Bringing them home
12. Is that you Ruthie? A play by Ruth Hegarty - Exploring the setting
PDF
1. Refer the text to identify where and when Is that you Ruthie? is set. Write the dates, time and places you have identified in the table below. Attach additional sheets if required.
|
SETTING |
Places: |
|
Dates:
Note any other dates you think are important. |
|
Historical context
2. After identifying the important dates and places in the text, use the Bringing them home timeline to establish what was going on in Australia at the time. Write down any important dates you have identified below. (Also refer to the Laws: Queensland resource sheet to establish the laws that were in place at the time that allowed for the things that happened to Ruthie and her family.)
|
HISTORICAL CONTEXT |
Relevant dates in Australia’s history:
|
|
Laws that were in place at the time:
|
Creative response
Use the information you have discovered to present your own perspective on this history. You could choose one of the following projects or alternatively come up with your own idea. Discuss your plan with your classmates and teachers. Think carefully about the ideas that you wish to present. Ensure that you use the historical facts you have discovered in the presentation.
-
Create a series of newspaper articles detailing what was going on at the time. Use the information you have discovered to make your stories credible and present your stories in a newspaper format.
-
Create a short performance which details what was going on at the time. You could dramatise a scene from the text, or recreate an actual event you have discovered during your research; or you could write a song or speech about the information you have gathered.
-
Create your own short story about the life of an Indigenous child separated from their family. You could write an overview of the person’s life, or choose to focus on a particular event such as the actual event of separation, or going out to work as a domestic.
-
Choose some scenes from the text. Create images that illustrate the scenes of events you have chosen. You could create drawings of the setting, detailing what you think it must have been like, or find historical photographs that illustrate the story from the library or the internet.
