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Sydney Opera House

I love the Sydney Opera House, but I love the story behind it more. Our tour around the Opera House took place on day twenty-three—our guide was very passionate and informative. Some of the places we toured include the concert hall and the Utzon room, which is named after the architect who designed the Opera House—Jorn Utzon. The Utzon room is also the only room in the Opera House that is exactly the way it was designed by Jorn Utzon. The rooms we saw were just a fraction of the total rooms contained in the building—we learned that the building contains about a thousand rooms in total, including theatres, rehearsal studios, bars, restaurants, and souvenir shops. The inside of the building is beautiful, with very spacious and colorful halls. After Jorn Utzon designed the building, construction started in 1959. By 1973, the building was formally opened by Queen Elizabeth II. While construction was still ongoing, there was a change in government, and Jorn Utzon was forced to resign from the project. He was not invited to the opening ceremony of the building, nor was his name even mentioned—Jorn Utzon would never see the completed glory of his design. Today, the Opera House is internationally recognized, and is one of the most popular attractions in Sydney. So, for me it was an amazing experience to explore and learn about such an iconic place, and to have discovered some of the things that make the building a World Heritage-listed center.

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The Rocks Dreaming Tour

The Rocks, Sydney, hold important historical information about the Aboriginal people who lived there at the time the early white settlers arrived. It was on day 23 that we went on a tour around this very historic precinct. There we learned so many things about the culture of Aborigines, including how their language comes from the land, and their sense of time. Among the stories we were told on the tour is the following: When a child is born, he or she is given a totem. Totems are selected based on what is available in abundance in society during that period. One’s totem can either be a plant or an animal. For instance, if the waratah plant is what's blooming at the time the child is born, then that would be the child’s totem. It is that child's responsibility to know all about their totem. The child is required to know when it blooms, what kind of insects pollinate it, and what animals affect it. The child is also expected to know all about its properties, that is, if the plant is edible, or if it is good for the skin. The reason behind knowing when it blooms is that each season during that period the child will know he's a year older. Hence, their sense of time. That is not all, the siblings of the child are also required to know about his totem, just as he is required to know about theirs. For Aborigines, totems are a source of pride—they are important tools for learning about their environment. In particular, the use of totems is a way of building cohesive communities. They unite and identify individuals by their origins. I find this very fascinating, and I am very glad to have taken part in this learning experience.

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Daintree Rainforest

While in Cape Tribulation, we visited the Daintree Rainforest, which we learned is the oldest rainforest in the world—over 100 million years old. Not only is the rainforest beautiful and exploration-friendly, it provides lots of benefits to the Great Barrier Reef. Apparently, there is some sort of coexistence between the barrier reef and the rainforest. The latter has mangrove plants that are incredibly beneficial to the former. The mangrove is where the coral reefs sprang from. They ensure that the reefs get the required amount of nutrients and filtered water from the rainforest. What happens is when run-off water from the forest travels to the ocean, the mangroves trap all unwanted particles, allowing only filtered water to sip through. For me, the coexistence between these two separate natural bodies is mind-blowing. Not to mention, the rainforest has unique plants and animals found nowhere else in the world. An example is the bush tomato, which has over 100 different species, 6 of which are known to be edible. Some of the bush tomatoes are also known to be very rich in vitamin C. Another example is the cassowary, which is particularly useful in preserving the rainforest. All in all, this activity was a very memorable one, not only because I was privileged to take a tour of the world's oldest rainforest, but also because I learned a lot about the natural world, and what I can do as an individual to preserve it. As a matter of fact, I am pleased to mention that my ticket fare was actually a huge contribution towards the preservation of this very important heritage site.

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Sheoak Ridge

The two nights of camping was by far the best experience I have had on this trip. Having initially dreaded the idea, the experience I gained from doing it ended up making me wish I had gone camping before then. There was just so much to take away from the experience. Being in a place with virtually no internet or cellphone reception, I was able to interact with people and make more connections than I made in my entire freshman year. Most importantly, having read so many articles about the Australian Aboriginal culture and watched so many films, we had the opportunity to hear, first hand, the accounts of the Aborigines themselves. This was particularly enlightening for me because I learned just what the Aborigines think of the way they have always been treated—from the days of the terra nullius to people now acknowledging that they own the land of Australia. It is saddening how much the media has failed the Aboriginal people and the negative stereotypes out there about them. Beyond the images society paints about them, the Aborigines are very warm and loving, and they like to live in communities and pass down their traditions to generations. Their extended families are very important in keeping individual Aborigines together, especially those of worth. Furthermore, I also learned that Aborigines are law-abiding people, with structures in place to ensure that everyone follows the law, and that whoever breaks the law gets punished accordingly. For me, the take home message was that Aboriginal people are family, and they are capable of loving, fighting, and struggling like any other people or race.

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The Great Barrier Reef

I learnt that the coral reefs of the Great Barrier Reef can be seen from space—that gives one an idea of just how huge the Great Barrier Reef is. Some of the corals found at the barrier reef grow about 1cm bigger every year, while it takes other corals about ten years to grow that much bigger. Thus, it is mind blowing just how many million years it took for the Great Barrier Reef to get to the size it is today. It was on day 12 that we visited this amazing place, which is known as one of Australia’s most remarkable natural gifts. Surprisingly, my initial plan was not to snorkel. The day before the Great Barrier Reef trip, we were introduced to snorkeling by the Eye to Eye Marine staff, which I failed to show up for. I realized that a requirement for snorkeling is the ability to swim, and I cannot swim. Because of my inability to swim, I was not feeling too confident about the whole snorkeling bit, even though I knew the experience I was going to miss out on. In the end, I am glad I changed my mind and snorkeled. It is one of the most fun things I have ever done. The view of the underwater world of the Great Barrier Reef was equally incredible. Not only will I scratch it off my bucket list, but I can do more—I can say that I have been there, I have seen it, and I have conquered it! It helped that the crew members were super friendly; I learnt a lot from them too.

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Life In The Outback

The only downside to my experience in the outback was the fact that I was unable to communicate with family and friends back home during the few days we were there. Nevertheless, this was not too much of an issue for I had given my people a heads-up prior to leaving for the outback. On the bright side, I benefited so much more by making many meaningful connections with the other students, eating non-GMO foods, and getting closer to nature than I ever had. Generally, the outback is arguably one of the finest places I have been to. The reasons being, it was particularly important for exploring the beautiful Australian landscape, discovering Aboriginal heritage and culture, and for engaging in realities of outback life. It was amazing how as we embarked on our outback adventure, from Melbourne to Cairns, Cairns to Port Douglas, Port Douglas to Chillagoe, to Mount Molloy, and Cape Tribulation, the landscape changed from the city to the bush. Once we got to experience the real outback, the experience got even better, and the beautiful landscape that Australia is known for became more apparent. The experiences of dawn bird watch, sunset viewing, Indigenous rock art exploration, and night spotting of animals ignited my interest in nature. Yes, every person has a right to access the internet, but I have come to realize that it is necessary to shut it sometimes in order to access the natural world. The natural world is part of our humanity. After all, I learned from our outback guides that the tendency for us to experience pain and concern when our world is in danger is higher when there is connection between us and the natural world.

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Flagstaff Gardens, Melbourne

The tour around the Flagstaff gardens is one of the most exciting experiences I had in Melbourne. It was particularly interesting to learn about how the Indigenous Australians managed to preserve their land, and how they were connected to it. Having read that the land provided all they needed, including food, water, medicine, and weapons, it was amazing to hear from an Aborigine just how much his people treated it with the respect due to such a provider. It appears the Aboriginal people had spiritual, cultural, physical, and social connections with the land, and it is exciting to learn about such connections. We were shown many Aboriginal tools that tell about some of the connections they had with the land. Among the tools are the boomerang—a sword with curved blade, was used as a hunting weapon. They would use it to hunt birds and other land animals. I think it is important for every Australian or anyone visiting Australia to become aware of the unique place that Aboriginal cultures hold in Australia. With that, we can move towards a greater respect for the significant achievements of the first Australians.

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The Immigration Museum, Melbourne

” People have migrated to Australia for many different reasons, from many different places.” For some reason, this quote from the Immigration Museum spoke to me; it reminded me of myself, like where I came from, and where I have been. I was born in Sierra Leone, and I spent the first few years of my life there. At about age four, a civil war started in Sierra Leone, and my family had to immigrate to The Gambia. Even though I identify myself as Gambian, I never forget my place of birth, and why I became Gambian. There is a saying in my native language, which in English means, “He who knows where he is from, knows where he is heading.” This quote from the museum is particularly important to me because it reminds me of where I am from. I have come across people who accuse immigrants of being lazy and responsible for their plight. However, that is not always the case, at least from my experience—immigrants are usually very hardworking, and they would prove that at any given opportunity. The truth is, they just happen to be caught up in circumstances that are beyond their control. I saw this at the immigration museum. Most importantly, I had the chance to share my immigration story at the museum, on an interactive art piece referred to as the Heritage Tree.

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Rabbit-Proof Fence has a very simple narrative structure—it tells the story of three Aboriginal girls who are forcibly removed from their families and taken away to be civilized as domestic servants in a faraway Native Settlement. The film focuses on the escape of the girls and their experiences as they attempt to walk home across very difficult terrain. Throughout the film, we see a Western approach of storytelling, with many scenes conforming to Hollywood structure. For example, the film establishes Molly as a hunter in its opening scenes, as if to show the audience that her chances for survival are not far-fetched. Furthermore, we see a conformation to Hollywood structure when in one scene, Molly’s shot of her holding on to one end of the rabbit-proof fence is cut with a contrasting shot of her mother holding on to the other end of the fence many miles away, with the protective bird flying above. This segment signifies a very strong bond between Molly and her mother.

As a narrative, Ten Canoes appears to be much simpler in narrative. It combines traditional Aboriginal storytelling with a Western approach.  The film uses Hollywood structure mostly to indicate different time periods. For example, the film opens with the narrator telling a story in the present day. At this point, the shots are stylized in rich color, showing the landscape from different angles. The style soon changes to black-and-white when the narrator takes us back to the time of his ancestors. These visual and narrative techniques of differentiating the present day from the past are evident of the film’s conformation to Hollywood structure.

Constructing Narrative: Linearity Reinforced and Resisted

Clearly, Rabbit-Proof Fence and Ten Canoes employ radically different methods for telling their stories.  While the former uses more standard Hollywood narrative techniques and cinematography to tell the tale of three girls’ journey to find their families, the later resists most of the markers of Hollywood cinema. That said, they both find ways to resist the status quo in terms of the stories they tell and the way they tell them.  Discuss narrative structure and visual style in both films, analyzing how the films both conform to and resist Hollywood structures (based on your own broad understanding of how films are so often presented)

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Wright’s Carpentaria honors Aboriginal culture, ancestry, and their worldview. Set in a town called Desperance on the Gulf of Carpentaria, the story focuses on the struggles between local Aboriginal communities, and between the entire region and newcomers (an international mining corporation). Throughout the novel, Wright presents the concept of magic realism by portraying to the readers a world in which supernatural elements are accepted parts of everyday reality. For instance, this concept appears evident in the following quote, “A strange thing happened; a tremendous thunder-clap exploded, after which a wind full of sand whistled over the coast, bringing rain. Afterwards, all time stopped tick-tocking because there was too much moisture in the air” (Wright, 44). Here Wright paints a picture of reality; rainfall accompanied by thunderstorm. However, out of that reality grows magical elements such as the stopping of time.

Generally, this concept of magic realism puts the purpose of the novel in a different light, in the sense that it challenges the readers to accept the interpretations of our world by other cultures, and to accept what those interpretations have to offer to our own perception of reality.

Discussion Question 9: The Limits of Reality

A literary mode rather than a distinguishable genre, “magical realism” is characterized by the presentation of two conflicting perspectives: one based on a seemingly rational view of reality and the other on an embracing of the fantastical. Magical realism is distinguished from  fantasy in that it is, by definition, set in a “normal” modern locale.  According to literary critic, Ray Verzasconi, magical realism is “an expression of the New World reality which at once combines the rational elements of the European super-civilization, and the irrational elements of a primitive America.”

Wright’s Carpentaria is often described as magic realism.  How do you see that concept presenting itself in the novel?  Does this definition place the style, structure, or purpose of the novel in a different light?

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The film focuses on a teenager, Joshua, who entered the ‘animal kingdom’ when his mother died from heroin overdose. Following his mother’s death, Joshua is then faced with the difficult struggle for survival and position outside and among his mother’s tribe. The film stresses the idea of coming of age through Joshua’s character as he battles the negative influences around him to assert his position in society. For instance, there is a scene in the movie where Joshua is handed a gun and told to let two men, who insulted his uncle, know who’s king. This event is probably Joshua’s call to the cruel society, and as expected, he is not ready for it. Also, when he realizes that his uncle, Pope, killed his girlfriend, he does not immediately report to the police. As a teenager, he is not aware of his flaws—he appears to be more aware of his new family’s flaws than his. One can say that he is an observer. As Joshua grows, however, his actions change—the scene where he shot Pope in the end portrays this. The fact that the audience is never certain which course Joshua’s actions will take makes the film unpredictable, thus making the audience ruminate on the events after watching it.

Discussion Question 7: Growing Pains

While it might seem like just another gritty crime drama, one following in the lofty footsteps of The Godfather films, in many ways, Animal Kingdom is framed as a coming of age story that’s moved forward by the many negative influences that tempt Joshua. Some he eagerly embraces; others, he rejects with great force and conviction.  The overarching question about which influences will win out, and how much his still-developing adolescent mind can handle, becomes the driving force behind director David Michôd‘s film.  Comment on how the film functions as a coming-of-age story. How might that theme help you unpack the film and arrive at a different understanding of its force and purpose? 

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The Fringe Dwellers, and Morgan’s My Place tell stories about young Aboriginal girls seeking their place in the world. In the film, Trilby is portrayed as being in transition from childhood, and is faced with cultural conflict and a desire to get out of the fringe camp and enter ‘mainstream society.’ There is a scene in the film, where Trilby is shown explaining to her mother how they can go about buying a house, “It’s easy going on the waiting list, and you only need two character references.” She seems to have it all figured out, showing her desire to enter the mainstream society. The film presents the town as having ‘no go’ areas for Indigenous people—Trilby and her siblings walk into a bar to get milkshakes and they are told to drink them at the counter, and the white ladies taunt them in the bar taunt them with racist remarks. It is no surprise to see Trilby encouraging her parents to move into the mainstream society as these scenes establish Trilby and her family’s position within society.

With regards to Morgan’s My Place, Sally discovers her heritage and gracefully accepts it. Sally says, “I was very excited by my new heritage” (171). Discovering her heritage gives Sally a feeling of belonging. Morgan portrays Sally as an Aboriginal ambassador to teach Indigenous Australians to feel pride in their identity rather than shame.

Lambe’s work, Ma Femme Au Chat Ouvert, shows a darkened studio with a bronze flower assuming a powerful presence of its own, changing in mood according to the accompanying soundtrack. This can be related to how Trilby and her family are positioned within society, and the racism that informs this experience.

Finding One’s Place in My Place and The Fringe Dwellers

Both My Place and The Fringe Dwellers explore issues of identity and belonging.  In each case, we see characters who struggle to find a room for their  indigenous or original cultures, which have been metaphorically dislocated.  In both narratives, we see characters who struggle to reconcile various parts of their identity, characters who often feel “out of place” no matter where they find themselves.  Consider how the matters of place and displacement, major themes in most post-colonial literatures, function in both Morgan’s autobiographical text and Bruce Beresford’s film.  I’d like you to also reference one or more works from the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art that addresses such issues of place and its relationship to identity and belonging.

IF you wish, you can use artwork from the Potter Center or the NGV, instead of the ACCA exhibit.  

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I was particularly plunged into the mysterious disappearance of the three school girls and the teacher, while watching the movie, Picnic at Hanging Rock. While having their picnic, four of the girls decide to explore the rocks. One of the girls becomes frightened of something and returns to the picnic, while the other three and a teacher do not return.

While the film does a good job in portraying that everything begins and ends at exactly the right time and place, it did not do so well a job at answering the question, what really happened to the teacher and the three girls at the Hanging Rock? Closing off all possibilities, the ending of the film fails to deliver—there is no answer. On the other hand, the lack of resolution makes the film a genuinely enduring provocative mystery—one which craves solutions in viewers. Besides, what is the guaranty that viewers would have been satisfied with an alternate ending?

Discussion Question 1: Picnic at Hanging Rock and Resolution

At an industry screening of Picnic at Hanging Rock, director Peter Weir recalled, one distributor “threw his coffee cup at the screen at the end … because he’d wasted two hours of his life—a mystery without a solution!” Like some other viewers, the distributor was frustrated by the film’s lack of resolution, the fact that the narrative introduces so many “useless” facts, loose threads, and mysteries that it ultimately fails to solve. Weir’s celebrated film is often described as one of Australia’s best films; yet, it eschews traditional narrative conventions, instead working to establish a poetics of Australian landscape: one that is mystical and impenetrable. In fact, one could argue that the film  focuses on seeing and feeling, at the expense of knowing. In contrast, Boynton’s stories are much more concretely rendered.  Still, they, too, have an air of mystery about them, showing an acceptance that not all things can be “known” in a definite way.

Discuss this issue of “resolution” and how mystery is used in the film and how it engages with the notion of “truth” and the perhaps human tendency to want more clearly defined answers.  What does the film suggest about “truth” and narrative?  How does this compare to what you see about truth, resolution, and mystery in Barbara Boynton’s Bush Studies?  

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Told from a convict’s point of view, MacNamara’s Convicts Tour to Hell embodies his attitude towards colonial authorities. In the poem, MacNamara dies and seeks admission in hell, assuming that Hell is the place for him as a convict; “I’ve come to dwell with you and share your fate in Hell” (MacNamara, 20). He uses this to symbolize the belief of society that there is no place for convicts in heaven.

However, MacNamara goes on to paint a picture to make the readers believe that convicts actually deserve a status worthy of heaven, when he mentions that, “Satan says his place cannot be in hell. Hell is for the grandees of the land; the Barristers, Dukes, Mayors, Lawyers, and nobles of Judicial order” (MacNamara, 20). Here, he gives the convicts the status of martyrs because he believes they deserve it for all that they were forced to endure.

I think MacNamara’s work continues to hold such appeal for folk singers not only because his Australian convict story is interesting, but also because they regard him as giving a tradition to Australia—the folk culture.

Discussion Question 12: Frank the Poet: A Rebel Voice and a Rebel Heritage

Examine poems written by the man known as “Frank the poet,” and be sure to examine some of the other supporting material included in that link. A great many of convict poet Francis MacNamara’s poems were compositions based around protests about conditions within prisons and refusals to work.  Or, they celebrated convict escapes, the exploits of famous bushrangers, seizures of ships, or the death of the infamously cruel head of the Moreton Bay Penal  colony, Captain Patrick Logan.  Although only two of his poems were published in his lifetime, a great many of MacNamara’s poems have been set to music by contemporary folksingers. Discuss how his work celebrates rebellion in its various forms.  Why do you think his work continues to hold such appeal for folk singers?

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Unlike the United States, Australia was founded in despair. Robert Hughes, in Fatal Shore, provides a definitive account of the dark history of England’s efforts to move thousands of convicts to the other side of the world. Thus, Australia was created out of the “criminal class,” of unwanted men and women, who are considered threats to middle-class property (Hughes, 168). Hughes explains that the whole point of transporting these individuals was not so much about what happens to them, but it was about getting rid of crime in England (168). In fact, the journey to transport the first convicts took about eight months (Hughes, 70), and the conditions were horrific. 

Fatal Shore has not really changed my conception of Australia. I used to think of Australians as having similar experiences as Americans. If anything, I now know the true story—that the biggest difference between the two nations is that the early settlers of America came by choice, and they were redeemed by their arrival. On the contrary, the earliest settlers in Australia were brought against their will, with their crimes kind of written on their foreheads.

Discussion Question 4: Robert Hughes: Australia’s Dante

In Fatal Shore, Hughes asks readers to confront the dark history of Australia’s past, to grasp what Peter Carey calls “the cruelty of our birth.”  How do you see the text engaging with the country’s hellish past?  What does this doe to your own mythological conception of Australia?  Do you conceive of the country differently after having read Hughes’s historical mapping of Australia’s birth? 

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To some Ned Kelly is a hero who fought for what he believed was right, while to others he is an outlaw. Carey, in True History of the Kelly Gang, gives Ned a chance to tell his own story to the world to correct the events that actually happened, in an attempt to clarify the reasons behind his actions.

Ned became the quintessential hero he is because he stood up for his family and others like them to alleviate hardships. While he was not perfect, and made plenty of mistakes along the way (like murder and robbery), Ned would not let anything get in his way when it came to supporting his family and to make right many of the social inequalities of his day. For instance, when his gang held up a bank in Euroa, Ned felt justified in what they did as he took care of his poor relatives, “He got Jimmy Gloster out of debt, prevented Mrs. Griffith’s daughter from working as a servant, and liberated his mother” (Carey, 318).

This novel supports the story of Ned Kelly, who believed he fought for a just cause, as evident by his final words, “Such is life” (Carey, 368).

Discussion Question 1: Ned Kelly: (Re)Defining Heroism

Even more than 100 years after his death, Ned Kelly continues to be revered as a national hero in Australia.  IN fact, his image was placed center-stage at the opening ceremonies during Australia’s hosting of the 2000 Summer Olympic Games. Despite his controversial legacy as a criminal and murderer, he is often hailed as a kind of “Robin Hood,” a champion of the oppressed and an early symbol of Australian nationalism. After reading True Story of the Kelly Gang, why do you think Kelly continues to be branded as a hero?  What about his actions has led to such an enduring public image?  heroic status? How does Carey’s novel challenge that romanticizing of Kelly’s image?

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I find it amazing how, even though his life was full of unfortunate mishaps from birth, Harvie Krumpet still found ways to enjoy life’s riches. It appears the things he appreciated most in life included love and nudity. Through these, Harvie discovered the joy in living. For instance, he was struck with several illnesses, loss of loved ones, and depression in later years, but he still managed to move on.

For some reason, the calmness and authenticity of the voice of the narrator made the film worth the while; at least, for me. It got me even more interested in the message the film sends: that regardless of the mishaps that befall an individual, it is the individual’s outlook on life that determines how they carry on with it. The voice-over narration made it a lot easier for me to grasp this main idea of the film. In particular, the fact that the voice-over narration was bordered between humor and tragedy made it entertaining and easy for the audience to perceive what was meant to be a tragic tale.

All in all, I think Harvie Krumpet had a very beautiful message, and I loved it.

Discussion Question 6: Voicing a Life in Harvie Krumpet.

Narration drives the tale, with voice-over dominating quite a bit, something that can often cause a film to flounder, to be frank. But it somehow works in Elliot’s film, a work that uses no dialog at all.  What do you make of how narration works in Harvie Krumpet?  What does this voice-over do to help convey what could be described as the “unspectacular” tale of Harvie’s life and history, told as it is via his very matter-of-fact voice-over?