Belinda Murrell: Bringing Australian History To Life | Page 41

CLASS ACTIVITIES Australia’s engagement with Asia In The Forgotten Pearl, Poppy is great friends with a Japanese family that has been living in Darwin for generations. Discuss how feelings towards Japanese migrants in Darwin changed due to the war. Was it fair that all Japanese were arrested, irrespective of their backgrounds? What difficulties would Japanese migrants have faced after the war? How well do we get to know the Japanese family at the start of the novel? Why did the author do this? What examples can you give of getting to know them? arisen if people knew the truth? What other news materials did people have access to at the time? Ask students to write about the bombing of Darwin from the Japanese perspective for a piece to run in a Japanese newspaper. How would they have reported the incident? A message from the Prime Minister Listen to Prime Minister John Curtin’s national broadcast announcing that Australia is at war with Japan. It starts with the current Australian national anthem, not God Save the King, which was the official anthem at the time. Why would Belinda used many of these class activities when she homeschooled her own children during their travels around Australia. All three now go to regular schools but they have fond memories of Mum being their teacher. this have been? How does Curtin drum up support for the war? http://aso.gov.au/titles/radio/curtinjapan-second-world-war/ Letters Unlike Belinda’s other timeslip tales, The Forgotten Pearl doesn’t contain a ‘magical moment’ in which the modern character steps back or sees into the past. Instead it relies on memories and letters to transport the reader back in time. Make a list of the different characters whose letters appear. How does the language in their letters differ? How does the purpose of the letters vary? Analyse Edward’s letter from the prisoner of war camp. Why was it censored? Discuss what other means people had of keeping in touch at this time. Write a letter from a prisoner of war camp and ask other students to delete infor