Landscape as Character in Indigenous Storytelling

Active learning works because ‘Country’ as a character is relational and spatial. Students must physically engage with texts and maps to grasp how land shapes story, identity, and responsibility. Movement and dialogue help transform abstract concepts into lived understanding.

• Year 11
• English
• 4 activities
• 35 min–50 min

Learning Objectives

1. Analyze how specific Indigenous Australian narratives personify the land as a sentient entity influencing plot and character development.
2. Explain the concept of 'Country' as a relational partner in Indigenous storytelling, contrasting it with Western views of land as property.
3. Evaluate how geographical features in Indigenous stories embody ancestral spirits and transmit cultural knowledge.
4. Compare the narrative structures of Indigenous stories with Western literary traditions, focusing on the role of landscape.
5. Synthesize textual evidence to demonstrate how Indigenous language constructs meaning through the depiction of Country.

Jigsaw

⏱ 35 min·Pairs

Mapping Country: Landscape Annotations

Students read a selected Indigenous narrative excerpt and annotate key passages where 'Country' interacts with characters. They create visual maps linking geographical features to themes and spirits, then pair up to present connections. Discuss as a class how these maps reveal narrative structure.

Prepare & details

Analyze how the concept of 'Country' shapes narrative structure and character relationships.

Facilitation Tip: During Mapping Country, have students write direct quotes from the text onto physical maps to visually connect land and spirit.

Setup: Flexible seating for regrouping

Materials: Expert group reading packets, Note-taking template, Summary graphic organizer

• Understand
• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Relationship Skills
• Self-Management

Jigsaw

⏱ 45 min·Small Groups

Role-Play Circles: Dialogues with Country

In small groups, assign roles to characters and land features from a story. Groups improvise dialogues showing 'Country's influence on decisions. Rotate roles and debrief on how embodiment changes interpretations of relationships and identity.

Prepare & details

Explain in what ways Indigenous stories challenge Western notions of land ownership and exploitation.

Facilitation Tip: In Role-Play Circles, assign each student a geographical feature with a voice, forcing them to embody its agency in dialogue.

Setup: Flexible seating for regrouping

Materials: Expert group reading packets, Note-taking template, Summary graphic organizer

• Understand
• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Relationship Skills
• Self-Management

Gallery Walk

⏱ 40 min·Individual

Gallery Walk: Challenging Land Views

Individuals create posters contrasting Western and Indigenous land concepts from texts, using quotes. Students gallery walk, leaving sticky note responses. Conclude with whole-class synthesis of key challenges to exploitation narratives.

Prepare & details

Evaluate how specific geographical features embody ancestral spirits or cultural knowledge.

Facilitation Tip: For the Gallery Walk, post quotes about land alongside contrasting Western land-use statements to make the conceptual shift visible.

Setup: Wall space or tables arranged around room perimeter

Materials: Large paper/poster boards, Markers, Sticky notes for feedback

• Understand
• Apply
• Analyze
• Create
• Relationship Skills
• Social Awareness

Jigsaw

⏱ 50 min·Small Groups

Jigsaw: Feature Embodiment

Divide class into expert groups on specific geographical features as spirits. Each group analyzes one text's portrayal, then reforms into mixed groups to share and evaluate narrative impacts. Record collective insights on a shared chart.

Prepare & details

Analyze how the concept of 'Country' shapes narrative structure and character relationships.

Facilitation Tip: In Jigsaw Analysis, group students by feature type so they specialize before teaching peers about its spiritual role.

Setup: Flexible seating for regrouping

Materials: Expert group reading packets, Note-taking template, Summary graphic organizer

• Understand
• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Relationship Skills
• Self-Management

Teaching This Topic

Start with concrete, sensory texts that describe wind, rock, or river as animate. Avoid abstract lectures; instead, model annotation by reading aloud and circling descriptions of land as agentive. Warn students not to flatten Indigenous epistemology into metaphor alone—insist on literal spiritual presence first, then symbolic depth. Research shows that embodied mapping and role-play reduce colonial misreadings and build empathy.

What to Expect

Students will articulate how geographical features act as characters with agency and cultural authority. They will compare Indigenous and Western perspectives using textual evidence and collaborative discussion. By the end, they will explain how landscape drives narrative and identity in ways that challenge colonial views.

Watch Out for These Misconceptions

Common Misconception

During Mapping Country, watch for students labeling features as passive scenery on their maps.

What to Teach Instead

Redirect them to the text: have them underline verbs that personify the land, then place those words directly on the map feature to show agency.

Common Misconception

During Role-Play Circles, watch for students reducing Country to a prop rather than a participant.

What to Teach Instead

Pause the scene and ask: ‘What does this feature want to say?’ Require each speaker to state the feature’s intention before responding.

Common Misconception

During Gallery Walk, watch for students interpreting spiritual presence as mere symbolism.

What to Teach Instead

Ask them to find and read aloud passages where ancestral beings literally dwell in the feature, then compare to Western land-as-property quotes posted nearby.

Assessment Ideas

Discussion Prompt

After Mapping Country, ask students to present one annotated feature and explain how its description differs from a Western setting description. Facilitate a class comparison using their maps and texts.

Exit Ticket

After Role-Play Circles, have students write a short reflection on how embodying Country changed their understanding of land as a character. Collect these to check for agency and reciprocity in their language.

Quick Check

After Jigsaw Analysis, give students two short excerpts—one Indigenous, one Western—and ask them to highlight land descriptions. In pairs, they explain how each excerpt portrays land’s role and share findings with the class.

Extensions & Scaffolding

• Challenge: Ask students to write a short scene where a Western settler character encounters Country as a sentient force and records their emotional response.
• Scaffolding: Provide a sentence frame for Mapping Country: ‘Feature _____ is not just _____; it is _____ because it _____.’
• Deeper exploration: Invite a local Indigenous knowledge keeper or recorded interview to share how Country features guide custodial responsibilities today.

Key Vocabulary

Country	In Indigenous Australian contexts, 'Country' refers to the land, waters, and all things within it, understood as a living entity with which people have a deep spiritual and custodial relationship.
Kinship	A complex system of relationships central to Indigenous Australian cultures, extending beyond human families to include connections with Country, animals, and the spiritual world.
Dreaming/Dreamtime	The foundational spiritual concept in many Indigenous Australian cultures, referring to the time of creation and the ongoing spiritual power that shapes the world and its laws.
Custodianship	The responsibility held by Indigenous peoples to care for and maintain their Country, including its physical, spiritual, and cultural integrity, passed down through generations.