Reading Between 

the Lines

Ann Siciliano

Inclusion Coordinator

Our Year 12 EAL students recently travelled to East Doncaster for a theatre workshop to further explore the play, Rainbow's End, by Murrawarri playwright Jane Harrison. Our students have been studying this text for their Unit 4 text Response Outcome and end of year exam - where they must provide a formal analytical essay (School-Assessed Coursework, or SAC) requiring them to examine how a set text constructs meaning through its ideas, concerns, values, structure, and language features.

We were joined by staff and students from two other schools, East Doncaster Secondary College and Koonung Secondary College. Led by two expert facilitators,  the students discussed and considered the play's themes, context, stage directions and overall intentions.   Making up a larger group with the students from other schools, the young people could hear alternate interpretations of, and responses to, the play - as well as share their own unique responses to a bigger audience.

Rainbow's End was commissioned by the ILBIJERRI Theatre Company  in 2005, and much of the discussion focused on how Harrison uses a two act play to explore the ongoing tension experienced by First Nations Australians.

Rainbow's End follows three generations of Aboriginal women living on the fringes of a country town in 1950s Australia, and for many students, the day opened their eyes to a part of Australia's history that isn't always widely understood. Hearing directly from facilitators and peers about the lived reality behind the play prompted genuine reflection on perspectives and experiences well beyond their own.

The workshop gave students a chance to engage with Rainbow's End as live theatre, rather than just a text on the page, and all the students volunteered to act out scenes which brought the dialogue to life for everyone. Experiencing the play in this way, rather than simply reading it, helps embed the learning far more deeply and gives students a more rounded understanding of the characters and themes of the play.  It was a highly enjoyable, productive and informative workshop,  and a fun memory that will stay with them well beyond the classroom.

I was impressed to see our students approach the day with open minds, listen carefully to peers from other schools, and contribute generously to group discussions. Days like this remind us how valuable it is for EAL students to encounter Australian stories and history first-hand, alongside their studies of language and text.

Well done to all who attended and represented our school so well.