BELONGING

ONE NIGHT THE MOON 

WE ARE GOING- OODJEROO NOONUCCAL.  They came in to the little town A semi-naked band subdued and silent All that remained of their tribe. They came here to the place of their old bora ground Where now the many white men hurry about like ants. Notice of the estate agent reads: 'Rubbish May Be Tipped Here'. Now it half covers the traces of the old bora ring. 'We are as strangers here now, but the white tribe are the strangers. We belong here, we are of the old ways. We are the corroboree and the bora ground, We are the old ceremonies, the laws of the elders. We are the wonder tales of Dream Time, the tribal legends told. We are the past, the hunts and the laughing games, the wandering camp fires. We are the lightening bolt over Gaphembah Hill Quick and terrible, And the Thunderer after him, that loud fellow. We are the quiet daybreak paling the dark lagoon. We are the shadow-ghosts creeping back as the camp fires burn low. We are nature and the past, all the old ways Gone now and scattered. The scrubs are gone, the hunting and the laughter. The eagle is gone, the emu and the kangaroo are gone from this place. The bora ring is gone. The corroboree is gone. And we are going.'

WE ARE GOING. Compare and contrast how the representation of ‘Belonging’ is conveyed in the poem and the film extract.

THE CONCEPT OF BELONGING – HYPOTHETICAL   The class will consider the question:  John Donne the poet stated that ‘No man is an island’ but what if all we were all forced to live in isolation with minimal or no contact with others?   Roles:  Chairperson: Controls the discussion  Scribe: Records the main lines of argument  Panel of four: Two who support isolation and two who oppose it. They are to consider the question and present their perspectives.  Audience: Remainder of the class who speak after the panel has presented their views.

THE CRONULLA RIOTS  The December 2005 riots at Cronulla supposedly over ownership of a place reflect an ugly side of belonging and the differing notions of belonging. Go to the webpage cronulla/2005/12/11/ html: cronulla/2005/12/11/ html  Read the Sydney Morning Herald article ‘Mob violence envelops Cronulla’  Read the editorial – ‘Let’s take back our Beach’  View the photo gallery through the link entitled ‘Related Coverage’.  Now respond to the following questions and share your responses with the class:  What notion would the rioters who believed they were protecting their beach and way of life have of Belonging?  How would the group they were targeting feel about the notion of Belonging?  Whose perspective is present in the newspaper article and the accompanying photograph and how is this perspective represented?  How do the newspaper article and the photograph convey these perspectives?  Remember back to the film extract from One Night the Moon; how are the notions of Belonging connected and why?  Select one photograph from the photo gallery and record what is conveyed about the notion of Belonging and how it is conveyed.

TEXTS OF YOUR OWN CHOOSING:   You need to collect at least three other texts that connect with the concept of Belonging, such as: a song, short story, poem, film, anime, television show, newspaper or magazine articles, web sites, posters, etc.  In a properly crafted piece of writing of approximately 500 words explain how your chosen texts furthers you understanding of Belonging