Essay on Australian Identity

Identity means having a special character or personality different from everyone else. Good morning/afternoon teacher and fellow students. Today I have chosen to talk to you about Australian Identity.

I will be talking to you about 3 texts:
1. The Spiritual Song of an Aborigine
2. The Shifting Heart
3. I still call Australia

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The spiritual song of an aborigine is a literary text written by Hyllus Moris. Hyllus Moris refers himself in this poem as a river, snow, wind, falling rain, part of rocks, red deserts, eagles, crows and snakes. This technique which is used is called personification. He uses red deserts as these colour deserts are only found in Australia. This is used to single him out to have an Australian Identity. Hyllus tells us about the native animals of Australia such as the emus, wombat and kangaroo being around when he was born. Again this singles him out to have an Australian Identity as these animals can only be seen in the wild in Australia. In the 3 last sentences he says ‘I am this land, this land is me, I am Australia’. By saying this he is not saying I think I am Australia, he is saying I am Australia which also relates to him having a positive Australian Identity. This text has shaped my understanding that of Identity by the various techniques and powerful and emotional words which he uses. You have to be proud to be Australian and respect Australia and its native icons which will enable you to have an Australian Identity.

The Shifting Heart is a play which is written by Richard Beynon. The Bianchi families are migrants from Italy. The Bianchi family is proud to be in Australia. Their son Gino is a character who is desperate to earn an Australian Identity which other Australian people will accept. Throughout the play it is evident that Gino is a very proud Australian by things like framing his Australian citizenship and hanging it up on his wall. This emphasizes that Gino is proud to be Australian and is trying have an obvious Australian Identity. Gino has an identity clash as he was born in Italy but raised up in Australia. Maria is Momma and Poppa Bianchi’s daughter. She reveals later on in the play that she hates it here in Australian because of how much pain and stresses her husband Clarry puts on her. This is known by when she loses her temper and says ‘you take me to Italy, Italia, that’s my home’. Maria is not doing much to develop her Australian identity. Momma and Poppa Bianchi are perceived in the book as happy migrants and accept Australian people as their daughter married an Australian man. Maria describes Clarry as a typical Aussie when she gets upset when Gino gets bashed. She accuses him of being raciest for not accepting Gino into his business as a partner. Australian men are perceived in this text as drunken slobs who are very narrow minded and are aggressive and abusive towards their wives. Australian women are perceived as well-behaved and act how a woman should act. Women are more sensible than men. Gino is like Hyllus Moris and is trying to build a strong Australian Identity which he believes in and tries to get people to accept him as an Australian.

Play first verse of the song. I Still Call Australia home is sung by the Australian Choir and is a non-literary text. In this text, the choir sings that no matter where they are or travel, they will still call Australia home. This shows that they are proud to be Australian and gives a positive view towards their Australian Identity. The choir also sing that they love being free. This is a very good point towards Australia as Australia is a free country.

These three texts all have a key point. This key point is to be proud of being an Australian which will help to have a positive Australian identity.

To conclude this speech, I have found that all these texts referred to typical Australian lifestyles such as, being free, violence, living around native Australian icons and having an Australian Identity. These texts have shaped my understanding of identity by analyzing, observing and understanding that you should appreciate your Australian Identity and to be proud of it. SO BE PROUD, AND BE AUSTRALIA.


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