Australia - the Movie

Year 11 SHP History students will find plenty of parallels to their work on the American West in the new film ‘Australia’. The story sees Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman’s characters drive 2,000 cattle across hundreds of miles, and so can help us visualise what the American cowboys experienced on the ‘long drives’ north from Texas. There’s a gripping scene of a stampede too! On a more serious note, the story also involves a mixed race aboriginal child, who, under Australian law is taken away from his family to be brought up by church missionaries. How similar is this to the way in which Native Americans were treated by the US government in the late 19th century? Are there any other films which have brought to life an aspect of your learning in History?