Summary of Stolen Generation Topic - David

This is David's overview of the topic thus far, in the form of a poem. Well done David!

They came in the light of day,
wanting to snatch us children away.
In the bush our lives we lived,
free from being downtrodden captives.

That fateful morn long gone by,
I was ambling beneath the blue sky.
With mum and my siblings nigh,
I thought I couldn't possibly die.

In a hazy cloud of dust,
emerged a vehicled glaze in rust.
The beat-up car driving brusque,
we knew the need to run was a must.

Men in a car had us caught,
We tried our best resisted and fought
Our pleas amounted to naught,
supposed protection they truly sought.

Into a squalid car shoved,
we gazed back at our mother beloved.
As the car began to roll,
In my heart I felt a gaping hole.

Our mother fell to her knees,
A victim of callous policies.
They couldn't be brushed off,
yet she tried her best to ward them off.

She put her hands to her face,
tears pouring down at a steady pace
Futile was to try and chase.
A chugging car she couldn't outrace.

In the car we tried to fight,
yet we couldn't overpower his might.
Our chances ruined by blight
Trapped in an inescapable plight.

As our home faded away,
We didn't have anything to say.
For we merely sobbed and cried,
our carefree existence gone awry

Thus plucked from the life I knew,
then and there I could not have construed
reason why us they pursued
Yet I knew hereout pain would ensue.

And indeed we did languish,
in the institutes and foster homes.
To this day remains anguish,
to forever reside in my soul.

Overview of the stolen generation topic

This term, we have been learning about the generations of stolen aboriginal children in Australia. The class was given three options in which to display their knowledge so far: either a series of paragraphs, cartoons, or lyrics in the style of Archie Roach. Here is the paragraph written overnight by Shinal:

The things that i have learnt are that if a person is taken away they  will go through a lot of pain and rejection. Here are some paragraphs explaining why all these things happened.

When a child was a half-cast the Europeans didn't accept their Aboriginal origin, they used to be threatened to that their children might be taken away.The Aboriginal parents were really helpless towards saving their children from being snatched.The Mum used to cry and held onto the moments of separation, and the Dads used to try to fight and defend his family from being separated. No matter what happened the children had to leave home.They had to let them go, the children were taken and put in institutions and when they grew up they had to marry some other white people, the Europeans wanted them to breed out their race.

When the children were taken away they were used to be treated so harshly. They were beaten up ,abused ,starved and used as cheap laborers.The Europeans used to promise to the children that whatever they did that was going in to their funds, but that was a lie.Even the missionaries and the politicians thought that they were doing a good favour for the children and their future.But instead the experiences that they have been through that has scarred them for life.The feelings or emotions left inside them are anger,hatred and alot of pain inside their soul.

These experiences made them hollow and judgemental from the outside .Some of the Aboriginal people who still living today some of them they take drugs/ alcohol to relieve them from their grief ..

Some of the effects are good . Its just one and that is that they taught them how to read and write, so now can tell us the horrible past/ history.

The ideas that the Europeans had are really wrong and awful of getting rid of the Aborigines and wiping out their entire race. It is not acceptable.I'm really pleased to see that now days people are standing up and against all these kinds of situations. It's good to raise the voice of those whose were lost.

King Cta, by Sukhmit.

"Long long ago, before the creation of mankind, well probably after, there were many creatures that ruled the world where we live now. These creatures were tremendously strong and quick. Many have tried to succeed and take up this role but have failed. Many believe that you need to be strong and fast to take up a role of being king of the Animal World but you also need something else.”  Spoke Bella Coola the legendary Crow. “What do you need?” wondered Cta the cat. “That’s something you to find out.”

Cta wasn’t the strongest or the fastest animal. He wasn’t like his friends and family.  But he always had a dream of being king of the Animal World. His family would laugh at him. “You the king of the Animal World, seriously you being the king” laughed his family. But Cta needn’t care about what his family thought about him, he was determined that he could be the next king. When the previous king stepped down, he knew that it was his chance.

Cta knew that it was a tough challenge to win the crown however his courage and integrity pushed him further and gave him a chance. Opportunity like this always has his competitors. These competitors weren’t any losers but three of the world’s strongest, fastest as well as one of the most brutal beasts on earth, winning the crown weren’t an easy job. Cta travelled to Europe where the crown gets awarded.  It took several days to reach his destination. Cta also took Bella Coola with him as he thought that he might be able to help him as he thought that he was the only one who believed him.

The fellow competitors also had arrived. Just looking at them made Cta think may be this was a dumb idea to even come here. However Cta thought about what Bella Coola told him earlier. To win the crown there was only one challenge. The Arena of Doom, a course designed to players that have courage, agility, strength, defence and hope. Finish the course fastest and take home the crown. It was simple dodge the obstacles, defend and fight your opponents to finish first.

The players could start when ever. The Lion was the strongest and thought he will easily beat the others and poured his into the course. Seconds later he was smashed and knocked out cold. Already one was gone. Eagle flew straight into the arena and just behind him was Cta, both trying so hard and all of the sudden Eagle had got his wing struck on one of the obstacles. The pain was too much for Eagle and was also gone. Leaving only two players in the arena. Crane had a bad start but managed to catch up to Cta. They were neck to neck until they desperately stopped. The crown was hundreds of metres down. Just a jump and Cta could get the crown. Crane and Cta both jumped and as they got closer to the ground Crane had stuffed the jump and leaving it only up to Cta. Cta desperately tried to land it and did it successfully. It was enough to win the crown.

Cta had denied the odds and become the new king. Bella Coola knew it from the start that Cta would win. Cta wasn’t the strongest or fastest but had hope and fulfilled his dream of being king of the Animal World. King Cta. 

http://auahatanga.blogspot.com/p/dreamtime.html

Last sting, by Ation

Long ago, in the rich, fertile land full of flora and fauna that was to be known as the United States of America, honey bees were able to harvest nectar and pollinate without worrying about other creatures coming because they could sting the creatures if they came too close to their territory.

One day, Kukarei, the most ill-tempered bee in the hive, wanted to have some fun while pollinating. He decided to sting any creature that invaded his territory while he pollinated. And so, Kukarei stung every creature that invaded his territory. And so, Kukarei stung every creature that invaded his territory. Kukarei enjoyed watching the creatures gallop away in pain, from elephants and rhinos to peacocks and robins. He would laugh his stinger off. At the end of the day, Kukarei would fly home with a great big grin on his face.

The next day, Kukarei woke up to find all the bees staring at something. He thought the sight must be terrible as some bees broke out in tears. Kukarei got up and rubbed this eyes to find that all the flowers were trampled on. He couldn't believe the sight of the crushed petals. All the bees were talking about who trampled over the flowers. Some said it was the rhinos, some said it was the peacocks. Everyone had their opinion on who was to blame, until one bee cried out loud for all to hear,
"It was Kukarei! He is to blame for this. He stung all the creatures for his enjoyment and now we must pay for his wrong-doings!"
Suddenly, all eyes turned to Kukarei, who hid his face in shame. All the bees were booing him and screaming punishments for Kukarei. Two wasps took Kukarei away from the chaotic crowd and dumped him into the Bees Legacy board room.

Kukarei was sitting in darkness, when a spotlight was  on him, blinding Kukarei temporarily. As soon as Kukarei could see again, he saw many disgruntled faces looking at him.
" Kukarei," one of the bees said, "you have shamed us because of your joke."
The bees murmured about what they would do with Kukarei, when the head of the bees, Tuane, stood up and walked towards him. Kukarei swallowed in fear, knowing that he would do anything to restore the hive to peace. He also knew that Tuane was a wizard, and that he could turn him into a frog or an ugly beast. "Come," said Tuane and Kukarei followed him into a room, closing the door behind him.

Kukarei and Tuane sat on chairs opposite one another. Kukarei broke into a sweat, thinking about what Tuane would do. He was worried about his punishment, and became nervous. Then Tuane got up and spoke, "Kukarei," he said, " it seems you are using your stinger for no reason. Because of this, you shall play the price!" Suddenly, his hands covered Kukarei's ears and he began to chant some unknown language that Kukarei couldn't understand. " I shall cast a curse on you to stop your foolish behaviour," Tuane said in a deep voice, "for if you sting a creature once more, you shall dies instantly." Soon after, Kukarei passed out because of the intense situation. When he woke up, he found himself stranded in the middle of nowhere, not knowing anything that had occurred. 

A few days later while pollinating, Kukarei saw a great big creature standing a few metres away. He wanted to feel the rush of adrenaline, so Kukarei flew towards the creature getting his stinger ready. Kukarei felt something in his body pulling him back, a feeling that he didn't recognise, but he ignored it. He got closer and closer to the creature, with his stinger out, ready to be entertained. Just as his stinger came into contact with the creature's body, Kukarei remembered what Tuane had said. " If you sting a creature once more, you shall die instantly!" echoed in Kukarei's head. Kukarei cried " Oh no, I must stop!" But it was too late. The creature cried out frantically in pain, and Kukarei began to descend quickly. He landed on the ground with a great big thud. His eyes slowly closed, and when they did, Kukarei did not exist in the hive anymore.

http://auahatanga.blogspot.com/p/dreamtime.html

Bear, by David.

Long before the dawn of mankind, the world was inhabited by a vast array of creatures. Some were colourful with brilliant feathers, others were as fast as the wind and some were towering beasts. Back then, animals were able to talk and reason just like humans can now. All of nature lived harmoniously. No one ate anybody; all was well. Most animals lived off plants: fruits, vegetables, nuts, roots, seeds and all. The only meat that was eaten was fish. Now let's go to lush tree-covered valley. This valley had a bountiful abundance of food and water. Rivers cut through the packed masses of trees, harbouring rich amounts of aquatic wildlife. The forest floor was home to a great deal of organisms, each of them being uniquely different from one another. A trees shooting up to the sky provided homes for many birds and insects. Overall the valley was calm and serene.

The place was home to a sizeable community of brown bears. Each family of bears had its own den where they would slumber during the night. During day the bears would forage and hunt for food, wander around, take a dip in the water and mingle amongst themselves. The bears all lived carefree existences, with nothing to worry about.

Winter was approaching and soon the first snowflakes would fall to the earth. In a few weeks the valley would be brilliantly white, covered in a layer of snow.. Despite the beauty of winter, the regular snowstorms were brutal and frigid. This forced the bears and many other creatures into hibernation. All winter the bears would rest in their dens until the arrival of spring which would bring warmth and new life. This cycle repeated itself every single year.

Before the arrival of winter the bears would gather for food to store in their store holes and dens. One bear though, was unique. He was a slacker who had put off food gathering for ages. Whatever food he found, he'd shove it all in his gigantic mouth and swallow it down. He was pretty naive and uncaring of important matters. As the days passed he frolicked about having fun in the sun, ignoring the need to keep food for the long harsh winter which was to come. When time ran out he suddenly realised the predicament he had trapped himself in. He became desperate, anxious. If he didn't gather enough food he wouldn't have enough to eat later on and he would be given a hiding by the elder bears who kept a guiding hand to watch everyone in the forest. Now it was early morning, he was hungry and he needed to gather food. He was hard pressed to find enough food, having arrived days late. The other bears had gathered most of the food there was to find. Nevertheless he searched with diligence, resisting the urge to immediately chomp down on the little food he found.

A few hours of gathering later and he had criss-crossed the entire valley. He had a sizeable haul of food in his basket but he needed more. It occurred to him that he should make his way down to the river to catch fish. According to an ancient rule fish were to be the only animals bears would dare eat, the only. He made his way to the banks of the river. The stream was rather large with a riverbed of gravel. He spent a few minutes trying to catch salmon in futility. His bloated figure slowed him down. After fruitlessly tries he finally managed to seize a salmon. He grasped the fish with his paws, a smile of fulfilment showing on his furry face. The fish screamed at him, begging to not be eaten. The little water dwelling creature knew that this bear loved to eat plenty of food and that the bear was in a rush to find enough food for winter. The salmon slyly suggested that the bear go and eat some other animals, say a rabbit. The bear was taken aback at such a suggestion and replied that it was against the rules. Yet the salmon was cunning indeed. With a great deal of effort he persuaded, convinced and coaxed the bear into letting him go. The salmon convinced him that his family would be heartbroken, that no one would find out that he had broken the rules and that rabbit tasted better. In fact, the salmon was a liar; he had no family to speak of.

The bear quietly tiptoed through the forest. His fear of being embarrassed because he slacked off and his immense hunger convinced him that hunting a rabbit would do well. He spotted an innocent looking bunny whose back was towards him. A perfect opportunity. Silently he stalked his prey, fighting back the anxiety he was suffering. In one rapid motion he swept his arms and grabbed the rabbit with his claws. The rabbit thought he was playing a game so it laughed... until he let open his jaw and sunk his impressive and scary set of razor sharp teeth into the rabbit. It died a quick death. The bear feasted on a flavour of meat he had never ever discovered. He was positively delighted... After he finished off the rabbit and stored the rest of the meat in his basket, he was tempted to hunt some more animals. He merely brushed it off and returned to the river to catch the rest of the salmon. He had a quota of fish to catch.

Returning to the river he went on a fish hunting spree. No fish stood a chance against his swift and efficient claws. He eventually found the same salmon who told him to hunt for rabbit. The salmon decided that the bear would have to go away. He decided to keep the bear in the forest hunting other animals. Thus, he told the bear to hunt the deer, squirrels and birds. As the hours passed by the bear grew more and more daring. He would hunt larger and larger prey, moving onto goats, sheep, elk, moose, caribou and bison. By sunset he had gathered baskets upon baskets of food. He returned to the river one last time to hunt for more fish. The first fish he found was that lying salmon he met earlier. Unfortunately for the fish, the bear immediately killed him and gobbled him down without realizing who he ate. The bear was satisfied with the food he had gathered. He had killed dozens of animals, his desperation and hunger motivating him to push forward. He returned to his nice little den and set aside his food. That night he rested well, with a full belly.

The next morning he eagerly arose from his sleep. He prepared himself a bit and turned up for inspection. The elders would make sure that everyone had enough food stored for the winter. The bear who stored the most would get a reward: a few bucket loads of salmon and a trophy of a kind. The bear was eager that he would win.. The thought of salmon made him drool. As the inspectors passed they made careful observations of the food the bears gathered. Most bears had gathered fruit, fish, vegetables, seeds, roots, honey, leaves, shoots, etc. After what felt like eternity, the elder bears made their way towards the bear. They didn't expect much from him: he had always been the slacker. They were surprised at the amount of food he had gathered.. He had twenty-five baskets of plant foods and fish. Everything was cruising along in the bear's favour, and the excitement was intense..

Intense, until it all broke down. The elders found the bloodied meat and bones he had harvested. Some of it was cooked, some raw. They were aghast. The bear suddenly realised what wrong he had done, but he didn't realise the magnitude of his actions. The other bears had puzzled faces about them.. The bear was nervous. Deciding that it was the best thing to do, the elders hastily awarded the prize to another bear and sent cut short the inspection. The twelve aged elder bears escorted to the edge of the valley. He became frightened all of a sudden; the edge of the valley was a dangerous place.

The elders let him sit down on a rock as they quietly deliberated amongst themselves. A few seconds later, they gathered in front of him in a line. The elders' faces all became sullen and sad. The atmosphere was serious and gloomy. The bear had broken down into despair, regretting his actions. The elders said it slowly but the message was clear: You cannot live here anymore. The bear had caused too much damage. It was hard for the elders to expel a young bear but he had caused too much damage. They knew that his carelessness and gluttony would cause much heartache. The magical peacefulness of the valley was in danger of being shattered. The elder bears decided that it was appropriate to mark him for what he had done, so all would know how dangerous he was. In a flash of light his fur turned white. His scruffy brown coat was now as white as snow. Now the reminders of his killings would tarnish his coat and make it a deep crimson red. Ashamed, the bear left the valley never to return.

The bear would travel on for a long long time. All the creatures that saw him were frightened because of his foreign appearance. He was stigmatised by all whom he met. He was lonely and miserable. Eventually however, he found his home faraway in the frozen wastelands of the north. Here it was ice cold all year around. He enjoyed it though, as all the meat he could eat was up here. Thus, the bear who once lived in a lush and bountiful valley now hunted seals in a cold unforgiving landscape.. Although animals are no longer able to talk and all now kill each other for food, to this day white bears are banished to live in the frozen north. Perhaps until they ultimately die out at the hands of humanity.

http://auahatanga.blogspot.com/p/dreamtime.html

How clouds were formed, by Taufa.

A very long time ago in a land called Africa, a lovely family called the Soonchans lived there. One beautiful, sunny day Camlamous and Ubradas were cleaning their little hut. Mr and Mrs Soonchans were learning to gather up food for winter was almost coming. They told the boys to behave because they might be one to two days. The boys were cleaning really fast so they had plenty of time to relax. They ran to their secret place which is high up in the trees. They can see everything and anything up there.

When they got to their secret place it was so bright they couldn't see anything except plain blue skies and sparkly stars spinning around their big heads. Ubradas was so bored he really wanted to do something amazing. He stared at the sky (which was burning his eyes) thinking of something to do. Calamous and Ubradas were talking for a while, having a brotherly conversation and enjoying the sunshine. They didn't even notice it was getting pretty dark.

Suddenly a bunch of fat men came huffing and puffing with their fire torches and weapons. They looked really tired and camped right under the boy's secret place. Calamous and Ubradas couldn't go down the tree because the fat, vicious men might gobble them up! The men lit up a fire and were burning marshmallows. The boys just stared at them, hoping they would leave so they would be able to go home. The fat men eventually fell asleep, but so did the boys. One of the men starting burping really loudly, which woke the boys up. They were amazed because there was a BIG PUFFY PILLOW FLUFF floating towards the sky. The man kept on burping and the boys created all  different kinds of shapes, which floated up into the sky.
The higher it went, the bigger it got.

Suddenly, all of the men were burping nonstop, and the boys were enjoying creating shapes. The men woke up and were amazed, for there were BIG PUFFY PILLOW FLUFFS everywhere in the sky of all different shapes and sizes. They didn't know a thing, so they just ignored it and left. The boys wrote their names of the last pair of pillow fluffs and off they went back home.

When they got home they started cooking just in case Mr and Mrs Soonchans would come home early. When they finished and everything was prepared they looked up at the sky and saw what they did and they were so excited to show their parents. Then a fluff floated across with the remaining letters from their names, which were C L O U D S. So that is how the first clouds were formed and how they got their name.

Camlamous and Ubradas

Why the sea makes waves, by Marina.

Long ago in the far far land of Alaska, lived an old wise woman. Her name was Madame Zeroni. She was a lovely lady who baked cookies everyday. Madame Zeroni lived with her three younger sisters, who were very very mean.

One day Madame Zeroni was baking batched of cookies for her youngest sister. As she was in the kitchen, her sister Adelaide, who was seventeen years old, walked in. With a demanding voice, Adelaide commanded Madame to hurry up and finish the cookies. Madame Zeroni was old and slow, but managed to deliver the cookies upstairs to her sisters. Everyday Madame Zeroni would always read her book, clean and cook while her sisters were at work. The three sisters did not treat Madame Zeroni with respect, they made her do everything around the house.

On a Saturday afternoon, Madame Zeroni was invited to the 'Bingo Night'. For the first time Madame dressed herself in her best clothes that she had, and had her next door neighbour, John, to pick her up and drop her off. Of course her three sisters did not like the fact that Madame was leaving the house. So they had an evil plan to push Madame off a cliff and into the sea.

When Madame Zeroni was about to leave out the front door, Adelaide stopped her and said
"John will not be able to take you, so we will."
Off went Madame Zeroni and her three evil sisters. Madame knew something was wrong when they turned down a street which lead to the cliff. Madame may have been old, but she was not stupid. As the car stopped, Adelaide and the other sisters attacked Madame. They were slapping and biting her. Madame was full of anger. She managed to grab a rock from outside and put it on the accelerator. Madame quickly started the car and put it in drive.

The three sisters were still attacking Madame when she jumped out of the car. The three sisters were screaming and crying for help as they were falling off the cliff...
.. there was a loud splash, and seconds later a big KA BOOM!

Ever since the car with the three sisters hit the sea, the water was never calm and settled again. It was rough and wild, with water rising and splashing back down.

So, this is how waves were formed.

http://auahatanga.blogspot.com/p/dreamtime.html

Why is the sea salty, by Kirsteen.

In a time when pirates dominated the seas, when the oceans and seas were clear up close, and the water was pure, there lived a clumsy goody good two shoes pirate named Davi Jones. He was the captain of his wrecked ship and amateur crew. They apparently called themselves pirates of the Caribbean because they live amongst the ocean of Caribbean. Davi Jones and his pirates weren't the most perfect pirates, and they tended to lose every battle. They lost respect from the other pirates, and weren't good at gaining territory. They had heart, were brave, and enjoyed the heat.

On another part of the surface of the earth, where most of the rebel pirates settled amongst the sea, where the water was ice cold and pure, there lived a rebellious, self-centered bad pirate named Jack Sparrow.

He was the captain of his black ship, and cocky crew, who were victorious in all their battles. They called themselves the Black Pearl, and they lived in the Arctic Ocean. Jack Sparrow owned a lot of oceans and seas, but he mostly settled in his favourite ocean, the Arctic. He and his crew were very greedy and rich. One day one of the members, Copper, arrived from patrolling the seven seas, and told Jack Sparrow that there was trouble ahead in the Caribbean. There was a shipwreck in their territory. Jack Sparrow was furious and commanded his crew to prepare for battle. They left for the Caribbean, and it took 7 days and nights to get there.

Davi Jones was in his pajamas and so were the rest of the crew, dancing and swearing, until they saw a ship approaching. They were challenged to battle, even though they were not ready. Davi Jones accepted the challenge, and was not bothered even though his ship was being destroyed by the Black Pearl. 

Suddenly, Davi Jones had a great idea! He had his crew load all the salt and vinegar on board into the catapult. They added their spit to it, and fired it at the enemy crew. It hit the target, burning Jack Sparrow in the eyes. Unfortunately, it also landed in the sea, and that is why the sea is now salty.

http://auahatanga.blogspot.com/p/dreamtime.html

How the kiwi lost it's wings, by Travis

Long ago, Tane Mahuta, the God of the forest, had been living happily with his children, the trees.

After a while Tane Mahuta noticed that his children were slowly rotting. There were huhu grubs eating his children.

The next day, Tane Mahuta called upon all the birds in the sky. 

"Will any of you birds come down from the sky and feed off these soul sucking grubs?" said Tane. 

There was a silence. Not a single noise was heard. Tane called to Pukeko, 

"Pukeko, would you like to live on the cold, damp forest floor?" 

Pukeko looked at the other birds and said to Tane,

"Sorry, but I don't want to get my fabulous feet wet."

Tane then called Tui. "Tui, do you want to live on the dark forest floor and feed off the soul sucking grubs?" Tui looked at the other birds and replied "Sorry, but me and my family are afraid of the dark."

Tane turned away in disappointment.

Then he turned to Pipiwharauroa. "Pipiwharauroa, will you live on the forest floor?" Pipiwharauroa looked at his family and said, " sorry but I am too busy building a nest for my family." Tane was shocked. Not one bird had the courage to live on the forest floor.

Not a single movement was seen from the birds. Out of nowhere came Kiwi "I will accept your task!"

Everyone was surprised. Tane then said, "If you choose to live on the forest floor you will have to lose your wings, and grow long, string legs to rip bark off the trees." Kiwi looked at the other birds pretty wings and said, "I will."

Tane turned to the other three birds and said, "Since you weren't able to help you will be punished. Pukeko, since you don't like wetting your feet, you shall live in a swamp. Tui, you have to fly in the night, and Pipiwharauroa, since you are too busy building your nest, you are not allowed to build another nest. Instead you have to lay your eggs in other bird's nests. But to you Kiwi, you will be known as an icon to Aotearoa."

To this day, the kiwi is still well known throughout Aotearoa.

http://auahatanga.blogspot.com/p/dreamtime.html

The cheetah story, by Shannon

Once upon a time a man named Chee Ko Tah lived in a small village called Oka-tralia. He was a medium built man who always said this to his tribe " I Chee Ko Tah am the greatest and the strongest of all creatures, and I will destroy anything that says otherwise!" After hearing this speech day in, day out, his people and family believed him, but once word got out to the elders they were outraged. This is because no-one should speak as if they are greater than the elders. So with that, the elders purposed a test for Chee Ko Tah to see if he really was the man he thought he was.

One day in the hot plains of Africa, Chee Ko Tah was bragging as ussual to his family when a huge elephant came charging at him and only him. Chee Ko Tah sprinted off as fast as possible, and hid in a far away cave. He heard all the laughter that broke out within his own family and friends and they chants, " Chee Ko Tah the coward! Chee Ko Tah the coward!" He decided not to go back to his home again.

Years later Chee Ko Tah returned hom, but had morphed because of his unhealthy living situation in the cave. He now had blonde fur, spots, a cat like face, walked on all fours, and had grown a tail. The people and the elders were terrified. Chee Ko Tah saw drawings on the huts of what the elders had done to him, and he was furious. One of the elders looked dead straight into Chee Ko Tah's brown piercing eyes, and Chee Ko Tah smiled with his sharp devil-like teeth and sprinted at the elder. He was so fast that he caught up to the elder who was about 100 metres away in 4 seconds. Chee Ko Tah decided he had a new name which was Cheetah, because the Ko had been significant to his tribe. He chased down and killed everyone in his tribe and lived happily with all the food and plains he could dream of.

http://auahatanga.blogspot.com/p/dreamtime.html

Why it rarely rains in Australia, by Pemita

Long ago there lived a beautiful lady named Jaselle. She was so beautiful that almost all them men swooned over her. When it was time for her to choose a husband, Jaselle could not choose. She decided it was best to not choose a husband in order to keep people from arguing. But she couldn't have been more wrong. Quarrels were being spread throughout Dreamland. Eligible bachelors were trying to prove their love to her by killing other men and catching the biggest cows.
Jaselle went to one of the elders and asked them to help her. They told her to pray to the gods. So she did. She prayed for all the fighting to stop. A miraculous thing happened. But it wasn't what Jaselle wanted.
The gods had taken all the men who were involved and put in separate places in the heavens above. There they lived in peace looking down on their beloved Jaselle living freely.
The men soon began to realise how happy they were when they were not fighting amongst each other. This pleasure began to increase so much that their moods would affect the weather. But, not very often they would dwell on the memory of losing Jaselle and start to weep, causing rain for the humans below. But, as I stated this did not happen very often.
Soon the memory was forgotten, and it meant there was a large amount of sunshine for the people of Australia.
So that is why it hardly ever rains.

http://auahatanga.blogspot.com/p/dreamtime.html

The creation of the animals, by Sam.

Once upon a time, there were five gods that were bored, because they hardly had anything to do. One day, one of the gods came up with an idea. He said “why don’t we make some animals”. So the five of them made an animal and they started playing with the animal. They decided to call the animal a lion, or the king of the jungle. They came up with the lion’s name from the toughness of the animal and also after one of the god’s father who had lived many years before.

The five gods became bored of the lion, so they decided to create some more creatures. Zeus, the leader, made a python, Perseus made a rattlesnake, Poseidon made a bull shark, and last of all Temana made a cheetah. He made this creature because he wanted to race it against the others. Because of this he made the animal the fastest on four feet.

The gods greatly enjoyed their animals, and had fun playing with them every day. One day, Zeus decided to make lots of animals: big ones, small ones, and even dangerous ones. Unfortunately, the day came when these animals started killing humans. The snakes would hide in places, camouflaging themselves, waiting for their prey to go past. It is they who had killed the most humans.

The five gods had a very good time with the animals; they even thought that the humans were getting on well with them. So the gods had their fun with the animals, and they just watched over the animals that had been brought into this new generation.

http://auahatanga.blogspot.com/p/dreamtime.html

The legend of the Leagle

Long, long ago when only animals walked the earth’s surface, there lived a very strange animal. It was different to all other animals around the world. It could fly, run very fast, it was extremely muscular, and had teeth bigger than a sabre tooth’s. It was called a leagle. Although its features sound very aggressive, this animal in fact was very kind and generous to other animals.  It lived in a cave on the beautiful island of Niue.

A little north of this beautiful island lay a dark and isolated island. No land animals, no sea animals, no nothing. Just one cave surrounded by bones of dead animals. This island was Kiribati. Inside the lonely cave lay a cruel and selfish animal. It was the most feared creature in the whole world. T was the Chrino. Once a week this creature would swim around the world and bully all the other animals. He would tell them to give him food, and come about the same time the next week to collect the food for himself. If they didn’t have what he wanted, he ate them! Leagle did not know about this nonsense until one day, a bird came past calling for help. Leagle heard his call and reacted quickly to his yell for help. The bird told leagle what the chrino had done, killing his brother because he had refused to give Chrino food. Soon after, leagle and chrino had a fight and leagle won.

http://auahatanga.blogspot.com/p/dreamtime.html

The creation of the stars and clouds, by Courtney.

One day, long long ago before humanity or even life existed, there were two planets that were far too close together in the universe, and every day they became closer together. They knew that one day they would clash, and they would have to fight for their spot in the universe, third planet from the sun. The two planets were named Earth and Clatania.
Finally, about five million years before humans arrived, the epic battle between the planets began. In the end, Earth won and took it's rightful place, third from the sun.
After Clatania was destroyed, pieces of the planet were scattered all over the universe. Some in the form of what humans now call stars, and some pieces were trapped inside planet Earth as clouds. The clouds were very unhappy, and began to cry. This caused plants and seas to grow on Earth. The stars shined as bright as they could, calling to the clouds, and the clouds floated up as high as they could to communicate with the stars, but they could not escape Planet Earth.
So these days, the clouds wander aimlessly in the sky, hoping to one day be reunited with the stars that shine brightly for them. So that they can once again join together and have Planet Clatania reborn. Then the planet would take vengeance on Earth.

http://auahatanga.blogspot.com/p/dreamtime.html

Why The Kangaroo Jumps, by Tasha.

Long ago in a land named Australia lived Kangaroo. Kangaroo was a happy and joyful animal. He loved to live his life to the fullest. But Kangaroo didn't know that his life was about to change. This is the story of why Kangaroos jump.

Australia was a nice and green area where animals lived in peace. The days were not too hot or too cold. Kangaroo loved to walk, but soon his feet became very fragile and sensitive. Because of this he couldn't walk on the pathways because there were small rocks hidden there. Instead, kangaroo would walk in the mud, or on the soft green grass. Every animal in Australia was happy except one.

Snake, who didn't like mud or the soft grass was unhappy. Everything about the land make him unhappy. He would always complain about this to the other animals. Snake grew tires of slithering on the mud and grass, and soon called forward the spirits of the sun. He told the spirits to let the hot, bright sun shine down on the the land to dry everything up.

Later that same day, when Kangaroo was walking he felt a pain through his feet. When he looked down, he noticed that there was no grass. When he held his head back up, he felt the sunlight go through his eyes. As soon as the light was out of his eyes, Kangaroo looked around and saw that the land was dry. There was no mud, no lake, no trees and most importantly, no grass. Again, pain shocked through him as well as heat. Kangaroo ran and ran and then jumped. When he landed, he felt a bit better. He jumped some more, and realised the pain was disappearing. Kangaroo discovered it would always be hot all the time, and the only way to stop the pain was to jump all the time. Kangaroo felt very sad because he knew that he could never walk again and be happy.

http://auahatanga.blogspot.com/p/dreamtime.html

Koala's Trademarks, by Yeomans.

There once was a Big Grey Fearsome animal that was very greedy. He liked to eat a lot and never ever shared his food or slept at all.

One day while he was munching happily on his food, another animal from his village came to ask for some of his food. The animal and his family only had one piece of bread left to share between them. The Big Grey Greedy Monster said no to the starving man, and he went home crying and hungry. That night, when everyone went to bed, the Big Grey Greedy Monster was walking around the village and saw inside the kitchens of the other animals. Feeling his greed coming on he quietly snuck into the animal’s houses and took all of their food. That night he spitefully ate and drank all the stolen food.

In the morning when everyone awoke to have their breakfast, they were shocked to see that all of their food had gone missing. The entire village was hungry, and they knew who was to blame for the missing food. But none of them dared go to the Big Grey Greedy Monster alone.

Up above, the God of punishment, Eucalyptus, saw what the Big Grey Greedy Monster had done, and found some suitable punishments for him.

The villagers came together and faced the Big Grey Greedy Monster to get their food back. When they arrived at his hut, they found him sitting there quietly pretending to be asleep, hugging his food with all his might.

He only pretended to wake up when the God Eucalyptus arrived.

Eucalyptus’ punishments to the Big Grey Greedy Monster are what we call ‘trademarks’ of this animal. All of the generations to follow him would suffer the same punishments as he did. They are: that they are very small bears that are grey, they must sleep all day long; they must hug everything that they touch and keep away from other animals in the village. Their only food would be poisonous leaves from the Eucalyptus Punishment tree and they would have to climb very high on skinny trees to get them.

His name will always be a constant reminder of his punishment and why he was punished. Till this day, and forever more, this animal will be known as Koala. Greedy.

http://auahatanga.blogspot.com/p/dreamtime.html

How People Were Created, by Joel.

A long long long long long long long long time ago when people did not exist, there were lots of different animals everywhere. Some big, some very big, and others small. There were blue creatures almost like us, and they were called avatars.
They did not speak English, and one boy avatar was different. He wanted to see what there was beyond the mountains where they lived. He has friends, but they weren't avatars. His friends were a t-rex, branchiosaurus and a turtle with a lion head.
The elders of their clan said "if you leave you will no longer be a part of our tribe." However, the boy and another girl from his clan left, and were banned for forever and eternity.
So the boy avatar, girl avatar, the t-rex, branchiosaurus and the turtle with a lion head went off to discover the world. After a while, along came an owl who told them never to eat an apple from the golden tree. The avatars and their friends promised to obey this rule.
Later on that day, a snake went to the girl avatar and told her to eat an apple from the tree. Even though the owl told her not to, she agreed after some convincing. Because both the avatars ate from the tree they knew they shouldn't, the owl cursed them, and that was when they were turned into humans as their punishment.

http://auahatanga.blogspot.com/p/dreamtime.html

Blue Sky, Red Leaves, by Francis.

Once upon a time, long long ago, an ugly man lived in a tree. The tree was sick of the man's ugliness because all the other trees were mean to him about it. "Your man in you is ugly," they said. "Y'all are bullies" he cried. One day the tree decided to do something about his ugly companion. He threw his ugly friend into the sky, which was red, and shot him with his twelve gauge. The man's blue blood made the sky blue. The man's blue blood angered the red, and he was cursed. The red, who had been painted blue, cursed the tree. He made the tree's purple trunk brown, and his leaves the colour of snot. So the tree changed colour just like the red sky. Now, at the same time every year, at the anniversary of the ugly blue man's death, the snot coloured leaves on trees turn red. This is red's revenge. Then, he shaves them off and leaves the trees bald as punishment. 

This is why the sky is blue, and tree's leaves fall off.

http://auahatanga.blogspot.com/p/dreamtime.html

How Lakes Were Formed, by Lysandra.

A long, long time ago, in a world where no animals or humans existed, there once lived a group of powerful Gods who were making new sources of life. There was only one girl who was a God, and her name was Dakota. She was an evil God who wanted to destroy everything. Dakota used her powers for bad, and was a very greedy God. She was unique from the other Gods because she had blue blood One day, Dakota hypnotised the eldest God, Zombina, making him do bad things. The strongest God, Todeci, captured Dakota and decided to punish her by keeping her in a power-proof cage forever. Dakota spent twenty-six years in the cage. Later, the Gods decided to let her go because they thought she had changed. However, one day Dakota killed an innocent God. All the Gods were mad, so they decided to put a curse on her. But when they did, Dakota's body melted,leaving her blood to flow to a nearby ditch. Her blood was blue and shiny. The eldest God drank it, and it made him feel good. Because of this he decided to use his powers to make more ditches with Dakota's blood in it, making water for all the Gods to drink.

This is how lakes were formed.

http://auahatanga.blogspot.com/p/dreamtime.html

Why The Kiwi Cannot Fly, by Te Ao

Once there was a God called Tanemahuta. He had seen that his children were being eaten by insects, so he gathered all the birds together. He asked pukeko to go down and stop the insects from eating the trees. But then pukeko said that he didn't want to get his feet dirty. Tane replied " you won't be able to keep your feet clean for long then!"

So Tanemahuta asked tui to go down and get the insects to stop eating the trees. But tui replied, " I can't I am scared of the dark". Tanemahuta told tui that when he was finished with him, he would no longer be scared of the dark again.

Tane asked kiwi if he could go and look after his children the trees. Kiwi agreed to, even though he was told that would mean he would never be able to fly again. This was because he would from then on be stuck on the ground saving the trees from insects. That is how the kiwi lost his wings.

Because the tui and pukeko refused to help Tane, they were punished. The tui was not able to go out at night anymore, and the pukeko was made to run on the ground.

http://auahatanga.blogspot.com/p/dreamtime.html

How The Draught Was Broken, by Chandler.

Once upon a time there was a place where it was extremely sunny, called Yanille. It had been like that for four years. Many villagers were very sick and tired of the sun, so they eventually started to pray for rain. Many, many nights they would pray for rain to the Gods. This plan of theirs did not work, so they had to come up with a better solution.

Their next plan was to make a bull with a mouth you could use to sacrifice virgins to make it rain. They built this amazing invention, and tested it out. They would line up all the ladies who were virgins and pick one of them to sacrifice. The bull was full of flames, and they would throw the virgin inside the bull's mouth. They waited and waited for it to rain, but still nothing came. The ritual continued for many days. The princess of Yanille began to search for the chosen one, who was the only person who could plead with the Gods in the holy of holies.

The princess saw a man who would never bow down to her, and thought to herself that he must be the chosen one. She told him to walk into the holy of holies and pray to the Gods for rain. The chosen one finished praying, and what do you know? It finally started to rain. The draught was finally broken.

 http://auahatanga.blogspot.com/p/dreamtime.html

How The Flowers Were Formed, by Shinal

Once there was a rude, mean lady who only thought about herself. She was hated by all. She hated everything and anything around her. Once there was no rain for days, and all her plantations and crops were ruined. She didn't have any food to eat nor water to live. She went to the village to ask for some food, but everyone rejected her. So she cursed the villagers that they would suffer. Days went by and she sat on the mountain side and cried. By the end of the year, the whole village was flooded with her tears As days went by, the water dried and some coloured things began to reach out of the ground. It was flowers, and soon that land became a field of flowers. The flowers were the villagers who died.

The lady lived alone her whole life, and died a horrible death.

http://auahatanga.blogspot.com/p/dreamtime.html 

Why The Tide Follows The Moon, by D.D.Ax

A long time ago there was a place where everyone loved to surf. They loved to ride into the ginormous waves. Every time the moon would come in, the tide would follow. The village people wanted to know why the tide follows the moon. There was a man there called Tomani, he knew the moon spirit. Tomani went and had a long travel to the sacred hill of Heronze. That's where the closest contact to the moon is. There, Tomani went to talk to the moon spirit. 

 He asked the moon spirit, "why does the tide follow you?"

 "I have got the job from God," he replied. "I would have to drag the tide to make order and peace so everyone can canoe, surf, swim and explore."

http://auahatanga.blogspot.com/p/dreamtime.html

Why We Have Eyebrows, by Jenevieve

Some thousands of years ago, people who lived in Africa had flat faces with no eyebrows. People had suffered a lot from skin cancer, normally around the eyes. People in Africa had always said " the sun won't burn where there is hair." A handful of them had skin cancer around the eyes so seriously they became blind.They did not get cancer as much on their arms, legs and head because there was hair there.

Dr Phyl was an African doctor who earned little money for all the work he was doing. After one long day he returned home late at night. He didn't feel like sleeping, he was sick of seeing people filled with pain and sorrow, so he wanted to invent something. What he wanted to invent was something that would make hair appear over the eyes. He mixed all he could find that would make what he wanted, then tested it on his younger brother, Zookou. He injected his invention into his brother, and waited. Zookou woke up and Dr Phyl was astonished to see little hairs poking out just above the eyes. He decided to call his invention "eyebrows". 

The news had already spread throughout the country the next day. Dr Phyl made a lot of eyebrow injections. A few months later, everyone had eyebrows. Less people suffered from skin cancer around the eyed and everyone was happy. Women became pregnant, and even their children had eyebrows.

http://auahatanga.blogspot.com/p/dreamtime.html

The Punished Man, by Frank.

Once there was a tribe called the Moe. Everyone was peaceful but one man, a very big man. He was greedy and liked to take heaps of food, water and other things. 

One day the tribe was short on food and water so people became greedy. The big man hatched a plan to steal all the remaining resources. At night when everyone was asleep, he made a big bag and sachet to hold the resources in. But, he didn't know that a kid was still awake, and saw what he was doing. The man ran away happily. 

The kid told the tribesmen what he saw and they decided to hunt him He was walking gracefully until he heard noises and then ran. He tripped up and was caught by the tribesmen. Then came a lion who saw the captured man. The tribesman decided to leave him there fir his punishment, and hoped that by sacrificing him they would be rewarded with food.

One day later, food and water appeared at the site where the man was sacrificed. The man's spirit remains there and the story is told to young children to remind them to never steal because you always get caught.

You can run but you can't hide.

http://auahatanga.blogspot.com/p/dreamtime.html

Rainforest Medicine Products

In the last few weeks of term, 9T worked on creating a medicinal product using medicine found in the rainforest. They were to give it a name, think about its target audience, and create labels and logos for the product. Finally, they created advertisments to showcase the product they had produced. Below are the ads, which feature the various products that were made.

Medicines of the rainforest

This week we have spent some time learning about the many medicines that originate from the rainforest. We were given a list of patients with a variety of illnesses, and had to find some medicine from the rainforest that could help the ailments. We took turns being patients and doctors, and once we had figured out the medication needed, we filled in prescriptions for the sick person.
Below are some of these prescriptions, which show just some of the multitude of medicines available in the rainforest.
How sad it will be if all of this is lost one day!

9 t medicines of the rainforest

If you would like more information about medicines available from the rainforest, check this site out :

http://www.rain-tree.com/property-action.htm

Orangutan Sign Language

On Friday afternoon, 9T learnt about how Orangutans communicate with one another. They have their own form of sign language to show each other what they want and how they feel. Orangutans are so intelligent they can even learn human sign language!
Our task was to create our own version of Orangutan sign language, in case we ever get the opportunity to encounter one in the wild. Below are some of the signs we came up with.

Let us know what you think, will Orangutans like our efforts?

Rainforest Menu

Last week, the class were given time to create a menu using only food found in the rainforest. We had to have an original restaurant name, come up with interesting names for our dishes, and have pictures to display each item. We needed to make two entrees, two mains, two desserts and two drinks. Below are some menus made by students in our class. 9t rainforest menus

To see these wonderful menus in a larger size, click on the 'view on slideshare' button above, and then choose full screen!

Orangutan Postcards

These are postcards made by 9T that explain some threats to the survival of Orangutans in Borneo and Sumatra. We have been studying the rainforest, and as a side note have spent a week learning about Orangutans, and how their population has been faced with extinction. The postcards have a picture on the front that shows some aspect of threat to the Orangutans, while the letter on the back describes this in words.9t postcards

Let us know what you think, and your opinion on the matter!