Written by Lindsay Williams for AustLit's Teaching with BlackWords professional development day on 22 November 2017, these resources are designed to aid the reaching of Indigenous works in high schools
1. Using texts in high school
English to challenge ‘Terra
Nullius of the mind’
PRESENTED BY LINDSAY WILLIAMS
2. Objectives
During the course of this workshop, you will:
◦ evaluate representations of Indigenous Australians and the Australian landscape in
a short story and play, with a focus on the encoding of Terra Nullius and the
construction of First Nation voices
◦ discuss issues with using ‘iconic’ Australian texts in the English classroom
◦ consider the role of BlackWords in assisting English teachers to contribute to a
more just Australian society.
A literary and linguistic
approach…
3. What should we do with captain cook?
Don Watson in The Monthly, October 2017: Cook was the discoverer (of
the east coast) ‘if discoverer means the first bloke from Yorkshire to see
the east coast of the continent. But “discoverer” is not half of it. He
sailed up the east coast, mapping as he went and giving European
names to everything he saw, including the name New South Wales. He
encountered Aboriginal people, shot one, expressed the view that these
savages were far happier than Europeans, and declared the continent
terra nullius. And he “hoisted English Coulers” and took possession of
the whole of the east coast. It was Cook’s doings in 1770 that opened
the way for colonisation in 1788.’
4. ‘Terra Nullius of the mind’
Colonial texts ‘ […] sound thin and one dimensional, like music on a
dusty vinyl record that’s been played a few too many times. New
versions might seek to add nuance and complexity […] the first
Australians are no longer prepared to be rendered invisible and silent
’ (Schultz 2017: 9)
5. Wikipedia: ‘A woman in the outback is
isolated in a small hut with her four
children. Her husband has been away
droving for six months and near sunset
one day a snake disappears under the
house. The children are put to bed and
the woman waits with her dog, Alligator,
for the snake to re-appear. Near dawn the
snake emerges and it is killed by the
woman and dog. It shows the eternal
struggle of a lonely woman against what
nature produces towards her.’
6. The Drover’s Wife by Leah Purcell
Purcell’s work appropriates Lawson’s iconic story, infusing it ‘with
First Nations and Women’s history, calling into question the
shameful treatment endured by both, at the hands of white men’
(Leticia Cáceres in Purcell 2016: xii)
7. The Drover’s Wife
by Leah Purcell
‘This play has been described as dangerous. I love that it is, and give
no apology for it. It is also a romance and a story of a mother’s love.’
Leah Purcell 2016: viii
9. A small selection of
activities:
◦ Exploring Literary Terra
Nullius: Comparing
representations of ‘the
bush’
◦ Voices of the First
Nations: Comparing
Character
Representation
11. Exploring ‘Terra Nullius’
Page 4: THE TWO-ROOMED house is built of round timber,
slabs, and stringy-bark, and floored with split slabs. A big bark
kitchen standing at one end is larger than the house itself,
verandah included.
Bush is all around – bush with no horizon, for the country is
flat. No ranges in the distance. The bush consists of stunted
and rotten native apple trees. No undergrowth. Nothing to
relieve the eye save the darker green of a few sheoaks which
are sighing above the narrow, almost waterless creek.
Nineteen miles to the nearest sign of civilization – a shanty
town on the main road.
The drover, an ex-squatter, is away with sheep. His wife and
children are left here alone.
Have a highlighter
handy…
12. Exploring ‘Terra Nullius’
THE TWO-ROOMED house is built of round timber, slabs, and
stringy-bark, and floored with split slabs. A big bark kitchen
standing at one end is larger than the house itself, verandah
included.
Bush is all around – bush with no horizon, for the country is
flat. No ranges in the distance. The bush consists of stunted
and rotten native apple trees. No undergrowth. Nothing to
relieve the eye save the darker green of a few sheoaks which
are sighing above the narrow, almost waterless creek.
Nineteen miles to the nearest sign of civilization – a shanty
town on the main road.
The drover, an ex-squatter, is away with sheep. His wife and
children are left here alone.
Have a highlighter
handy…
13. Exploring Terra Nullius
Double bubble map on
page 5
Discussion Questions:
How is the Australian
landscape treated
differently in the two
texts? What evidence is
there to suggest that
Lawson ‘encodes’
(probably unconsciously)
the notion of Terra
Nullius?
14. Double bubble map: comparing Landscape (p5)
Distinctive Elements Shared Elements Distinctive Elements
Naming of Landscape Naming of Landscape
Human Habitation Human Habitation
Henry Lawson Leah Purcell
Creatures Creatures
Descriptions Descriptions
Figurative Uses of Landscape Figurative Uses of Landscape
15. Double bubble map: comparing Landscape
Distinctive Elements Shared Elements Distinctive Elements
Naming of Landscape
(the) bush, the country
Naming of Landscape
Human Habitation
(drover), wife, children, alone
Human Habitation
Creatures
sheep
Henry Lawson Leah
Purcell
Creatures
Descriptions
no horizon; flat; no ranges;
stunted & rotten native apple
trees; no undergrowth;
nothing to relieve the eye;
darker green of sheoaks;
narrow almost waterless
creek
Descriptions
Figurative Uses of Landscape
Nil
Figurative Uses of Landscape
16. Distinctive Elements Shared Elements Distinctive Elements
Naming of Landscape
(the) bush, the country
Naming of Landscape
country; my homeland
Human Habitation
(drover), wife, children, alone
Human Habitation
Ngambri Walgalu, Guugu
Yimithirr
Creatures
sheep
Henry Lawson Leah
Purcell
Creatures
the big Bogong moth, Uriarra
Descriptions
no horizon; flat; no ranges;
stunted & rotten native apple
trees; no undergrowth;
nothing to relieve the eye;
darker green of sheoaks;
narrow almost waterless
creek
Descriptions
dense scrubland of the Alpine
country of the Snowy
Mountains; fences are up; (on
the coast) rainforest & coloured
sand country
Figurative Uses of Landscape
Nil
Figurative Uses of Landscape
shining like a full moon; smooth
like a shallow runnin’ water over
river rocks
How is the Australian landscape
treated differently in the two
texts? What evidence is there to
suggest that Lawson ‘encodes’ the
notion of terra nulllius?
17. Country
From Australian Museum: In
Aboriginal English, a person’s
land, sea, sky, rivers, sites,
seasons, plants and animals;
place of heritage, belonging
and spirituality; is called
‘Country’.
18. Country
Non-Indigenous people and land owners might consider land as something they own, a commodity to be
bought and sold, an asset to make profit from, but also a means to make a living off it or simply ‘home’.
They ‘develop’ land, as if it was unfinished or raw.
For Aboriginal people the relationship is much deeper. Palyku woman Ambelin Kwaymullina explains:
“For Aboriginal peoples, country is much more than a place. Rock, tree, river, hill, animal, human – all
were formed of the same substance by the Ancestors who continue to live in land, water, sky. Country is
filled with relations speaking language and following Law, no matter whether the shape of that relation is
human, rock, crow, wattle. Country is loved, needed, and cared for, and country loves, needs, and cares
for her peoples in turn. Country is family, culture, identity. Country is self.”
They have a profound spiritual connection to land. Aboriginal law and spirituality are intertwined with the
land, the people and creation, and this forms their culture and sovereignty.
Source: https://www.creativespirits.info/aboriginalculture/land/meaning-of-land-to-aboriginal-
people#ixzz4z1bu1o5s
19. Why this matters
Adam Briggs tweeted
this the day the
marriage equality
results were
announced.
20. The voices of the First
Nations
COMPARING CHARACTER REPRESENTATIONS
21. Comparing Character Representations (pages 2 & 6)
The Drover’s Wife
(Henry Lawson)
‘a stray blackfellow’
(Henry Lawson)
Yadaka
(Leah Purcell)
Naming she
What the character does bargained
went (in search of cow)
gave (extra tobacco)
How the character is
described
What the character says praised
What the character thinks
& feels
astonished
In small groups, complete the column for
‘a stray blackfellow’. Refer to the excerpt
on page 2.
22. The Drover’s Wife
(Henry Lawson)
‘a stray blackfellow’
(Henry Lawson)
Yadaka
(Leah Purcell)
Naming she blackfellow, he
What the
character does
bargained
went (in search of cow)
gave (extra tobacco)
was (at work)
made (good use of his time)
left
had built (that wood-heap hollow)
How the character
is described
stray
the last of his tribe
a King
head erect and chest well out
What the
character says
praised thanked
What the
character thinks &
feels
astonished
23. The Drover’s Wife
(Henry Lawson)
‘a stray blackfellow’
(Henry Lawson)
Yadaka
(Leah Purcell)
Naming she blackfellow, he Yadaka, ya (wife)
What the character
does
bargained
went (in search of cow)
gave (extra tobacco)
was (at work)
made (good use of his
time)
left
had built (that wood-heap
hollow)
ran away; calmed a bear; don’t use (white
name); went; slipped (into shadows); went
(on walkabout); ran into other mobs; saw (a
beautiful woman); (implied) ‘joins’ with
woman; settled in with (Ngambri Walgalu)
How the character is
described
stray
the last of his tribe
a King
head erect and chest well
out
adopted; not from here
heading home; left in Melbourne; good
with the horses & bears; good with the
children; destitute
What the character
says
praised thanked He is primary knower and says a great deal ,
e.g. about his adopted clan, their country,
his earlier life, falling in love. Note well:
figurative description of woman
What the character
thinks & feels
astonished know (this country)
(implied) falls in love
24. The Drover’s Wife
(Henry Lawson)
‘a stray blackfellow’
(Henry Lawson)
Yadaka
(Leah Purcell)
Naming she blackfellow, he Yadaka, ya (wife)
What the character
does
bargained
went (in search of cow)
gave (extra tobacco)
was (at work)
made (good use of his
time)
left
had built (that wood-heap
hollow)
ran away; calmed a bear; don’t use (white
name); went; slipped (into shadows); went
(on walkabout); ran into other mobs; saw (a
beautiful woman); (implied) ‘joins’ with
woman; settled in with (Ngambri Walgalu)
How the character is
described
stray
the last of his tribe
a King
head erect and chest well
out
adopted; not from here
heading home; left in Melbourne; good
with the horses & bears; good with the
children; destitute
What the character
says
praised thanked He is primary knower and says a great deal ,
e.g. about his adopted clan, their country,
his earlier life, falling in love. Note well:
figurative description of woman
What the character
thinks & feels
astonished know (this country)
(implied) falls in love
What patterns do you notice? How do
the representations in the Lawson
and Purcell versions differ, e.g. with
regard to voice and agency?
25. Follow up
Re-write the ‘stray blackfellow’ text giving the character voice and
agency – see page 7.
Based on the activities suggested today, what evidence is there to
support Julianna Schultz’s claim that ‘the old [colonial] stories have
also become threadbare, and increasingly fail to capture the
contemporary reality or complexity of the past’?
How can BlackWords help English teachers contribute to a more
just Australian society?
28. Conclusion
A taste of what’s possible – see handout (including pages 8 and 9) for
further suggestions.
Can be adapted for any set of texts – juxtaposition can be a powerful
strategy for making Discourses of race visible.
AustLit’s BlackWords – practical and informative resource for teachers,
including English teachers.
29. Dr Anita Heiss in BlackWords Essay
‘Our writing records our ‘truths’ about history up until the present day. Our
books function as tools for reconciliation allowing non-Indigenous Australians to
engage with us in a non-challenging and non-confrontational way. Our writing
provides a means of self-representation in Australian and world literature, and
assists readers to understand the diversity of our identities in the 21st century.
Much of our writing challenges subjective and often negative media stereotypes
and interpretations of our lives as Australians and as human beings. In this way,
our literature has become an important resource in assisting teachers to embed
Indigenous perspectives into the educational curricular around the country. ‘
Editor's Notes
Image source: Lindsay Williams
Image source: Australia Post/Commonwealth of Australia
Image source: Australia Post/Commonwealth of Australia
