Australian promotional poster
Pre-viewing activities
I. What do you know about Australia? Brainstorm your ideas and share with the class.
II. Baz Luhrmann’s film Australia is set in the 1940’s. Look at these pictures.
What do you think are the main themes of the film? Refer to the timeline below.
II. What do you know about Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman?
III. Match the words to the definitions (worksheet)
Post-viewing activities
I. Write about 2 of these topics (about 100 words each writing assignment). We will discuss orally all the other questions in class after the Christmas break.
- Both Lady Ashely and Drover change a lot during the film. Describe both characters from when they first meet to the end of the movie.
- Love epics are romantic films done on a large scale, usually in a historical setting. Do you think Australia is a good example of a love epic. Why (not)?
- What is the relationship between Lady Sarah Ashley and Nullah?
- In most films we can easily pick out the star. However, who do you think is the real star in Australia: Lady Sarah Ashley, the Drover or Nullah? Why?
- Describe King George under the following headings:
- Appearance
- Character
- Role
- What do the Indigenous Australian traditions in the film tell you about the Indigenous’ way of life?
- Who is Australia’s narrator? Why do you think the story is narrated by this character?
- In the film Lady Sarah Ashley tells Nullah the story of The Wizard of Oz to comfort him when his mother dies. He later sees the film at an open air cinema. What song does Lady Sarah Ashley sing to Nullah? When does the song appear again in the film? What do you think is the significance of this?
- Look at the film poster designed to promote the film Australia. What does it tell you about the film? Do you think it’s an effective design? Why/not? Which element in particular might influence audiences?
- For exteriors, the director relied on the beauty of the Australian landscape as a backdrop for his epic tale. Do you think the use of these stunning landscapes would attract people to Australia? Why/not?
II. Did you like the movie? Submit your opinion in a comment to this post.
III. What is “The Stolen Generation”? Find out about it.
IV. The ‘Outback’, ‘bush’, ‘never never land’ and ‘big backyard’ are all names which refer to remote dry areas of Australia. Why do you think one of the names for the Outback is ‘never never’? What kind of landscape is this?
[Thanks to the Irish Film Institute and to Mireia Xortó for sharing these activities and creating the post]
