
• At age 6, she found out that she was of different ethnicity from her foster family
• Essentially stolen twice, from both her original family and foster family
  • Taken away as disconnected from her white family, then felt disconnected from original family when returned
• Learned of the connection to land and her origin
• Separation from family
• Belonging and connection

Sense of identity

• Duality (J and H noooooo) of Australia’s identity
• As a child, she was used to
• Sought to heal herself after

  Forgiveness

• Her mother and grandmother had been taken away from their families
• Cannot change the past
• Cannot change the world without changing oneself

  qna summary

• we shouldn’t brush bad things under the rug. we cannot ignore the past, but we should learn from it. acknowledgement and honest is important on the journey to actual change
• aboriginality in schooling? discriminatory, but progress being made
• art and storytelling’s effect on reconciliation/cultural change? $\implies$ able to share stories, display the past, expression of the individual and their personal story/identity
• nowadays we can’t share our stories due to trauma and the pain of the past.
• we should listen to indigenous Australians more, we’ve had a voice but now people should listen
• conflicts between white/black cultural elements $\implies$ two places to belong, no home in either $\implies$ self reflection with pain $\implies$ idea of home, what/where is one’s home? safe place?
• does the voice go far enough to repair the wounds of colonialism?
• acknowledgement, taking responsibility, reconciliation is enough $\implies$ change might come about
• gov. taking responsibility for colonisation/stolen generation
• immigration’s part in this story
• regardless, responsibility is important
• collective story of australia
• gained understanding of history
• impact of making doc on life? giving to wider audience? - awesome impact on journey and story
• we dont understand story in young, maturation allows us to explore and understand
• should be a collective, human story about multiple individuals, not just one

Similarly,

• Enacting positive change
  • Acknowledging what has happened, identifying the truth and understanding complexity of the now and the future
• How Indigenous culture is shared and taught in schools
  • Most of the spirituality and Indigenous identity has been left behind, but is making its way through the education system
• Art and story telling to bring about reconciliation
  • Song and dance is usually used to express stories
  • Move past the hurtful stories of the Stolen Generation etc. and act on the healing stories of Indigenous culture
• Thoughts about Voice to Parliament
  • Screw you how dare you bring politics into this centrist for life
• Conflicts between identity shared between two different cultures
  • Could not find identity within any side due to conflict, but managed to reconcile with the past and find her ‘home’
• Attempts to reconcile are dull and lack depth
  • why bring contest and conflict into this sadge :(
  • Taking responsibility for own story, change will come about as long as it is recognised
  • No prior acknowledgment that she was part of the Stolen Generation
  • Truth will hurt, but recognising truth is the only way change will happen
• Impact on life from sharing her story
  • Wonderful impact, understanding of truth
  • Collective story, we can all be healed

claire jones aussie lit and maps

• significant genres in aussie lit is historical fiction - multimodal $\implies$ drama, poetry - historical fiction tells us a lot about aussie lit and it reflects history+relationship with history - this includes speculative fiction, since the future is informed by the past/present This map attempts to represent the language, social or nation groups of Aboriginal Australia. it shows only the general locations of larger groupings of people which may include clans, dialects or indivdual langauges in a group. It used published resources from the eighteenths century - 1994 and is not intended to be exact, nor the boundaries fixed. - early (spanish) idea of australia - explorers had found many different places of the world, but could not accurately place them/visualise them (blursed australia)
• when we don’t know things, we invent things. (funny wacky serpent things)
• imagination legitimate part of world history (???) - scientific map bad l bozo From 1570. Ideas of European exploration prevalent at the time. We place ourselves on top of history $\implies$ history is our bedrock
• AIATSIS Map of Indigenous Australia - attempt to map cultural groupings of Indigenous Australia
  • Shows the general locations of larger groupings of people which include clans, dialects, or individual languages in a group
• Australia: a European (and Spanish) construction Great South Land 1570 by Autilis
• Accurate placement of landforms were not possible, due to them not exploring the area prior
• Rather the large area ‘Terra australis nondum cognita’ was a figment of their imagination

  aussie historical fiction

• lots of examples

  What is historical fiction?

  Historical fiction is a literary genre where the story takes place in the past. Historical novels capture the details of the time period as accurately as possible for authenticity, including social norms, manners, customs, and traditions. Many novels in this genre tell fictional stories that involve actual historical figures or events. Makes an attempt at being historical accurate, despite the narrative being shaped, formed, partially imaginary. $\implies$ still want to be authentic but uses imagination

  Limits of the genre

  “To be deemed historical (in our sense), a novel must have been written at least fifty years after the events described ,or have been written by someone who was not alive at the time of those events (who therefore approaches them only by research)”

• Historical novel society - is this too much time? should be measured by how much perspectives has change, different perspectives should allow works to be consider historical as being seen from dif perspective - distance from subject, allowing objectivity
• “We also consider the following styles of novel to be historical fiction for our purposes”:
• alternative histories - Fatherland Robert Harris
• pseudo-histories - Island of the Day Before Umberto Eco
• timeslip novels - Lady of Hay Barbara Erskine
• historical fantasies - King Arthur Trilogy Bernard Cornwell
• multiple-time novels - The Hours Michael Cunningham
• Orlando Virginia Woolf

• Historical Fiction: is it a paradox?

• 5 Common Elements of Historical Fiction (taken from masterclass.com)
• Setting:
  • The setting is the most important part of a historical fiction novel. It should take place during an authentic period in history and be set in a real historical place.
• Plot:
  • The plot in a historical fiction novel is a combination of real events and fictional events. You can invent characters, cities, and events, but they still must make sense to the time period.
• Characters:
  • The characters can be real, fictional, or both, but they should all look, speak, and act in ways that accurately reflect the era.
• Dialogue:
  • The dialogue must be authentic to the time period and should reflect the status of the characters who are speaking
  • Really important for a historical fiction piece to work
    • Use of idiom
    • Register $\implies$ reflect class, status, education
    • Vernacular - tldr we are trying to replicate the language patterns of the time period.
    • Tim Winton is apparently really good at this (for aussie lit)
• Conflict:
  • The problems the characters encounter should be conflicts people of that era would encounter. For a successful historical fiction, all these things should be accurate to the period! $\implies$ we want to put ourselves in the perspective of the characters we are trying to convey - how do they see conflict for example

    Are literature and history as antagonists?

• History is about facts and time, while literature is about fiction and language.
• In The Order of Things, Foucault argues that the relationship between literature and history might be more complicated than this binary suggests. He explains systems of understanding, including subjects or disciplines.
• Yet we use narrative in both history and lit
• bias in hass,
• objectivity/subjectivity in lit
• The work of historian Hayden White follows this line of thinking. White points out that history is intimately involved in the representation of prior events.
• Hayden White is a postcolonialist.
• History is always being made rather than something safely secured in what we might call and recall as the past. So, the practice of writing history relies on interpretation and representation, the very devices of fiction and fiction-reading.
• White concluded, not uncontroversially, that “history is no less a form of fiction than the novel is a form of historical representation” (1987: 122).
• The historical record is a discursive entity, a selective account of events, responses and emotions, which is not to say that is fiction or untrue or unreal but rather that it is, to a degree, made up.
• Literature, in turn, can bring into being (so the argument goes) that which the archive does not retain traces of
• Historical record is flawed $\implies$ gaps and silences
• Historical fiction supplements these gaps!
• Through knowledge of history, and goal of accuracy, we can recreate history within a fictional construction
• Bringing to life something that was not recorded

  Mantel’s BBC Reith Lectures 2017: Lecture 4 “Can These Bones Live”

  “In the Old Testament, God asked the prophet Ezekiel, ‘Can these bones live?’ He answered yes: and so do I. The task of historical fiction is to take the past outof the archive and relocate it in a body.”

• In this version of the Old Testament, God has a skeleton.
• Through historical fiction, can bring “bones of history” back to life. We can give the skeleton flesh (meaning??? or just elements of history).

  A dialogue with the past

  “Most historical fiction is, I like to think, in dialogue with the past.”

• Communication between past and present
• Analysing representation, we are trying to ponder how
  • dialogue is being constructed
  • how does this help us understand (history presumably)

• A story of Australia

• William Dampier wrote in 1688 that the country was waterless and ‘the inhabitants […] the miserablest people in the world’, and went on to complain at length about the flies.
• William Dampier had actually arrived at Australia at this time - Batavia
• Gruesome moment in Aus History:
  • Shipwreck on an island
  • Trying to get to Batavia/Java/Indonesia
  • Tried to send people to get help
  • Crew and other passengers stay on island
  • Mutiny - People killed, rape, death very sad What is historical fiction
  • Historical fiction is a literary genre where the story takes place in the past
  • Historical novels capture the details of the time period as accurately as possible for authenticity, including social norms, manners, customs, and traditions
• Limits?
  • “To be deemed historical (in our sense), a novel must have been written at least 50 years after the events described, or have been written by someone who was not alive at the time of those events (who therefore approaches them only by research)” ~ (Historical Novel Society, n.d.)
  • Other styles (experimentation) of novel are also considered, e.g.:
    • alternate histories (Fatherland)
    • pseudo-histories (Island of the Day Before)
    • timeslip novels (Lady of Hay)
    • historical fantasies (King Arthur trilogy)
    • multiple-time novels (The Hours)
  • Is Historical Fiction a paradox?
    • 5 Common Elements of Historical Fiction
      • Setting - The g is the most important par of a historical fiction novel. It should take place during an authentic period in history and be set in a real historical place. For example, New York City during the Great Depression or Paris, France during WWII
      • Plot - The plot in a historical fiction novel is a combination of a real events and fictional events. You can invent characters, cities and events, but they still must make sense to the time period. For example, a novel set in London, Engalnd in 1666 would benefit from incorporating the Great Fire of London, a major turning point in the city’s history
      • Characters - The characters can be real, fictional or both, but they should all look, speak and act in ways that accurately reflect the era
      • Dialogue - register, vernacular, diction
      • Conflict
  • Are literature and history antagonists?
    • History is about facts and time, while literature is about fiction and language
    • In The Order of Things Foucault argues is that the relationship between literature and history might be more complicated than this binary suggests. He explains systems of understanding, including subjects or disciplines
    • The work of historian Hayden White follows this line of thinking. White points out that history is intimately involved in the re-presentation of prior events
    • History is always being made rather than something safely secured in what we might call and recall as the past. So, the practice of writing history relies on interpretation and representation, the very devices of fiction and fiction reading
    • White concluded, not uncontroversially, that “history is no less than a form of fiction than the novel is a form of historical representation”. The historical record is a discursive entity
• Mantel’s BBC lecture - Can these bones live
  • “In the Old Testament, God asked the prophet Ezekiel ‘Can these bones live?’ He answered yes: and so do I. The task of historical fiction is to take the past out of the archive” and essentially reanimate it
• A dialogue with the past - “Most historical fiction is, I like to think, in dialogue with the past”
• A story of Australia - William Dampier wrote in 1688 that the country was waterless and ‘the inhabitants […] the miserablest people in the world,’ and went on the complain at length about the files
• Colonial Australia (1788-1901)
  • Two different cultures
  • Indigenous/’traditional’ and European/Modern (try not to place them in opposition of each other)
  • Different world views, different epistemologies
  • Different perspectives on nature, family, wealth, country, etc.
  • One recorded history

    Colonial Australia 1788-1901

• Two different cultures:
  • Indigenous/’traditional’ and European/Modern (try not to place this categories in opposition to each other - they are different, not always in opposition - grey area)
  • Different world views, different epistemologies
  • Different perspectives on nature, family, wealth, country, etc.
  • One recorded history.
  • Trying to loot Australia for its resources (minerals etc.)
  • Indigenous, Western stories kept separate, but now during Colonial Australia, these stories collide (in being essentially mutually exclusive due to ‘superior’ colonisers)
  • Indigenous story suppressed
  • Western story officialised

  • Self-definition: redefining identity and a new nation

    • Lucky country
    • Isolated country
    • Egalitarian (???)
    • Brave
    • Brutal
    • Wealthy ### Some traditional/dominant Australian identities and literary archetypes
    • Drover/Stockman
    • ANZAC
    • Lost child
    • Childhood innocence/ stupidity
    • Blackberries(the funny fruit poem)(blackcurrents?????)
    • Bushranger
    • Underdog/Battler
    • Bush versus City
    • Indigenous mystic At this time, no black vs white binary
    • But mystical Indigenous figure Are there stories missing?
    • 90% (apparently) ### Emerging Themes
    • The complications of belonging
    • Importance and consequences of historical truth
    • dealing with cultural guilt
    • Facing the limitations of the traditional Australian National identity
    • The connection between violence and masculinity
    • Connections between trauma of national experience
    • Achieving reconciliation and atonement
    • Indigenous self-determination
    • Now, we are complicating what it means to belong in Australia.
    • Cultural/collective guilt
    • Connection between violence and masculinity. Is this good? How does this make “young men” think (men 👍)
    • Referendum, we gotta think about these things
    • Limitations to the identity ### Untitled powerpoint slide
    • Genre texts essentialy ask the audience, “Do you still want to believe this?” Popularity is the audience answering, “Yes”. Change in genres occurs when theaudience says, “That’s too infantile a form of what we believe. Show us something more complicated.” Leo Braudy, The World in a Frame, 1977
    • Now, historical fiction “explodes”, we want to subvert stereotypes and misconceptions on Australian identity ### How do they change? What becomes the method of complication?
    • Experiment within a genre
    • Revise, correct, deconstruct
    • Recreate or revisit
    • Look through nostalgic lens
    • Pastiche
    • Parody
    • Blending
    • Altered representations
    • Altered perspectives ### Contextual Complexity
    • The most important part
    • Are historical fictions about the past?
    • Or are they about the present?
    • They are about both!
    • Once again, we want something more complicated.
    • Most importantly, they are a dialogue with the past. ### Australian Historical Fiction
    • A dialogue with people from specific moments in Australia’s past ### Cloudstreet and Realism insert Tim Winton, p.1
    • Realism through vernacular
    • We don’t actually have perfect grammar, so we get a representation of Australian culture.
    • Realism mainly came out of Latin America
    • Magic realism $\implies$ we take something unreal, otherworldy, infused with the construction of realism
    • Although magical elements aren’t real, since they are placed next to real elements, we feel them to be more real.
    • Playing with narrative construction. “Back in time”(35-36)
    • Daisy Bates is a historical figure
    • Untrained anthropology
    • Focused on recording stories of Indigenous women in particular
    • Magic realism creates dialogue with past $\implies$ australia is a haunted nation, through this we can talk about the past ### Examples of magic realism in aus lit
    • No Sugar
    • The Secret River
    • That Deadman Dance

• Placing the two cultures together, we get a dialogue - By analysing it, we construct our own dialogue

• The rapper (Marksman Lloyd)

• Different way of expressing ones self from a literature perspective
• Poet, performer Subverting social/family expectations
• back then, rapping was cringe (still is today)
• dont do tafe $(\text{tafe suck(waste time(time waste(less mone(t=$(money))))))}$
• Perth mod good 👍, other schools bad 👎. My g got jumped Eshays cant take a joke

these are my bars now fr ong

omg its Marksman Lloyd hit protege of Tony Nguyen fr ong

• Slam poetry fr ong
• Rap fr ong
• Real emotions within the music fr ong
• don’t do TAFE fr ong
• compositional artists fr ong?
• Different way of expressing ones self from a literature perspective fr ong (what do you mean this is from ed(i don’t know what you’re talking about (ok maybe i did(but like(i had nothing else)))))
• Eshays can’t take jokes fr ong
• He has memory of elephant fr ong
• He make some noise fr ong
• He’ll get looked at like he’s insane if he tries to pronounce the middle name fr ong
• Holding up bleach, trying to preach fr ong
• He don’t know obnoxiousness fr ong
• Holding up like a “resala” (wrestler) fr ong
• He get paid for these shows fr ong
• They want his autograph fr ong
• Gemmy spitting bars fr ong
• He’s feeling it fr ong
• At Perth Modern rn fr ong
• Perth Modern not very cool fr ong
• Not a super model fr ong
• Please have sentence structure fr ong
• What to say when you are faced with a blank page fr ong
• He got the drive fr ong
• Performed in front of 12 people but regardless who’s in the room he’s gonna perform fr ong
• Going in arts can be disheartening fr ong
• On the stage is the freest felt, where true self could be represented
• One’s identity can be found through resilience
• Strength and power in finding oneself
• Woman - “You look a little chubby in national television” (this was literally a person that he had a relationship with)
• Insatiable (the book)
• Be (Have) your own lens fr ong
• Tiktok is cringe fr ong

• He so fr ong

• Ruby-Jean Hindley Indigenous perspectives across literature.

• Presentation Thesis

• What I would like you all to consider:
  • In the vastness of indigenous australian history, colonisation is a drop in the ocean
  • Before colonisation became an inlfuence on indigenous experience, what other thematic concerns do you think they had?
  • The diversity in the indigenous experience (not solely formed by trauma) What I would like you all to gain from this presentation:
    • A more developed sense of diversity
    • An understanding of the thematic conflict that exists in Indigenous perspectives and story-telling
    • (Hopefully) how to embed those perspectives in writing
    • A developed appreciation of Indigenous voices and how they are marginalised
    • An ability to effectively analyse and engage with indigenous voices and perspectives in your writing. ### Your presenter today
    • English and Hass teacher 9 years
    • Aranmore Catholic Colledge 10th% indigneous student population
    • Born raised in perth
    • Noongar +Yamaji
    • Immediate family is non-Indigenous
  • All schooling and employment has been in predominantly non-Indigenous places.
  • Mother - a white woman - having a black child $\implies$ what are the assumptions made of her?

  • Acknowledgements of Country

    1. Why do we have acknowledgements of country?
    2. What is the difference between a welcome to country and an acknowledgement of country? - Welcome to country can only be done by an elder.
    3. Why is it important to have a welcome to country?
    • Accept and acknowledge elders $\implies$ give them the right to welcome to country
    • i.e. you wouldn’t like your neighbours inviting someone random to your house.
    • We say Indigenous language groups (not tribes etc.)
    • In comparison to New Zealand, Indigenous language is actually taught.

• The coloniser’s perspective

  • Why did the stolen generation happen?
  • Why did government feel the need to intervene?
  • From what perspective or even emotion did these policies come from?
  • ”[T]hey have to be protected against themselves whether they like it or not. They cannot remain as they are. The sore spot requires the application of the surgeon’s knife for the good of the patient, and probably against the patient’s will.” - A.O. Neville, Moseley Royal Commision, 1934.
  • Zalums, E (Elmar) and Stafford. H. (1980) A bibliography of Western Australia Royal Commissions, select commitees of parliament and boards of inquiry, 1870-1979 Blackwood, S. Aust. E. Zalums and H. Stafford. (???)
  • Why did people think that the stolen generation was the right thing to do? Was this expected? Culturally? Perspective wise?
  • A.O. Neville was the “Chief Protector”, meaning he was the legal guardian of Indigenous children, not their parents!
  • How much of our identity, do we determine for ourselves? How much of Indigenous Australians’ identity been determined by themselves, versus by Western society.
  • Lost identity, stolen identity, kids taken from parents, language groups land.
  • How do we then know about the people, the land, if we don’t know ourselves?
  • History of Aboriginal Australians is full of trauma, which leads to loss of identity

• The Indigenous Perspective

• The Stolen Generation (approx. 1890-1970)
• “I have no identity, really.” - Cynthia Sariago (daughter of a stolen women)
• “We never heard the words ‘I love you’, so we never learned to say them to our family… or feel them. We became empty vessels, out of touch with our feelings.” - Sharyn Egan
• “My mother did not bond with her mother and I did not bond with mine.” - Barbara Cummings
• “I was hurting and had found no way of safely healing the pain… I couldn’t see any hope in the future.” - Joy Makepeace, taken aged less than 1 yr old.
• The “Bringing them Home Report”, 1997.
• If we can’t name or learn our feelings, we cannot express them.
• Good story telling engages us because we can relate to the story, what the characters are going through. If you don’t know yourself/identity is hollow or fragmented, how can we engage with the characters?
• To make connections with Indigenous text, we must understand the contention, and the dual perspectives.

• The first indication of civilisation?

• Dr. Margaret Mead (1901-1978), Cultural Anthropologist When asked about the first sign of Human civilisation she answered: “A 15,000 year old healed femur.” A healed femur bone showed:
  • Someone cared for the injured person
  • Someone did their hunting and gathering
  • Someone stayed with them for companionship and protection, possibly at their own risk. The assumption made is that the first sign of civilisation was compassion/selflessness, considering your own survival as a secondary priority.

• The first indication of humanity

• Lake Mungo remains
• 40-42k years old
• First known example of ritual burial and cremation
• This showed:
  • Someone cared enough for the deceased to ensure a proper process was followed
  • Someone thought that there was some aspect of a higher power/God
  • The area where the deceased was found holds some significance (connection or importance)
  • Someone thought that there was some manifestation of life after death
  • Someone either stayed at or continued to return to the burial or cremation site
  • Indigenous perspectives run similar to Western/established perspectives
• Yet, Indigenous storytelling is not given the same level of importance/credence

• Song lines (indigenous cultural element)

• What are song lines?
  • Geographical, Astronomically aligned, logistical, spiritual, narrative maps. - Part of “Lore” training and education as well as initiation of elders.
  • Part of the “adolescence of Indigenous culture”. - Acoord to Noel Pearson they are Australia’s “Book of Genesis”.
  • Creation stories
  • https://www.commonground.org.au/learn/songlines “The Song lines shouldn’t be just an anthropological footnote, but a part of Australian history as it is taught in schools. To tell the real story of this continent, you’ve got to have both histories. They are held in different ways, told in different ways, but are essentially complementary. To really belong to this place, you ….. (too fast)”
  • Seven sisters song lines creation tracks.
  • Daughters of Atlas, sad father has to hold up the skies
  • Pursued by Orion (??? whatever interpretation)
  • Zeus lifts the daughters into the heavens, make them into stars
  • Became the constellation
  • Indigenous interpretation:
    • Carrying a man across Australia
    • Pursued by a man of a different skin group
    • in Indigenous culture, they cannot bear children with this man
    • They realise they cannot outrun, so they place themselves in the heavens
    • The injured man becomes a part (a star) the Orion constellation whatever (i dunno stars man (you’re so fr edward))
    • Notice how similar the stories are
    • Yet its not like they were collaborating!
    • In a Western society, we place Greek mythology on an absolute pinnacle of society/literature.
    • Yet Aboriginal culture came to the same conclusions, but is placed at a lower level. Question: why? Why is one more important, when they are essentially the same story? Why don’t we lift Indigenous stories to the same level?

  • Another song line

    • Fanny Balbuk, 1840-1907
    • Told her story a lot

  • No Sugar

  • Set during the Great Depression, post-colonial Northam, WA, Moore River Native Settlement and Perth. Follows the story of the Millimurra (an Aborigial Australian family) and their struggle for survival.
  • Act 2, Scene 6: The Corroboree Scene
    • What have we identified from this scene?
    • What language conventions, devices, styles, themes?
    • What narrative conventions; conflict, characterisation, setting?
    • What conventions of genre in terms of form? What do we expect from a play?
    • Question: How jarring is it for a white audience to watch a Corroboree? To listen to a foreign language?

  • Samuel Wagan Watson

  • Poetry

  • Hotel Bone

  • “Iraqi, Indonesian, Sri Lankan and one crazy Aboriginal … who lives with a typewriter but not with the brevity of a visa on my head; no, my longevity was guaranteed before I was born in the 1967 referendum the freedom to practice the voodoo of semantics” “a haven from Saddam, Suharto, the Tamil Tigers and One Nation”
  • Unity in the ‘not-white’ or ‘other’ category
  • Issue of citizenship/person-hood in the context of the 1967 referendum
  • Themes of persecution, solidarity and camaraderie

  • A One Ended Boomerang

  • “… I am a pencil that cannot sharpen, ink that slides off paper, outside of our time, I am lost, a one ended boomerang.” - Themes of ascension, going beyond ‘earthly’ restrictions.
  • Issues of timing, direction and therefore opportunities (loss of identity).
  • Personification, extended metaphor.

• Jekyll and Hyde

  • Early(ish) example Gothic Literature
  • Dual personalities
  • Freedom to act out hidden inhibitions (from alternate personalities)
  • Public vs Private personas
  • Internal conflict: Good vs Evil
  • This all can relate to the Indigenous context!

• Hedda Gabler

  • Identity: Father’s daughter rather than a husband’s wife
  • Lack of fulfilment
  • Unlikeable neurotic protagonist: Difficulty to build empathy (or is it just that she’s a woman?)
  • Clear themes of mental instability due to the discussion of suicide

And, on the other hand, the much inferior version In the vastness of Indigneous Australian History, colonisation is merely a speck among (aMONGUS?) the vast ocean

• Before colonisation became an influence on Indigenous experience, what other thematic concerns were there?
• The diversity in the Indigenous experience (not solely formed by trauma)

  The presenter today…

• Aranmore Catholic College teacher

• Member of the South West Aboriginal Land Sea Council

• An Elder is allowed to permit an outsider into a part of land
• AIATSIS Map of Indifenous Langauge Groups

The Coloniser’s Perspective

• ”[T]hey have to be protected against themselves whether they like it or not. They cannot remain as they are. The sore spot requires the application of the surgeon’s knife for the good of the patient, and probably against the patient’s will” - A. O. Neville, Moseley Royal Commission, 1934 the so calledAborigines’ friend, the Chief Protector of the Aborigines
• All of the Indigenous children (practically in the whole of Australia) was under his protection (reign rather)

The Indigenous Perspective

• “I have no identity, really.”
• “We never heard the words ‘I love you’, so we neve learned to say them to our family… or feel them, We became empty vessels, out of touch with our feelings”
• “My mother did not bond with her mother and I did not bond with mine.”
• “I was hurting and had found no way of safely healing the pain.. I couldn’tsee any hope in the future”
• If there is no sense of self, or it is hollow or fragmented, we cannot express ourselves

The first Indication of civilisation

• Dr Margaret Mead (1901-1978), Cultural Anthropologist
• When asked about the first sign of human civilisation she answered “A 15,000 year old healed femur”
  • This indicated that the injured person was cared for, that someone did their hunting and gathering, that the civilisation was compassionate
• In the first indication of humanity, the mungo lady and the mungo man (40 - 42 thousand years old)
  • The ritual burial indicated that someone cared enough for the deceased to ensure a proper process was followed, and the belief in a higher power

    Song lines

• Geographical, astronomically aligned, logistical, spiritual, narrative maps
• Part of “Lore” (LORE) training and education as well as initiation of elders
• According to Noel PEarson they are Australia’s “Book of Genesis”
• “The Song lines shouldn’t be just an anthropological footnote, but a part of Australian history as it is taught in schools. To tel the real story of this continent, you’ve got to have both histories. They are held in different ways”
• The Seven Sisters is a song line, based on an acutal constellation, that are taking care of a man whilst being pursued by another, and eventually ‘ascend’ to the heavens and the man joins in the Orion belt as another star
• This, interestingly was in Greek mythology as well, which is strikingly similar
• To lose ones stories is to lose oneself

Samuel Wagan Watson - Poetry

• Hotel Bone:
  • Unity in the ‘not white’ or ‘other category’
  • Unity in the ‘subordinate’ other!
  • Issue of citizenship/personhood in the context of the 1967 referendum
  • Themes persecution, solidarity and camaraderie
• A One Ended Boomerang
  • Themes of ascension, going beyond ‘earthly’ restrictions
  • Issue of timing and direction and therefore opportunites (loss of identity)
  • Personification, extended metaphor

JEKYLL AND HYDE???

• Early(ish) example Gothic Literature
• Dual Personalities
• Freedom to act out hidden inhibitions (from alternatre personlities)
• Public vs Private Personas
• Internal conflict - good and bad

Hedda Gabler!!!!

• Identity - Father’s daughter rather than husband’s wife
• Lack of fulfilment
• Unlikeable neurotic protagonist

• Clear themes of mental instability

• Please be respectful of Indigenous people and their heritage

Poo… (context: name on the role)

Tanya dar Zeel - Literature ATAR

Q&A

• Originality or not?
  • Each paper is approached respectfully
  • Rather than a mechanism-like answer, sincere Literary analysis will definitely be helpful
  • Understanding the text ‘complex’ly
  • Maybe a discursive-like answer with genuineness
  • A close reading and essay both aim to construct an argument of some kind, but when marking, the interest is vested in ideas (since there isn’t a distinct question in close reading)
• Introducing other ideas or possibly contexts?
  • Marxist is marxist not lit :(
  • Theory is decontextualised, then placed on a text in order to represent it
  • Be engaged with the theory and know how it is linked to the text
  • Psychoanalytical reading of E.E. Cummins (NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO)
  • There is no need to use a wide range of vocabulary for no reason, rather have your attention vested in the question/reading itself
• Using quotes
  • Not a memory test! Use words that really only have an impact, even in the seamless embedding, aim to omit words that do not really reflect your point and use you own, while only using the ones useful to you
  • Use you knowledge rather than your quotes
  • “Quotes are secondary” ~ Tanya dar Zeel, 2023
• Conclusion in Close Readings
  • I think its based off signposting?? If you need your idea out there more then it helps
  • Having coherency and join the dots in your close readings
• Does Literature change the world or does the world change Literature (wow Emmanuel such a great question ahahah very funny)
  • Attempt to bring order in the chaos in literature and in life
  • We are in post-Postmodernism
  • Theory is dead and we killed it 😎
• Stepping stones for a close reading
  • Find meaning… find meaning…. it just says find meaning but what is the meaning in that
  • MEANING
• Literature and university - connection to the contemporary
  • michel foucault….
• Impact of studying literature on life
  • A heightened sense of empathy
• Handwriting increase marks?
  • No but…
  • No, but…
  • Really no, but…
• Common/bad errors in Literature
  • “rrgfy” ~ Nibesh, 2023
  • Read the text before your exam lol