Edith Cowan : the first australian woman in the Parliament

    Hi ! Today I will talk about the first woman to be a member of the Western Australian Parliament. Her name is Edith Cowan.

Portrait of Edith Cowan

  First of all, Edith Cowan was born on 2 August 1861 at Glengarry in Western Australia. Her mother died when she was only seven years old. Then she was sent to a boarding school in Perth. In 1876, when she was fifteen, her father was hanged for the murder of her stepmother (he shot her). After this event, Edith moved to Guildford with her grandmother until her marriage at eighteen with James Cowan (at this time he was the registrar of the Supreme Court). 

 

Edith Cowan worked for the women's and children's rights. In 1894, she was one of the founders of the Karrakatta Club, the first women's social club in Australia. Then, she became the president of this club. The Karrakatta Club was involved in women's suffrage campaign. In 1999, the campaign finally succeed to gain the vote for women. 

 Postage stamp of Edith Cowan

Later, she decided to give more attention to the welfare issues. She was really concerned about women's health and the welfare of disadvantaged (such as children.) In 1909, she helped the formation of the Women's Service Guilds and was the co-founder of the Western Australia's National Council of Women. She was the vice-president of this council from  1913 to 1921 and stayed as the vice-president until her death.

 In 1921, Western Australian government allowed women to stand for parliament. So, Edith Cowan stood as the Nationalist candidate for the Legislative Assembly seat for West Perth because she thought social issues didn't have enough attention. People were surprised that she had won against Thomas Draper ( he was the first general attorney to lose his seat at a general election). At the other side, Edith Cowan became the first woman in the Australian parliament. Then, she campaigned in women's right in parliament. She also succeed in placing mothers, in an equal position, with fathers when their children died without having made a will. However, lost her seat in 1927 and didn't regain it at 1927 election.

On 9 June 1932, Edith Cowan died of a pancreatic cancer at 70 at the Avro Hospital in Subiaco. She is now resting at the Karrakatta Cemetery.

Two years after her death (in 1934), the Edith Cowan Memorial Clock was built at the entrance of Perth's King Park. It's the first civic monument to an Australian woman. In 1975, her portrait was featured on an Australian postage stamp as a part of the "Australian Women" series.

 Then, sixteen years later (in 1991) the Western Australian College of Advanced Education was renamed the Edith Cowan University. Since 1995, she is appearing on the reverse of Australian's fifty-dollar note.  She was also added to the Victorian Honour Roll of Women in 2001. And finally, four years ago (in 2020) Trevor Todd, an Australian author and playwright, wrote a play about Edith's life named With Fire in Her Heart: The Edith Cowan Story.

 

Edith Cowan University

Reverse of an Australian's fifty-dollar note

 
 Thanks you for reading my article. I hope you enjoyed it. I chose to talk about Edith Cowan because she really played a role for women's suffrage in Australia and fought for equality between women and men.

Mystery Road

Hello, here I am again :)

I wanted to write an article about movies I’ve seen recently but well, I’ve already written one about movies and the ones I’d have talked about aren’t on in cinemas anymore, or only at extremely late hours.

I thus decided to write about « Mystery Road ». It’s an Australian TV series that I finished watching yesterday. It’s a sort of spin-off (I’m not sure it’s the exact term in this situation) of the movies « Mystery Road » (2013) and « Goldstone » (2016), both written and directed by Ivan Sen. I haven’t seen them (yet).

In the TV series “Mystery Road”, the main character of these two movies, Jay Swan (played by Aaron Pedersen), an aboriginal police inspector, is sent in a town in the Outback, to investigate on the disappearance of two young men, Marley Thompson and Reese Dale. He’s working with Emma James (played by Judy Davis), the chief of the local police. As they investigate, they’ll find more and more hints to find the two men and why they disappeared… 

Now, here are some reasons why you should watch this series :

1. It’s available on Arte’s website, until the 28^th of June (it’s free) (they also have, until the 15^th of August, 2 Quentin Dupieux movies and a series which you can check out too !). Here’s the link : https://www.arte.tv/fr/videos/RC-016696/mystery-road/

2. It takes place in Australia, as I mentioned before, and all the characters have a strong accent, which can be funny to hear and sometimes incomprehensible.

3. As it’s set in the Outback, there are beautiful and impressive landscapes !

(These images aren't from the movie but to give you an idea)

4. I don’t know much about Australian culture and by watching this series I learnt a bit about the place of aboriginal people in this country and the tensions there can be between themselves and white people. You won’t see much of aboriginal traditions, except for one scene, but still it’s great and shows a more realistic (I can only guess because I know nothing about Australia but it’s not really romanticized) view on their place in society. 

I hope you enjoyed my article, tell me if you watch the series !

Iska

Kia ora Charlie!

This is my first article on the blog, and because I am in New-Zealand and it is currently school holidays, I have the time to tell you about my awesome temporary migration to the other side of the world, literally!

It all started on the 28th of December 2016, a pretty beautiful day in my hometown, Marseille(s). On that day my family and I took a first airplane to London where we stayed just enough time for us to change plane, this time direction Hong-Kong our first stop. The flight was very long but overnight English time, which means we arrived with nine hours of difference around 3pm in this alien city. Luckily most of the Cantonese texts were translated. The only time where it was difficult was when we went to a restaurant where no one spoke English we couldn't understand what we were eating!

this was the menu...

So we stayed in China for 3 days, we spend new years eve there and had wonderful fireworks. Hong-Kong was very crowded, there were people everywhere, both Asian and European. But apart from that, it was very exotic in many ways.

On new year's day we left the northern hemisphere on an other flight 7 hours this time (not good for the planet I know) to Australia and more precisely Brisbane the third biggest city in the country. Getting out of the airport was a shock, it was just so hot and humid! Everyone was wearing shorts and sandals. So we spent 5 days in this tropical weather often going in the hot Pacific for a swim. Australians were very nice calling us "mate" and "darling" all the time. We even went to visit a koala sanctuary full of koala's (obviously) and kangaroo's and all sort of typical Australian animals. The kangaroo's were everywhere and you could feed and touch them as much as you wished. The koalas where really cute.

A little reluctantly, but also looking forward to discovering New-Zealand, we left the sun and heat of Brisbane and Australia.

And I will tell you more about my "adventures" later!

P.S Currently I am at UTC+12:00 so you only have to change p.m to a.m or a.m to p.m to know what time it is in New Zealand!

kite wawe koutou Charlie!

*see you soon Charlie

How to win 1500€

Dear Charlie,

I came across this project that we could do as a class, since it's about World War 1 and Australia. If you are interested, check the website out and we could apply and maybe win 1500€ ! We have until February to apply and March to do the project, it could be a great opportunity to discuss that subject with Australian partners. 
Of course if some people want to do it with me, we will discuss it with Mr Leveque, to see if it is possible.
Here is the link to the official website for more info about the prize: 
Project 








Irène

Australian Open : Men's final

Hello Charlie,

Today i'm writing about the Men's Final in Australia.

This final was between the British (Hi Mr Leah) Andy Murray against the Serbian Novak Djokovic.

 Murray

Djokovic

Djokovic defeated Murray in three sets : 6/1, 7/5, 7/6 (3).


Djokovic thanked his team and added : "I need to pay respect to Andy for another great tournament. Tough final, tough luck, Andy. You’re a great player, great friend. I would also like to wish you and Kim a very happy delivery of your baby and I hope you will experience a feeling like no other, because that’s what happened to me and my wife."

Indeed, Murray was playing this final while his wife was due to give birth. He so pays emotional tribute to her : "Finally, to my wife Kim, who’s going to be watching back home. You’ve been a legend the past two weeks. Thanks for your support and I’ll be on the next flight home." So cuuuute! 

That's it for me Charlie, 

See you soon! 

M.E

Australian Open : Women's final

Hi Charlie,

I'm writing here to let you know about the winner of Australian Open.

It was a tough match between the American Serena Williams and the German Angelique Kerber.

Angie Kerber

Serena Williams

Surprisingly, Angelique Kerber defeated the N.1 Serena Williams : 6/4, 3/6, 6/4

She has now won her first Grand Slam title, at the age of 28 : "My dream came true tonight. My whole life, I was working really hard and now I'm here I can say I am a Grand Slam Champion, it sounds so crazy."

See you tomorrow for the Men's Final! 

Manon

Summer 2015

Hey Charlie !

I decided, for my summer holidays, to go to school in a country where it's winter... I guess it doesn't sound good from this perspective but it was an amazing experience... am I convincing enough?

I arrived in Perth on the day of my birthday and the French national day, it was the last week of a short two week break from school there. So I spent my first week visiting the city centre, the beaches and the suburbs. I was in a host family (They were so nice and welcoming!), they had five children under the age of 13.I didn't spot any major differences in their way of life except  they eat very small lunches and big dinners  with a lot of meat, and the community spirit that is very strong there.

The temperature varied, it went from a bit less than15 degrees  to 30 degrees! They were all wearing short sleeves t-shirts and shorts.

Then it was the first day of school, which was great ! I was in year 10, like seconde in France. The school is less formal and the teachers provide a more individual education, and creativity, and personal opinions or interpretations are encouraged. Above all, their day started at 8.40 a.m and finished at 2.50 p.m (but they had two recesses of 20mn including the lunch break). I also got to choose options like drama, music, photography, cooking, wood work... And I discovered that they had extension courses for gifted students . I had to wear a uniform... and that was not as cool as I thought.

During these 4 school weeks, I made a lot of friends, learnt about lots of maths notions, read Macbeth, had a A (and a C) at a science test, learnt about STIs and made up a psychology experiment (I had psychology lessons)... There was an "award ceremony" where they gave awards to every three best student in each subject.
And I went to Pemberton with the host family, which was a small town near Perth, and climbed a 53 meter tree on which people used to look for fires in the forest.It looked a bit tropical there but it was very cold! I also had surf lessons and managed to stand up on the board... for two seconds. There were white kangaroos in the widlife park I visited (koalas, wombats and colourful birds too)!!!

"Cruising these residential Sunday
streets in dry August sunlight"

(remind you of something ?)

I guess i can't tell you everything about my awesome trip to Australia neither about Italy, and all the concerts I went to, but I can tell you I will never forget about these holidays !
Agathe M.

 

Taking advantage of the summer holidays to discover other cultures

Dear Charlie,
What are your plans for the holidays?
I imagine you'll be travelling the English-speaking world like many of our students.

To start with the international fun, here are a few multicultural acts by Australian comedian, Simon Taylor and Indian/Canadian  comedian, Russell Peters on language and identity

Poet laureates

Dear Charlie,
I'm urging you and all the students to write poems.
However, that's certainly more easily said than done.
I trust in your motivation and your skills, but  to give you perspective, I also thought, you might like to look at the works of some British and American Poet Laureates

A Poet Laureate is selected because he has an important role to play. His/her work is supposed to be significant of his/her country and time and make their readers think about their world, about themselves and the need for poetry in our life.

On the other hand poet laureates can be in a tricky position and provoke controversy because they embody 'official poetry' and to many, poetry is  by essence  a subversive art

There was recently an intense debate about it in Australia
http://www.theage.com.au/news/entertainment/books/free-verse-or-odes-made-to-order/2009/06/04/1243708563164.html?page=fullpage
http://www.johnkinsella.org/essays/laureate.html.
http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/australia-needs-a-laureate/story-e6freon6-1111118483368?nk=e8cbc2b4f2a446acfd08e7ac2d76e93a
http://anotherlostshark.com/2009/01/11/the-role-of-poet-laureate-does-australia-need-one/

If you look at the list of the Poet Laureates of the UK, you'll recognise a few names, It'll be up to  you to decide  what sort of Poet Laureate they were and how to define the role of a Poet Laureate.

http://www.infoplease.com/ipea/A0002282.html

By the way,  as you probably know, you can find a Poet Laureate, Lord Alfred Tennyson, and one of his poem mentioned in Regeneration, the work we are currently studying with the Première.
To discover the poem:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzCOL6ewpPw

You'll notice that the current poet laureate is a Scottish female poet and that choice is in my opinion quite significant.
To learn more about her, check the following links
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/sep/27/carol-ann-duffy-poet-laureate-interview
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2009/may/01/carol-ann-duffy-poet-laureate
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZy7_nreFac
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1ig5v4THEY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxrMznlN6i4
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2009/may/02/premonitions-carol-ann-duffy

In relation to the theme of Remembrance, I think it's important to know that Carol Ann Duffy recently wrote a poem to commemorate the First World War
http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2009/jul/31/carol-ann-duffy-last-post

I imagine you're also interested in other countries' Poet Laureates.

Poet Laureates for the USA
http://www.loc.gov/poetry/media/
http://www.loc.gov/poetry/laureate-2011-present.html
The current Poet Laureate for the USA is Charles Wright. Quite an interesting choice as well.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/12/books/charles-wright-named-americas-poet-laureate.html?_r=0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yF9Y9Kuz19U 

http://theblogofdlsesh1.blogspot.fr/2009/11/woodpecker-pecks-but-hole-does-not.html 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qs_AqB0gE5w

http://againstoblivion.blogspot.fr/2009/07/father-hopkins.html
For Canada:
http://www.parl.gc.ca/About/Parliament/Poet/index.asp?language=E&param=1
For New Zealand:
http://www.poetlaureate.org.nz/

I hope, I have not overwhelmed you with links and videos (it's always great to hear a poet read his/her own poetry) and that whatever you think of Poet Laureates, you enjoyed discovering
these poets and their work.
I also you won't mind that we choose our own OIB Poet Laureate at Saint Charles's, I'll tell you more about it later

Best,
Mrs. C

How does Christmas feel in Sydney?

This might not be the classiest song of the lot. However, doesn't it remind us of the spirit of Christmas, made of hope and expectation? Even for older, shorts-wearing, hard-rocking Australians!
Here's Mistress for Christmas (1990).