English

The Board of Studies (BOS) rubric requires students to "explore and reflect on the way the concept of belonging is represented in and through texts."  The following 'belonging' resources encompass a comprehensive range of texts (feature articles, opinion pieces, photographs, cartoons and reviews) from The Sydney Morning Herald archives to enhance and enrich student's understanding of belonging.  These online resources complement the HSC Belonging resource booklet, available for purchase here. 

Speeches

Going Global

Disneyland's theme-song and its creator's catch-cry "It's a small world after all," has certainly become a reality in the 21st century.  Driven by the immediacy of the cyber-age, the message has been brought home that inhabitants of this planet are connected in one world community.

Even the global village needs an idiot
Climage Change - Cartoons (2000 - 2001)
Climate Change - Cartoons
Leunig Climate Change Cartoons (2008)
Climate Change Image - Al Gore - (2008)
Climate Change - Cartoons (2008)
Lessons to be learned, now the party's over (World Youth Day - Letters to the Editor)

National Identity

What makes an Australian?  What are 'Australian values?'  How does the nation embrace - or not - the changing attitudes toward what makes an Australian?  The following texts explore some of these questions.

Hearts aflutter with a touch of pride - Australia Day 2009 - A nation celebrates
Anzac: a day to quell the ardour for desperate glory - Editorial
A nation celebrates - Australia Day 2007
Why is Haneef  not speaking? - Opinion - Miranda Devine
We love Australia - Mohamed Haneef 
To be found innocent is the main thing to me - Mohamed Haneef
As a nation, we don't even know what day it is - Letters to Editor
Mateship matters more than gadgets
The 10 Great Australian Myths

Indigenous Australians

The term Indigenous means 'first' and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are the first people of Australia.  Collected here are articles from The Sydney Morning Herald/The Sun-Herald that reflect the changing perceptions, attitudes and policies toward Indigenous Australians. 

Images
A Troubled History:  Timeline
Sorry:  A new beginning - A simple word with so much meaning
Together we'll build a truly great nation
Never, never again
Cathy Freeman/Nova Peris - Images

Immigration

Australia's successive waves of migration have created a very diverse population, now called 'Multicultural Australia.' The changing face of the country is captured by The Sydney Morning Herald photographers and journalists; a few photographs and articles are gathered here.

Images/Cartoons
Images
Mixing pot is back in multicultural Australia
Migration is tweaked to tackle economic crisis
An era of shame we can ill afford to forgive or forget - Opinion - Adele Horin
Immigration slashed to protect jobs
Migrant cut is perverse protection - Opinion - Waleed Aly

Peers and Tribes

Youth sub-culture by its very nature tends to be tribal.  At school, beloning to the 'cool' peer group can be one of life's primal aspirations.  Exclusion or rejection - or rather, its perception - can be a very painful experience.  From Emo's to party girls, below is a collection of articles, photographs and cartoons that explore society's various peers and tribes.

Absolutely Fabulous
A tribe apart, searching for a way to belong
True Romance, Summer Spectrum Fiction - 'From the back of a humber snipe'
Our kids in worst class of bullies
Progress reported in school bullying
God, Angels and hugs win hearts of generation Y

Sport

So many balls in the air, but what is our national sport?
Plunge in price of gold for Mitcham
Sure to entrance the female audience - Survivor: Rod Laver Arena
Brave Dokic wins hearts and minds as she passes the character test of life
Hero or a bum? That's your call, but what a champion
Sympathy for the devil - Sonny Bill Williams