Distinctive Australian Voice Analysis

The piece is classified as Aboriginal Australian literature. It was published in the 1960’s. The purpose of the text is to give hope in a new beginning after the events involving the racial tension between the Aboriginals and the white settlers. The poem is directed to the Aboriginal people of Australia who suffered from these events

Mateship. Adventurous. Loyal. Free. Proud. These are the typical words Australians use to describe themselves, to identify themselves as different from the rest of the world. But who is an Australian? Someone that was born in Australia? Only people we choose to call Australian? People with great achievements that we choose to take credit for? Only people that love sport and vegemite? Or maybe only people with ‘Aussie’ accents? The Australian population is a proud one indeed, proud of their nation, their achievements and their own independent way of life, but sometimes us Aussies, forget about the rest of the world and all those other people that make us, who we are.

Hi everyone! How are you today? Nice to see all you guys here. Let’s me introduce myself first. My name is Jane Kennedy. I am one of writers of the film ‘The Castle’. I’m sure that everyone has watched ‘The Castle’, right? I’m invited to be here and tell you about this movie as well as how I and my team have built up and shown the ideas about the voice of Australians through it. As you know, everyone including Australians have their own way of understanding and an opinion of the world and people in it. That’s called their ‘voice’. However, the way Australians view and understand the world is unique. Let’s come back to ‘The Castle’, this is a story about the Kerrigan family who together stand up to fight against the government for their

‘The Sapphires’ by Wayne Blair was the trigger that led my research into the effects of the Stolen Generation on Aboriginals in Australia. This film is about an Aboriginal singing group who want to make a name for themselves, but find it difficult because of the racism against them. This film also tells the stories of their cousin Kay, who was a half-caste and was stolen from her Aboriginal family at a young age to be taught the ways of white people, and forget her culture. This film made me realise that I am lucky to live in a country where racism of such an extent in which children are stolen from their indigenous families, isn’t part of our history, and has not affected me personally. From my research, I have found six main sources that have helped me to understand how large this problem was and continues to be. My sources: ‘The Sapphires’ by Wayne Blair; a film about a group of Aboriginal singers who are affected by racism which is based on a real life singing group; ‘The Sorry Speech’, by Kevin Rudd who was the Prime Minister of Australia in 2008 who explains the damage and apologises for the way that the actions of past governments tore apart the lives of their indigenous people. Then there is ‘Blind Eye,’ the documentary in which people who were stolen are interviewed and tell their stories. The film, ‘Rabbit Proof Fence’ this tells the story of two girls who were stolen and gives us insight into how brutally that they were treated after being ripped apart from

Dorothea Mackellar’s ‘My Country’ is a poem expressing Mackellar’s deep passion and love for her country, Australia. The whole poem’s intention seems to evoke the sense of praising for the country and express Mackellar’s deep relationship and passion with her land. Mackellar attains this response from the audience by using numerous language techniques such as; Juxtaposition, personification, sound patterns including alliteration and assonance, imagery, and paradox. The use of first person throughout the whole poem suggests that the theme of this poem has been evoked by personal experience.

Only in recent years have we seen the recognition that the stolen generation deserves and the essential part it has play in the struggle of Aboriginal rights. Since the end of the stolen generation, numerous organisations and government agency has come out and said sorry for what happened for seventy years and as a result Aboriginal rights are becoming more apparent. The famous “I’m sorry” speech said by Kevin Rudd was the first Parliament apology to the Stolen Generation and was seen as a huge leap forward in the recognition of the Stolen Generation. The Bringing Them Home Report in 1997 was a strong campaign for The

Although many of these children were later adopted and had experienced an extensive education, the emotional and social cost was too high. The heartache experienced was detrimental to the growth and to their very survival. The ‘Stolen Generation’ has had significant effects upon the Australian history and culture and destructive effects upon the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples affected.

This cartoon is depicting Australia’s politics denying Australia citizens the right of same sex marriage, using the iconic TV show, The Voice, to convey the message. The audience is first drawn to Tony Abbott who is shown with overlarge ears and stating that he should not be ‘expect[ed]’ to ‘turn’ around for same sex marriage, which represents him not allowing it. The way he is sitting is also showing his stubbornness on the issue. The audience then see the other “judges” who have all said yes to marriage equality. This represents USA, Ireland and New Zealand who all allow same sex marriage. These countries being used may be to make the audience feel as if Australia is falling behind these countries that we are so similar to.

Throughout the early 20th century, the Australian public was led to believe that Aboriginal children were disadvantaged in their communities, and that there was a high risk of physical and sexual abuse. Aboriginal children were being removed in order to be exposed to ‘Anglo values’ and ‘work habits’ with a view to them being employed by colonial settlers, and to stop their parents, families and communities from passing on their culture, language and identity

Government policies authorising the removal of Aboriginal children have caused extensive and unrepairable damage to every aspect of Indigenous culture. It could be argued that the emotional turmoil which occurred as a result of this policy, is greater than any physical abused ever faced by the Australian Aboriginal people. The act of child removal would be a scarring experience for parents and children of any race or culture. This policy had a particularly damaging impact on the Indigenous people as their identity is based within a set of strong traditional guides and teachings. These lessons are not recorded, but can only be taught through speaking with elders and learning through a connection to others within the mob, connection to art forms

Hi fellow classmates and Miss Hope, my name is Kally and today I’m going to argue why the Indigenous Australians of our country should be offered the same human rights as each of us in this room and experience the equality, which our country lacks.

Contentious debate continues to rage in present society opening a floodgate of ethical issues which can have detrimental effects on all parties involved. Ethics vary from each individual and tend to stem from their own belief systems external to that person (Dosen, Harris, Brock, Imariso and Smith 2007:336). These ethics give rise to conflicting arguments in present society. 50 years ago, Indigenous Australians were not entitled to enter a bar, cafe, swimming pool, or a cinema, if that deprivation of basic rights wasn’t enough; they then took children from their mothers later on known as the ‘stolen generation’ (www.creativespirits.2008). The stolen generation, estimated at over 100,000 children were taken from their homes and placed in missions, reserves or dormitories (www.creativespirits.2008). “I feel our childhood has been taken away from us and it has left a big hole in our lives” an Indigenous Australian part of the stolen generation (www.creativespirtis.2008). The loss of ones culture and identity was deemed worse then being poor and living in sub standard living with their families.

‘Australia’ also showed how the government controlled how children of Aboriginal descent were brought up with language used such as “The mixed raced children must be dislocated from their primitive full blooded Aborigine, how else are we to breed the black out of them”. This presented again the reason as to why the Aboriginal children were taken away from their own cultures to be raised in something completely different.

Distinctive voices convey personalities and attitudes by relating to social norms and defining events of their contemporary culture – they are a manifestation of various views and human experiences. Ray Lawler’s play summer of the seventeenth doll is a modern realist drama, which explores moral standards and social aspects of the 1950s. Essentially, the reader is confronted with unique views concerning the roles of Australian men and women in the 1950s and their responses to a changing lifestyle. From a working class status, the characters within the play are faced with traditional pressures and conventional gender positions that allows the reader to envision how certain personalities and attitudes react to change. Similarly in Judith Wright’s

In the text, Professional Voice is how we adapt to the values and distinctive voices in our chosen discipline. There are several ways to accomplish this, one of those ways is to look the part, in other words dress for the role. Secondly, when we communicate within our discipline, understanding how to speak and write the language of your profession is essential. However, we need balance in our communication skills, verbal and written, not too complex or simple, but effective enough to communicate with a distinctive professional voice. In my disciplines (Social Work and Art Education), there are several different levels; one of those is learning to speak the language of scholarly art educators such as, having knowledge of the different art