Creativity Continues To Thrive In Stage 3 Fuji Apple

The Stage 3 Fuji Apple class has continued to celebrate our creativity during this Online Learning period, particularly in English, Drama and Art.

The students have been exploring through these subjects how Australia’s contributions to the First World War are represented through poetry, artworks, posters, newspaper articles, letters and literature, both from the period of the war itself and throughout the 20th and 21st century.

This has inspired the students to perform classic poems such as In Flanders Fields as dramatic monologues, as well as bringing to life their own poetry and passages from the texts we have explored in video performances. The students have been so proud of their work that they have shared it on the Google classroom stream for others to enjoy and it has been wonderful to read the feedback the students have given each other about their performances. Many students have even included sound effects and music in their videos, working with the editing software they have at home and teaching each other how different programs work.

In Visual Arts, the students have explored the theme of War through various art mediums, exploring how we can use shape, symbol, colour, shading and word to engage and impact our audience, conveying our thoughts and feelings to others in a visual format. The students have been inspired by the charcoal illustrations of Brian Simmonds, as well as many World War 1 paintings we have explored in Art Appreciation that are featured in the Australian War Memorial and National Portrait Gallery collections. The students have also taken inspiration from their own war poetry, representing the visual ideas explored in their poems in art mediums.

Our poetry unit has focused on a range of Australian and English poems that were written during and after the First World War. The students have taken what they have observed from these poems to create their own works inspired by First World War artworks, the legend of the Unknown Solider, the architecture of the Hall of Memory and the research they have undertaken into three of the major battles that Australian troops engaged in during the First World War: The Battle of Lone Pine, The Battle of Polygon Wood and The Battle of Beersheba.

I commend the students on their engagement in this topic, learning not only about Australian history through the lens of literature and art, but also in exploring many important thematic elements such as bravery, loyalty, mateship, compassion, perseverance, grief and remembrance.

We hope you enjoy some of the highlights from our poetry/creative writing and art making this term during Online Learning.

Mr John Forbes

Teacher, Stage 3 Fuji Apples

The Unknown Soldier

By Jack Lord

Buried here, forgotten,

Many unknown soldiers.

White walls all around me.

The ceiling as high as a skyscraper.

Stained glass windows shine in the parliament,

The nurse in the middle window is as kind as a friend.

The four men on the woman’s side, all stand there with respect.

Stained glass windows are important, just like family.

Unknown Soldier, you’re home now mate.

You are as special as a diamond, as all the other dead soldiers are too.

As I sprinkle a bit of dirt from the battlefield, rest in peace mate.

You died knowing you served our country with honour.

The Unknown Soldier Poem

By Emerson Drew

The Hall of Memory, eerie, and silent.

The old crumbling walls feel smooth, delicate, fragile.

The echo of cars driving on the roads pierces the silence.

The stained-glass windows beam coloured light down on the walls.

The hall stood still, while people gazed at the posters of the many soldiers who had died.

The old building stood proudly, with one precious cargo,

And that was the Unknown Soldier.

The famous gravestone glistened in the dim light of the hall.

The proud Unknown Australian Soldier, he proudly stood in heaven,

With all the happiness he could ever want.

The grave was planted in the middle of the hall,

And that just shows how much people try in the war.

Fear

By Zariya Janine

Crashing like a thick dark wave.

Metallic tingling in your mouth

The weight of the harsh darkness all around

Sharp and cold, a silent sound.

Deep pools of darkness

Painful, Scary, Sharpness.

Sharp breaths, faraway sounds,

A world with dark, mysterious surrounds.

Turning, swirling, falling down.

Sinking, screaming, as you drown.

Slithering, stalking, all around

Never far, always found.

Deep and swirling fog and clouds.

Voices, hissing, darkening sounds.

Crying, smoking, rich and deep,

Haunting you until you sleep.

Pounding hearts, a smoking thought.

Tangled up and quickly caught.

No escaping all this danger.

Like an unfamiliar stranger.

Times are tough.

Feeling rough.

Run and hide, it will seek.

Spreading like gas, it will leak.

Fear

2000 metres from Beersheba

By Jesper Schack-Evans

They are tired, hot and dusty,

From travelling through the night.

These troops and horses from the allied forces,

Getting ready to fight.

They are hot and could be shot!

On this flat, dusty, dry desert.

Just 2000 metres from Beersheba.

They are nervous, tense, terrified.

It is so flat out here, they cannot hide.

The troops and horses throats are dry,

Could this be the day they die?

On Halloween in 1917,

In this country of Palestine?

Just 2000 metres from Beersheba.

Landing at Gallipoli (Short Story)

By Kelan Robinson

25th April 1915:

We were boarding the landing boats in preparation to go ashore, there were dozens of landing boats filled to the brim with soldiers just like me. Even though the sun was at its hottest, I felt cold with fear. They winched the landing boats into the water and I wished I could get off, but no, I was going to shore to fight like a man. They kept telling us we need to be men, but I was only 18.

The mountains ahead looked like they were on fire. As we neared the beach, I could see bombs going off, hear screams and see my comrades dropping around me. Were they dead? Bullets flew over our heads, one hit the man sitting next to me. I was lucky, I ducked down and hoped for the best. Boats full of soldiers didn’t make it to land. When it was my turn to leave the boat and head to shore, my body froze in pure terror. I didn’t want to die, not here so far from home.

I got dragged out of the boat, my legs like jelly. I ran onto the beach looking for cover, but could not find any. Men were dropping left, right and centre. In the distance we could see our enemy, but we could not reach them as the bullets and bombs kept coming our way. I wondered if they felt the same fear as we did.

The next think I heard was BANG! I saw a body fall next to my legs. When I looked down, I recognised that face. It was ME. I won’t ever see my family and beloved Australia again.

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2021 Issue 23: Term 3, Week 5 · 13 Aug 2021

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