Homework Tuesday 7th Feb

My ideas to include in my assignment are:

• Gold Coast - Beaches
• Roma - Country
• Melbourne- City

Questions on Australia

2. Paragraphs 4 and 5 list the names of famous Australians. Write the areas/achievements they were famous for beside their names.

Bob Hawke: Robert Hawke was the 23rd Prime Minister of Australia from March 1983 to December 1991 and therefore longest serving Australian Labor Party (ALP) Prime Minister. After a decade as president of the Australian Council of Trade Unions, he entered politics at the 1980 federal election and became Prime Minister within three years. He became the longest-serving and most electorally successful Labor Prime Minister, leading the ALP to four consecutive federal elections between 1983 and 1990. He is Australia's third-longest-serving Prime Minister.

Kevin Rudd: Kevin Michael Rudd is an Australian politician who was the 26th Prime Minister of Australia from 2007 to 2010. He has been Minister for Foreign Affairs since 2010. A member of the Australian Labor Party, Rudd has served in the House of Representatives since the 1998 federal election, representing Griffith, Queensland.

Joan Sutherland: One of the most remarkable female opera singers of the 20th century, she was dubbed La Stupenda by a La Fenice audience in 1960 after a performance of the title role in Handel's Alcina. She possessed a voice of beauty and power, combining extraordinary agility, accurate intonation, "supremely" pinpoint staccatos, a splendid trill and a tremendous upper register, although music critics often complained about the imprecision of her diction. Her friend Luciano Pavarotti once called Sutherland the "Voice of the Century"; Montserrat Caballé described the Australian's voice as being like "heaven"

John Farnham: John Peter Farnham, is an English-born Australian pop singer. As Johnny Farnham he was a teen pop idol from 1964 to 1979, and has since forged a career as an adult contemporary singer. His career has mostly been as a solo artist although he briefly replaced Glenn Shorrock as lead singer of Little River Band during 1982–1985. In September 1986 his solo single, "You're the Voice" peaked at No. 1 on the Australian singles charts. The associated album, Whispering Jack, held the No. 1 position for a total of 25 weeks, and is the highest-selling album in Australian history.[8] Both the single and the album had Top Ten success internationally including No. 1 in Sweden.

Patrick White: Patrick Victor Martindale White, an Australian author, is widely regarded as an important English-language novelist of the 20th century. From 1935 until his death, he published 12 novels, two short-story collections and eight plays. White's fiction employs humour, florid prose, shifting narrative vantage points and a stream of consciousness technique. In 1973, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature—and was the only Australian citizen to have been awarded the Literature prize until the South African-born J. M. Coetzee became an Australian citizen in 2006. The Vivisector, a novel about the life and times of a successful modernist painter, was shortlisted for the Lost Man Booker Prize in 2010.

Paul Hogan: Paul Hogan became a worldwide success with his irresistible comic performance in Crocodile Dundee (1986), which he created and co-wrote. It earned him a Golden Globe for Best Actor as well as an Oscar (nomination for Best Screenplay). The versatile actor got his start in Australian television in a recurring role as comic relief on "A Current Affair" (1971). An expanded version entitled "The Paul Hogan Show" (1973) premiered on Australia's Nine Network and quickly propelled him to the top of the ratings chart. His dramatic role in the critically acclaimed television series "Anzacs" (1985) and his work in promoting Australia worldwide invested him into the Order of Australia and led to his appointment as "Australian of the Year".

Hogan was the executive producer/writer/star of the feature films Almost an Angel (1990) and Lightning Jack (1994) and starred in Flipper (1996) and Floating Away (1998) (TV). American audiences also remember Hogan from his now legendary commercials for the Australian Tourist Commission in which he invited us to say "g'day" and come "down under" so he could "slip another shrimp on the barbie".

Allan Border: Allan Robert Border AO is a former Australian cricketer. A batsman, Border was for many years the captain of the Australian team. His playing nickname was "A.B.". He played 156 Test matches in his career, a record until it was passed by fellow Australian Steve Waugh. Border still retains the world record for the number of consecutive Test appearances of 153 and the number of Tests as captain. He was primarily a left hand batsman but also achieved sporadic success as a part time left arm orthodox spinner. Border amassed 11,174 Test runs (a world record until it was passed by Brian Lara in 2005). He hit 27 centuries in his Test career. He retired as Australia's most capped player and leading run-scorer in both Tests and ODIs. His Australian record for Test Match runs stood for 15 years before Ricky Ponting overtook him during the Third Ashes Test against England in July 2009. Border was one of the 55 inaugural inductees of the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame.

Robert Helpmann: Son of James Murray Helpmann & Mary, he was educated at Prince Alfred's College, Adelaide, South Australia. He first danced solo at the Theatre Royal, Adelaide in The Ugly Duckling in 1922. He went on to become the pricipal dancer at Sadlers Wells ballet from 1933 to 1950. World renowned as a dancer and choreographer, amongst his other achievements he was the director of the Australian Ballet Company. He directed the world tour of Margot Fonteyn in 1963.

Peter Brock: Peter Geoffrey Brock, AM otherwise known as "Peter Perfect", "The King of the Mountain" or simply as "Brocky" was one of Australia's best-known and most successful motor racing drivers. Brock was most often associated with Holden for almost 40 years, although he raced vehicles of other manufacturers including BMW, Ford, Volvo, Porsche and Peugeot.[1] He won the Bathurst 1000 endurance race nine times, the Sandown 500 touring car race nine times, the Australian Touring Car Championship three times and was inducted into the V8 Supercar Hall of Fame in 2001. Brock's business activities included the Holden Dealer Team (HDT) that produced Brock's racing machines as well as a number of modified high-performance road versions of his racing cars.

Steve Irwin: Stephen Robert "Steve" Irwin, nicknamed "The Crocodile Hunter", was an Australian television personality, wildlife expert, and conservationist. Irwin achieved worldwide fame from the television series The Crocodile Hunter, an internationally broadcast wildlife documentary series which he co-hosted with his wife Terri. Together, the couple also owned and operated Australia Zoo, founded by Irwin's parents in Beerwah, about 80 kilometres (50 mi) north of the Queensland state capital city of Brisbane. Irwin died on 4 September 2006 after being pierced in the chest by a stingray barb while filming an underwater documentary film titled Ocean's Deadliest. The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society ship MY Steve Irwin was named in his honour.

3. What does the author mean at the top of page 2 when he says that Australia seems to be in a state of ‘suspenseful indecision’?

That Australia as a country is contradicting how it is displayed to others. It cannot decide what sort of country it wants to be represented as.

4. On page 3 (half way down), the author begins a paragraph with the words….”The lack of a nation-binding capital….” What do you think he means by that?

That the people representing Australia are not even Australians themselves. “The lack of a nation-binding capital is another contributory factor, especially since so many of Canberra's essentials are so curiously un-Australian”. Suggesting that we cannot trust someone to run our country who doesn’t even call themsleves Australians.

5. Why does he think it is odd that Sydney is the focus for Australia Day celebrations?

He feels that the celebrations on Australia day is swamped my sponsored-ads directing themselves at Sydney, he discusses that it seems that the celebrating this day is obligation when it should be a choice.

6. Write a few short sentences that summarise what you think the author’s intention was in writing this article. What was he trying to draw our attention to?

The writer draws our attention the controversy in Australia’s appearance. He explains that the country tries to be laid-back and ‘typically Australia’ when in reality it is bound by government rules and laws. He also explains that the way we appeal to foreigners is not how it really is “…couch-bound residents prone to watching the telly rather than tending the snags.”

7. Do you agree/disagree? Why/whynot?

I do agree that the way we are portrayed to foreigners is not how it is in reality. We seen to attract the ‘lazy, laid-back’ lifestyle, however, it is quite contrary.

Response to Away.

1. Select one of the characters and explain, using direct evidence from the text, how he/she is on a personal journey.

Tom is on a personal journey with his health. Tom’s parents have been keeping it a secret from Tom that he has blood cancer, although Tom already know himself. This is an extremely personal journey for Tom because he has to face the fact that he is extremely sick. You can see that he is suffering his own journey when he is begging Meg to help him, saying “So how about it? Help me. I’m going to get sick again. And it wont get better.”

2. Using direct evidence from the play, explore the way that the Australian journey is represented throughout the play. Keep in mind that each of the characters/families is representative of different elements of this journey so your response may be quite long and at times contradictory.

Corals and Ricks journey was represented by the tourist’s view of Australia. For their holidays they went to a luxuries hotel on the Gold Coast. It is constantly represented as a packed, but beautiful place. “We’ve never been to Queensland before… We got a house by the sea. I was a little worried about coming to such a big place. There are so many people staying here”. Coral is also always emphasizing on how lucky they are: “It seems so extravagant. We’re so lucky to be living in such a rich country”. However, although they are living in such prestige conditions within a beautiful, upper-class hotel, Coral is not satisfied that everyone is realistically enjoying himself or herself. “Everyone’s enjoying themselves, but, I don’t know, I feel it’s a bit forced, do you feel it?”

Gwen, Jim and Meg’s journey is representing the middle-class life. After reading the texts you can clearly see that this family is undergoing some difficult problems within their family. By renting the caravan you can see that although they cant afford as much as Coral and Rick, they are still bordering the middle-class society.

Tom, Harry’s and Vic’s journey is representing the lower-class life of Australia. Unlike the other families, they decided the best economical situation for their family was to by a tent. They also use this journey to make there family I closer net family, as everyone knows that Tom is sick, but Harry and Vic don’t know that Tom knows. “Not exactly. We’ve got a tent”

3. What is the representation of the Australian journey that you can see in the article, ‘Bondi Beach’?

When reading this article you can see that the representation of Australia has changed radically in comparison the description of Away. From the lovely beaches of Australia to the packed mess of Bondi beach, there has defiantly been a change. It is now overpopulated with tourists, surfers and locals between the hours of 4 and 5. It is unrecognizable throughout the day, however, when everyone packs up and leaves you can see that it is just the same as ever.

4. Considering both the play and the article, discuss the implications of different generations on the changing face of the Australian identity.

In the play ‘Away’ the beaches are represented as natural beauty. Over the years, it is now being represented as a tourist attraction, bringing litter and surfing with the locals. Eventually this leads to overpopulation. Therefore as the generations have gone on you can see that Bondi beach has had to deal with the implications of changing the face of Australian identity.

5. Both the play and the article represent Australia’s national identity as it is related to the coast/beach life. How has this representation changed over the past 40-50 years and has it retained any of the aspects demonstrated in these two texts?

When analyzing the two texts, you can see that the coastal identity of Australia has changed drastically throughout the past 40-50 years. ‘Away’ representations of the beaches in Australia are explained as beautiful, unpopulated places, making you very privileged to visit it. “It’s marvelous to sit in the middle of that beach, the three of us. Sometimes when it’s really hot it’s nice to slip your bathers off in the water and just swim about like a fish”. Over the years this has changed to being identified as overpopulated, dirty place, which changes throughout the day. “Bathe between the flag section looks like dunking time in Ganges”. J.A.C.C Dunn positions the readers to see that Bondi is a drunken retreat at night, and overpopulated during the day. However, he ends with “even after Bondi beach finally huts up, spent, the surf still demands attention: it is there, audible, visible even in darkness. It is there…” He explains that although it is unrecognizable 4 am and 5 pm, it is still the same at night.