In Their Shoes
A Drama Immersion was created for
the Year 7 Alternative Program in Term
1 this year.
As 2021 commemorates the 75th
anniversary of the arrival of the
Salesians in Glenorchy, Tasmania, it is
an opportune time to give our Year 9
students the experience of delving into
founding stories of our College, and exploring the story
of two members of the original child migrants sent from
England in the early 1950s.
Peter ‘Jackie’ Allsopp was 9 and
David Despard was 10 when they arrived at ‘Boy’s Town’,
which eventually became ÁñÁ«ÊÓƵ»ÆƬ.
The performance was constructed using verbatim accounts
written by Peter and David. Over four performances, Year
9 students engaged with the experiences of the child
migrants in England, on the journey to Australia and in the
early days of Boy’s Town. The aim of the immersion was
to have our students, through interactive drama, explore
what it was like to leave the country where you were born,
travel for two months on a ship without any family and
begin life in a new country.
The ‘story’ was guided by Mr O’Brien and Mrs Healy
with the aid of several students who became impromptu
narrators, performers and brought the words of Peter and
David to life.
At times, students improvised moments depicting life in an
orphanage – with David being taught to box by a Nun, and
a Mother Superior telling the boys that ‘in Australia, you
will be able to ride kangaroos to school’. At other times,
the audience created freeze frame depictions of what the
boys got up to on the boat and improvised anecdotes such
as tricks played on teachers and raiding local orchards for
fruit.
The drama culminated with the entire audience recreating an excursion to kunanyi, a place regularly visited
by the boys. After becoming lost, search parties were sent
out to find them, and their dramatic rescue, complete with
pictures in the Mercury, were recreated.
The performance ended with the reading of the names of
the original thirty-nine boys sent to Boy’s Town. As each
student left the Oratory, they swapped their facsimile of
a 5 shilling note for a bag of boiled lollies, (the boys had
a weekly 5-shilling allowance to buy sweets on the ship)
which ‘Jackie’ assured us, was fantastic.
Mr Mike O’Brien - Director of Creative Arts K-10
A Catholic School in the Salesian Tradition
