The Episode Redfern Now : Stand Up By Rachel Perkins And The Poetry Of Alison

though he is the true aborigine. When a policeman pulls him over one night and asks him "where are you supposed to be?" (182), he clearly shows his alienation by thinking, "I knew there were plenty of places I wanted to be, but none where I was supposed to be" (182). He realizes he is "making people nervous" (183) because he doesn’t "fit the profile of the neighborhood" (183) in which he is driving. But it isn’t just that neighborhood, or any other nice neighborhood. He wants to tell the policeman that he doesn’t "fit the profile of the country," but he knows "it would just get [him] in trouble" (183).

It is crucial that we study Australian Narratives as it creates insights into events we may have not explored. This is evident in the novel "Crow Country" written by Kate Constable. It teaches us about Aboriginal beliefs and spirituality, Australia's History and respect, as we experience what it feels like to live in rural Australia, creating an understanding about Aboriginal people. Therefore, through a close read and study of "Crow Country", readers are able to learn new and important things about our past and present, showing that it is crucial to study Australian Narratives.

In the beginning of the essay, the narrator explains his views about life. The narrator goes onto compare the different aspects of the cultures, and in a sense thinks like the White man, that his

In his essay, “Pretty like a White Boy: The Adventure of a Blue-Eyed a Ojibway,” Drew Hayden Taylor discusses his negative life experiences, and decides that he will no longer classify himself as either a White, or Native person, though he is of dual ancestry. Though he aims his essay at the Everyman, he assumes that the reader has knowledge in Native history. Taylor, the comedian mentions that he never knew his White father, and it is likely that he was raised in First Nations household. This assumption supports the ethos of his essay as a whole. While examining the thesis, Taylor makes jumps in logic that are difficult for the reader to follow, on the path to his conclusion. Taylor’s style is consistently lighthearted, and his essay is structurally sound, however, due to errors in logic, his essay appeals to the heart alone.

Mackellar introduces the idea of Australia’s distinctiveness firstly in the opening two stanzas, by juxtoposising Australia’s

A very noteworthy quote in Grant’s speech is easily noticed. He constantly uses repetition to highlight the ideology of “The Australian Dream”, in fact Stan Grant repeats this phrase 11 times throughout his speech. Instead of stating it after speaking of freedom, youth, wealth and joy he instead constantly repeats this expression again and again after describing the oppression, fear of humiliation and hurt of dispossession, injustice suffering and survival. Grant utilises these keywords to draw focus on the lies told by Australians told to themselves everyday. Grant speaks of the Australian anthem and to draw attention on the mockery in many verses of it and appeal to the patriotism of Australian Citizens. He constantly quotes verses from our

Through the use of poetic devices, the author has successfully encouraged the audience to explore their thoughts on Australian identity and to reflect on our nation’s history.

Australia... land of the sun, beaches and kangaroo’s, known for being a free and multicultural country accepting you, no matter whom you are... or so we thought. Kevin Gilbert’s insightful poem ‘The New True Anthem’ tries to uncover the faults hidden under Australia’s picturesque surface. It depicts an Aboriginals’ view of Australia, comparing images of Australia to the harsh reality that the author feels is happening in this country. The destruction of the environment and the poor treatment of Aboriginal people are common themes that can be seen throughout the poem which contrast ideas about Australia such as natural beauty and freedom.

The notion of the contemporary indigenous identity and the impact of these notions are both explored in texts that have been studied. Ivan Sen’s 2002 film ‘Beneath Clouds’ focuses on the stereotypical behaviours of Indigenous Australians highlighting Lina and Vaughn’s journey. This also signifies the status and place of the Australian identity today. Through the use of visual techniques and stereotypes the ideas that the Indigenous are uneducated, involved in crime and the stereotypical portrayal of white people are all explored. Similarly the notion of urban and rural life is represented in Kennith Slessor’s ‘William Street’ and ‘Country Towns’.

When an individual’s sense of identity is corrupted through prejudicial attitudes they are left exposed and vulnerable allowing a sense of isolation and displacement in society. An individual’s ability to promote change within is largely influenced by the hardships they experience in their struggle to conform and the connectedness of identity that stems from acceptance. Tara June Winch’s novel Swallow the air, adapts the core concept that the perceptions and ideas of belonging are shaped within personal, cultural, historical and social contexts defining who we are resulting in a true understanding and

Australia’s identity has always been a complicated one. Starting with Aboriginal genocide, 1800’s cowboys and villains, two world wars and a bunch of poems describing them, it makes it difficult to conclude on what being an ‘Aussie’ really is. Thankfully, the two thought-provoking poems Nobody Calls Me a Wog Anymore by Komninos Zervos, and My Country by Dorothea Mackellar both use their discerning selection of themes to reflect modern attitudes in some extent. Along with their themes, Nobody Calls Me a Wog Anymore and My Country both use their story to capture the attributes modern Australians possess to some degree.

The key theme of racism that is explored in Langton’s writing affected me through these experiences, and changed my values when I went through these experiences. Once I had come to the realisation that the incident with the homeless man was most likely not due to his skin colour, I began to realise that I had begun stereotyping due to what I had heard and been exposed to - and I began making a conscious choice to try and find other reasons that a situation might have happened, other than to instantly assume stereotypes or racism. Langton also notes that in situations where an Aboriginal and a non-Aboriginal are engaging each other, they “will test imagined models of the other, repeatedly adjusting the models as the responses are processed to find some satisfactory way of comprehending the other”. This relates back to the key theme of stereotyping as each person is testing the way the other responds in relation to prior knowledge and potential stereotypes that they have heard - both forms of racism, in a way. My most memorable experience with this was when I was working retail, and an Aboriginal family were

“Do you know what it’s like knowing every day my real mother and brother wonder where I am?” Anne on the other hand lived a normal life with her parents and only started to get confused on who she was when your parents broke the news about Anne’s Aboriginal parent’s sickness. After meeting with her Aboriginal parents, she is still confused on who she is and has the ‘black and white’ voices stuck in her head. White and black voices [together, off]: “How do you think you are?” When Saroo met his biological mother, he understood that he had two families and loved them. However, Anne was still confused after meeting her Aboriginal parents and still has no idea what her identity is, all she knows is that she loves both of her families. Both have the same struggle of not knowing where their parents are, and both struggle to cope with knowing that their parents are still out there searching for them. But in the end they love both their families.

In modern day, it is time to recognize the misjudgments and shed light to Indigenes representation. A poem written by Jack Davis named “Integration” illustrates how Australia needs to improve from their black history and start to allow for “two worlds to combine” (Davis). Australia has created a distinction between these two worlds. They claim to show acceptance and therefore must carry their promises into reality and allow for two cultures to unite. The poet includes phrases in the form of reality. “There is no need for mocking” (Davis), this must be taken into strong consideration, especially by the Caucasian people. They have spent centuries mocking, judging and insulting the vulnerable. If they want to express their acceptance and acknowledgment, they must start to educate young minds, impact how they view Indigenes and represent them in positive ways even if there were some wrong actions. They seem to extract the smaller percentage of negatives and exaggerate them in a form to allow for white people to create a preconceived and racist view on Indigenes. Australia needs to represent themselves with a positive outlook and start to develop their actions that they have undertaken, such as saying an acknowledgment to Indigenes during school, work and in relevant times. It is vital to view and study the past to be able to learn from the recognized mistakes. “The past is done” (Davis), although the past won’t come back for them to act differently, they must choose to change their ways now. Choose to take away their bias minds. Take away their brutal words and actions, to develop a lasting combination of both cultures in which they represent in a positive and influential way. Indigenes have shown to be positively influential role models and figures that young and mature minds should aspire to be

“I think that each of our stories are Australian stories. My story is your story, and your story is my story.”