Dear Everyone,
Welcome aboard to all rappers who are ready and eager
to discover about Matthew Flinders, his life and times
in the early 1800s while working on the Flinders:
Fiery or friendly rap.
My name is Mrs Kirk and I am the teacher-librarian at
Thomas Acres Public School. For the next six weeks Ms
French of Stanmore Public School and I will be
coordinating the rap and we look forward to seeing
some great ideas as you work on this challenging rap.
It is just 200years since Matthew Flinders
circumnavigated Australia and mapped the coastline of
Terra Australis. He drew maps with remarkable accuracy
and located the missing pieces to the jigsaw that was
to be our country. Although he did not invent the word
Australia, Flinders was the first to apply that word
to the land he had mapped. This is our way of
celebrating that historical event.
Lots of groups around Australia are also commemorating
his life and work this year.
One such example is the Windward Bound expedition
whose crew are retracing Flinders’ voyage in the
Investigator. From 15 April to 15 May, the ship will
travel between Mackay (Queensland) and Thursday
Island. From 1 June for the next month the ship will
sail about 900 nautical miles from Thursday Island to
Darwin. You can check it out
http://www.windbound.com/MatthewFlinders/introduction.htm
Would you like to be with them?
Is your school in a district that was visited by
Matthew Flinders? What explorer opened up the land for
settlement in your home town or suburb? Share with us
some of your local history. Everyone will be keen to
know. Tell us in your introductory email. My school,
Thomas Acres, is situated in the Campbelltown District
in the suburb of Ambarvale. Thomas Acres was a convict
on the First Fleet so in some ways his history pre
dates Matthew Flinders – though Flinders certainly
achieved greater fame. But our friend Thomas was
certainly notorious! He was convicted of highway
robbery and sentenced to hang before his sentence was
altered to transportation to Australia. Our local
district was opened up for white settlement from about
1793 when some of the early colony’s cattle strayed
away from the settlement at Farm Cove (Circular Quay).
An early pioneer was John Macarthur (famous for his
Merino sheep and the Rum Rebellion)
As soon as possible, please send a message of
introduction to this listserv. In your introductory
message, you might like to mention:
1. How many in your class or group
2. The name of your school
3. Your town or city
4. Any information you think would interest other
rappers including if your area has any links to
Matthew Flinders or early explorers.
Send your Class Introductory Message and all future
Matthew Flinders: Fiery or friendly class messages to
this email address:
matthewflinders_rap@list.schools.nsw.edu.au
This rap will enable you to explore a range of texts
about Matthew Flinders and the people who were
important to him. You will be able to express your
ideas to other students from different schools. There
are lots of opportunities to write, read, discuss and
imagine. So let’s set sail!
We hope you will enjoy the State Library website and
its interesting profile on Flinders and the other
people important in his life.
We are lucky that Paul Brunton, the NSW State Library
exhibition Curator, will be available during the rap.
Thanks, Paul. At nominated times you will also be able
to ask him questions, or even quiz Trim the cat! Will
you decide if Flinders was fiery or friendly?
Happy rapping!
Mandy Kirk
Rap Co-coordinator
http://messenger.yahoo.com.au - Yahoo! Messenger
- A great way to communicate long-distance for FREE!
