Oodgeroo's "My People" teachers' review for NSW HSC 2027-28

Brief description and distinctive features

The following poems by Oodgeroo Noonuccal are set for study in 2027-2028 in Year 12 in Standard: Close study of literature

‘Corroboree’, ‘Ballad of Totems’, ‘No More Boomerang’, ‘Son of Mine’, ‘We Are Going’, ‘The Past’, ‘Reed Flute Cave’

‘The Past’ and ‘Reed Flute Cave’ are prescribed for the current HSC (2019-2026). Teaching the other five poems cannot commence until Term 4 2026 and will be first examined in 2027.

Why choose My People for Close Study of Literature

• The poems are accessible, contain a strong voice and are written by a most significant First Nations author.
• Oodgeroo Noonuccal’s own story is compelling and reflects the growing awareness of the importance of First Nations voices as part of the Australian literary pantheon
• The collection covers a range of topics and contexts
• These poems fulfil the syllabus requirements to give students experience of texts authored by Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Peoples in Stage 6
• These poems enable authentic opportunities to consider:
  • the artistic and Cultural value of these texts, including ideas, arguments and representations of identity, histories and Cultures
  • how Country/Place, Community and lived experiences shape the perspectives of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Storytellers and audiences
  • how Storytelling, Aboriginal Languages and Aboriginal English are expressions of Culture, identity and Customary practices
  • how the modes of these texts may recognise and contribute to Cultural conventions or practices of oral Storytelling
  • how Cultural symbolism, imagery, allusion and irony are used to shape meaning
  • how personal values and perspectives are broadened and reconsidered through engagement with these texts
  • texts that originate from a range of diverse Communities.

Practical advice for students doing a Close study of Oodgeroo’s poems

• Engage in the world of the poems and the poet: Oodgeroo the poet and person, her contribution to Storytelling as expressions of Indigenous Culture, identity and Customary practices
• Grow understanding of Oodgeroo’s trip to China and its impact on her as a poet and activist
• Consider Oodgeroo’s purpose/intention in writing each poem
• Consider Oodgeroo’s language choices and their impact on student understanding?
• Identify and understand the distinctive features of each poem and as a suite
• Identify and understand the big ideas of each poem and as a suite
• Know all poems in detail and be prepared to write about any poem and any extract
• Read and unpack a range of HSC style questions
• Write introduction as these are a vital part of the essay
• Write full responses in 40 minutes
• Develop your metalanguage through reading exemplars and articles/reviews of the poet and poetry

Be sure to be familiar with the Protocols for collaborating with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Communities and engaging with Cultural works in the NESA Standard English syllabus. p165 in Standard in multiple syllabuses download.

Distinctive qualities of poetry as form

• Short, rich, intense: distils the core of the subject-distilment brings a density, flavour: like a “tight fist” (Sylvia Plath)
• Concentrated lines of power, emotions, images
• Nuance and layered e.g. imagery and symbolism takes us beyond the literal
• Heightened intensity of emotion, subtle, meditative, personal

Oodgeroo Noonuccal: 3 November 1920 – 16 September 1993

There is a valuable biography of Oodgeroo Noonuccal at the back of the collection My People. This information is essential for teachers and students.

• First Indigenous poet
• One of Australia’s greatest poets
• Civil rights activist
• Received many awards including MBE which she rejected
• Powerful and passionate contributor to Indigenous identity
• Political activist with Australian Communist party
• Travelled to China as part of a cultural delegation in 1984 which is when and where ‘Reed Flute Cave’ was written.

Ways to use My People in the classroom
with HSC style-like questions for a Close Study of Literature

‘The Past’ and ‘Reed Flute Cave’ are prescribed for the current HSC (2019-2026). Teaching the other five poems cannot commence until Term 4 2026 and will be first examined in 2027.

Note: possible order and combination of poems

While it is common to follow the order of the poems on the NESA list which is the chronological order of composition, it might be more engaging to divide the poems into focus ideas.

This is a possibility:

• How Storytelling, Aboriginal Languages and Aboriginal English are expressions of Culture, identity and Customary practices:
  ‘Corroboree’
  ‘Ballad of Totems’
  ‘The Past’
  ‘Reed Flute Cave’
• How Country/Place, Community and lived experiences shape the perspectives of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Storytellers and audiences.
  ‘No More Boomerang’
  ‘Son of Mine’
  ‘We are Going’

For each poem

• Students to listen twice to the poem read aloud: ask students what most strikes them about the language choices and ideas?
• sometimes can be complex and nuanced.
• How does the title encapsulate the ideas and Oodgeroo’s perspective on these ideas? 
• Who is/was the intended audience?
• What do you think Oodgeroo hoped her readers would come to realise/understand/learn about her culture and heritage, identity, lived experiences from this poem? 
• Which word or phrase from the poem captures the poem’s core essence? 
• Can you select a single sentence to capture the poet’s purpose for each poem?
• What is the value and significance of each poem decades later?
• Create some “throughlines” to add unity and coherence to see the poems as a suite: which poems work well together or in contrast? 
• Encourage discussion and sharing of initial thoughts about the ideas being explored Be sure to encourage students to be confident in their own insights as poetry

Consider a table:

Start with ‘The Past’

Chronologically ‘The Past’ is a later poem, but it effectively and powerfully captures Oodgeroo’s poetry as an expression of Culture, Identity and Customary practices.

It is a beautiful poem evoking rich respect for the longevity of First Nations histories and cultures and embodies First Nations’ Connection to Country. It affirms the importance and power of Storytelling. This concept could become a lens for exploring Oodgeroo’s poetry.

After the China poems we can see a broadening of Oodgeroo’s exploration of society, culture, heritage to the wider encapsulation of nature and Indigeneity. The creation of nature transcends specific countries and Indigeneity and can be seen to be a larger view of our world and who we are.

This poem offers a humble perspective as to where humanity is in this huge cosmos.

‘The Past’
Consider the significance of the title: “the” adds a specificity to “past”: encourage class consideration of what the past means to them and what frames how we see the past. Broaden this to First Nations’ perspective on the past as a spiritual connection to their Dreaming that affirms the extraordinary longevity of First Nations Histories and Cultures.

Close focus on the opening:

Let no one say the past is dead.
The past is all about us and within.
Haunted by tribal memories, I know
This little now, this accidental present
Is not the all of me, whose long making
Is so much of the past.

• Strong opening statement about the enduring nature of the past to establish the poet’s perspective
• Bold, emphatic tone evoked by the strong verb in the imperative mood: “let no one say the past is dead”
• Emphatic tone reinforced by “no one” and the connotations of the strong final monosyllabic word with its strident consonants: “past …dead”
• The speaker is very much in the poem: “I”, “me”
• Unites the reader with the speaker and broader humanity: “Us”
• Note her adjectives to describe the present: “little” and “accidental”?
• Acknowledgment of the past and its importance and contribution: “long making”.

Going further:

• Oodgeroo is so clever at how naturally she takes us from one place to another and here we have the continuity of life which will be echoed in her China poems
• The present and modernity is evoked by suburbia and electric heater
• The present and past is linked through the traditional source of communal warmth: the camp-fire
• The present tense also adds to this mood: sit, fall, am, sitting, making, stir, cries
• The dream connects the present and past
• The imagery associated with those past experiences is simple and effective as she describes the greater cosmos: look at the prepositions:
  • At the camp-fire
  • In the bush
  • On the ground
  • About me
  • Over me
  • In the wind
• Note how Nature is personified and revered through the upper case
• Links lives to Nature
• Captures known and unknown - here and now - concrete and abstract
• The symbols of contemporary life are compared to the ancient times of Indigenous Australia

What is distinctive about the poem’s ending?

• Repetition of thousand captures the longevity, importance and impact
• In my blood makes it even more poignant and echoes with earlier “tribal memories”
• Refrains the opening line but changes from is dead to not wholly gone so this is more hopeful than the opening
• Reiterates the importance of time and the continuity of time and its impact on her identity, culture, sense of self.

Responding to the poem
It is important to provide responding opportunities to students early in the unit and in low risk/no risk contexts. This not only normalizes the writing response but enables authentic experiences to gauge student understanding and interpretation. 
This can be achieved in small groups or as individuals. 
Students will need guidance and a scaffold for unpacking the question, writing in the essay form as well as affirming and legitimising a personal response.

An HSC style question:

Discuss how Oodgeroo’s perspective on the past is conveyed in her poetry. In your response, make detailed reference to ‘The Past’.

I suggest to then move to ‘Corroboree’ and ‘Ballad of Totems’ as poems which affirm First Nations cultural practices providing rich insights to this ancient culture.

‘Corroboree’

Depending on your students’ knowledge and understanding of First Nations culture, it will be important to provide details on corroborees and totems. 

Before exploring the poem, share with students their understanding of the cultural and ceremonial practices of the corroboree and build a vocabulary list to enrich student responses to the poem.

A corroboree is a First Nations ceremonial meeting. It usually includes celebration of Aboriginal mythology and spirituality, which is based in the Dreaming. The Dreaming is the Aboriginal understanding of how they and the world around them were created by the ancestor spirits.

1. Read the poem twice to students
2. Encourage students to share the features of the poem that have made an impression on them
3. What impact does the single word title have on our understanding of the poem’s ideas?
4. What do you think Oodgeroo intended in this poem?
5. Did you notice the enjambment in numerous lines and how this builds rich imagery of the corroboree experience?
6. In what ways does Oodgeroo share her respect and affection for this significant cultural experience?
7. Notice how the poet establishes the specific time of the day in the opening three lines.
8. The next two lines are beautifully controlled to establish the corroboree’s significance and spirituality:
   The hunters paint black bodies by firelight with designs of meaning
   To dance corroboree.
9. Notice the following three lines and the specificity of Oodgeroo’s word choice:
   didgeridoo compels
   haunting drone
   Click-sticks click in rhythm to swaying bodies
   Dancing corroboree.
10. The Connection to Country is delicately established through the effective simile where the trees are given animation as if “spirit things”- the comparison of dark and light is both evocative and compelling.
11. Discuss the syntax, various language choices including anaphora, metaphor, effective adjectives and impact of the closing lines:
    Eerie the scene in leaping firelight,
    Eerie the sounds in that wild setting,
    As naked dancers weave stories of the tribe
    Into corroboree.
12. Which words or line from the poem best captures the core idea of Corroboree?

Task:

• Divide the class into small groups.
• Each group is to present a spoken reading of Corroboree.
• Groups should consider how to use voice to evoke respect and celebration for this significant cultural experience.
• Encourage groups to incorporate sound effects which could include clapping sticks, bongo drums, recordings of a didgeridoo.
• After rehearsals each group is to present their spoken reading.

Short writing response:
In what ways did your participation in this group reading enhance your understanding of the poem and the significance of the corroboree. Which other group presentation enriched your understanding and in what ways?

Analytical response:
How does Oodgeroo Noonuccal’s ‘Corroboree’ portray interesting ideas about culture? In your response, make detailed reference to this poem. Write about 500-600 words.

Following ‘Corroboree’ consider ‘Ballad of Totems’ which is a more whimsical exploration of First Nations cultural practices. The self-deprecating tone is a popular feature of some First Nations storytelling and the richness of connection to country and the significance of totems is important. 

After ‘Ballad of Totems’ consider exploring ‘Reed Flute Cave’ or move to the next grouping of poems which are more strident in their voice. These poems are compelling representations of how Country/Place, Community and lived experiences shape the perspectives of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Storytellers and audiences. They are a poignant focus on such ideas and experiences of dispossession, inequality, injustice, loss and pain.

Next grouping of poems:    
‘No More Boomerang’
‘Son of Mine’
‘We are going’

HSC style task: 
Explain how Oodgeroo Noonuccal’s poetry invites us into a different world and broadens our understanding of human experience. In your response, make detailed reference to at least TWO of the poems set for study.

Reed Flute Cave known as "the Palace of Natural Arts " is in the northwest of Guilin City, 5 kilometres away from the centre of the city. 

According to a legend, Reed Flute Cave gained its name because people believed that the reed by the cave's mouth could be made into flutes. 

The length of Reed Flute Cave is 240 metres and offers a majestic fairyland of karst caves with landscape and rural scenery. 

It is a wondrous landscape of stalactites, stalagmites, stone pillars, stone curtains, birds, plants and animals in fantastic shapes and colours, all glistening in colourful lights. 

Explore the cave through YouTube
'Guilin, Reed Flute Cave - China Travel Channel' by myVideoMedia
or
'Guilin Red Flute Cave - Trip to China part 56' by cositravel

There are some valuable notes of explanation on p100 of My People to enrich student understanding of for example, the Dreaming. 

Distinctive features of the poem

• The focus on “I” and “my” establishes this is a personal experience and reinforces the perspective of the speaker (and the poet)
• By directly addressing the Dreamtime spirits the connection is quickly and beautifully created
• Simple, accessible word choice enriches the storytelling
• Respect and reverence for nature is established and sustained
• Concrete detail of visual images to create the wonder of nature
• Mixture of present tense verbs evokes immediacy
• Quiet, intimate, contemplative conversation 
• Enjambment creates a lilting narrative mood
• Low modality of “perhaps” and “seems” reinforces the sweetness of the mood
• Sense of mystery
• Use of rhetorical questions which help build the relationship between the poet and her Indigenous land and identity

Questions for students to consider 

• What aspects of this cave has Oodgeroo captured?
• How has she captured these aspects?
• What makes this poem distinctive for you?
• What could be Oodgeroo’s intention in this poem?
• What line best captures Oodgeroo’s attitude to these caves?
• How successful is Oodgeroo in linking the wonder of this natural creation in China to the wonder of the creations of nature in Australia?
• How does the final stanza consolidate the key ideas, mood, setting? 
• Is there a symmetry with the opening?
• How does this poem enrich your understanding of Indigenous Dreaming?
• Choose 3-5 favourite phrases and discuss why they appeal to you
• How does the opening establish the key ideas, mood, setting?
• How is respect and reverence for nature is established and sustained?

Big ideas

• Reflections on the continuity of nature and culture
• Connections of cultures
• Experience and memory
• Travel as a broadening of the mind and soul
• The need to be removed from your place to appreciate its connections to your identity

Task

Perhaps, you are but one of many guardians
Of earth's peoples,
Just one,
My Rainbow Serpent,
Spirit of my Mother Earth.

Use these lines of poetry as the starting point for an analysis of how Oodgeroo creatively engages with culture and identity. In your response, make close reference to ‘Reed Flute Cave’, and at least one other poem by Oodgeroo set for study.

HSC style questions for group and individual responding

1. Effective poetry uses the power of images to engage the reader’s emotions and intellect. To what extent is this true of the poetry of Oodgeroo set for study?
2. Explain how Oodgeroo Noonuccal’s poetry invites us into a different world and broadens our understanding of human experience. In your response, make detailed reference to at least TWO of the poems set for study.
3. It is not only the subject matter but also the use of sensory imagery that makes Oodgeroo Noonuccal’s poetry thought-provoking.
   Discuss this statement making detailed reference to at least TWO of the poems set for study.

4. I didn't expect to meet you in Guilin
   My Rainbow Serpent,
   My Earth Mother,
   But you were there
   In Reed Flute Cave,
   With animals and reptiles
   And all those things
   You stored in the Dreamtime.
   Pools of cool water, like mirrors,
   Reflecting your underbelly.

   The complexity of human relationships is central to the poetry of Oodgeroo Noonuccal. To what extent do you agree with this statement?
   In your response, make detailed reference to the extract from ‘Reed Flute Cave’ and ONE other poem set for study.

5. Discuss how Oodgeroo’s perspective on the past is conveyed in her poetry. In your response, make detailed reference to ‘The Past’ and at least ONE other poem from this collection.
6. How does Oodgeroo Noonuccal portray people and places to create a personal and intellectual connection with the reader? In your response, make detailed reference to your prescribed texts.
7. How do the connections between ideas, form and language inform your understanding of the significance of your prescribed text?

Relevant details in relation to the new NSW English Stage 6 HSC syllabus

There are requirements for particular types of texts to be selected from the prescribed texts list for different courses. Great care must be taken in selecting a pathway of texts that meets all the requirements.

For the Standard course 

Students are required to closely study 3 prescribed texts with ONE drawn from each of the following categories:

1. prose fiction,
2. poetry,
3. drama OR film OR media OR nonfiction.

Possible pathways for HSC Standard course