Belinda Murrell: Bringing Australian History To Life | Page 62

CLASS ACTIVITIES
CLASSROOM NOTES

CLASS ACTIVITIES FOR

THE LOCKET OF DREAMS
Imaginative writing
skills

First, read the story of Jeannie
Macdonald in Chapter 5 or the tale
of the Tailor and the Waterhorse
in Chapter 14. Think of a magical
creature. It could be a Scottish fairy,
an Aboriginal mythological monster
such as the bunyip, or it could be a
being you make up yourself. Draw a
picture of your creature. Underneath,
write a detailed description of
your magical creature including its
characteristics or personality, its likes
and dislikes, what it eats, where it
lives, what its intentions are towards
humans, its enemies and friends, its
magical powers and its behaviour.
Imagine a situation where you might
meet this creature. What happens?

Journal entries

Write some journal entries describing
travelling by ship to Australia in
the 1850s. Think about some of the
following: What is the name of your
ship? Are you a convict, an emigrant
or a soldier? Why are you going to
Australia? What happens during your
trip, e.g. a storm, crossing the equator,
leaving the shores of England, arriving
in Australia, getting seasick, etc? How
do you feel about what is happening?
Describe some smells, tastes, sounds,
sights, food, weather, you have seen
on your journey.

Language

As a class, create a list of Scottish
words used in The Locket of Dreams
(e.g. bairn, lassie, och) and ask
students to deduce their meaning
based on their context. When The
Locket of Dreams was first written,
Belinda had some feedback that
there were too many Scottish words
in the text and that Australian