Mark & New Assignment
Got my marks back for that paper I posted on here last week, my paper for Australians and their Environment. Turns out I got a D! D stands for Distinction, the only mark higher is an HD, which is High Distinction, and, according to Will, that mark is reserved for “geniuses”. I don’t think I’ve met anyone yet who has gotten an HD on anything…
Here's my mark and comments. Super proud of them comments!
I was also notified by Will yesterday that we had an 850-word essay where we were to compare and contrast two essays…due tomorrow. At 9am. Just finished that at around midnight, so here it is…More proof that I’m workin’!
Discussion Paper
Australia is an incredibly vast and diverse country, and its history and culture is no exception. From the Aborigines to the ‘settling’ of Australia by the British, the history is truly fascinating. After reading the essays “Being Shaped by the Stories We Choose from our History” by Rodney Hall and “The Blessed Country: Australian Dreaming 1901-2001” by John Carrol, I feel as though I understand the two opposing views of the nation/continent that is Australia.
Rodney Hall’s article concerns itself with the hand-picked history of Australia versus the actual history of Australia. He writes of his youth when his school used a textbook with “Australian history start(ing) with Captain Cook in 1770” (Hall n.d., cited in Mills 2001). Hall goes on to recommend that what Australian history text books should begin with is “Once upon a time there was the land which had been someone else’s for a very long time” (Mills 2001). In Hall’s point of view the Aborigines did indeed own the land they inhabited for thousands of years.
John Carrol, on the other hand, concerns himself with spelling out the greatness and uniqueness of the “New Australians”, from the English who came after 1770 to all of the immigrants of the present. It takes him a full 17 paragraphs before he even writes the word ‘Aboriginal’, and when he does mention them he lightly touches on the issue of Aboriginal mistreatment, describing it as “the exception to Australian inclusiveness” (Carrol n.p., cited in Mills 2001). He then quickly gets on to the selection of Cathy Freeman, an Aboriginal woman, as “national ambassador to light the torch at the 2000 Olympic Opening Ceremony” (Carrol n.p., cited in Mills 2001). This sums up Carrol’s essay; he writes about Australian exceptionalism while briefly covering the damaging and torturous deeds the “settlers” invoked upon the Aborigines.
Both writers touch on the topic of immigration, coming to opposite and conflicting conclusions. Carrol, in the uniform tone of his essay, writes that “the vast immigration of peoples from hundreds of different backgrounds has been overwhelmingly successful. The host society has…been welcoming and exceptionally tolerant of diversity.” (Carrol n.p., cited in Mills 2001). From this it sounds as if Australia is an immigrant’s dream, a utopian melting pot welcoming of every creed and race.
Hall, however, has a different take on this. He brings up the issue of the White Australia policy. In October 1949, the former Labor Minister of Immigration, Arthur Calwell, wrote a pamphlet titled ‘I Stand by White Australia’ (Hall n.d., cited in Mills 2001). “In it he vehemently argues against the idea of admitting even a quota of Asian migrants” (Hall n.d., cited in Mills 2001). John Carrol’s essay is a perfect example of what Rodney Hall is trying to prove; countries are shaped by the histories they choose. Carrol is choosing to write of Australia as a very welcoming place in regards to immigrants, but it turns out that less than 60 years ago the Labor Minister of Immigration was trying to close the borders to a specific race.
As is usually the case, the truth of the matter of what Australia truly is and what is should be characterised as such lies somewhere in the middle of both these arguments. It is true, as Hall states, that Australians have a well-founded guilt of what happened in the past due to the idea that the land they own was essentially stolen. If Australia is to be real with itself it must come to grips with its tarnished past in the same way that America has dealt with its horrid past of slavery and racism towards African-Americans. The historical facts of the colonisers’ treatment of the Aborigines must be recognized and taught, and those Aborigines who desire the same opportunities as white Australians must have these rights awarded to them.
Carrol does, for his part, have many valid assertions. In much of his writing he explains the uniqueness and outgoing nature of the people of Australia, which one experiences in every neighborhood and city of Australia. He writes that “the elemental human interaction is less governed by ritual predictability or the platitudes of formality” (Carrol n.p., cited in Mills 2001). Sydneysiders, and Australians on the whole are generally interested in what a foreigner has to say, and this is very unique and refreshing.
He also describes a “strange something in the air-both elusive and welcoming” (Carrol n.p., cited in Mills 2001). There truly is something special and unique about Australia, something intangible and inexplicable. One feels it as one walks about; it is a mystical and spiritual place. It is as if one can feel the blessings that the Aborigines gave to the land and the love they have for it.
The juxtaposition of these two essays is fantastic, and gives one a real sense of the issues that Australia struggles with. Australia is a fantastic land with unique and wonderful people. It is also true that much of the history of Australia has been hand-selected with the unflattering details all but expunged from the Australian consciousness. The synthesis of these two articles would illustrate the complete condition of the Australian citizen when dealing with their feelings towards and the realities of the past.
References
Mills, J., 2001 The Alfred Deakin Lectures, ABC Books, Sydney.
