Discovery HSC English: People & Societies

The president muses on Stalin, atomic weapons, and peace. 1945

Some extracts from Leichhardt's diaries are included in this article.

First voyage: exploration of the East Coast of Australia.

Albert Einstein had an ongoing professional and personal relationship with Linus Pauling, another prominent twentieth century scientist. The two men greatly admired one another’s genius and spent much time together discussing world affairs. But because many of these conversations were never recorded Pauling was moved after their very last meeting to take hastily-jotted down notes about some of Einstein’s thoughts – and history is, of course, better for it!

This story is set in a little fishing village in outback South Australia. It is a contemporary story about two communities, the Goonyas (whites) and the Nungas (blacks), and the one thing they have in common - the local Australian Rules football team.

Marking Time is a 'Romeo and Juliet' story set in a rural Australian town. It traces Hal's journey from boy to man over the period of one year. At the outset, the town and the country are intoxicated with the spirit of the Olympics, and the anniversary of Australia's federation. Hal gets his driver's licence, his first car, the right to drink, the right to vote, and falls in love with Randa, a young Afghan refugee. But there is a shifting of consciousness in the town and the nation about refugees, border protection and their place in the world. Hal's heart is broken when he realises that his town is one in which he no longer belongs.

In 1931, three aboriginal girls escape after being plucked from their homes to be trained as domestic staff and set off on a trek across the Outback.

In Poland during World War II, Oskar Schindler gradually becomes concerned for his Jewish workforce after witnessing their persecution by the Nazis.

Andy Dufresne, a New England banker convicted of murdering his wife and her lover, is sent to Shawshank State Prison where he meets "Red" Redding, a seasoned lifer. Despite twenty years on the inside, the prison bars fail to contain their spirits, and the pair forge an unlikely friendship, one that overcomes pain, suffering and ultimately leads to a chance at freedom.

Based on Stephen King's short story "The Body", "Stand By Me" tells the tale of Gordie Lachance, a writer who looks back on his preteen days when he and three close friends went on their own adventure to find the body of a kid their age who had gone missing and presumed dead. The stakes are upped when the bad kids in town are closely tailing - and it becomes a race to see who'll be able to recover the body first.