-
« Home
Pages
-
Categories
-
Archives
Category Archives: Social Studies
CHARLIE PERKINS AND THE FREEDOM RIDERS
One event that was instrumental in making the Australian public aware of the discrimination that continued against Aborigines in the 1960s was the 1965 Freedom Ride.
During the 1960s groups of American college students organised bus trips around the USA to expose the continuing discrimination against African Americans. They wanted to help African Americans to achieve the freedom to be treated the same as white Americans. These tips were called “Freedom Rides.”
In Australia in February 1965 a group of 31 Sydney University students and one journalist, under the banner “The Student action for aborigines Council” departed on a bus journey through north-western NSW. The purpose of trip was to highlight discrimination suffered by Indigenous Australians. The group was led by Charles Perkins and Jim Spiegelman and supported by the Reverend Ted Noffs of the Wayside Chapel in Sydney.
Jim Spiegelman became the chief Justice on NSW (the most senior judge) in May 1998.
Top of Form
Give 5 examples of the “colour bar” Freedom Rides found.
Answer True or False to these questions
The Walgett RSL Club barred indigenous people form membership. True
Some Walgett citizens welcomed the Freedom Riders with flowers False
In Moree Freedom riders protested outside the swimming pool True
As a result all Aboriginal children were allowed to swim in the pool at any time. True
Moree resident pelted the Freedom riders with eggs and fruit when they returned True
The Freedom Riders used Civil Disobedience tactics such as blocking the entrance to the pool in Moree. False
Use the words in the box to fill in the gaps in the passage below:
Charles Perkins was born in in 1936. His mother Hetti was from the Arrente people near Alex Springs. Her f
ather was a .His father was a kangaroo hunter who also has indigenous family on his mother’s side. From 1945
to 1952 Perkins continued his earlier at an Anglican school as a resident. .
Perkins school years were full of and at age 16 he was forced to leave school and obtained an apprenticeship as
a at the British Tube Mills. He was often referred to there as a ” ” and was against
in other ways. Although Perkins felt that his schooling provided him with discipline and independence, it also robbed him of a
sense of identity and community.
We Are Going
They came in to the little town
A semi-naked band subdued and silent
All that remained of their tribe.
They came here to the place of their old bora ground
Where now the many white men hurry about like ants.
Notice of the estate agent reads: ‘Rubbish May Be Tipped Here’.
Now it half covers the traces of the old bora ring.
‘We are as strangers here now, but the white tribe are the strangers.
We belong here, we are of the old ways.
We are the corroboree and the bora ground,
We are the old ceremonies, the laws of the elders.
We are the wonder tales of Dream Time, the tribal legends told.
We are the past, the hunts and the laughing games, the wandering camp fires.
We are the lightening bolt over Gaphembah Hill
Quick and terrible,
And the Thunderer after him, that loud fellow.
We are the quiet daybreak paling the dark lagoon.
We are the shadow-ghosts creeping back as the camp fires burn low.
We are nature and the past, all the old ways
Gone now and scattered.
The scrubs are gone, the hunting and the laughter.
The eagle is gone, the emu and the kangaroo are gone from this place.
The bora ring is gone.
The corroboree is gone.
And we are going.’
Oodgeroo Noonuccal
Appreciating “We are Going” by Oodgerooo Noonuccal
Read Oodgeroo’s “We are going” (p. 32) and answer these questions on it:
1. Explain why they are “silent and subdued”.
2. How are white men represented? Why?
3. What is a bora ring and explain why it is so central to this poem.
4. Explain their reaction in line 8.
5. Lines 9-17 begin a ‘litany’. What is the effect produced?
6. Comment on the significance of metaphors used in the poem.
7. Comment on the structure and form of this poem.
8. Why does Thunder have a capital letter?
9. Comment on the mood and atmosphere created here.
10. Combine comments on its theme, title and conclusion.
- The Aborigines are silent and subdued because they are known to be quiet especially as they are going to a white civilization not knowing anything about the culture or what the white people would think or do to the Aborigines.
- The white men are represented as ants to show how many white men there are compare to the Aborigines which is a large quantity between the Aborigines and the white people.
- Refers to religious ceremony for the Aboriginal people but its significance and origin is not clear nor fully accepted by the culture.
- This refers to the reality that the white man’s invasion makes the white people the true strangers.
5. These lines emphasise the importance of the Aboriginal people speaking, feeling and praying as a group of unified and spirited people. It shows how they think and their views on the land, water and the Dreamtime and ways for them to come forward as a group.
- Some of the metaphors such as, “We are the quiet daybreak paling the dark lagoon.”
“We are the shadow-ghosts creeping back as the camp fires burn low.” “We are nature and the past, all the old ways” are presented to emphasise that the Aboriginal people are part of the land, are part of the Earth and part of the nature. They do not see them selves owning such things, but rather being part of the Dreamtime culture. 7. This poem is very powerful because it describes feelings and attitudes by using emotive and highly descriptive words and phrases. Its structure is demonstrated by short sentences, words with capitals and strong figurative language to highlight the message and ongoing struggle for the Aboriginal people. Also the different lengths of each line provide some impact to make the reader take notice. 8. The word Thunder is in capitals to emphasise the power and loudness of the thunder that is described in the poem. 9. The mood created forces the white person to appreciate and understand how the Aboriginal people feel, think and speak about their situation. The mood helps create an atmosphere not of guilt, but a way of the Aboriginal people speaking out so change can take place. 10. The theme is summed up by the concluding lines of the poem where the Aboriginal people cry out for help so that there customs culture and strong spirituality does not disappear. The final line “And we are going” tells the reader that there is still hope because it does not show that it is too late.
The Aboriginal Dreamtime Unto this king of people,Life’s not a modern rhyme,Ancient Culture be thy real love,Govern’d, potency, Dreamtime. Jiva or Guruwari, seed power,Ever boding dreaming,Thy sacredness enshrined,A’fore the white man scheming. Tis nobler, do not teach the teacher,Thou canst not be Wandjina,Assimilation, doubt thou spirits,What says a horrible scar? To thine Baiame thoust be true,Hath not your mystery bonded?An aboriginal nation,On whitemans untimely stage, secondered.
http://paolospoems.com/poem-54/the-aboriginal-dreamtime/
By Paul Buttigieg Poem Analyses 1st Stance-In this stance the writer is telling us that even though we are in the modern age we still have to go back to our past and remember the ancestry of our family’s and as this is where love really started. The writer in using the word Govern’d means that back in the old times like the Dreamtime, are being remembered in our everyday lives.2nd Stance-The power of the original seed was very strong within the Aboriginal culture and it was strongly integrated with the Aboriginal Dreamtime culture. The poem emphasizes the view that the arrival of white man created a tricky and scheming situation where the Aboriginal people could not practice their culture and spirituality without being undermined by the knew arrivals. 3rd Stance-This is saying that the white people are trying to teach the teachers who are the Aborigines. The meaning of the second line is telling the white people that they can’t be Wandjina who is for the {[1]Worrorra, Wunambal, and Ngarinyin people of the north-western and central Kimberley say that the Wandjina are the creator beings of the Dreaming, and that they made their world and all that it contains.} By the white people teaching the Aborigines and incorporating enforcement teachings on how they should live their life will destroy the Aborigines identity and they do not need to be assimilated by the white people as they should be accepted for who they are and what the Aborigines are. This will leave a tragic scar on all Aborigines as they will lose all that they have and not be recognized as their own person. 4th Stance-{[2]The Great Spirit of the Wanaruah was Baiame – who came from the rivers of dreaming. He created all things beautiful, the kangaroo, the wallaby, the emu, the goanna and all the animals of the valley.} He created the bird, Eagle hawk as the protector of the land. There is a mystery behind this as Australia is an Aboriginal nation and always will be, as the white people came at the wrong time and ruined and buried the identity of the Aborigines along with the Dreamtime culture but we will always remember who the land really belongs to.
Our group exposition and cover letter.
in this lesson we are working as a group to get everything ready to present for the following lessons and we will be all putting our best effort but we have two group members away so next lesson we will get as much as we can done.
in todays lesson we will be working on our individual assessments and we will try to finish most of them so next lesson we can start again with the group to present the following week.
