Teaching Australian First Nations’ Perspectives – Pain and Pride

Teaching Australian First Nations’ Perspectives – Pain and Pride

 

The following materials were used as part of a workshop for Drama Victoria as part of the 2021 Jumpstart Conference on February 20^th, 2021. It covers activities for teachers to approach addressing January 26^th and Invasion/ Survival Day.

 

Acknowledgement of Country

•       I would like to acknowledge the Wurundjeri people who are the Traditional Custodians of this Land. I would also like to pay respect to the Elders both past and present of the Kulin Nation and extend that respect to other Indigenous Australians present.

•       I would like to show my respect and Acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the Land, of Elders past and present, other participants are gathering.

Introduction

First Nation Australians have a saying ‘Always Was, Always Will Be’. This suggests that time does not matter and that Indigenous Australians have a sense of place and deserve a recognition that goes beyond time.

•       65,000 - 50,000 years ago - The minimum widely accepted timeframe for the arrival of humans in Australia is placed at least 50,000 years ago. Many sites dating from this time period have been excavated. In Arnhem Land the Malakunanja II rock shelter has been dated to around 65,000 years old. First Nations people in Australia certainly have the longest continuous living culture in the world. 

•       40,000 years ago - First Nations peoples were living throughout Australian in 300-500 distinct groups with different cultures and languages.

•       10,000 years ago - Agricultural and aqua-cultural activities start in many different First Nations in Australia.

•       January 26^th can be a date of division and pain for many – Drama can be used for truth & reconciliation

 

Australian First Nations Peoples Timeline

https://ccca.com.au/Frontend/Content/Ccca/CCCA_Factsheet_Timeline.pdf

 

The story of Australia doesn’t start on January 26, 1788 

•       First Nations peoples have called Australia home since ancient times, making them custodians of the world’s oldest living culture.

Myths about Australia Day

•       It's the day Australia was made a nation. WRONG - On 1 January 1901, after legislation was passed in British Parliament,

•       The day Captain Cook first saw Botany Bay. WRONG - On April 19th  1770, Cook encountered the east coast  

•       It's the day Australia became Independent from the United Kingdom. WRONG  - Australia didn’t become independent from the UK until 3 March 1986. 

•       It's the day when the First Fleet arrived in Australia. WRONG  - Technically this is also wrong. The First Fleet arrived in Botany Bay on January 18th and decided it was unsuitable for settlement. They then travelled further north and arrived in Port Jackson, a.k.a. Sydney Harbour on January 25^th.

•       We have always celebrated Australia Day. WRONG - Australia Day, in its current form, has only existed since 1994. The day was originally referred to as Foundation Day or First landing day by ex-convicts and colonists. In 1915, Australia Day was held on July 30th. After WWII many states started to adopt the name Australia Day but it wasn’t until 1994 that it was adopted as a national holiday.

What are the alternatives?

• January 1 - it’s the day the Commonwealth of Australia came into being in 1901.
• January 28th - Some councils in Australia have done this and call it One Day. January 26th or 27th becomes a day of memory 
• March 3rd - the day Australia officially cut legal ties with the British. While we're still a part of the Commonwealth, it's as close as we can get to an Independence Day without becoming a republic.
• March 12th - On this date in 1913, Canberra was officially named and Australia's capital city was born.
• May 8 - M8 - It can use the unifying colloquial language phrase “Mate”
• May 9 - In 1901, Australia became a self-governing body on this date and in 1927, the federal parliament officially shifted to Canberra and on this date, the current Parliament House in Canberra was opened.
• May 27 - - On this date in 1967, Australia held a referendum to include Indigenous Australians in the census count and to give Federal Parliament the power to specifically legislate for them. It is a day of reconciliation and it also kicks off National Reconciliation Week every year.
• July 30 - On this date in 1915 the first Australia Day was celebrated to rally support for troops in World War I

 

Activity 1 - Night at the Museum Game – Survival Day

- One student is the 'guard' and the other students are the exhibits. These exhibits initially show poses that celebrate colonisation. The students spread out throughout the room and must hold a pose that shows the events of colonisation. When the guard is not looking, the exhibits move into poses that show the real story or events or poses that show the pride and achievements of First Nations Australians. The guard wanders through the exhibits trying to catch people moving. The statues/ exhibits must move (I usually tell them they have to change sides of the room or something) but they have to do it when the guard is looking at others or has his or her back turned. The game can always start with a teacher as the guard. Some good images of pride can be taken from images in Briggs’ picture book or his song ‘Our Home, Our Heartbeat’. 

 

Activity 2 - Theatre of the Oppressed and Image Theatre - Invasion Day Lesson

Image Theatre usually involved presenting images of a situation or process of oppression. The still images normally can involve:

-         An Image of the situation of oppression

-         An Image of what causes the oppression

-         An Image of the Solution or other possible solutions

Image Theatre is an ensemble's collective visual perspective on an issue that is being dramatically created. The idea underlying Image Theatre is that a picture paints a thousand words and that our over-reliance on words can confuse or muddle issues rather than clarify them. Boal believes our bodies can short-circuit the censorship of the brain which he often refers to as the ‘Cop in the Head’. Image Theatre physicalizes or makes dynamic physical transitions from one moment of enacted theatrical oppression to another. Boal believed these transitions provide a way for the spec-actors to question, discuss and analyse and try to solve the problem.

 

The workshop begins with theatre games and activities which focus on building basic performance tools such as learning to use the voice, body, and imagination as well as skills such as collaboration, listening, observation, improvisation, and story-telling. These activities also work to break down boundaries in order to create a safe and trusted group dynamic. Once these have been established, the next step is to look at the issue of January 26th and the myths surrounding this day. The focus for the first thirty minutes of this workshop was the challenge of breaking down the student barriers but giving them a chance to express their opinions.

 

As soon as the group was relaxed, the concepts of Power and Oppression are introduced. One exercise which works well to show this is called Handshake Interpretation. This explores power, relationships and the way we view power while also introducing the idea of Image Theatre and Freeze Framing action. The exercise begins with two people shaking hands and freezing the pose. The audience speculates about what sort of relationship the couple may have, who has the power in the relationship, and the possible situation. The students acting in the freeze frame can also be given a relationship involving First nations people and non-Indigenous Australians. These can be secret and a scenario and the audience has to guess what the relationship is and who has the power. If this seems to be working well then an audience member can come into the frozen scene as a spect-actor and replace the person who has less power and find a way to show that the ‘oppressed’ can show more power in the relationship presented.

 

In pairs, the students rehearse a scene that shows Power and Oppression. One student is the Oppressor and one is the Oppressed. Homework, Peer group issues and playground issues work well for school students. For college students, issues of home life or life in a shared house or dorm work well. The participants decide who will play each role first and mutually agree on a conflict scenario before beginning the improvisational scene. The oppressor can reply in the scene with an expression of an attempt to express their opinion with a statements such as “Yes, but…”

 

Once the students grasped the idea of oppression, larger social scenarios can be attempted. Then the students can try to show the scenario in three still images – The Situation, the Cause and the Solution. Initially the Solution presented in the scene of the act of Oppression should be shown. The audience then act as spect-actors to suggest, or sculpt the actors or come up and replace an actor to show a different solution that would end the Oppression.

 

 

First Nations - History, Belonging and Metaphor

Learning Goals

 

To teach students about First Nations history and performance elements and how to introduce metaphor into the telling of a story. To encourage students to use their own life and relationships to create metaphoric stories. To introduce rhythmic forms which are part of some indigenous drama forms.

Learning Sequence

Pairwork

Teacher demonstration (or organise a student to demonstrate)

Graphic Representation

Practice with feedback

Larger group work

Materials

Marker Pens (1 per pair)

A3 paper (1 per student)

 

Evaluation

Evaluation for this task should be primarily through encouraging individual and group feedback. Set up the guidelines for positive feedback and owning feedback through 'I' statements e.g. I liked it when...I enjoyed it when... I connected to... DO NOT give written evaluation and feedback to this activity since the stories, people and images used are personal and it is not an activity to assess but rather one to build skills.

1. Imagine a relative, friend or event that although long past, has shaped the way you are and what you have become. Facing a partner, attempt to tell a short story or anecdote about this relative, friend or event and then swap over e.g. My father was a railway linesman and he travelled large distances organising laying train tracks in the outback. When they made the trains electric in Brisbane, he put up the electrical power cables to power the electric trains. 

2. Now re-tell your partner the same story using metaphoric rather than literal language. Start the story by giving a metaphoric label to the person involved. Students may need help with this. e.g. My Father, the Serpent Tamer. He would lay huge cages across the desert to make the Great Rainbow Serpent travel this way and that and go wherever he wanted it to go. In the big place of lights, he built a special device to drive lightning through the Rainbow Serpent to make it travel faster and through caves and over hills. My Father, the Serpent Tamer.

Extension: Tell the story in almost song-like tones: dwelling on the sounds and words you speak. Allow most words to find the rhythm and tone that makes them song-like. Also remember to let your voice and thoughts do the work (so try to cut hand and facial gestures to a bare minimum).

3. The group starts a tapping rhythm or chant. In turn each member of the group sings a short story about where they come from. You can centre it on a person, a description or an event. Try to inject some energy and drama to the activities. Remember that you can be metaphoric, reality is not as important as giving the 'sense' or 'feel' of the place. The group keeps the rhythm or chant going until each person has shared their story of their 'place'.

4. Get some members of the group to sing a children's song, popular song or ballad in their native language or dialect or in a different language or a language you don't know. The rest of the members try to learn the song or part of the song.

 

Useful Resources for Teaching Australian First Nations’ Perspectives

ABC Splash Education Website

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories and Cultures

http://splash.abc.net.au/topic/-/t/494038/aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-histories-and-cultures

Bangarra Dance Company

Indigenous Dance Company.
http://bangarra.com.au/

Creativespirits

Aboriginal Culture

http://www.creativespirits.info/aboriginalculture/?/aboriginalculture

Drama Victoria

Bell-Wykes, K., Forgasz, R. & Hradsky, R. (2020). Teaching First Nations Content and Concepts in the Drama Classroom - Advice for Teachers in Victorian Schools. Drama Victoria, Ilbijerri Theatre Company & Monash University. 

http://www.dramavictoria.vic.edu.au/public/51/files/Teaching%20First%20Nations%20Content%20and%20Concepts_VAEAI%20endorsed.pdf

Eckersley, Mark. (2012). Australian Indigenous Drama. Tasman Press. Altona.

Australian Indigenous Drama Blog
http://australianindigenousdrama.blogspot.com.au/2014/03/australian-indigenous-drama-introduction.html

 Monash University

Bell-Wykes, K., Forgasz, R. & Hradsky, R. (2020). Teaching for Reconciliation in your Classroom. Monash University. 

https://www.monash.edu/education/teachspace/articles/teaching-for-reconciliation-in-your-classroom

SBS. NITV. Ten Things You Should Know About January 26

https://www.sbs.com.au/nitv/10-things-you-should-know-about-january-26/41db81cb-5a5f-4db6-a9d4-cc88ccb989e1?cid=inbody%3Ado-you-know-what-aboriginal-land-youre-on-today

Songlines Website

https://teachik.com/songlines/

Yarra Healing. 2012. ‘Unit 7 Changing Lives Changing Ways’ on Teaching and Learning page (Website). CEO Melbourne (Catholic Education Organisation, Melbourne). Melbourne. 

http://www.yarrahealing.catholic.edu.au/teaching-learning/index.cfm?loadref=108