EPISODE 8 New Frontiers © ATOM 2015 A STUDY GUIDE BY ROBERT LEWIS http://www.metromagazine.com.au ISBN: 978-1-74295-559-9 http://www.theeducationshop.com.au OVERVIEW Australia: The Story Of Us (2015, 8 x 45 minute episodes) is an extraordinary narrative about the people, places and events that have shaped the continent from the first inhabitants to the present day. This groundbreaking drama-documentary series weaves together stories of the nation’s origins and offers fresh insights into how Australians came to create the homeland we inhabit today. Alongside astounding CGI and cinematic sequences, the series features interviews with important thinkers, notable celebrities and national figures who take us inside the stories Episode 8: CONTENT OF that have influenced Australian history. New frontiers THE SERIES The island continent is about to The series of eight episodes covers launch itself on the world stage these stories and curriculum em- CURRICULUM as never before. Elaine Moir’s phases (see pages 3-4). RELEVANCE courage saves hundreds of Vietnamese babies. Australia’s Australia: The Story Of Us is a suitable bionic ear gives hope to millions. resource for use with Ben Lexcen’s genius is essential to the defeat of a superpower • Australian History at Years and the winning of the America’s 5 and 9 Cup. Paul Hogan takes a quin- • English at Years 5 and 9 tessentially Australian story and • Film Studies Year 9 enthralls the world. And for a minute unlike any before in its The series can be viewed as a whole, history, Australians stand as one or as individual episodes, or even indi- to barrack for Cathy Freeman. We 2015 © ATOM SCREEN EDUCATION vidual segments within episodes. consider how far we have come - and how much further there is In the classroom it can be used as a to go. series of creative starting points for students to begin their exploration of aspects of Australian history and the people who made it. 2 EP/ YEAR, CURRICULUM THEME SEGMENT EVENT STARTING POINT EP 1 Worlds Collide 1.1 The Death Fleet Foundation of Australia Convict Australia 1.2 Megafauna: Prehistoric Australia Ancient Australia. Aboriginal Australia 1.3 Sealing Early economic development of the colonies 1.4 Pemulwuy and the Frontier Wars Aboriginal resistance. Frontier wars 1.5 Rum Rebellion Early economic and social development of the colonies EP 2 Break Out 2.1 The Great Escape Convict Australia 2.2 John Foley — The Convict who Saves the City of Convict Australia Churches 2.3 Caroline Chisholm — Mother of the Nation Nineteenth century immigration 2.4 Gold Fever Gold 2.5 Eureka Stockade Gold EP 3 Fair Go 3.1 Gold Robbery Bushrangers 3.2 Inventing AFL Sport. Aboriginal culture 3.2 The Overland Telegraph Explorers. Communication. Technology 3.4 Nellie Melba Famous Australians. Heroes 3.5 Fight for a Fair Go Wool. Unionism EP 4 New Nation at War 4.1 Gallipoli Submarine The AE2 at Gallipoli 4.2 Billy Sing’s Deadly Gift Gallipoli SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2015 © ATOM SCREEN EDUCATION 4.3 The Gallipoli Letter Gallipoli 4.4 WW1 Nurses Western Front 4.5 Villers-Bretonneux Western Front. Heroes 3 EP/ YEAR, CURRICULUM THEME SEGMENT EVENT STARTING POINT EP 5 Hard Roads to Glory 5.1 Charles Kingsford Smith 1920s and 1930s. Technology and communications 5.2 Sydney Harbour Bridge 1920s and 1930s. Technology and communication 5.3 Phar Lap 1930s Depression. Heroes 5.4 Ruby Radar World War 2 5.5 Kokoda World War 2 EP 6 Nation Building 6.1 Holden Post-war industrial development 6.2 Lang Hancock Post-war economic development 6.3 Sydney Opera House Technology. National identity 6.4 Snowy Mountains Scheme Post-war migration. Post-war economic development 6.5 Melbourne Olympics and Television Technology and communications. National identity EP 7 Revolution 7.1 Rock ‘n’ Roll Riot Popular culture 7.2 Beach Wars Surf culture 7.3 The Rise of the Larrikin Popular culture 7.4 Evonne Goolagong Aboriginal achievements. Heroes 7.5 Cyclone Tracy Environment EP 8 New Frontiers 8.1 Operation Babylift Vietnam War 8.2 America’s Cup Sport 8.3 Exporting Australia Popular culture 2015 © ATOM SCREEN EDUCATION 8.4 Bionic Ear Technology and innovation 8.5 Sydney Olympics National identity 4 Understanding the story 2 Who is Elaine Moir? 3 What situation was she in during early April 1975? 4 What was Operation Babylift? 5 Why did mothers consider handing over their babies? Before you EXPLORING 6 Why Elaine want to take the babies IDEAS AND watch the story away? ISSUES IN 1 Imagine that you are in great danger. 7 Why was this dangerous? You have your baby brother or sister THE EPISODE with you. You are responsible for that 8 How many babies reached Australia person. If you keep the baby, you both as a result of Operation Babylift? SEGMENT 1 may suffer. If you let the baby be taken by a rescuer, the baby will survive, but 9 What happened to them in be separated from your family forever. Australia? » OPERATION BABYLIFT List the advantages and disadvan- tages of both choices. April 5, 1975. A Royal Australian Air Force plane is attempting to flee Saigon. Its crew and volunteers are part of the most ambitious rescue opera- tion in modern history - to evacuate thousands of babies from the Vietnam War. Melbourne secretary Elaine Moir loads sick and dying babies into the Hercules. There’s little time to spare, or mourn for her friend, who has just died in a crash of an American evacuation 2015 © ATOM SCREEN EDUCATION plane that took off before them. Elaine will help saving hundreds and children. Ironically, the Vietnam War marks the start of new, close relationships between Australia and its Asian neigh- bours, and one of the biggest turning points in Australia’s immigration story. 5 Putting the story in time and place 10 Mark on the map where this took place. See Timeline 1 and map this page. 11 If the first block of time below represents 60,000 years, and then each other block of time represents 25 years starting at 1700 and continuing until today, in which block of time did this story take place? Write the main date or dates for this event in that block. Reflecting on the story 12 List at least three things that you have learned from this story about Australian history. 13 What do you might have happened in the babies had not been taken from Vietnam? Analysing the story 14 There are several people who make comments about this event. Summarise what these people say are the significant aspects of the story and what these can tell us about the event. See Table on page 7. 15 What is the main message or meaning in this segment about what happened in Australian History? 16 The series is called Australia. The Story of Us. Does this story have any relevance to who we are today? Explain your views. Applying or Testing the story 17 Operation Babylift has been criti- cised by some people. Look at the ac- 2015 © ATOM SCREEN EDUCATION count of the controversy (page 8) and TIMELINE 1 list the main arguments raised against the Operation. 18 Do you think Operation Babylift was justified? Explain your reasons. 6 Roger Climpson Denise Scott Ben Roberts- Smith Penny Wong Chris Bath SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2015 © ATOM SCREEN EDUCATION 7 HEADINGA U.S government plan to transport Vietnamese orphans Vietnamese children and 14 caretakers. The plane stopped out of their war-torn country began in disaster. The very in the Philippines to get the sickest children to a hospital, first flight to leave Saigon, on April 4, 1975, crashed several and after more than a week in a refugee camp, the rest minutes after takeoff, killing 138 people, most of whom of the children continued their journey in a seated cargo were Vietnamese children. Some criticized the govern- plane. The babies were placed in small cardboard boxes ment for assuming that the children would be better off in lined with blankets. The two hundred children landed in America. But perhaps most disturbing was that many of the Seattle at the end of a long and strange journey. children were not orphans at all. Tran Tuong Nhu, one of a small number of Vietnamese During the final days of the Vietnam War, the U.S. gov- Americans living in the Bay Area at the time, volunteered to ernment began boarding Vietnamese children onto mili- assist with Babylift arrivals in San Francisco’s Presidio. She tary transport planes bound for adoption by American, and the other volunteers were surprised to hear children Canadian, European and Australian families. Over the next talking about their living family members. Many of the chil- several weeks, Operation Babylift brought more than 3300 dren did not appear to be orphans at all. children out of Vietnam. Nhu, Miller, and others approached the federal government As the Communists advanced into South Vietnam, rumors and adoption agencies with their concerns about the situa- about what they would do were rampant. Many South tion. They received no response and commenced a lawsuit. Vietnamese were desperate to escape. Children fathered by American soldiers were rumored to be in particular dan- In Vietnam, poor families would sometimes place children in ger. Heidi Bub’s birth mother, Mai Thi Kim, feared that her orphanages if they could not feed them. But in such cases, daughter would “be soaked with gasoline and be burnt.” parents did not intend to give them up, and would often For a mother desperate to protect her mixed race child in visit their children.