Write your story of Country

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Photo of Kuring-Gai National Park, with Assessment caption

Assessment objective

Write a story about your chosen region in an essay that connects to a narrative about Country.

  • You are required to write your own story: one that explores the demographics and diaspora of a region.
  • You can choose a region that is significant to you.
  • You can use a map of Indigenous groups or draw on the area you live in, study in, work in or were born in—it may be an area you love to visit or holiday in.
  • Word count 2500 words.

Assessment

Assessment
Your story should include the following elements:
  1. An introduction to you, how do you describe yourself?
  2. How did you and why did you choose the region you did?
    1. What makes it special enough to choose and why?
  3. What groups of peoples, places, flora and fauna make up the chosen region?
  4. How are all of the elements of the region connected to stories about Country or Place in that region? For example if you are to look at the northern suburbs of Sydney, Kurringai Country and you visit the Kuring-Gai Chase National Park you would find the rock engraving of the Emu in the Sky.
    1. If you were to visit in autumn when the emu in the Milky Way stands upright above the rock engraving, this would tell you the emus are about to lay their eggs. Emu eggs are a valuable source of food, nutrition.
    2. Reflect in your story about how you use or think about the Kuring-Gai Chase National Park. Remember this is not about finding right answers—it is about sharing possibilities.
    3. How is this connected to other stories of the region?
  5. Explore the impact of colonisation and colonialism in the region.
  6. Can your telling of the story enrich and nourish the region and its identity? Describe.
  7. Describe how local heritage sites relate with the following critical understanding of culture in terms of identity, worldview, (perspectives), cultural diversity, multiculturalism, etc.
  8. As future professional teachers, discuss how the relationship between understandings of local sites can influence curriculum and pedagogy.
  9. Conclude with an overview that relates your story to your teaching practice.

Related content

Portion of Victorian Indigenous Languages Map

Your story about Country

Activity: In small groups perform/share your stories about Country.

Read More

Image: Flickr; Pete the Poet, Coal & Candle Creek, Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/