2020 girra short answer – for practise

Section I - “Changing Australian Voice” Short Answer Responses

Total Marks (10 marks)

Text One - Song Lyrics

LYRICS to “Treaty” (courtesy of the Yothu Yindi website):

(Note: Lyrics in brackets are translations of the Gumatj language)

(djatpangarri- a unique Australian indigenous musical and dance style)

Well I heard it on the radio

And I saw it on the television
Back in 1988, all those talking politicians

Words are easy, words are cheap

Much cheaper than our priceless land
But promises can disappear
Just like writing in the sand

Treaty yeah treaty now treaty yeah treaty now

Nhima djatpangarri nhima walangwalang (You dance djatpangarri, that's better)

Nhe djatpayatpa nhima gaya' nhe marrtjini yakarray (You're dancing, you improvise, you keep going,
wow)
Nhe djatpa nhe walang gumurrt jararrk gutjuk (You dance djatpangarri, that's good my dear paternal
grandson)

This land was never given up

This land was never bought and sold
The planting of the union jack
Never changed our law at all
Now two river run their course
Separated for so long
I'm dreaming of a brighter day
When the waters will be one

Treaty yeah, treaty now, treaty yeah, treaty now

Nhima gayakaya nhe gaya' nhe (You improvise, you improvise)
Nhe gaya' nhe marrtjini walangwalang nhe ya (You improvise, you keep going, you're better)
Nhima djatpa nhe walang (You dance djatpangarri, that's good)
Gumurr-djararrk yawirriny' (My dear young men)
Nhe gaya' nhe marrtjini gaya' nhe marrtjini (You improvise, you keep improvising, you keep going)
Gayakaya nhe gaya' nhe marrtjini walangwalang (Improvise, you improvise, you keep going, that's
better)
Nhima djatpa nhe walang (You dance djatpangarri, that's good)
Gumurr-djararrk nhe yå, e i, e i, e i i i, i i i, i i i, i i (You dear things)

Treaty ma' (Treaty now)

Promises disappear - priceless land - destiny

Well I heard it on the radio
And I saw it on the television
But promises can be broken
Just like writing in the sand

Treaty yeah treaty now treaty yeah treaty now

Treaty yeah treaty now treaty yeah treaty now
Treaty yeah treaty ma treaty yeah treaty ma
Treaty yeah treaty ma treaty yeah treaty ma

End of Text One

Text Two –Excerpt from a Feature Article

Deadly Funny: The Aboriginal stand-up comedians

cracking up Australia
Aboriginal stand-up is a small, but increasingly recognisable, element of Australia's
comedy scene.

Melbourne's International Comedy Festival first held its Deadly Funny competition in
2007 and The Deadly Funnies have helped to sustain the genre.

More recently we've have TV shows like Black Comedy, 8MMM, and Comedy Up Late

Indigenous comedians also perform at festivals, comedy road-shows, on TV

programs like the AFL/NFL footy shows and on radio.

But is there something particular about Indigenous humour that distinguishes it from
other forms of comedy?

In 2006, Yorta Yorta producer Jason Tamiru recognised the need for greater
Aboriginal presence within Melbourne's comedy festival.

Tamiru envisaged a series of Australian-wide comedy heats that would progress

towards a live finale.

The idea behind the Deadly Funnies was to train and encourage amateur Indigenous
comedians and offer them exposure and mentoring.

Since they began, comedians like Sean Choolburra, Kevin Kropinyeri, Shiralee Hood,
and Andrew Saunders have become regular Deadly Funny attendees.

Although pinpointing particular techniques as traits of Indigenous humour is fraught

with the danger of generalisations, there are some recognisable comedy elements
found in much Aboriginal stand-up.

Physical humour, from mimicry to dancing and general tomfoolery is popular.

Sean Choolburra, for instance, is the undisputed "master of the move," having come
to comedy after a successful dance career.

Slick dance moves and quick words enhance his routines, heralding influences such
as Michael Jackson and Bill Cosby.
Kropinyeri has called Choolburra the "nice guy" of Australian comedy and his
performances, which weave facts and fiction, are often about growing up in a large
Queensland family; love and romance.

Choolburra has said that Aboriginal people are quintessential storytellers, a role they
have been honing for thousands of years.

Comedy, for Choolburra, is mostly about making people laugh whereas other
Aboriginal comedians are more acutely political.

2009 Deadly Funny winner, Shiralee Hood, based her 2016 festival show on being a
black woman in a white man's world.

A 'triple threat'

Hood recognises that being a black, left-handed woman, she is a "triple threat".

She is, she says, "coming from the lowest, lowest ground in comedy" as an Aboriginal
woman, therefore no topic is off limits for her.

She compares the roundabout talk of Canberra politicians to the city's many roundabouts
and her definition of politics is "poly" meaning many and "tics": i.e. blood sucking mongrels.

Hood often yarns about how she lost her front teeth in a freak Hills Hoist incident.

Following the tragedy, her family were there to "fix her up" with laughing taunts
about her toothless grin.

Along with his cousin (Jay Davis) and brother, Grant, Andrew Saunders was
instrumental in producing the internet YouTube comedy series WhiteBLACKatcha.

This skit series satirised fads such as reality-TV cooking and exercise programs, with
an Aboriginal twist.

WhiteBLACKatcha gave Saunders a platform to create some hilarious characters such

as "Ray Ray Boy", his camp Koori Zumba ("Koomba") fitness instructor.

Saunders presented Ray Ray Boy to an enthusiastic audience at the Deadly Funny
Showcase in 2013.

Parading around the stage in a skimpy crop-top, shorts, tights and large afro wig, the
slim-built Saunders cut quite a theatrical presence.

He told me that he feels that it's important for him to have the courage to say
contentious things in his routines.
Still, mostly, Saunders creates comic personas that audiences genuinely like because
he recognises that if people like you, and trust you, you can take them almost
anywhere, including to the very heart of social hypocrisies.

Kropinyeri, a Ngarrindjeri man from South Australia, also uses his performances to
raise political issues.

He too delights in self-deprecating humour — sometimes prancing around the stage

in a ballet tutu or g-string and tights while mocking his voluptuous belly.

He jokes about "Aboriginal issues" like alcoholism and high incarceration rates, but
this self-styled mockery quickly turns into social critique.

His joking clearly points to the underlying hypocrisies of non-Indigenous socio-

political systems that have created such dysfunction in the first place.

End of Text Two

Text Three- Short Story

Flash Fiction by Sandy Curtis

STORY TIME

“Sit down and be quiet,” the teacher said and watched the eager expressions on the little faces as
her students settled, cross-legged, on the carpet. She picked up her iPad and started reading aloud.

“The war had been raging for many years. Everyone was weary of the fighting, the deaths, the
rationing of food and clothing. Soldiers watched their comrades die, watched the wounded writhing
in agony, and cursed the generals who sat far away from the battlefields and sent young men and
women to be sacrificed for their own desire for victory and glory.”

She glanced at the intense little faces, sighed, and continued. “On Christmas Day the soldiers on both
sides decided it really should be a day of peace, so they put down their weapons, raised their arms in
solidarity, and shared their meagre rations and stories of home and family. At day’s end they told the
officers they were going home. The officers told the generals and politicians to get stuffed and went
home with their soldiers. And the world lived in peace.”

She turned off the iPad. “And that, children, is what is called a fairy tale.”

End of Text Three

Questions for Short Answer Section (15 marks)

(Note: The page recommendations are indicative only and have no bearing on
the mark you may receive. They are intended as a guide)

Answer this question in a SEPARATE writing booklet.

Text One
Song Lyrics- Treaty

a) How do the song lyrics emphasise the composer’s perspective on

indigenous and non-indigenous relationships in Australia?
(5 marks – ½ to 1 page)

Text Two
Excerpt from Feature Article

b) The composer of the article focuses on the unique qualities of

Australian Indigenous stand up comedy.

What does the writer of the article argue to be the most significant
qualities of Australian Indigenous stand up comedy? How does the
writer of the article represent these qualities?
(6 marks – ¾ to 1 ¼ page)

Text Three
Short Story- Story Time

c) What is the overall message in the short story? How does this relate
to the notion of the ‘Australian Voice’?
(4 marks – ¼ to ¾ page)