Royal Australian Navy swoons over new surface ships in Knight ‘toon

This week the Federal Government announced a major long-term policy change to bolster* our naval defences* for the future after a decade of neglect*.

With an increase of over $11 billion, that brings total funding over the next 10 years to an eye-watering* $54 billion.

The navy will increase the number of surface ships* from 11 to 26 and build six large drone ships* equipped with missiles.

Unmanned* drones are a good idea because, to put it bluntly, we don't have enough sailors to go around. The excitement in navy circles must have been fever pitch*, with the government finally throwing lots of money at it to acquire new hardware*.

I decided that the announcement would be my topic for that day’s cartoon, so I spent part of the day wording-up on what new toys our navy brass* were getting.

I wanted to draw something that reflected how thrilled they would be at the thought of huge upgrades to hardware and capability*. Christmas coming early. Sometimes in cartoons I like to use popular images as a political analogy*. By popular image, I mean a scene from a movie, a television show, a book, history, anything from popular culture. These images, which we are all familiar with, help my readers understand the political inference* made in the cartoon. Because my topic was on things naval, my mind was sorting through images of the high seas and it came to rest at a moment in one of the biggest grossing* movies of all time, Titanic*, starring Leonardo DiCaprio (Jack) and Kate Winslet (Rose).

Made in 1997, Titanic won a heap of Academy Awards, including Best Picture. One of the iconic* scenes from the film is before the Titanic hits the iceberg (sorry, spoiler alert!) and it is where the two stars are on the bow* of the ship as it sails along. Jack makes Rose stand up on the bow rail, close her eyes and stretch her arms out like a bird. Holding her, he then asks her to open her eyes and when she does she is elated*, consumed by the feeling that she is flying over the sea.

My thoughts were this is how our ecstatic* naval commanders must be feeling at the announcement of the funding boost, so I set about sketching the Prime Minister and a Navy admiral on the bow of one of our new Hunter class frigates*. To capture the raw emotion of the moment, I needed to get the body language right between Albo and the admiral – and it was crucial to closely mimic the scene in the movie with which we are all so familiar.

To get myself in the mood, I even listened on loop to Celine Dion’s* hit song from the movie, My Heart Will Go On. I was determined to nail it.

To finish off, I added the words from the film that Jack and Rose said to each other and a few taxpayer’s dollars flying through the breeze. A touching moment illustrating how the Government won the Navy’s heart – and hopefully strengthened this nation’s naval defences going forward.

Now all I have to do is get that Celine Dion song out of my head!

POLL

GLOSSARY

• bolster: to support something and make it stronger
• defences: protections, shields, guards, fortifications
• neglect: not properly caring for something, not giving it attention or maintaining it well
• eye-watering: extremely high amount of amount, very expensive
• surface ships: warships that operate on the surface of the water, as opposed to submersibles
• drone ships: uncrewed vehicles built for challenging oceanic environments designed for inspections, security, search and rescue and other functions
• unmanned: without a human crew aboard
• fever pitch: a state of extreme excitement or other very strong emotion
• hardware: physical objects, tools, equipment, machinery and vehicles
• navy brass: slang or informal term for senior officers and high-ranking officials
• capability: capacity, ability, competence
• analogy: a comparison between things that have similar features
• inference: what is implied, a conclusion you can draw about something from the information you have
• grossing: the money made before tax is paid and costs are deducted
• RMS Titanic: famous ocean liner that sank on its maiden voyage across the Atlantic after being struck by an iceberg on April 15, 1912
• iconic: very famous or popular, seen to represent particular opinions or a particular time
• bow: forward part of the hull of a ship or boat, the foremost, front end of a ship
• elated: extremely happy, overjoyed, euphoric
• ecstatic: see elated
• frigate: a fairly small warship that can move at high speeds
• Celine Dion: French Canadian pop singer who was hugely popular in the ‘90s

EXTRA READING

Fresh start for pollies to play nice

Last Dunkirk veteran dies at 102

Titanic find was part of top-secret war mission

QUICK QUIZ

1. How much will naval funding increase by?
2. What does that additional investment bring the total to over the next 10 years?
3. How many surface ships will be added to the fleet?
4. Which blockbuster film inspired Mark Knight’s cartoon?
5. Which artist’s hit song featured in the film’s soundtrack and what is it called?

LISTEN TO THIS STORY

CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
1. Humour analysis
After reading and analysing the Mark Knight cartoon in the Kids News explainer, complete the following analysis questions to help you get the full humour out of his drawing.

Mark Knight cartoon analysis:

What is the main issue Mark Knight is highlighting:

Who is portrayed in the cartoon?

How are they portrayed?

What is the humour in the drawing?

Who might agree with his viewpoint?

Who might disagree or possibly be offended by this viewpoint?

Do you think he makes a good point? Explain your answer.

Time: allow 25 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Personal and Social, Critical and Creative Thinking

2. Extension
Write a response to this cartoon from the viewpoint of one of the people or objects portrayed in the cartoon. Think, what would be their response to the speech bubble and satire from the cartoon.

Write or draw your response below.

Time: allow 15 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Visual Arts, Personal and Social, Critical and Creative Thinking

VCOP ACTIVITY
Describe it
Look at the cartoon and make a list of five nouns that you see. Then describe those five nouns with five adjectives. Now add a preposition to those five nouns and adjectives.

Finally, choose your favourite bundle and put all the words together to make one descriptive sentence.

(For lower reading level articles, remove “add a preposition”)