"Maralinga: The Anangu Story" teachers' review

Brief description and distinctive features

Distinctive features of Maralinga: The Anangu Story

• A history of the Anangu, from long ago to the invasion of settlers and colonists, then to the atomic bomb tests at Maralinga, and the aftermath of those devastating events
• A respectful collaboration in words and pictures between First Nations people and a non-Indigenous Australian (an example of “with mob”)
• The title and introduction indicate this story will be told from the perspective of the Anangu and multiple narrators tell the Anangu story using oral histories, documents, memos and testimonies, drawings and paintings
• A chronological text structure with nineteen chapters guides the reader through the Anangu story
• The stories of loss, dispossession and the horrific consequences of exposure to dangerous contamination are deeply moving
• Many single pages and double-page spreads are composed as collages with paintings, original photographs, documents and texts balanced against each other
• A map of Aboriginal lands helps the reader to understand the size and scope of the Anangu lands in SA and the NT
• A glossary supports the pronunciation of the many Pitjantjara language words woven through the text.

Background and Context

It is important clarify with students that Maralinga: The Anangu Story is part of a broader history of First Nations people in Australia. They have lived here for at least 65,000 years and their land was never ceded. The Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS) website has some valuable resources about the history of First Nations people.

The site also offer guidance in selecting and evaluating texts and resources to use in the classroom. Of particular use is the Guide to evaluating and selecting education resources.

The resource has an excellent diagram which distinguishes texts and resources as:

• by mob [indicates] resources developed by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
• with mob [indicates] resources developed in respectful partnership with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
• for mob [indicates] resources developed on behalf of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
• about mob [indicates] no Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people input, support or partnerships
• against mob [indicates] resources that portray deficit or racist views
• Source: https://aiatsis.gov.au/publication/118125

For example, “by mob” would be texts created by First Nations composers e.g. Bindi by Kirli Saunders. Maralinga: The Anangu Story is an example of “with mob” where a collaboration has occurred between Indigenous and non Indigenous people.

An interesting article about how a librarian and her First Nations colleague at Byron Bay High School created spine labels reflecting this classification can be found online in Connections Issue 127, a quarterly school library magazine by SCIS.

Ways to use Maralinga: The Anangu Story in the classroom

Looking carefully at beginnings and endings

Maralinga: the Anangu Story begins with the Tjukurpa – the story of the land, the Anangu love of their land and their care for Country long before the invasion came. The book ends with the aspirations and dreams of young Anangu and with an inclusive and positive reason for the “with mob” collaboration.

“Maralinga – the Anangu Story is our story. We have told it for our children, our grandchildren and their children. We have told it for you.”

The first image on the title page is a photograph of Anangu land and the final image (before maps, glossary and acknowledgements) is a photograph of the land with a rainbow above it.

Task: In groups students reread pages 1-7 and pages 65-66. Then discuss the following questions:

• What is the impact on you of the words and images at the beginning and end of the story?
• What do you take away from reading the Anangu story? Why is it important for the Anangu, and for all Australians?
• What have you learned about Anangu history, their lives, their art and culture and their stories?

Three mottos

Wiltja (meaning “shelter”) Hostel for Aboriginal students is a place young Anangu can stay who need to go to Adelaide to complete secondary school. The hostel has three mottos:

• Nguluringtja wiya (Don't be afraid)
• Ngalaku ngurkantara (Choose for the future)
• Pulkara nintiringama (Keep on learning in a big way)

In groups record your responses to the following questions

• Why do you think the hostel would have these mottos? Why would they be important to students who travel long distances away from their home to go to high school?
• What are your schools’ mottos and how do they represent you and your school community?
• What alternative motto would you like to suggest for your school?

Present the results of your discussions in a summary for the rest of the class.

Pair response to artwork

The artwork of Maralinga: the Anangu Story is colourful and vibrant and adds greatly to the story the Anangu are telling.

Task: In pairs go through the text and categorise the different types of artwork and layout used by the artists. List the dominant colours used and consider why the artists selected them. Select the images that you both think were most appealing and important in representing the Anangu story. Write a short statement or citation that explains your choices and contribute it to an art summary to be displayed on the classroom wall.

Wider reading

For students in Stages 3 and 4

Context: In 1945 the United States of America used atomic weapons for the first time in warfare when they exploded atomic bombs over two Japanese cities, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, to bring the Second World War to an end. These weapons resulted in a catastrophic loss of life, mass destruction and radioactive fallout which led to disability and death, over a long period, for many survivors.

Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes (1977) is a short novel by Eleanor Coerr. It is based on the life of a real young Japanese girl called Sadako who was two when the atomic bomb fell. The story opens when she is twelve and discovers she has leukemia, like so many other survivors of the bomb blast. Sadako and her friends make paper cranes as there is an old legend that making them will make a person healthy again. Sadly, Sadako does not survive but she, and her cranes, became a symbol of peace and a monument was built to her in Hiroshima Peace Park. This beautiful and powerful story could be a companion read to Maralinga: the Anangu Story for students as the Anangu also suffered from the fallout from the testing of atomic bombs on their traditional lands. Alternatively, the teacher could read this short novel aloud to students.

For more mature readers

John Hersey’s Hiroshima (1946) is an account for older readers about how six survivors experienced the atomic bombings and their aftermath. They represent the over 100,000 who died instantly. Many more would follow. This clear and slender classic of journalism shows us humanity at its worst and its best and makes for unforgettable reading.

Higher level research task

The testing of atomic weapons at Maralinga in the 1950s was an extraordinary event in Australian history. Our government permitted another government to test their atomic weapons on traditional Aboriginal lands. In 1952 senior Australian scientists sent a memo to the Australian Prime Minster, Robert Menzies, stating that ‘no living beings will suffer injury to health from the effects of the atomic explosions’. This statement contrasts markedly with the subsequent McClelland Royal Commission on fallout from the atomic explosions, and the horrifying consequences for Indigenous people in the centre of the fallout area. Consider what Christobel Mattingley, who died in 2019, said in a 2009 interview:

I hope [the book] brings into recognition the terrible injustices against these people. The Maralinga land is a poisoned chalice and they are still suffering. The land is heavily contaminated and the health of the Aboriginal people both in and around Maralinga is still very badly affected…until people understand the deep spiritual relationship that Aboriginal people have with their land, we can never understand the pain and the suffering that our occupation of this land has caused.
(August 12 2009, Australian Women Online blog)

The following trusted sources of information in Australia contain information about the Maralinga atomic testing.

Task: In groups look at these sites and identify corroborating information that supports the perspective of the Anangu about the contamination of their land and the injustices they faced.

• National Museum of Australia: https://www.nma.gov.au/defining-moments/resources/maralinga#:~:text=On%2027%20September%201956%20Britain,as%20far%20away%20as%20Townsville
• National Archives of Australia: https://www.naa.gov.au/explore-collection/first-australians/other-resources-about-first-australians/british-nuclear-tests-maralinga
• ABC News: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-03-24/maralinga-nuclear-tests-ground-zero-lesser-known-history/11882608

Relevant details in relation to the new NSW English 7-10 syllabus

Text requirements: Maralinga: The Anangu Story is a non-fiction multimodal text by Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islanders and a non-indigenous Australian author.
Looking for more classroom texts for Stage 4 students? Browse our Year 7 texts and study guides and Year 8 texts and study guides at Five Senses Education.

Concepts could include Representation, Perspective and context, Connotation, imagery and symbol

Relevant NSW English 7-10 Syllabus content

Reading, viewing and listening to texts | EN4-RVL-01

Representation, Perspective and context, Connotation, imagery and symbol

• Using a range of texts, describe how Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander authors convey connections between Culture and identity
• Read a variety of texts that present a range of perspectives and experiences, including those of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples, and respond in a range of ways, including sustained written responses where appropriate
• Discuss and reflect on the value of reading for personal growth and cultural awareness

Understanding and responding to texts A | EN4-URA-01

Representation

• Explore how language and text are acts of representation that range from objective to subjective and may offer layers of literal or implied meanings, and apply this understanding in own texts

Connotation, imagery and symbol

• Analyse how figurative language and devices can represent ideas, thoughts and feelings to communicate meaning
• Explain how Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander authors use figurative language and devices to shape meaning
• Understand narrative conventions, such as setting, plot and sub-plot, and how they are used to represent events and personally engage the reader, viewer or listener with ideas and values in texts, and apply this understanding in own texts

Understanding and responding to texts B | EN4-URB-01

Perspective and context

• Understand how perspectives are shaped by language and text
• Explore how the perspectives of audiences shape engagement with, and response to, texts
• Examine how elements of personal and social contexts can inform the perspective and purpose of texts and influence creative decisions
• Consider the influence of cultural context on language
• Explore how specific elements of languages and dialects, including Standard Australian English, Auslan, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Languages, and Aboriginal English, can shape expressions of cultural context in texts

(English K-10 Syllabus 2022 © NSW Education Standards Authority for and on behalf of the Crown in right of the State of New South Wales, 2023)

Connecting texts

For Stage 3 and 4 students

For more mature readers