M BLM 85 ULGA BILL'S BICYCLE Twas Mulga Bill, from Eaglehawk, that caught the cycling craze; He turned away the good old horse that served him many days; He dressed himself in cycling clothes, resplendent to be seen; He hurried off to town and bought a shiny new machine; And as he wheeled it through the door, with air of lordly pride, The grinning shop assistant said, Excuse me, can you ride? See, here, young man, said Mulga Bill, from Walgett to the sea, From Conroy s Gap to Castlereagh, there s none can ride like me. I m good all round at everything, as everybody knows, Although I m not the one to talk I hate a man that blows. But riding is my special gift, my chiefest, sole delight; Just ask a wild duck can it swim, a wild cat can it fight. There s nothing clothed in hair or hide, or built of flesh or steel, There s nothing walks or jumps, or runs, on axle, hoof, or wheel, But what I ll sit, while hide will hold and girths and straps are tight: I ll ride this here two-wheeled concern right straight away at sight. 111
BLM 86 Twas Mulga Bill, from Eaglehawk, that sought his own abode, That perched above the Dead Man s Creek, beside the mountain road. He turned the cycle down the hill and mounted for the fray, But ere he d gone a dozen yards it bolted clean away. It left the track, and through the trees, just like a silver streak, It whistled down the awful slope, towards the Dead Man s Creek. It shaved a stump by half an inch, it dodged a big white-box: The very walleroos in fright went scrambling up the rocks, The wombats hiding in their caves dug deeper underground, As Mulga Bill, as white as chalk, sat tight to every bound. It struck a stone and gave a spring that cleared a fallen tree, It raced beside a precipice as close as close could be; And then as Mulga Bill let out one last despairing shriek It made a leap of twenty feet into the Dead Man s Creek. Twas Mulga Bill, from Eaglehawk, that slowly swam ashore: He said, I ve had some narrer shaves and lively rides before; I ve rode a wild bull round a yard to win a five pound bet, But this was the most awful ride that I ve encountered yet. I ll give that two-wheeled outlaw best; it s shaken all my nerve To feel it whistle through the air and plunge and buck and swerve. It s safe at rest in Dead Man s Creek, we ll leave it lying still; A horse s back is good enough henceforth for Mulga Bill. by Banjo Paterson 112
Teaching notes for Text form: Ballad Medium: Book Field: A bicycle ride Tenor: Narrator to unknown audience Mode: Written OTHER RESOURCES A selection of poetry books with examples of ballads. Percussion instruments. Art materials for the cartoons. INTRODUCING THE UNIT Read the ballad with students, encouraging them to ask the meaning of any unfamiliar words. MULGA BILL THE HERO Ask students to think of the poem s narrative structure and the order of events. Encourage them to add speech bubbles using words from the poem or their own words. Tell students that because ballads tell a story they often use the language features of narrative texts (proper nouns to name the people or things in the story, adverbs, conjunctions and verbs that show what characters are thinking, feeling or saying). Encourage students to compare the features of narratives and ballads. WHAT MAKES A BUSH HERO? Talk about the background to tall stories and folktales set in the Australian bush. Guide students in finding examples of Australian folktales, songs and poems. Encourage students to talk about aspects of the bush ethos and the type of characters who have been revered in the bush mythology. Encourage them to record their research and to share their feelings with the rest of the class. WHAT A PERFORMANCE! Discuss the fact that rhyming words do not always have the same spelling patterns. You may want to introduce students to the term couplet. Ballads are often set to music. Discuss how students could use the rhythm and pace of movement and music to convey the mood and story of the ballad. Have groups share their ideas for appropriate movements, gestures and facial expressions before working on the final performance. If possible give students the opportunity to use percussion or other musical instruments. Allow plenty of rehearsal time! BE APOET! Revise the features of a ballad. They usually tell a folk story or tell about a hero, and they often have short, four-line stanzas (although this ballad does not). If possible, share other ballads for students to use as models, for example The Man From Snowy River by Banjo Paterson. Encourage students to experiment with different ways to publish their final ballads, for example as part of a class collection, a picture book, a poster, a scroll or a dance drama. FOLLOW-UP/EXTENSION This ballad has been published as a picture book, illustrated by Deborah and Kilmeny Niland (Collins). Share the book with students and discuss the illustrations. Students could create a map showing the way from town to Mulga Bill s home at Eaglehawk. A group of students could do some research about Banjo Paterson, his life and his writing and present their findings to the rest of the class. 113
BLM 87 Mulga Bill the hero Ballads often tell a folk story about a hero. In the space below, create a series of cartoons to tell the story of Mulga Bill and his bicycle. Plan your cartoons on rough paper first. Think about how many boxes are needed to tell the story, and how to present these boxes on the page. 114 NA 3.7 NSW 2.8 Identifies, discusses and uses the grammatical features and the structures of a range of text types to create meaning. NA 3.12a NSW 2.9 Uses strategies to plan, review, proofread and publish own writing with awareness of audience and written language features.
BLM 88 What makes a bush hero? With a partner, research some other stories, songs or poems that tell about life in the Australian bush. How would you describe the characters involved? Do the characters have anything in common? Talk about it with your partner, then write your conclusions on the lines. NA 3.2 NSW 2.3 Recognises that certain types of spoken texts are associated with particular audiences and purposes. NA 3.5 NSW 2.5 Reads a wide range of written and visual texts and interprets and discusses relationships between ideas, information and events. NA 3.6 NSW 2.7 Identifies simple symbolic meaning and stereotypes in texts and discusses how writers create worlds through language which achieves a wide range of purposes. 115
BLM 89 What a performance! Ballads usually use rhyme. Read the poem with a partner. Can you hear the rhyme scheme? Choose some of the rhyming pairs and write them on the lines. How many other words can you write that also rhyme with them? Do the rhymes all have the same spellings? Work with a group of friends to prepare a drama to tell the story of the ballad. You might like to use percussion instruments to accompany your drama. Don t forget to rehearse before you perform for the class! Our performance plan 116 NA 3.1 NSW 2.1 Communicates and interacts for specific purposes with students in the classroom and in the school community using a small range of text types. NA 3.12b NSW 2.11 Consistently makes informed attempts at spelling.
BLM 90 Be a poet! Now it s your turn! Write a ballad telling a story about something that has happened in your class, school or family. Draft your ideas on the ballad scaffold, then publish your ballad below. NA 3.12a NSW 2.9 Uses strategies to plan, review, proofread and publish own writing with awareness of audience and written language features. NA 3.9 Experiments with interrelating ideas and information when writing about familiar topics within a small range of text types. 117