Sidney Nolan Kelly at the…? Creative writing and illustration project

Write and illustrate your own narrative inspired by Sidney Nolan’s iconic painting Kelly at the Mine 1946–47 from the Heide collection.

Sidney Nolan Kelly at the Mine 1946–47 enamel on composition board 89.4 x 121 cm Heide Museum of Modern Art Purchased from John and Sunday Reed 1980 © Sidney Nolan Trust

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This resource aligns with Level 6 English and Levels 5 & 6 Visual Arts curricula.

Level 6 English

Reading — Understand how texts vary in purpose, structure and topic as well as the degree of formality (VCELA309)

— Understand how to use banks of known words, syllabification, spelling patterns, word origins, base words, prefixes and suffixes, to spell new words, including some uncommon plurals (VCELA312)

— Identify aspects of literary texts that convey details or information about particular social, cultural and historical contexts (VCELT313)

— Understand, interpret and experiment with sound devices and imagery, including simile, metaphor and personification, in narratives, shape poetry, songs, anthems and odes (VCELT316)

Writing — Understand how noun groups/phrases and adjective groups/phrases can be expanded in a variety of ways to provide a fuller description of the person, place, thing or idea (VCELA324)

— Recognise and write less familiar words that share common letter patterns but have different pronunciations (VCELA326)

— Create literary texts that experiment with structures, ideas and stylistic features of selected authors (VCELT327)

— Create literary texts using realistic and fantasy settings and characters that draw on the worlds represented in texts students have experienced (VCELT328)

— Plan, draft and publish imaginative, informative and persuasive print and multimodal texts, choosing text structures, language features, images and sound appropriate to purpose and audience (VCELY329)

— Reread and edit own and others’ work using agreed criteria for text structures and language features (VCELY330)

— Use a range of software including word processing programs to construct, edit and publish written text, and select, edit and place visual, print and audio elements (VCELY332)

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Levels 5 & 6 Visual Arts:

Explore visual arts practices as inspiration to create artworks that express different ideas and beliefs.

Select and apply visual conventions, materials, techniques, technologies and processes specific to different art forms when making artworks.

Create and display art work considering how ideas can be expressed to an audience.

Ned Kelly the day before he was hanged 1880 Photographer: Charles Nettleton La Trobe Picture Collection State Library Victoria, Melbourne

Research Task

Ned Kelly

Ned Kelly was a notorious Australian bushranger in the 1870s. Conduct your own research into his life and the circumstances that led to his arrest and sentencing. These questions will help with your research:

— When was he born? — Who were his family? — Why was he given an award for bravery as a child? — Why was he first arrested by the police? — Was he found guilty of those charges? — What events led to him forming the Kelly Gang? — What was Ned Kelly’s armour made of? — What happened at Stringybark Creek in 1878? — What was written in the Jerilderie Letter? — What was Ned Kelly arrested and charged with in 1879? — What was the outcome of his trial in 1880? — How old was Ned Kelly when he died? — Why do you think many Australians consider Ned Kelly to be an heroic underdog rather than a criminal?

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Sidney Nolan’s Kelly series

Sidney Nolan (1917–1992) was an Australian artist well-known for his paintings depicting the story of Ned Kelly, which were created at Heide from 1946 to 1947. Sidney Nolan was a part of the Australian modernist movement, along with fellow artists of the Heide circle such as Albert Tucker, Joy Hester, Arthur Boyd, John Perceval and Danila Vassilieff, who painted figures and landscapes in an expressionist and exaggerated manner.

Heide has two of Nolan’s paintings of Ned Kelly in its collection, but the main series is now part of the National Gallery of Australia’s collection in Canberra.

The National Gallery of Australia has this resource: https://nga.gov.au/education/resources/nedkelly/index.html

After watching the videos in the NGA resource, you could take their interactive quiz to see how much you have learned.

Armour of the Kelly gang State Library Victoria, Melbourne Photograph: Chensiyuan

Sidney Nolan Kelly at the Mine 1946–47 enamel on composition board 89.4 x 121 cm Heide Museum of Modern Art Purchased from John and Sunday Reed 1980 © Sidney Nolan Trust

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Ned Kelly—Compare and Contrast

Compare the way that Sidney Nolan depicted Ned Kelly in contrast with the original armour Kelly wore.

Think about the Art Elements of COLOUR, SHAPE, LINE, TONE, FORM and TEXTURE, and the Art Principles of SCALE and PROPORTION.

How is Nolan’s depiction of Kelly similar to his actual suit of armour?

How is Nolan’s painting of Kelly different from his actual suit of armour?

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Kelly at the Mall—Compare and Contrast

Watch the video or download the PDF of Kelly at the Mall.

In Kelly at the Mall, the author altered the traditional narrative of Ned Kelly by placing him in a ‘fish out of water’ setting. Saying that a character is like a ‘fish out of water’ is a simile, meaning that the person is in an unusual or unexpected situation or environment that they are not familiar with. Kelly in the story is like a fish out of water because rather than being in the Australian bush in the 1870s, he has been transported to the present day and is in a shopping mall.

Compare the original story and images of Ned Kelly with Sidney Nolan’s portrayal of him in Kelly at the Mine and the author’s depiction of him in Kelly at the Mall.

What has the author included from the original story of Ned Kelly?

What has the author included from Sidney Nolan’s depiction of Ned Kelly?

What has the author added to the character that is new or unique?

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In what era did Ned Kelly live?

In what era is Kelly at the Mall set? How do you know this?

Provide three examples of evidence from the text to support your answer:

1.

2.

3.

How does Ned Kelly’s speech in the story use conventions of the present day?

What was the real Ned Kelly’s aim or goal?

What is Ned Kelly’s aim or goal in Kelly at the Mall?

Who did Ned Kelly associate with or meet during his life?

Who does Kelly associate with or meet at the mall?

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What kind of clothes did the real Ned Kelly wear under his armour?

What does Kelly wear at the mall?

How would you describe the real Ned Kelly’s physicality? Was he tall, short, muscular etc? How does this affect how you feel about him?

How would you describe the physical stature of Kelly in the story? How does this affect how you feel about him?

Where was the story of the real Ned Kelly geographically located?

Where is Kelly at the Mall geographically located?

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Kelly at the Mall—Narrative Analysis

Is this narrative fiction, or non-fiction?

What is the purpose of this text? Is it to persuade, to entertain or to inform?

Who is the audience for the narrative?

What makes you think this?

Do you think that the narrative is formal or informal?

Find a quote from the text to support your answer.

What is the topic of the narrative? Try to summarise your answer in one sentence.

Who is the protagonist?

What challenges or obstacles does the protagonist try to overcome in the narrative?

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Analysing Rhyme

The author uses rhyming text to tell the story of Kelly at the Mall.

Identify the pairs of rhyming words and write them in the two tables below:

Perfect Rhymes: These words have rhyming sounds, the same number of syllables and the same emphasis when spoken. e.g.: beating eating

Imperfect Rhymes: These words sound similar when spoken. e.g.: surprised eyes

Analysing Rhythm

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The author uses rhythm to tell the story of Kelly at the Mall.

Explore how the choice of vocabulary impacts rhythm in the author’s text.

Choose four lines in sequence from the text and write them here:

Circle the verbs (the ‘doing’ words that describe action).

Write synonyms for these verbs (a synonym is a word with a similar meaning):

Now try replacing the words you circled in the text with your synonyms and read the sentences out aloud.

Do they still rhyme?

Try clapping with each syllable as you read.

Do they still have the same rhythm?

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Using Similes

In the introduction of this resource we talked about Ned Kelly being like a ‘fish out of water’ because he is at a shopping mall. Can you find another simile in the text?

What do you think this simile means?

Can you think of a furthur simile the author could have used to say this?

Identify a different personality trait or mood that the Ned Kelly character displays in the text, e.g. anger.

Write a simile for this trait: e.g. He was as angry as toddler having a tantrum.

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Creative Writing Task

It’s time to develop a character for your own narrative.

Use the mind-mapping worksheets to develop your own character inspired by Ned Kelly.

Remember that Ned Kelly wore a big metal helmet on his head.

Imagine what it would feel like to wear a heavy helmet like this.

Try and keep this feature of the character in your new Ned Kelly-inspired character.

Think about: — What parts about the original Ned Kelly character will you choose to keep in your story?

— What parts about the original Ned Kelly character will you change?

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Developing Character

What is your character’s name?

How old are they?

Where do they live?

What is their gender?

Describe your character’s appearance.

What is their favourite possession?

What is their favourite food?

What is their biggest fear?

Describe your character’s personality.

What are their three favourite leisure activities?

Describe their family.

Who are their friends?

Is there anything else about your character that readers might like to know?

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Developing Setting

Imagine a place where Ned Kelly could visit instead of the mine or the mall. For example, Ned Kelly could go to the moon, or to the beach. Will you also place your character in a different era or time setting?

When is your narrative set?

What year is it?

Is it summer or winter?

Day or night?

Where is your character from?

How do they feel about this place?

Where is your character going?

Why are they travelling to this place?

What do they want there?

What can your character see, hear, smell and feel in these places?

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Create a Word Bank

The author uses rhyming language in Kelly at the Mall.

Use this Word Bank template to create a list of rhyming vocabulary for your narrative.

Write a list of adjectives to describe your character’s appearance and personality:

e.g. short

List as many words as you can that rhyme with your adjectives: e.g. caught, bought, fought, naught, thwart, sort, brought, taut, wart

Are there any words that are spelled similarly but do not rhyme when you pronounce them?

e.g. effort

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Write a list of adjectives to describe the place your character visits. Remember to consider all five of your senses:

e.g. sunny

List as many words as you can that rhyme with your adjectives: e.g. money, honey, funny, runny

Write a list of adjectives to describe the obstacles or challenges your character faces:

e.g. rough

List as many words as you can that rhyme with your adjectives: e.g. tough, enough, stuff, bluff, cuff, buff, gruff, fluff

Are there any words that are spelled similarly but do not rhyme when you pronounce them?

e.g. cough

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Write a list of nouns (objects) that your character owns.

e.g. hat

List as many words as you can think of that rhyme with your noun: e.g. fat, splat, gnat, that, sat, brat, spat, Ballarat, caveat

Are there words that are spelled similarly but do not rhyme when you pronounce them?

e.g. what

Write a list of nouns that your character might encounter in the place of their visit:

e.g. snow

Write as many words as you can think of that rhyme with your noun: e.g. below, bow, dough, go, low

Are there words that are spelled similarly but do not rhyme when you pronounce them?

e.g. cow

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Write a list of nouns that might become obstacles for your character:

e.g. bear

Write as many words as you can think of that rhyme with your noun: e.g. where, care, stare, lair, fair, chair, dare, underwear, mare

Are there words that are spelled similarly but do not rhyme when you pronounce them?

e.g. dear

Developing Narrative

Which parts of Ned Kelly’s life story will you will choose to keep and which parts will you change?

How might your Ned Kelly-inspired character behave in a new environment?

What challenges and obstacles will your character face?

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How does your character try to resolve problems and overcome challenges?

What is stopping your character from getting what they want?

What is the climax of the story (the most exciting thing that happens)?

What happens next? Does your character get what they want? How does the story end?

Does your character meet others along the way? Do they help or hinder your character in getting what they want?

What obstacles does your character encounter?

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Publishing your story

Editing your work

Before you transform your narrative into a storybook, you need to edit your writing.

Check your spelling, punctuation and grammar.

Did you write in first or third person? Check that you have used one consistently.

Did you write in past or present tense? Check that you have used one consistently.

Do your ideas flow logically from one to the next?

Could you add any descriptive language to help the reader imagine your character’s thoughts and feelings more clearly?

Find a partner in your class and swap your stories, or you might want to read your narrative aloud to your partner. Ask your partner to tell you their favourite things about your story. Then ask them these questions:

Does the story make sense?

Does it start and end well?

Is there a build-up of tension or suspense in the middle that makes it exciting?

Does the text read well as a rhyme?

Do you have any ideas that you think would improve the narrative?

Go back to your story and make any final edits to your work.

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Illustration

The author selects elements of the narrative to depict in illustrations on each page of Kelly at the Mall. Illustrations show the reader aspects of the characters, action, mood and meaning in the narrative.

Think about how you will create illustrations for your story. In Kelly at the Mall, the author drew the illustrations on each page by hand with coloured pencils, then scanned the pages into a computer to add the text on each page above the illustrations.

For the final copy of your narrative, you might prefer to write your text by hand on each page or use software like the author. Your illustrations could be hand-drawn or you could paint, collage or use a digital application to create them.

To illustrate your CHARACTERS and SETTING, consider these factors:

Your main character’s physical appearance and the style of their clothing. Make sure your main character looks recognisably similar in each illustration so the reader can easily identify them.

The details of the location that make it interesting or familiar to the reader so they can imagine where the events are taking place. Think about what elements are placed in the foreground and the background of each illustration.

The colour palette for your illustrations. In Kelly at the Mall the author has used a wide range of colours but you will notice that there is shading on every illustration in light blue, brown and beige that creates an aesthetically unified style.

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To illustrate the ACTION in your story, consider these factors:

Think about your character’s use of gesture, posture and movement. How do they look when sitting down? When running? How do they look when they are in different moods?

Like the author of Kelly at the Mall, you might find it challenging to show your main character’s facial expression when there is a big helmet covering their face. However, you can also use the character’s body to show expression and you can convey a range of moods using only the eyes. You can also illustrate expressions on other characters’ faces to help convey meaning as they react to your main character.

You could use action lines to show motion in your drawings, such as the puff of smoke behind Ned Kelly as he runs to the food court, demonstrating the speed of his running. Or the triangular shapes that radiate out from Ned Kelly as he makes his declaration on the Muffin Break counter, showing his anger and loud voice.

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If events are extremely difficult to depict, consider using illustrated text to help tell your story. In Kelly at the Mall the author uses two words, ‘SCARED’ and ‘SURPRISED’, in colours and lettering styles that evoke the meaning of these words instead of drawing a picture of the characters and setting. ‘Scared’ is written in a ghoulish style and uses colours we might associate with a haunted house. ‘Surprised’ uses a rounded, balloon-like font and colours that might remind you of a birthday party. It is backed by a spiky shape similar to the way ‘BANG’ or ‘POP’ might be presented in Pop Art style. It wouldn’t be appropriate for the illustrations to show scared and surprised characters, when nobody was paying any attention to Ned Kelly, so the author chose this way to illustrate these pages.

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Front Cover

A great book needs a great cover! The illustrator of Kelly at the Mall looked at the composition of Nolan’s Kelly at the Mine and positioned the Ned Kelly character in the foreground on the right-hand side of the artwork. Create an artwork for the cover of your book by illustrating the setting of your narrative and creating the same composition with your Kelly-inspired character.

Choose a font you like, or design eye-catching lettering and write the title of your narrative and your name as the author and illustrator prominently on the cover.

If you have made or printed a book on paper and would like to bind it with string or glue, here are two useful videos resources:

String book binding: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnaD_n1Gd4E

Glue book binding: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIEtTDXUa3E

We would love to hear from you at Heide and read your stories, if you would like us to share them, please email programs@heide.com.au

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Further reading

Kelly at the Mall is written in rhyming language.

For further reading, check out these popular authors who also use rhyme in their narratives:

Roald Dahl’s Revolting Rhymes Ted Arnold’s Parts Norman Lindsay’s The Magic Pudding Jack Prelutsky’s The New Kid on the Block Rhett Miller’s No More Poems! Adam Rex’ Nothing Rhymes with Orange Roald Dahl’s Revolting Rhymes and Rhyme Stew Sally Murphy’s Pearl Verses the World The books of Dr Seuss

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