Task 4: Creation Task with Writers Statement Name:

Part 1: Choose your article

Choose ONE of the following articles which explores a contemporary Australian issue. Choose the article with the
perspective that you agree with the most.

In a Word document answer the following questions (3-4 sentences each) in response to your chosen article:

1. What is the writers opinion on the celebration of Australia Day?

2. What is the purpose or meaning of this article?
3. What is the writer trying to make readers think about?
4. What is the mood of the writer?

Part 2: Annotate & Create

After answering the above questions on the content of your chosen article, you must read through your article and
highlight 50-100 words that you think are important or relevant. In a Word document, make a list of your chosen
important words. Then, rearrange these words to create a poem that is reflective of your own response to the
content in your chosen article. If you do not understand the definitions of the descriptive words in the article, you may
choose to define them in the list. You are allowed 20 of your own words in your poem that must be coloured coded in
red.

Your poem must contain a minimum of five poetic techniques (refer to your poetic techniques table). For example,
you may choose to use Alliteration, Inclusive Language, Imagery, Rhetorical Questions and Personification as your
minimum of five techniques in your poem.

Part 3: Writers Statement

After completing Parts 1 & 2 you are to write a 150-200 word writers statement explaining your response to your
chosen article, your thoughts on the contemporary issue and why you have constructed your poem in the way you
have.

Suggested questions to consider when writing your writers statement:

When writing about your chosen article:

- Was the argument of the article convincing? Why/Why not?

- How did your chosen article make you feel about the presented contemporary Australian issue?
- Has this article changed your opinion in anyway? If so, how? If not, why not?
- How has the writer engaged the reader? Justify your answer with examples from the article

When writing about your poem:

- Why did you choose the following words from the article to be used in your poem?
- What was significant about the words you chose?
- What was the purpose of the persuasive techniques you chose? How do they benefit your poem and the
point you are trying to convey?
- What is the purpose or meaning of your poem?
 - What is the mood of your poem?
Assessment Criteria
Australian Curriculum
AS 3 - Interpret texts, questioning the reliability
of sources of ideas and information.
AS 8 - Combining ideas, images and language
features from other texts, show how ideas can
be expressed in new ways.
AS 9 - Create texts for different purposes,
selecting language to influence audience
response.
AS 11 - When creating and editing texts to
create specific effects, take into account
intended purposes and the needs and interests
of audiences.
Assessment Task
Demonstrate an understanding of interpreting
the writers purpose, opinion and mood.
Communicate the success and limitations of
your chosen article.
Demonstrate an understanding of the
perspective and emotions used in your chosen
article to and represent this in your individual
poem.
Create a poem that conveys purpose, opinion
and mood on your response to your chosen
articles context. Demonstrate use of several
poetic techniques.
Communicate the benefits of the persuasive
techniques being used and how they affect the
reader.
ARTICLE 1:

Dean Jaensch: Australia Day should be a celebration of unity, not division

and conflict
Dean Jaensch, The Advertiser
August 29, 2017 5:30pm
THE trend towards political correctness has gathered impetus, with some councils deciding that
Australia Day should be abolished or transformed.
They claim that celebrating the arrival of the First Fleet on January 26 as a national day is deeply
offensive to Aboriginal people. On what grounds should a local council decide to abolish or radically
change a national holiday, which has become an important day for the creation of new citizens and
their welcome to our nation?
Some of the councils concerned claimed they have consulted. But I would think that at least a
referendum of all council citizens would be required. So far, the councils involved have been inner-
city, with the majority of their elected members so-called progressives and Greens.
The Yarra Council in Melbourne, for example, proposes to replace its citizen ceremony by marking
the loss of indigenous culture which will help people to better understand the indigenous
communities experiences.
Are they representing their constituents opinions, or just one ideological fraction of them? Surely
they were elected to represent all of the people in their area?
It needs to be remembered that January 26 is essentially a celebration of a modern nation, of which
all citizens should be proud. Of course all people should recognise the early turmoil and the horror of
race relations, but should this be dominant?
A council worker removes graffiti from the Captain Cook
statue in Sydney.

Why not focus the day on national pride about what the
Australian society has become, rather on the deep divisions at its birth.
Australians are not noted for their nationalism, and any means to improve this should be welcome.
There has also been a call that the notation on the statue of Captain Cook in Sydney should be sand
blasted to remove the words that he discovered Australia on the ground that this is also offensive
to Aboriginal people.
How far should this cleansing of history go? What will be the next stage of political correctness?
Perhaps the establishment of formal committees to ensure there is no further offensiveness?
Burning books which do not follow the correct line? Or emulate George Orwells world
of 1984 with a Ministry of Truth. Should there be a national examination of all statues to ensure that
there are no cases of embarrassment involved?
Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews got it right when he said: You can celebrate what modern Australia
is and citizen ceremonies are ... it is truly a magical thing.
Australia Day should be a celebration of unity, not division and conflict.
State governments should exercise their total constitutional authority over the councils involved to
end this nonsense before it spreads.
ARTICLE 2:

We should celebrate Australia Day, just not on January 26

By Ben Pobjie
Posted August 19, 2017 06:02:20

It's understandable that some Australians' backs are put up by the suggestion that by celebrating
Australia Day on January 26, they are celebrating invasion, dispossession and genocide.
These Australians will think, that's not what Australia Day means to me, and so they'll resist the call
to change the date.
And I agree with them: Australia Day isn't a celebration of the shameful mistreatment of the
country's Aboriginal people.
That's exactly why we need to change the date not because it's celebrating invasion, but because
it isn't.
Despite my own deep-seated suspicion of patriotism in general, I quite like Australia Day.
Given how much of my time is spent lamenting this country's many flaws, it's not a bad thing, in my
opinion, to also spend a bit of time appreciating its virtues.
In a world of strife and violence, we live in a peaceful country, a prosperous country, a country well-
stocked with good, decent people who want to progress toward a better future rather than retreat
to a grimmer past.
And the weather is pretty good too.
These are the things we celebrate on Australia Day, right? The success of our nation, the
achievements of its people.
Good for the national soul
No country is without its demons, and no country should be afraid to grapple with them, but there is
something to be said for drawing strength from what is good about us, and a national day on which
we can rejoice in that is good for the national soul.
This is especially so if we use it to spur our aspirations to improve at the same time. That's what
Australia Day is to me I wager I'm not alone there.
But if we agree Australia Day exists to celebrate all that is good about Australia, why do we insist it
must be on a date that makes it so hard or impossible for so many of our compatriots to do
that?
When our fellow Australians tell us that having Australia Day on January 26 inextricably associates
the day with atrocity, why do we wish to maintain this tradition that shuts a big segment of Australia
out of Australia's celebrations?

Yes, indeed, we do not celebrate invasion on Australia Day so why on earth would we want it held
on the invasion's anniversary?
Let's not pretend that we have any great attachment to January 26.
Even if you don't accept the terminology of invasion, the date marks the establishment of a penal
colony and the arrival on the continent of a group of people who were mostly cursing the fortune
that saw them cast up on the shores of this hellhole.
It wasn't a particularly joyous occasion in 1788, even for the colonists.
There was no country called Australia. The continent itself wasn't even called Australia yet. Certainly
the arrival of Arthur Phillip at Sydney Cove was an important historical event, but it wasn't an
Australian event.
There's other plenty of other dates to celebrate
There have been many great Australian events we could commemorate instead. Federation is the
obvious one, our real Independence Day if only our founding fathers hadn't been so short-sighted
as to do it on New Year's Day!
The referendum of 1967 is another, as is the adoption of the Statute of Westminster Act 1942, when
Australia officially became a "sovereign nation".
Or the Australia Act 1986, which formally ended any possibility of Britain being involved in Australian
government.
Hell, the date of the first Test match in 1877 wouldn't be a bad one either we did after all have a
united national cricket team before we had a united national government.
One date I hope we can reject completely is May 8 I know we like to portray ourselves as laidback,
but let's not make the day a complete joke.
In the end, though, the actual date selected doesn't matter much (although we should probably put
it in summer sometime, as it sucks to have a barbecue rained out).
It could be any day on which all Australians feel they can come together to celebrate their country.
That's the problem with the current date: all Australians don't feel they can do that on January 26.
Too much sorrow for some should matter to all
There's a divide there, caused by a date whose resonances carry too much sorrow for a real
celebration.
Many Australians don't feel that sorrow. For many Australians Invasion Day doesn't have this
meaning. I can understand that.
What I can't understand is why anyone would stubbornly cling to a date that has so little personal
meaning to them, when they know the nature of the meaning it has for others.
I can't understand why Australians wanting to declare their love of country would insist they can
only do that on a day that causes such hurt for their fellow Australians. I can't understand why
anyone wants the revelry of Australia Day to be tainted by others' sadness.
Australia Day is not a celebration of dispossession. It is a celebration of all that is great about this
nation.
When we change the date, we'll have one more thing to celebrate: a people who care more about
extending consideration to their fellow citizens than they do about clinging pointlessly to an empty
tradition.
Ben Pobjie is a writer and comedian. His book Aussie Aussie Aussie: Questionable Histories of Great
Australians is out now through Affirm Press.