Australian
Screen

Teacher’s notes

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This clip shows conflicting values about recycling between townspeople and a community of travellers. The opening scene shows a wealthy family intending to throw out household items, including their lawnmower. The mother phones the council to complain about the mess the travellers have made in collecting discarded waste for re-use. Her daughter warns two traveller friends that her mother is out to get them. She bets them that they cannot make a speedboat from a disused bathtub. They take up the challenge, the lawnmower significant to their plan.

Educational value points

• The clip invites viewers to question the values held by Rachael Oakley (Nathy Gaffney) in respect to the environment when she discards a still-working lawnmower ‘because it’s old and we have a new one’. Her superior attitude to the travellers and her refusal to let them have her discarded goods could be attributed to class differences, but she also does not seem to understand the ethical stance they take about recycling and environmental responsibility.

• In the clip, the traveller children teach Abby (Indiana Evans) about recycling everyday items into innovative objects and toys. Marian (Ross Pirelli) and Spike (Matthew Waters) use creative and inventive means to re-use waste. Their fish tank made from a computer and their idea of a boat made from a bath are stimulating ideas intended to engage a young audience and empower them to consider recycling challenges presented by discarded material.

• Abby acts as a conduit between her judgemental mother and Marian and Spike. In quizzing them about how they re-use ‘junk’, Abby shows limited understanding of the environmental effects of excessive materialism and the need for waste management. Through her friendship with the boys she is introduced to alternative ideas about recycling and, although sceptical, she challenges the boys to create something useful.

• This film uses contrasts to highlight differing values about environmental responsibility. The wealthy family’s two-storey home overlooks the travellers’ caravans, which are assembled on parkland. Similarly, the family’s neat clean outfits contrast with the rustic and durable clothing of the travellers. Camera perspective is also used to emphasise differences when Rachel Oakley is filmed from below staring down at the travellers and the recycled rubbish she despises.

• Domestic recycling has increased in Australia over recent decades. Recycling is a significant environmental issue because Australia is a high producer of waste compared with countries of similar geography and socioeconomic make-up. Each Australian averages about 1 tonne of waste per year, and it is becoming more expensive to dispose of that waste. The realities of global warming, water shortage and resource management add to the need to reduce and re-use waste.