Subject-specific learning materials
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Worksheet 1: The Board Game
The board game exercise is a useful method of learning about Mount
Morgan and its history prior to your visit and to orient yourselves
to the town itself and its many historical sites.
Accessing this Mount Morgan Experience website and/or reading the
material there for ideas, may be approached as an individual or
small group activity, depending on the availability of computers.
Your game board should, ideally, feature a map of Mount Morgan
that locates and highlights significant historical sites. Alternatively,
you could use the standard game-board format attached being careful
to include important historical sites. The pathway between those
sights could be littered with information from the timeline concerning
the trials and tribulations experienced by the people of Mount Morgan,
for example:
| Ladders |
Snakes |
- rich pay-dirt
- find large nugget
- new goldfield
- stake a new claim
- drinks at the Leichhardt Hotel
- dance at the School of Arts hall
- new supplies arrive from Brisbane
- good, hard rain (more alluvial wash)
- time with mates
- win at cards
- new job
- school teacher arrives in town
- Chinese herbalist sets up shop
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- disease
- mine accidents
- fires
- claim jumping
- getting lost in the bush
- arrested for disorderly conduct
- stopping for the running of the cutter
or the sounding of the hooter
- a "roll up"call (a goldfield
version of the playground "fight, fight"call)
- Chinese find gold in your abandoned diggings
- Break the cradle (alluvial gold mining
tool)
- Drought - loss of water supply
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Worksheet 2: Slideshow
Image 1 - The smoke stack: Write a haiku about the smoke
stack in the picture. Make sure that you demonstrate the importance
of the stack as a landmark and symbol of Mount Morgan’s prosperity.
Image 2 - Mining: Imagine you are a miner in this picture;
give yourself a name and a background. As this person, write one
of the following:
- a letter to your parents about the conditions you work in
- a diary entry about your day at the mine.
Image 3 - Miners: In a small group discuss the importance
of mateship to the early miners. Create a written rationale for
your beliefs.
Image 4 - Living conditions: Write an list of instructions
for new chums outlining how to set up a livable camp while prospecting
for gold.
Image 5 - School: Write an acrostic poem about school life
in the early days of Mount Morgan.
Image 6 - Railway tracks: Write a poem comparing the tracks
in the photograph with a person’s future. Make good use of
simile and/or metaphor in your poem.
Image 7 - Shop equipment: Write a short story about your
life as a cash register in Mount Morgan.
Image 8 - Ned: Create a yarn about one of Ned’s adventures
as a young man in Mount Morgan.
Image 9 - School of Arts: The year is 1910. Create a poster
to advertise the coming of a new theatrical production to Mount
Morgan called “Struck Oil”. This play was a J.C. Williamson
production starring himself and his wife, Maggie Moore. It was a
huge success and had toured the world.
Image 10 - Queensland National Hotel: Write a humorous limerick
about the clientele of the Queensland National Hotel.
Image 11 - Cairn of relocated bones: Conduct research to
find out why European Universities needed the bones of Aboriginal
people for study. In your group, debate the ethics of such a study,
especially when it is undertaken without the permission of relatives.
Image 12 - Chinese 'Heung Lew': Which Chinese religion encouraged
ancestor worship and the ceremonial burning of money and other offerings?
Research the practice, then imagine yourself as a Chinaman in Mount
Morgan in the late 1900’s. Write a letter to your local town
council to explain your community’s need for a ‘prayer
oven’ in the local cemetery.
Image 13 - Linda Memorial: Imagine you are a miner whose
mates did not survive the cave in. Write a eulogy for those mates
to be presented at their memorial service.
Image 14 - Swinging bridge: Use personification in your
free verse poem about the Swinging Bridge.
Image 15 - Pollution of the Dee River: Write a letter to
the editor of the Morning Bulletin expressing your concern about
the state of the Dee River and the lack of government funds to rehabilitate
it.
Image 16 - Horses on Razorback: Write a short story about
your adventures as a bullocky attempting to get your team up Razorback.
Image 17 - Chris : Write the script of the conversation
between Chris and her cousin (who has just arrived from Sydney),
about her life in Mount Morgan.
Image 18 - Chinese letters: Investigate the race riots at
Crocodile Creek. Imagine you are either: one of the Chinese miners;
or one of the Irish miners. Write your account for the police of
the causes behind the event.
Image 19 - Mary Ann Lamb: Create a personality and background
for Mary Ann Lamb. Write a song about her life as a woman in the
early days of the Mount.
Image 20 - Town fire: Research and write a newspaper article
about the fires of Mount Morgan.
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Worksheet 3: My Anthology
An anthology is a collection of written works. In this instance
you are asked for a Poetry Anthology. This will be a collection
of your own poetry about your Mount Morgan Experience. It is expected
that your Anthology will included a variety of poetic forms and
will demonstrate your ability to use a variety of poetic techniques
effectively. Your Anthology should be preceded by a 300 word introduction
in which you explain your perception of Mount Morgan.
Further information about poetic forms and techniques can be found
at the following websites:
Ideally, your Anthology should include the following poetic forms:
- Free verse
- Haiku
- Cinquain
- Limerick
- Sonnet
- Diamante
- Ballad
Techniques to be demonstrated include:
- Onomatopoeia
- Assonance
- Alliteration
- Metaphor
- Simile
- Personification
- Rhyme
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Worksheet 4: Vivid Descriptions
Telling involves making statements about facts.
Showing involves giving clues from which the reader can work
out the facts.
In the following examples the reader is told about the cold:
The day was very cold.
In the next example the reader is drawn into the scene by details
that show or ‘suggest’ the cold, but the word is not mentioned:
The icy wind whistled through the night and bit through
Amanda’s thin coat as she slowly slid her way across the slick
pavement. She couldn’t feel her nose or her ears anymore, but
her fingers trembled with pain as she pushed on toward her refuge.
The frosted windows panes beckoned to her from afar.
Which example do you think best describes the cold? Why?
Locate the words and phrases in the second example that appeal
to the senses of sight, touch and sound.
Do you think the second example needs an additional statement to
tell the reader about the cold? Do you need to add: ‘It was
cold’?
Both telling and showing have a place in writing. Telling is sometimes
needed to carry the plot forward quickly. Showing through detailed
description helps to involve the reader in the story. Use each for
particular purposes. In your descriptions, do not just tell your
readers what is there. Instead, use details and images to draw them
into the scene, allowing them to see, touch, taste, hear and smell
what is there.
Write two descriptions of each of the following, one telling and
one showing.
- A hot day
- A storm at sea
- A drought
- A flood
Good and nice are examples of adjectives that are frequently overused.
When this happens, writing loses both interest and descriptive accuracy.
Replace the overworked adjectives in the following sentences with
more vivid ones:
- A nice breeze blew across the market gardens.
- The digger was impressed by the nice, new machinery.
- The digger hit a good vein of gold.
- The barmaid looked good in her new dress.
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Worksheet 5: Photo Essay
Refer to the following websites that display photo essays to get
ideas for your photo essay:
Choose a theme you would like to explore in Mount Morgan. It could
be:
- gold mining
- the people
- the architecture
- the children
- the schools
- age
- environmental damage
- the mood
- sporting history
- rust buckets
Take 10 - 12 photos of Mount Morgan during your visit that you
feel demonstrate your theme.
You may also like to include some drawings/cartoons/sketches of
your own.
Each photo/drawing must be given an appropriate caption that connects
it to your theme, (approximately two sentences in length, neatly
written or typed).
Design an appropriate layout for your photos/drawings. Think about
logical sequencing (eg: placing pictures in chronological order).
It must have a title and a border and be presented on poster cardboard.
Write a 200 word Rationale that explains how the content and the
layout of your photos reflect your theme.
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Worksheet 6: Performance Poetry
Choose one of your own poems about Mount Morgan to perform. Keep
in mind that your performance needs to last for a couple of minutes,
so you will need to choose a long one.
Think about the poem itself:
- What is it about?
- What is the theme?
- In which time period is it set?
Brainstorm how you, in the role of narrator, could tell the story
of this poem effectively so that the audience hears and understands
your theme. To do this you will need to consider:
- Costuming
- Setting
- Tone
- Modulation
- Gestures
- Eye contact
Share your poem in a small group and gather other ideas for your
performance.
Script your poem, (ie: on your copy of your poem, include a list
of stage directions).
Rehearse your performance in your small groups. Listen, evaluate
and incorporate their suggestions.
Perform your poem for your class.
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