Young Talented Writers
Last term three Year Seven students were invited to participate in a Creative Writing Workshop at Bournda. Eli Grose, Isabel Woods and Elisha McEwan joined students from Eden and Bombala in this unique opportunity to express their writing skills in a very special environment.
The end product is a travelling exhibition of their works entitled “Exploring Landscapes” and this is currently available for viewing in the Bega School Library. The girls considered a sense of place and the features of a narrative literary account.
I am sure the girls gained enormous benefit from this experience. Special thanks to Jan Lynch and Eli’s dad for driving the girls to the venue.
Greg Bartlett
Games in the Gums
As I run through the leaves, I can hear them. Ma had woken me up early just so I would be ready. My name is Banjo and I am a Possum. I was born nine summers ago and I’m small for my age.
I came to the clearing made for this day. It’s the first day of summer and the day of the ‘Summer Gum Games’. The games give everyone a go at winning and no one can lose.
The first game today was a ringtoss. It’s a hard game because you’re in the tree tops but it’s fun all the same. I chose to copy what the others did. When it was my turn I threw the ring then closed my eyes. I heard cheering and discovered that I’d won. I cheered and smiled. I was so happy.
Next I went to the flying fox game. I was the first one there so I was first to try. They fitted the harness and I jumped. I hardly knew what was happening. As I fell I tried to scream but no sound came out. I was so scared. When I hit the ground a searing pain shot through me. I tested my limbs and I didn’t seem to be badly hurt.
But I soon came to realise where I was. It was like nothing I had ever seen. I looked around and saw lots of tall brown trees. They towered over me and cast long shadows in the afternoon light.
There was a loud roaring sound in the distance and I was standing on a fine, soft yellow surface. As I walk around exploring I sink into the surface. I can see all green things. I then realise where I am. I’m on the ground. I’m in a world of danger. I’m in the human world.
Elisha McEwen
Bega High School
Samples of the Work
The Pirates of Bournda
It was midnight. Everything was quiet. The only sound was of the sea crashing down onto the sand. The sound was beautiful. It made you feel calm, it made you want to skip.
‘Bang!’ I looked up, startled. What was that noise? It wasn’t a normal noise. It sounded strange. I’d never heard it before. I got up and slowly stretched my wings. I needed to go check. I slapped my wings and flew off into the darkness to check out that strange noise.
As I flapped, I got a good look at what went ‘Bang!’ There was a device that seemed to keep the water out of it. There were two legged animals that were yelling at each other waving long sticks. I heard another bang and decided to investigate tomorrow morning. I was too scared to find out.
The next day I woke up and decided to investigate the noise. Before I did that I went to get breakfast. To my surprise, my delicious grass seeds had been taken. Old Goanna lumbered past.
“Hello Parrot. Do you know where all the fruits and grass went? I can’t find anything to eat.”
“No Old Goanna. I have no idea and my food is gone too!”
“Did you hear that bang last night Parrot?”
“Yes. I went to go and investigate it.”
“Do you want to come with me?”
“Sure.”
So as I went with Old Goanna I stopped and ate some old berries. They left a bitter taste in my mouth.
As we walked up the hill and down onto the beach, I could hear a lot of noise before I even got there. They were shouting and digging holes.
“Humans,” breathed Old Goanna
“Humans?” I questioned. “What are they?”
“Those animals on the sand.”
“Would I be able to understand their language?”
“Yes, but only if you tried hard enough.”
Suddenly I could make out two words. “Seven holes.”
“They’re digging seven holes,” I told Old Goanna.
“Lord help me,” he said.
“Come on. We have to get rid of them,” I replied.
We had to get rid of them quickly and for that we needed the help of other animals.
Isabel Woods, Bega High School
The Birds of Wisdom
I watched as they danced, these two birds and I knew from then on that nothing could compare to the true beauty of nature. The problem was that no one else understood and so, when I died, the thought died with me in a blaze of pollution, log trucks, money, fiery chemicals and technology. That is until she was born ….
Sophia was born in the city, a vast expanse of metal, glass, concrete and smoke, a place of many cultures and much colour but the thing Sophia couldn’t find was beauty.
It started when the school gave the cute little Year Three’s a chance to go to the local nature park. Although Sophia had much to learn, her apartment was too small and a boring place for such an eager, fresh mind, the trip was a depressing experience with small domesticated animals, limp greenery, speakers playing out bird calls and litter hidden in every corner. The animals stared and Sophia tried to figure out what it meant but their minds were too confused. Back at home she was thinking about what had happened but she was too young to understand.
Four years later she started going to Narthly’s School for Girls. She caught the train to school, did her lessons, came home and thought. Every afternoon she would watch two parrots flitting around the wattle tree in her backyard. Their bright plumage, whispering and chattering comforted her as she watched them peck the sun sweet blossoms, flit through the smoggy sky and laugh at each other’s company.
That was until that fateful day when the speeding smokey mess of a car hit one. Its mate stayed with it for long, hard, sad days and it was then, when Sophia, who was now no longer a little girl but a tall chestnut haired, outgoing, young lady, found out what those animals had been saying.
They were asking why. WHY did you cut down my rainforest? WHY did you pollute my sea? WHY did you fence me up? WHY did you kill my species? So Sophia left. She’d seen the dancing birds and she’d seen what the world was doing to them and she decided she wanted to help.
She went and saw the crystalline, turquoise coral reefs, the emerald green exotic forests, the misty blue mountains, the running silver beamed streams and rivers and the baking orange deserts. She also saw the logging sites, the dying animals, the polluted waterways and she changed them. She planted, weeded, cleaned, pruned, filtered, cared, worked and loved.
And now she sits. A tall, confident, scarred, greying old bird. She sits listening to the sad but also joyful songs of the true beauty of nature and she has passed on her message and she knows that although the pure spherical paradise we call home is heading into a cloud of thick black smoke, she also knows many people are turning it around because this is not the end.
Ellie Grose
Bega High School
School Library Resources 