MY SPEECH

Good afternoon, fellow students, Ms Freeborn and Jian. The poem I have chosen is called “The
Kangaroo” by James Hackston. It describes various types of environment in Australia such as the
dried wide plains and the blue hot sky using language features like figures of speech and imagery
which helps us to create pictures in the mind.

The poem “The Kangaroo” is a poem which describes gorgeous environmental features of
Australia such as beautiful outback, the kangaroos with freedom, and Aborigines. The poet
compared us to the kangaroo so we can feel like a kangaroo that jumps around freely without
any restrictions. He also shows how Australia could have different variety of nature by listing
Australia’s characteristics such as “the dry, hot land”.

Some of the themes explored in this poem include the close relationship between Australians and
the nature, appreciations for the fact that we are living in this diverse environment and the
freedom which Australians could enjoy. The poet shows the close relationships between us and
the nature by saying that whenever we lift our head, we could see the far-off blue of sky. Also, all
Australians should have a pride of Australia’s own unique characteristics and the poet expresses
this with his line “the breath, the bone, the strand of our continent”.

The purpose of this poem is to describe the beautiful nature of Australia and also to allow the
readers to identify the very nature of Australia and this is achieved by various techniques such as
poet’s emotional language. It is successful because it makes us to feel grateful to live in such an
environment.

The intended audience for this poem is everyone who lives in Australia or foreigners who did not
know the beauty of Australia’s environment.

The poet uses the techniques to explain his thoughts and to keep it more realistic. Some
techniques that have been used include the repetition of the word “the”, the rhymes such as “tree
and free”, and the simile such as “as old as stone”. Also, there are few shortened words such as
“oft” which means often. The poet also wrote this poem in the first person and in the poem, “I”
could represent numerous things such as the kangaroos, Australians or the nature. These
techniques make the poem sound more realistic and fascinating.

Finally, the image of Australia that this poem gives us is positive but slightly negative because the
poem talks about few disasters such as the drought and the flood. It is mostly positive because it
is trying to describe the unique aspects of Australia’s environment. The image is beautiful and
calm because the poet is describing Australia’s nature as “wide plains” and “hot white clouds that
lie before the sun”.

To represent the poem as a collage, I chose to make the kangaroo and Australian map as my
main drawings because the kangaroos symbolise Australia and it is this land’s birth and as well as
Australian map. I decided to decorate my collage with pictures of the blue skies, gentle breeze, a
tree with yellow and green leaves which are the colours of Australia, Aborigines, and grey
boulders because these images are being mentioned in the poem and also they are the
characteristics of Australia’s nature. I also used lots of words such as features, environment,
symbolise and freedom to decorate my collage because they are the key words that show what
the poem is mainly trying to tell. I also tried to draw the red coloured soil to represent Australia
because it is one of the features of Australia in the outback.
In conclusion, I actually liked this poem a lot because it made me realise the beauty of Australia’s
nature and how thankful I am to live in this type of environment. For my collage, I believe that I
have done my best and included all the key images and words that represent my poem. Thank
you for listening to my speech.

BY FLORENCE JEONG

Good afternoon, fellow students, Ms Freeborn and Jian. The

poem I have chosen is called “The Kangaroo” by James
Hackston. It describes various types of environment in
Australia such as the dried wide plains and the blue hot sky
using language features like figures of speech and imagery
which helps us to create pictures in the mind.

This is my poem called “The Kangaroo”.

The poem “The Kangaroo” is a poem which describes
gorgeous environmental features of Australia such as
beautiful outback, the kangaroos with freedom, and
Aborigines. The poet compared us to the kangaroo so we can
feel like a kangaroo that jumps around freely without any
restrictions. He also shows how Australia could have different
variety of nature by listing Australia’s characteristics such as
“the dry, hot land”.

Some of the themes explored in this poem include the close

relationship between Australians and the nature,
appreciations for the fact that we are living in this diverse
environment and the freedom which Australians could enjoy.
The poet shows the close relationships between us and the
nature by saying that whenever we lift our head, we could
see the far-off blue of sky. Also, all Australians should have a
pride of Australia’s own unique characteristics and the poet
expresses this with his line “the breath, the bone, the strand
of our continent”.

The purpose of this poem is to describe the beautiful nature

of Australia and also to allow the readers to identify the very
nature of Australia and this is achieved by various techniques
such as poet’s emotional language. It is successful because it
makes us to feel grateful to live in such an environment.

The intended audience for this poem is everyone who lives in

Australia or foreigners who did not know the beauty of
Australia’s environment.
The poet uses the techniques to explain his thoughts and to
keep it more realistic. Some techniques that have been used
include the repetition of the word “the”, the rhymes such as
“tree and free”, and the simile such as “as old as stone”. Also,
there are few shortened words such as “oft” which means
often. The poet also wrote this poem in the first person and
in the poem, “I” could represent numerous things such as the
kangaroos, Australians or the nature. These techniques make
the poem sound more realistic and fascinating.

Finally, the image of Australia that this poem gives us is

positive but slightly negative because the poem talks about
few disasters such as the drought and the flood. It is mostly
positive because it is trying to describe the unique aspects of
Australia’s environment. The image is beautiful and calm
because the poet is describing Australia’s nature as “wide
plains” and “hot white clouds that lie before the sun”.

To represent the poem as a collage, I chose to make the

kangaroo and Australian map as my main drawings because
the kangaroos symbolise Australia and it is this land’s birth
and as well as Australian map. I decided to decorate my
collage with pictures of the blue skies, gentle breeze, a tree
with yellow and green leaves which are the colours of
Australia, Aborigines, and grey boulders because these
images are being mentioned in the poem and also they are
the characteristics of Australia’s nature. I also used lots of
words such as features, environment, symbolise and freedom
to decorate my collage because they are the key words that
show what the poem is mainly trying to tell. I also tried to
draw the red coloured soil to represent Australia because it is
one of the features of Australia in the outback.
In conclusion, I actually liked this poem a lot because it made
me realise the beauty of Australia’s nature and how thankful I
am to live in this type of environment. For my collage, I
believe that I have done my best and included all the key
images and words that represent my poem. Thank you for
listening to my speech.