However, the twin myths of ‘the bush’ and Anzac still exert a powerful influence on how non-Indigenous Australians see their country.
In a country that has gradually become multicultural, Australian culture is now represented in a variety of ways. The title of the book signals that growing up Aboriginal is a different experience from that of other Australians.This will be a major focus of the Close Study section of the unit. Heiss does, however, add that Aboriginal writers manipulate the language features of ‘the coloniser’s tongue’ (i.e.Again, students will be asked to analyse at least some of the accounts in the book to see if they agree with this statement. In an associated video, Heiss says that Aboriginal writing is like speech written down.However, during this unit (and especially in the Close Study section) students will be asked to explore more closely the exact nature of the texts in terms of genre, structure and language features. In her introduction to Growing Up Aboriginal in Australia, Heiss refers to the various texts in the book as ‘accounts’.This will be a focus for students’ reading of various texts. Taken together, the fifty accounts illustrate Dr Anita Heiss’ statement that ‘there is no single or simple way to define what it means to grow up Aboriginal in Australia’ (Heiss, p. The content of each account in this book is a recollection of a significant event in the writer’s life.Therefore, the following introductory activities will have to be handled very positively and tactfully to gain students’ interest and involvement without potentially further alienating them. Whilst it is encouraging that mainstream social attitudes to Indigenous identity and culture are changing positively, it is also possible, unfortunately, that some students may have formed negative views about Aboriginal people based on misinformed social attitudes. It is quite probable, depending on the location of your school, that your English class will not contain any Aboriginal students. Introductory activities A note to the teacher
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