Mariah Sweetman's "Robert Runs" teachers' review

Brief description and distinctive features

Distinctive features of Robert Runs:

• Robert Runs is a story based on an historical event when the author’s Ugarapul great-great grandfather, Robert Goupong Anderson, won a foot race against a world champion. 
• The prologue and epilogue contain an imaginative re-creation of the beginning and end of a foot race won by the author’s ancestor.
• An Afterword provides information about an older Robert Goupong Anderson and his impact on his descendants.  
• The novel mixes fact and fiction and is set in the Deebing Creek Mission and surrounding areas in Queensland. The author incorporates First Nations culture and beliefs, oral history reports of a massacre near the mission as well as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples’ experiences across Australia. 
• The novel uses words and phrases from the Ugarapul language and conveys many connections between First Nations culture and beliefs and identity, including caring for Country.  
• This story of first contact describes the devastating effects of displacement and dispossession on First Nations People. 
• The third person narrative allows the point of view of Robert and the other children to be explored. 
• The novel has several story threads: Robert Goupong Anderson’s story is told alongside the story (often in italicised form) of the Ugarapul People trying to find safely, food and shelter as their land is occupied and controlled by settlers. Jonathon’s story of how he was taken away from his people after a massacre is another thread. 
• The injustices and hardship faced by First Nations people are detailed and several acts of violence are described, culminating in the conclusion of Ch 19. 
• The novel also contains acts of humanity, resilience and courage from both First Nations and non-indigenous people. 

Ways to use Robert Runs in the classroom

Background to the famous race

Show students the historical monument below that celebrates the achievement of Robert Goupong Anderson who was raised on Deebing Creek Mission. In 1904 he defeated Arthur Postle, the world record holder in a sprint at Charters Towers. In his later life he worked on many properties across Queensland. You can find more information at the Monument Australia website.

Context required

Some background details on the Stolen Generation may be needed for some groups to establish the historical and social context of this novel. The AIATSIS website has resources on the Stolen Generation.

Life on the Deebing Creek Mission for First Nations’ children 

What was a day in the life of a First Nations’ child at Deebing Creek Mission like? How different was their life from your own experiences? In groups collect details from the novel and prepare a report for the class about the conditions for children there and contrast it with your own experiences. Use the following list to help you. 

• The clothes the children wore
• The food they were given
• The work they were made to do
• The dormitory where they slept
• The education they received
• The punishments they were given 
• The concerns the children had
• The prohibitions they lived under. 

Compose a text of your own which reflects a day in your life at high school.

Characterisation 

As a class create a list of the main characters in the novel e.g. Robert and Jonathon, the Elder the teacher Miss Adams, the Boss Man, Mr McRae etc.  and place the names in a box. Divide the class into groups of 4-5 and each group draws a character name from the box and has the responsibility of researching their character in the novel and becoming the group expert on that one character.  All groups create a series of questions to ask about other characters and each group responds about the character they have become expert in.

Using figurative language 

Mariah Sweetman uses figurative language to represent the strong connections between First Nations People and their Country.  When the Elder (p20-21) talks with his totem, the green tree frog, he looks at his sleeping fellow travellers “spread out like scattered tree branches” and laments their displacement from their sacred lands. When Goupong tries to escape after the Mission Games he touches the bark of the trees as he passes and “silently thanked them for their covering and protection.” (p146).  The author also uses a simile for biting impact when Goupong compares the violent Boss Man’s smell to that of a “rotting sheep carcass” (p25)! When, as writers we compare one thing with another, we help the reader to see and feel what we saw and felt. 

Task: In small groups seek out other vivid descriptions in the novel and discuss how those descriptions impacted on you. Then, as an individual, recall a natural scene that means something to you; a beach, a park, a mountain, sand dunes, gardens or bush, a creek or lake and see if you can evoke the sight, sound, touch and smell of the place by comparing it to some other object, animal or experience. Weave your comparisons into a short description of your favourite place.  

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

Text requirements: Robert Runs is a novel by an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander author with social and gender perspectives.
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 Context • Point of view • Characterisation

References to the new NSW English 7-10 syllabus

Reading, viewing and listening to texts

Uses a range of personal, creative and critical strategies to read texts that are complex in their ideas and construction EN4-RVL-01

• 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

Analyses how meaning is created through the use of and response to language forms, features and structures EN4-URA-01

• 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

Examines and explains how texts represent ideas, experiences and values EN4-URB-01

• 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

Characterisation

• Analyse how engaging characters are constructed in texts through a range of language features and structures, and use these features and structures in own 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

Continuing a focus on the First Nations texts