Middle of Nowhere - 1st contextual lesson

Contextual information - Lesson 1

Novel study: The Middle of Nowhere

I have created three lessons that focus on contextual information.
Contextual information is information that helps the novel make sense. We can learn about the setting of the novel (time and place) and social or cultural information.

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The focus of this lesson

The novel The Middle of Nowhere is set in the outback of Australia during 1894. In this lesson, you will learn about what was happening in this time and what it was like to live in the Australian outback back then. At the end, I will quiz you on this information.

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The focus of this lesson

Open Ended

What do you already know about the Australian outback?

What we call the outback is a massive area of desert. The climate in the outback is extremely hot and dry; there isn't a lot of water or vegetation there. For this reason, very few European settlers chose to live in the outback, as it was and is pretty inhospitable.

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The Australian Outback

While life in the outback was hard for European settlers, the First Australians (also known as Aboriginal Australians) knew how to thrive in the desert. For many Indigenous people in Australia, land is much more than soil, rocks or minerals. It’s a living environment that sustains, and is sustained by, people and culture. 

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First Australians

​Image source: https://www.australiangeographic.com.au/topics/history-culture/2016/03/top-7-aboriginal-rock-art-sites/

Before colonisation, the reciprocal relationship between people and the land underpinned all other aspects of life for Indigenous people.

Today, this relationship with the land remains fundamental to the identity and way of life of many Indigenous people.
Artwork © Holly Sanders

Connection to the land

Open Ended

What do you think life might have been like for European settlers in Australia back in 1894?

In 1894...

› Queen Victoria is on the throne

› ‘Australia’ is a collection of six British colonies

› The country is heading into drought

› The economy is struggling and banks are closing down

› The Gold Rushes are starting again in the West

› Times have yet to be synchronised across QLD, NSW and VIC

› European Australians are British subjects

The British Empire refers to all the places around the world that were once ruled by Britain.

Australia was a collection of six colonies. A colony is a country or area controlled politically by a more powerful country.

Helpful vocabulary

Poll

Australia was not the only country that was a part of the British Empire. Other parts of the world were also ruled by Britain. Which other parts of the world seem to be at least partially ruled by Britain in this map from 1886?

• Africa

• India

• Canada

• All of the above!

At this time in history, Britain had approximately 56 colonies around the world (including in all of the options on the previous slide - India, Canada and Africa).
Remember that a colony is a country or area controlled politically by another more powerful country. Back then, Australia was a collection of six colonies that were all ruled by Britain.

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Britain was powerful!

Poll

How do you think the European settlers might have felt about being a part of the British Empire back in 1894?

• Proud and loyal

• They didn't mind either way

• Embarrassed (they didn't want to be associated with Britain)

• Frustrated and eager to be independent

How did the European settlers who formed the people of the colonies feel about being part of the British Empire?

› Australia had been claimed for Britain in 1788, when the First Fleet arrived at Sydney Cove. Each colony was linked to Britain through language, cultural heritage, political, legal and economic systems.

› The colonists were proud and loyal members of the British Empire. Britain was seen as the ‘mother country’, the great protector of their security and interests. In return, the colonies felt a duty to defend the Empire wherever it was threatened.

› The people of the colonies considered themselves to be both Australian and members of the British Empire.

Multiple Choice

Some parts of inland Australia were too difficult to reach by carriage or train. How do you think they would get there and transport goods there instead?

• Hot air balloons

• Horses

• Camels

• Hang gliders

​Some parts of inland Australia were too difficult to reach by carriage or train. The solution was to use camels. Handlers were brought in from Afghanistan, although they also came from other parts of the world (including Baluchistan, Kashmir, Sind, Rajastan, Egypt, Persia, Turkey and Punjab), so they spoke a variety of languages. They were Islamic, and almost always middle-aged or young men.

From the 1860s to 1900 the cameleers were the backbone of the economy. They accompanied exploration parties or took supplies to areas of settlement, carrying materials where horses and oxen could not. Despite this, they were largely shunned by the European communities and racism and anger towards them was rife.

In The Middle of Nowhere, there are three important characters in the novel that reflect the contextual information that I have shown you.

​Characters in the novel

• Comity (the novel's protagonist) is a young girl. Her grandparents were European settlers.

• Fred, Comity's best friend, is an Aboriginal boy.

• Moosa, a character they meet later in the novel, is a young Punjabi cameleer.

​Characters in the novel

Comity's father works for the Telegraph. He receives and passes on messages using morse code. (We will learn more about this later). Comity was born in Australia and lives in the outback with her father and mother.

What are these characters doing in the outback of Australia?

Fred is Aboriginal. His people are First Australians and often live in the area that Comity's family have moved to. His people have looked after the Australia for many years. Moosa is a young cameleer. He was born in Australia, and his family work with the camels that are needed for transport.

Quiz time

Let's see what you can remember!

Multiple Choice

The novel The Middle of Nowhere is set in Outback Australia during...

• 1894

• 1948

• 1984

• 1489

Multiple Choice

At this time, Australia was...

• a collection of six colonies

• a part of the British Empire

• under the rule of Queen Victoria

• all of the above!

Multiple Choice

A -?- is a country or area controlled politically by another more powerful country.

• Empire

• Colony

• Queen

• Settlement

Multiple Choice

At this point in history (the 1890s), Britain controlled approximately -?- colonies around the world.

• 6

• 26

• 56

• 86

Multiple Choice

Some parts of Australia were too difficult to get to by train or horse-drawn carriage. People used -?- to transport materials to those far away parts of Australia.

• horses

• camels

• hot air balloons

• planes

Multiple Choice

Although First Australians were able to thrive in the outback, European settlers found the land to be...

• very busy and packed with people

• lush with vegetables and flowing water

• hot, dry and difficult to live in

• appealing because it was far way from Britain (a place they did not like)

Multiple Choice

European settlers were -?- to be a part of the British Empire.

• frustrated

• disappointed

• proud

• embarrassed

Multiple Choice

The novel's protagonist is a girl called... Her grandparents were European settlers.

• Caitlin

• Carmel

• Comedy

• Comity

Multiple Choice

Comity's best friend is an Aboriginal boy called...

• Frank

• Fred

• Fritz

• Felix

Multiple Choice

Many cameleers came from Afghanistan but also other places like India, Egypt and Turkey. The young cameleer that features later in the novel is called Moosa and his family is from...

• Punjab, India

• Cairo, Egypt

• Istanbul, Turkey

• Kabul, Afghanistan

You have finished.

Well done!