Context of Rainbows End Flashcards
(7 cards)
What is Unit 3’s focus?
In Unit 3, students develop knowledge and understanding of the relationship between language, culture and identity in literary texts. Students inquire into the power of language to represent ideas, events and people.
Topic 1 has an analytical focus:
In analytical responses, students demonstrate an understanding of how the style and structure of literary texts engage critically with representations of issues and ideas related to culture and identity in particular contexts.
What is the context of Rainbows End?
Jane Harrison’s 2007 play ‘Rainbow’s End’ invites its audience into the household of three Indigenous women as they struggle to realise their dreams in an era of racial segregation and dispossession. Set in the 1950s, Harrison backdrops the fight for housing rights and the Queen’s first visit to Australia to remind its audiences how little has changed since the establishment of Rumbalara. Alongside this political backdrop, Harrison constructs a coming-of-age story where Dolly’s personal struggle to retain control and agency over herself and her dreams serves as a representation of the story’s parallel political struggle for Indigenous sovereignty.
What questions should i be asking myself?
- Understanding the context of the play
- Close reading and analysis
Discussion, note-making, key quotes, short analytical responses
- Who is represented and in what way? (Women, men, authorities)
- What events, cultural issues and ideas are represented?
- experiences and attitudes regarding the past, present and future for the women
- colonial attitudes and practices - paternalism, exclusion/segregation
- strength and unity of family/culture/the women
- How is the above communicated?
plot sequence, language styles, imagery, symbolism, theme song, radio, dream sequences, voiceover
What did post-war do to the aboriginal people?
Pre 1950s for Australian indigenous peoples. WW2 years - at least increased employment and military enlistment for them. Post-war prosperity widened the socioeconomic gap.
- Play is set in an unspecified time during the 1950s in Shepparton, Victoria.
- Mentions Queen Elizabeth II visiting Australia (historically accurate, she visited 1954, strengthened public allegiance to the monarchy.)
- Australia emerging from the Great Depression and World War II,
- economically prosperous decade
- economic abundance -> longevity for the incumbent political party, hence Robert Menzies became Australia’s longest serving Prime Minister.
- the “suburban dream” or “great Australian dream” was coined – i.e. owning your own suburban home.
- introduction of television and many new home appliances.
- urban sprawl increased available housing
However, … - Indigenous Australians were disempowered socially, politically and economically.
- remained in poor living conditions - the settlement of “humpies” (very basic, makeshift tin shacks) that the characters in the play reside in.
- not granted the vote until 1962
- not be recognised as citizens until 1967, highlighting the political disenfranchisement they were subject to in the fifties.
- stark inequalities with white counterparts
What is the significance of the ‘Flats’?
Rainbow’s End is largely set in an area known as ‘The Flats’ on the Goulburn River between the towns of Shepparton and Mooroopna in regional Victoria. The traditional owners of the land in this area are the Yorta Yorta people.
Before the arrival of British Colonists, there were over 500 different clan groups or ‘nations’ across the continent of Australia. There were distinct languages, cultures and beliefs. It is important to be able to distinguish and acknowledge these many unique cultural and language groups. As such, preferred terminology in reference to Aboriginal and or Torres Strait Islander people is to refer to, for example, the Gadigal people of the Eora nation. Note that in the first scene of the play, the radio announcer refers to ‘Aborigines’; this is a widely rejected term.
The area known as ‘The Flats’, became home to many after the Walk Off from Cummeragunja at Barmah on 4 February 1939. The first ever mass strike of Aboriginal people, the Walk Off was due to the increasingly restrictive controls upon the movement and activities of the people, the poor rations and cruel treatment they received and the increasing removal of children.
Jack Patten, with the help of William Cooper, encouraged the people of the mission to leave, therefore resulting in the walk off to ‘The Flats’. Jack Patten received a gaol sentence for his part in enticing the Aboriginal families to leave the Cummeragunja reserve. Both Jack Patten and William Cooper were spokesmen for the dispersed Aboriginal communities of central Victoria and western New South Wales.
The particular site at ‘The Flats’ was chosen as the Yorta Yorta had an extended traditional association with the environments in close proximity to rivers such as the Kaiela (Goulburn River). ‘The Flats’ was also home to some Aboriginal families prior to the Walk Off.
What is the ‘River’?
The river provided abundant food including crayfish, red fin, yellow belly, cod, turtle, turtle eggs, swan, duck, crane and waterfowl and their eggs. The area also provided possum and rabbit for consumption. Unlike what you see today, the river water was clear, which made fishing and the collection of crays easier. The women would collect most of the fish while the men would hunt for rabbits by smoking them out of their burrows and then hitting them with a boondie (club).
The river had a number of water springs, which would run down the banks. It was cold, crystal clear water and was utilised for drinking and to keep food cool. The river was also used for bathing and washing clothes. Pulleys were used to haul water up the steep banks from the river.
Flooding occurred most years with the water always rising quickly. In each event, the people of “The Flats” vacated to Daishes Paddock, with many choosing to remain on site here due to the recurrence of the floods. This site is now home to KidsTown Adventure Playground.
What is the ‘River life and housing’ mean?
Housing on the Flats area consisted of tin or bag huts and tents. When newcomers arrived at “The Flats”, they camped under the bridge whilst building their own dwellings, of which the community contributed and helped by sewing together hessian bags for the walls and collecting scraps of metal for the roof and chimney. Though limited in resources, there was a sense of community with the people creating a real “home” as best they could.
A September 1946 police report listed 130 people aged from 8 days to 80 years living on the Flats, with a third of them less than 15 years of age. Lodgings consisted of 29 dwellings, 22 being assortments of tin or hessian bag huts and the rest tents. The dwellings housed extended families and the sense of community was strong. By the early 1950’s, it was believed that the numbers had grown to approximately 300 people.
Winter posed many hurdles to overcome when undertaking household chores. Cooking occurred outdoors the majority of the time on individual fires, with the exception of those who had indoor facilities and a chimney in their home. When the weather was bad, it made it difficult to cook and to dry washing. The wet and the damp ground made sickness rife due to the conditions. As many lived in tents it was difficult to keep illness and pneumonia at bay.
