Thukeri-The Bony Bream-Part 1A Dreaming Story from the Ngarrindjeri Clan from the Murray River area of South Australia, by La La Rankine

A long time ago in the Dreaming, when only Aboriginal people lived in Australia, the Ngurunderi spirit ancestor came down and created the Ngarrindjeri people and their lands in what we now call South Australia.

One day, two Ngarrindjeri men left their campsite as they wanted to go fishing in the lake. They took with them their bark canoe and baskets woven from the long rushes that grew by the lake. The men liked to fish in Loveday Bay where the water was cool and calm, and fish were plenty. The most delicious fish of all was the Thukeri (bream).

While they were fishing, the mens wives and children were searching the nearby bushland, collecting tasty vegetables and edible plants for their evening meal.

Knowing that they had plenty of time in which to catch enough fish for their people, the two men settled down among a clump of tall reeds, sheltered from the wind. Carefully they strung their sharp, bird bone hooks onto their fishing lines (nungi) and began to fish.

As the sun began to sink down over the sky, the men stopped fishing and looked down into their bark canoe to see that it was almost overflowing with beautiful, juicy Thukeri.

They decided that they had enough fish for their people so they paddled the canoe back to the shores of the lake. Upon their return, the two men noticed a stranger coming towards them. What did he want with them? Was he hungry? Would he want a share of their big, delicious Thukeri?

The men were worried. They did not want to share their catch and they hastily used their woven reed mats to cover the fish lying in the bottom of the canoe so that the stranger would not know how successful their fishing trip had been.

As the stranger approached the two men, he greeted them and said, I have walked far today and I havent eaten anything all day. It is growing late and I am hungry. Would you be able to spare me a couple of your fish?

Text sourced from: Targeting Text Interactively

Read the text and shade a bubble or write an answer to each question.

1 Where does this story originate? questioning

76 Achievement Standards Assessment: Comprehension Year 6 2013 Blake Education

DATENAME

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2 The Dreaming refers to a time when: monitoring ancestral beings moved across the land life was created only Aboriginal people lived in Australia all of the above

3 What are rushes? monitoring bark baskets plants fabric

4 Which fish was the most delicious? questioning

5 What type of word is searching? visualising noun verb adjective adverb

6 What type of food did the women and children collect? making connections farmed vegetables farmed wheat bush tucker fast food

7 What were the fishing hooks made out of? questioning wire metal fish bones bird bones

8 Why did the men stop fishing? monitoring

9 What was the look on the mens faces when they saw the stranger? visualising anger exhaustion amusement suspicion

10 Which is the odd word? monitoring hastily quickly anxiously speedily

11 The mens main goal was to: summarising feed their people catch the biggest fish in the bay share food with the stranger hide food from the stranger

12 Do you think the men will give the stranger some fish? Why do you think that? predicting

Achievement Standards Assessment: Comprehension Year 6 2013 Blake Education 77

Thukeri-The Bony Bream-Part 2Slowly the two men glanced at the mats covering the fish hidden in the bottom of the canoe. Then they said to the stranger, We are sorry brother, but our wives and children are hungry too. We did not do well today. We only caught a few small fish, barely enough to feed our people who are depending on us. We cannot give you any.

As he turned to walk away, the stranger glared at the two men. You are lying. There are more than enough fish in your canoe to feed your people. You have been greedy and because of this you shall never again enjoy eating Thukeri. And with that he turned and walked off into the bush.

The two men looked at each other and then stared after the stranger, wondering what he had meant. Yet they were not too concerned. What could he possibly do? He had gone as quickly as he had appeared.

Without a further thought, they pulled the reed mats off the fish and began to clean and gut them by the waters edge. However, as they began to work, they discovered that their tender, juicy Thukeri were full of thin, sharp bones, making them impossible to eat. The two men were now truly worried.

What have we done? they moaned. Our families will choke on these bones; we cant take these fish home to eat.

Shamefully the two men returned to their camp with their baskets of bony fish and told their families of the stranger and what had happened. The tribal elders told them that the stranger had really been their spirit ancestor Ngurunderi and that they had displeased him with their greed. Now their people would be punished forever, unable to eat the Thukeri.

Whenever the Ngarrindjeri people catch a bony bream today, they remember the story of the two greedy men and the lesson that the Great Spirit Ngurunderi taught them.

GLOSSARY Ngarrindjeri (Nurrin jerry) Indigenous nation whose lands are in the Murray River,

Lakes and Coorong area of South AustraliaNgurunderi (Nurrun dairy) Dreaming creatorNungi (Nun gee) fishing lineThukeri (Thook er ee) type of fish (bony bream)

Read the text and shade a bubble or write an answer to each question.

13 Mark each statement as True or False. Write T or F in the box. questioning

The men believed they did not have many fish.

The men were concerned about feeding their families.

The men thought the stranger was an evil wizard.

78 Achievement Standards Assessment: Comprehension Year 6 2013 Blake Education

TERM TEST 1 PAGE 3

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14 Why did the men call the stranger brother? making connections they thought they were related that was his name they were being polite to make him go away

15 The stranger glared at the men. This means the stranger was: making connections

angry short-sighted squinting nearly blind

16 What did the stranger threaten? questioning to steal the fish to go away and never return to destroy the fish the fish would no longer be enjoyable to eat

17 How did the men look when the stranger left? visualising frightened angry tired puzzled

18 Why did the men clean and gut the fish? monitoring to look for bones to check they hadnt been stolen that is what they always did they were filling in time before going home

19 Why were the fish impossible to eat? questioning

20 Who was the stranger? questioning

21 What is this storys lesson? summarising dont talk to strangers always help those in need crime doesnt pay dont count your chickens until they are hatched

22 Put the events in order from 1 to 4. summarising

The fish were full of bones.

The stranger accused the men of lying.

The men said they didnt have enough fish.

They discover the identity of the stranger.

23 What is a glossary? questioning

24 The words in parentheses in the glossary: monitoring are definitions are alternative spellings of the word being defined show how the word is pronounced show common spelling mistakes

79Achievement Standards Assessment: Comprehension Year 6 2013 Blake Education

24NUMBER OF CORRECT ANSWERS

Radio Button09: 2

Radio Button05: 0

Radio Button07: 2

Name: SYDNEY RICEDate: 31.03.15mark: Radio Button17: 2

Radio Button18: 1

Radio Button11: 2

Radio Button03: 3

Radio Button10: 3

Radio Button21: 2

Radio Button24: 1

4: The Thukeri or bream was the most delicious. 8: The men stopped fishing because they decided that they had already caught enough fish to feed their clan.Radio Button02: 2

Radio Button06: 1

Radio Button14: 1

Radio Button15: 0

Radio Button16: 3

12: I do not think that the men will give the stranger their food, because they will want to keep it for their people, and they acted protectively and hid the fish when they saw him approaching.

19: They were impossible to eat because they were full of thin, sharp bones.20: The stranger was actually their spirit ancestor Ngurunderi, and he caused the fish to be unpleasant because he was disappointed with their greed.23: A glossary contains definitions of words in a text that are difficult, new or unusual.13.0: F13.1: T13.2: F22.2: 122.1: 222.0: 322.3: 4