Mark Knight cartoon captures enduring Aussie spirit amid flood disaster
Cartoonist Mark Knight says his heart was warmed by scenes of communities pulling together in Victoria’s flood zones
READING LEVEL: GREEN
Our nation of “droughts and flooding rains” has always had major weather events to deal with, but climate change is intensify these cycles and we can expect more to come.
As disastrous as they can be, they do reveal something positive about ourselves: our sense of community and our care for others.
I have lived through two major bushfires which threatened my home, so I know something about the stress and fear involved for those impacted by the forces of mother nature.
My heart was warmed to see volunteers and SES (State Emergency Service) workers out in flooded suburbs and towns in Victoria this past week. They were helping people cope with the inundation* of their homes and livelihoods, whether it was filling sandbags or going about in their tinnies* fishing stranded folk out of their front yards.
I have drawn cartoons about the floods and the effects of La Nina, but I wanted to draw something in relation to the human side of the tragedy. I felt the cartoon had to be empathetic* and put a smile on people’s faces after so much bad news.
Photographs from the flood zone of orange-clad SES workers driving down streets in their inflatable boats was a nice strong image to work with.
The police had called for everyone to evacuate and I was thinking about how the elderly might cope. After seeing a number of senior citizens being evacuated, an idea came to me.
I imagined an elderly lady – she might be your grandma – being rescued by the SES. I drew her sitting proudly in the rubber inflatable with a team of SES volunteers piloting the boat.
But of course, a lot of people don’t live alone, there are other members of the family, and these family members are not always human. They are our much loved pet companions, and they cannot be left behind!
So I started to add into the boat the lady’s trusted scottish terrier standing alert upfront. Then there is the magpie that comes for breakfast every morning. On the lady’s lap is her marmalade cat and just behind her, in the trusted hands of a volunteer, is her canary in its cage. No one was left behind!
And if you look closely at the name on the street sign, it gives a small nod* to our history of extreme weather events, as captured in the famous My Country poem by Dorothea Mackellar:
I love a sunburnt country,
A land of sweeping plains,
Of ragged mountain ranges,
Of droughts and flooding rains.
The human spirit is vital in these natural disasters, it’s what holds communities together. The cartoon illustrates that we have it in spades*!
GLOSSARY
- inundation: flooding
- tinnies: small aluminium boats
- empathetic: showing the ability to understand and share the feelings of others
- nod: acknowledgment
- in spades: in abundance, to have a lot of something
EXTRA READING
Muddy heroes of Victorian floods
QUICK QUIZ
- What type of natural disaster has twice threatened Mark’s home?
- What two things did Mark want this cartoon to do?
- Whose poem does Mark reference in the story?
- What is the poem called?
- What does Mark say Australians have in spades?
LISTEN TO THIS STORY
CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
1. What happens next?
Imagine this cartoon is part of a story that is made up of three cartoons. The three cartoons tell a complete story, and Mark’s cartoon is the start of the story. Think about what the story could be and draw the next two cartoons that tell the story.
Time: allow 30 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Visual Arts, Visual Communication Design, Critical and Creative Thinking
2. Extension
Being able to draw is only one of the skills needed to be a great cartoonist. Write a list of all of the other skills that you think cartoonists like Mark need to do their job.
Next to each skill, write a sentence that explains why that skill is important or helps them to do a great job.
Time: allow at least 20 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Personal and Social Capability, Media Arts, Visual Communication Design
VCOP ACTIVITY
Stretch your sentence
Find a “who” in the cartoon – a person or an animal. Write it down.
Add three adjectives to describe them better.
Now add a verb to your list. What are they doing?
Add an adverb about how they are doing the action.
Using all the words listed, create one descriptive sentence.