Unit Outline/ Description Unit duration

Sharing Stories: A Close Study of the Representations of Indigenous Australian Voices

10 hours
Throughout this unit of work, students will engage in a close study of how Aboriginal and Torres people express and
represent their voices and perspectives in a wide range of textual mediums and literature. Through engaging with a variety
of written, oral, visual and non-verbal modes of story-telling, students will gain a deeper understanding and appreciation of
Indigenous Australian culture in contemporary society. Students will foster their learning of Indigenous Australian
perspectives through an engagement with learning from Country experiences that will be further complemented by an
excursion to the Museum of Contemporary Art in the city.

Big ideas / key concepts Why does this learning matter?

 Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander peoples
possess rich and
powerful voices and play
a significant role in
creating powerful
narratives that span
across various creative
fields such as film, art
and contemporary
literature.
 The learning and growth that will be fostered in this unit is important because Aboriginal and Torres
Islander culture and knowledge should be at the forefront of literature that young Australians engage with
in schools. Through a close study of a variety of short yet powerful texts across multiple mediums,
students of all cultural backgrounds can understand the diversity of voices and perspectives held by
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and communities. If we as a nation want to achieve
reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians, our students must be able to
meaningfully listen, think and discuss the issues of systemic discrimination which impacts our Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islander students and communities today. This unit’s pedagogical focus of learning from
country will foster within students a new way of uncovering and sharing knowledge with a focus on the
power of oral, visual and experiential modes of communication.

Target outcomes ACARA CCP Links Resources

EN5-5C: thinks imaginatively,
creatively, interpretively and
critically about information and
increasingly complex ideas and
arguments to respond to and
compose texts in a range of
contexts
EN5-7D: understands and
evaluates the diverse ways
O1.2: Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander communities
maintain a special connection to
and responsibility for
Country/Place
O1.5: Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander Peoples’ ways of
life are uniquely expressed
through ways of being, knowing,
thinking and doing.
Picture Books:
- The lost girl - Ambelin Kwaymullina and Leanne Tobin
- The Rabbits - Shaun Tan
Television Shows:
- Redfern Now - ‘Stand Up’
News Article: Outrage over schoolgirl refusing to stand for anthem shows rise of
aggressive nationalism - Gwenda Tavan - https://theconversation.com/outrage-over-
schoolgirl-refusing-to-stand-for-anthem-shows-rise-of-aggressive-nationalism-103160
texts can represent personal
and public worlds
EN5-8D: questions, challenges
and evaluates cultural
assumptions in texts and their
effects on meaning
O1.6: Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander Peoples live in
Australia as first peoples of
Country or Place and
demonstrate resilience in
responding to historic and
contemporary impacts of
colonisation
O1.9: The significant
contributions of Aboriginal
Peoples and Torres Strait
Islander Peoples in the present
and past are acknowledged
locally, nationally and globally.
Indigenous community 'sits with' anthem schoolgirl – NITV News - Douglas Smith,
Nakari Thorpe
https://www.sbs.com.au/nitv/article/2018/09/13/indigenous-community-sits-anthem-
schoolgirl
YouTube Clips:
‘Who We Are: Country/Place’ by ReconciliationAus
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scPVu7BASeA
Nine-year-old girl attacked for not standing during Australian anthem
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6KoLFOodv4
Websites:

MCA – Daniel Boyd ‘Untitled (PSM), 2014: https://www.mca.com.au/artists-

works/works/2015.30/
MCA – Daniel Boyd ‘We Call Them Pirates Out Here, 2006’:
https://www.mca.com.au/artists-works/works/2006.25/

Content Time Teaching / Learning Experiences

(min)

Lesson 1 5 Opening:
Focus:  Teacher begins the lesson with an Acknowledgement of Country: “I would like to acknowledge the Cabrogal of
the Darug Nation who are the Traditional Custodians of this land we are meeting on today. We also pay our
Understanding respect to the elders, past and present, of the Darug Nation"
the o Teacher reinforces that an Acknowledgement of Country is an opportunity for anyone to show respect for
importance of Traditional Owners and the continuing connection of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to
Country for Country. It can be given by both non-Indigenous people and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
Aboriginal and
Torres Strait 20  Activating prior-knowledge through progressive mind maps
Islander
peoples and o Students work in four groups to brainstorm what they believe the following words means to them and
communities Indigenous Australians. Students are encouraged to discuss within their groups to write down or draw
anything that they have learnt regarding the central topic in their other subjects or through their own
individual experiences or learning outside of the classroom.
Duration: 1 o Time guide: 5 minutes per topic – groups are to rotate until all students contribute to all four of the topics
hour

 For students who struggle with recalling or explaining the term, teacher can support using the following table
for reference.
Country A term used by Aboriginal people to refer to the land to which they belong
and their place of Dreaming. Aboriginal language usage of the word
‘country’ is much broader than standard English.
Kinship Kinship includes the importance of all relationships, and of being related to
and belonging to the land.
Land Rights The struggle by Aboriginal people to gain acknowledgement of prior
ownership of this land both legally and morally and allowing all the
accompanying rights and obligations which stem from this association.
Self- When Aboriginal people determine their affairs themselves, including
Determination decision making, interacting with non-Aboriginal parties and creating the
solution to a problem.

Note: These definitions have been taken from the ‘Creative Spirits’ website: https://www.creativespirits.info/aboriginalculture/glossary-of-
aboriginal-australia-terms

15 o After the activity, each group presents to the class how their original conceptualisation of the topic had either
changed or become further clarified/reinforced by their peers. Teacher reinforces that all these terms will form the
framework for this unit and that students will be examining a variety of texts each lesson to explore the
perspectives and voices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
10
 Teacher plays video ‘Who We Are: Country/Place’ by ReconciliationAus
o While students watch the video, they are to write down 3 things that they have learnt about the
importance of Country
o After the video, students engage in a Think, Pair, Share activity to communicate their impressions with
another member of the class
  Note: The purpose of this video is to have students hear directly from young Indigenous
Australians about what a connection to place / Country means to them. The 6-minute video is from
the channel ‘Reconciliation Australia’ and promotes intercultural understanding and is designed for
young adult viewers in contemporary society.

 Teacher collects the progressive mind maps – this will be replicated into a document using the mind map
program draw.io – copies of all 4 mind maps will be shared with students online via Google Classroom
 Teacher distributes the assessment notification for the unit. Teacher communicates to students that this task will
require them to continually engage with each lesson as they will be responsible for the creation of a Weebly
website or Tumblr Blog specifically for the unit.

Lesson 2 15  Student tables are moved to the sides of the room to allow for an empty space in the centre. Students are invited
Focus: The to sit in a circle on the ground – they are free to remove their shoes if it makes them more comfortable. No pen or
power of oral paper is needed for this first part of the lesson.
storytelling  Teacher reads aloud the two texts aloud with students:
1. John Marsden and Shaun Tan’s picture book ‘The Rabbits’
Duration: 1 2. Ambelin Kwaymullina and Leanne Tobin’s ‘The lost girl’
hour
o Note to teacher: The reading of the books should be unbroken to assist in students’ meaning making
process. Ensure that this practice of oral storytelling is done meaningfully – teacher should be mindful of
pause, tone, pace and projection so that the reading of the stories remains true to their authorial intention.
 These two picture books have been chosen due to their focus on how important a connection to
land is for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and communities. The allegorical picture
book “The Rabbits” explores the gradual destruction of the land as a direct result of the
unsustainable practices of colonial invaders. On the other hand, ‘The lost girl’ teaches how the
spiritual connection to Country can sustain and protect individuals from harm, eventually bringing
them back to their family network and culture.
 For lower ability students, it may be necessary for the teacher to recap the plot of the two
narratives and engage students in here/hidden/head types of questions to aid in comprehension.
20
 Pair Analysis Activity: Venn Diagram
o Students are divided into pairs with each receiving two pages scanned from both picture books. In pairs,
students are to discuss how the landscape is represented in the two images and whether there is a
25
 connection between the individual and to Country. Students construct a Venn diagram comparing the
representation of the two landscapes.
 Process Drama Activity: Tableaux
o Students are divided into groups of 4 and are to replicate a scene of their choice from either ‘The Rabbits’
or ‘The lost girl’ with the holistic goal being to communicate a didactic message about Country ‘e.g. we
must respect our environment otherwise we will live in a barren and deathly landscape’.
 As a group, they will use only their bodies to ‘act out’ their chosen scene and will be required to
create a ‘frozen still (formally known as a tableaux).
 The teacher will take a picture of the tableaux (for inclusion in students’ online portfolio) and other
students are free to approach the ‘frozen’ group to closely examine the role of each person in a
communicating the chosen narrative.
 Activity is repeated for 2-3 scenes, alternating between the two texts
 After the activity, students are to write a short reflection of what the texts and activities taught
them about the significance of Country – this is to be posted on their online portfolios.

Lesson 3&4 15  Teacher introduces students to the news event that happened in September 2018 regarding a primary school
student who refused to stand up for the Australian National Anthem because of its exclusion of Australia’s
Focus: Indigenous peoples.
Institutional o Short news clip can be shown: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6KoLFOodv4 to further contextualise
issues faced this news piece.
by Indigenous o Article for students to read: “Indigenous community ‘sits with’ anthem schoolgirl
Australians https://www.sbs.com.au/nitv/article/2018/09/13/indigenous-community-sits-anthem-schoolgirl
 Teacher reinforces that the classroom is a space of respect and that individuals have the right to their own
Duration: 2 opinions. However, in the subject of English, being able to be open minded and to consider other people’s
hours (Double perspectives is a skill that students must be able to develop. Teacher reminds students that in Stage 4, they had
period) completed a unit on bias in the media and therefore should understand that main sources of news and current
affairs often exclude the voices of minorities in favour of those approved/reinforced by more powerful institutions.
 Pre-viewing writing:
5 o Students are given 5 minutes to write down a few sentences regarding their position towards the
Australian National Anthem. This response won’t be shared with the class but will a reference point for
post-viewing.

100 Close Study: Film (Television Episode)

  Students are told that they will watch a full episode from the ABC series ‘Redfern Now’: Stand Up [55 minutes].
As students watch the episode, they will engage in short discussions and note taking about various aspects of
the show covering topics of interest such as:
- How was the inner-city suburb of Redfern represented by the director?
- How does Joel’s community compare to the traditions of prestigious private school where he is receiving a
scholarship?
- Why did Joel feel uncomfortable standing up and singing the national anthem?
- What is the significance of Joel’s suspension – what does this say about relations between Aboriginal people
and institutions?
- How did Joel, his family and his wider community demonstrate resilience to fight the pressures and threats of
the school? Was it effective?

 Homework: Write a review of the television episode, making connections to the current affairs referenced at the
beginning of the lesson. Students are to post this to their online portfolio.

Lesson 5  School Incursion (2 hours)

o Students are visited at school by the Walangari Karntawarra and Diramu Aboriginal Dance and
Focus: Didgeridoo company. This program (from my first-hand experience) is very accessible, engaging and
Intercultural inclusive of all students from all different cultural backgrounds.
perspectives: o Led by Aboriginal Elder (teacher and artist Walangari Karntawarra), students will watch a performance
Valuing delivered by the Aboriginal performance company. This incursion will foster students’ intercultural
Aboriginal and understanding of Australian Indigenous culture.
Torres Strait  The performance will guide students through the importance of acknowledgement of Country, the
Islander diversity of Indigenous Australian language, the extensive knowledge of the land and science as
knowledge explained through an explanation of the physics of a boomerang and other points of discussions
and culture that they would like to share with students.
 With permission, teachers will take photos of the incursion for students to add to their online
portfolio

Lesson 6  MCA Excursion (4 hours – travel time not included)

o Students will travel to the Museum of Contemporary Art and will explore the Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Focus: Islander art collection. Led by an Indigenous guide that has deep knowledge of the various works and
Understanding artists exhibited, students will get the opportunity to engage directly with contemporary works that
the power of showcase the voice and perspectives of Indigenous Australians.
Indigenous
Australian Art o Whilst students are free to explore any artist in the allocated collection, the teacher will have study
as a creative material prepared for the works of Daniel Boyd – particularly for his artwork ‘Untitled (PSM), 2014’ and
mode of ‘We Call Them Pirates Out Here, 2006’.
cultural o After visiting the MCA, students walk to the Rocks Discovery Museum and will be guided through the
expression museum by an expert guide. This visit will complement the focus on the history and culture of Indigenous
and resilience Australian peoples and communities that is at the centre of this unit.