9EN1 Hay's Response to Book Rap Point 2
Hi from Hay! We've really enjoyed reading everyone's emails and love your opinions on all the pages you've chosen, great detail.
We chose to do the double page where the sheep are eating the ground back to dirt and the text talks about the new types of food and animals. We loved the varieties of colours in these pictures, as it represented the imported "flash" new animals in contrast to the natural environment. It makes the sheep and cattle look like machines, so alien and such commodities - the sheep have their 100% label, number and brand as if they're ready for the clothing market and the cows have already been chopped up into cuts they'd sell at the butchers! They are stacked up so high heading off to market on the railway line - it's such a capitalist society they've created. The teeth on the sheep are sinister and indicate they are doing evil things by eating the grass back to dirt. The cows are like walking milking machines, being led by those in control to use and abuse the land as much as possible. The torn section in the right hand corner indicates just what sort of damage the new animals have done. The repetition of the footprints symbol, indicate it is a direct result of over grazing from the imported animals. We feel so sad for the indigenous inhabitants as they have been pushed off their land, poisoned by the food and their beautiful land has been decimated and strewn with rubbish. The text reinforces this idea by simple, stark words. We know the indigenous inhabitants were willing to try the new foods and live with new animals, but as their own resources were being depleted so rapidly they could not avoid the terrible impact those things had. "But some of the food made us sick" and the little inserted picture reminds us of another story where people were made sick on purpose. It is a great double page that really explores some deep themes in the colonisation history of this land; we've found lots to talk about from it.
9EN1 Hay War Memorial High School
A little message for Richmond River High: Hello Mr. Ippolito! How was Fiji? I hear you are partnering Tiger Woods and Greg Norman at Bonville in the holidays? Book Rap sounds great, Cheers Mr Walsh HWMHS.
