HSC STANDARD MODULE A ELECTIVE 2:

The distinctively visual world of Vertigo a pastoral

by Amanda Lohrey
Kerri-Jane Burke

HSC Standard Module A requires students to Vertigo a pastoral, written by Amanda Lohrey
identify a range of human experiences and explore with images by Lorraine Biggs, is a “fable of love
their portrayal in texts by examining forms and and awakening” (back cover) that explores the sea
features to determine meaning. In Elective 2: change made by a married couple, Luke and Anna,
Distinctively Visual, students analyzing prose texts, following the death of their unborn child. Published
such as Vertigo, sometimes struggle to understand by Black Inc Books in 2009, and at 140 pages, this
how verbal language can be effective in creating novella is an achievable read with audio versions
images. For that reason we need to start the available. Students can explore contemporary
teaching much earlier. Australian life through rich descriptions of urban
and rural environments, as well as representations
By encouraging students to reflect on the concepts
of human relationships. In addition, Lohrey
of a novel, we can provide them with the ‘big ideas’
effectively constructs two important motifs to
that are important in structuring an extended
direct our awareness of Luke and Anna’s growing
response. These themes then become the basis for
emotional recovery: images of birds and ‘the boy’.
creating thesis statements and topic sentences.
Figurative language features are explicitly taught Syllabus and text
in Stages 4 and 5 English, using a conceptual
framework which is an effective way for students to When introducing the module rubric, and during
compose sophisticated responses by avoiding the reading, it is worthwhile developing a word bank
commonplace retelling of textual events. of synonyms for students to begin using in their
discussions, both verbal and written.

Suggested Word Bank

Word Synonym

distinctive unique, exclusive, peculiar, particular, special, typical / atypical,

uncommon, individual, distinguishing, characteristic

visual graphic, image, illustration, vision, picture

effective successful, potent, powerful, strong, valuable, useful,

convincing, compelling, valid, impressive, plausible, credible,
lucid, coherent, interesting, essential

evaluate assess, judge, examine, analyse

vertigo disorientation, dizziness, unbalanced, imbalance, giddiness

pastoral rural, countryside, rustic, spiritual, idyllic

numinous divine, sacred, mysterious, unearthly

maelstrom Vortex, eddy, swirl, turmoil, chaos, upheaval

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HSC STANDARD MODULE A ELECTIVE 2: The distinctively visual world
of Vertigo a pastoral by Amanda Lohrey

Context and purpose

Now living in Tasmania, Lohrey writes from an
Australian perspective and has personally witnessed
the drama and flames of bushfires. In a radio
interview (accessible online), Lohrey explains that
she wanted to create ‘something mysterious’ and
deliberately chose a short form, believing too much
information and description obscures ‘capturing and
exploring the mystery of being’ (Koval, 2008). Black
and white images are peppered throughout the text
and were chosen in collaboration with Biggs. These
photographs are ambiguous, deliberately small, yet
suggest landscapes and ideas. Written beautifully,
Lohrey’s novella offers an exploration of important
moments in life – loss, grief, adapting to a new
Verandah of the historic Hydro, Leeton NSW.
environment, the beauty of nature – however, be Source: Wikimedia Commons
cautious when introducing this text to students: her
vivid writing makes dramatic moments all too real. Contrasting urban and rural spaces
Lohrey depicts an unhealthy and unaffordable
Style and structure city as catalyst for the Worley’s move to the coast.
Vertigo is a linear narrative written in third person, United in their decision, Anna and Luke are
with Anna and Luke revealing details of their indecisive about the site of their relocation:
backstory through reflective contemplation and
Some inland towns stood frozen in time: a dusty
flashbacks. The three distinct parts lack specific
high street; a melancholy war memorial … But
chapters, yet Lohrey effectively takes us into the
world of the Worleys, and provides opportunities for there were other towns that could almost have
students to explore contrasting images of Australian been outposts of the city, where an art gallery
life. Remind students of relevant metalanguage to with kelim rugs and carved wooden birds
incorporate in their responses, and encourage them might be found beside a sleek new wine bar.
to write one or two succinct sentences to outline The Worleys agreed that they wanted to live in
the plot. Retelling and descriptive writing too often neither, not the old or the new … (Lohrey, pp.
restricts a student’s ability to access high range 10–11).
grades. Ideas of living spaces and ownership are linked
closely with contentment:
Instead of being confined to a boxed-in apartment
they are free now to roam through its many rooms,
to experience the joys of nooks and alcoves, not to
mention their favourite hang-out, the wide veranda.
In the city they had a small balcony off their
apartment, but it wasn’t the same. You looked out
to a smoggy curtain across the built-up sky or down
a long drop to the bitumen road below. You were
not earthed. What you desired was a space between
two worlds, that dream-like threshold (Lohrey, pp.
21–22).
We become increasingly aware of the spiritual
element of being, of the ‘numinous’ within our lives
and students may be challenged to consider the
complexity of adulthood in everyday life choices.

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HSC STANDARD MODULE A ELECTIVE 2: The distinctively visual world
of Vertigo a pastoral by Amanda Lohrey

Over a few pages in Part I, we come to understand connections with local people. Lohrey creates
the lifestyle changes for the Worleys, such as two interesting character portraits of the Worley’s
lounging together on the ‘wide veranda’ instead of neighbours who represent different aspects of
heading to a café on Saturday mornings. Focusing on masculinity. Firstly, we meet Gilbert Reilly, their
pages 18–24, students could identify other aspects nearest neighbour who is an elderly widower: “’Gil
of their new lifestyle and record evidence in a simple is tall with a long beaky nose and ginger-grey hair
table. that is thin on top’ and acts as a source of local
lore and advice when he stops in for coffee and a
Contrasting workspaces and leisure regular ‘natter’ (Lohrey, p. 25). Gil’s friendly and
reliable personality is shown through colloquial
City Garra Nalla language and Australian idioms. Similarly, a second
Luke rented one room Climbs ladder to ‘sun- neighbour is portrayed through appearance and
office struck eyrie in the roof ’ actions yet readers are negatively positioned
through emotive terms:
Rodney Banfield, the local plumber, a short,
Anna worked in a tiny ‘retires to the back
thickset man in his late twenties with a long
second bedroom sunroom … look west to
blond pony-tail and an ugly dog, a black
the smoky blue hills’
Staffordshire cross that barks and barks and
‘neither had used so ‘Now they have calluses barks all night until Rodney comes home in the
much as a trowel’ on their hands and the small hours of the morning. (Lohrey, p. 26)
pleasure of rhythmic In Part II, Anna and Luke settle deeper into the
physical movement, like village and become close with the Watts family. We
raking leaves, can bring learn that Alan and Bette are practical members
on a state of mindless of ‘that coastal tribe’ with two children, Zack and
contentment’ Brion. Anna admires their simplistic lifestyle:
Bette is a part time-nurse and competition
Reality of the bush kayaker, an athletic woman with cropped dark
hair. Alan is a tall, barrel-chested man in his
Just as we are seduced into accepting the
early forties who teaches maths at Brockwood
romanticized idyll, Lohrey introduces divergent
High School, in and around the pursuit of his
pictures of the ‘garden’ with the brutal opening of
the final paragraph of page 24: passion for collecting rustic hardware (Lohrey,
p. 49).
But this is not Eden, this is drought country. Behind
the coast are hills of dry sclerophyll forest and Grief, loss and distance
between the hamlet and the forest are pastures With their acceptance into Garra Nalla comes
cleared for sheep, grasslands that are dried out and opportunities to more closely scrutinize their
dun-coloured from seven years of drought … it has reasons for moving, both consciously and
begun to sound biblical; a curse. unconsciously. Though Anna and Luke do not
Biblical allusions are paralleled in a travel diary actually discuss their child’s death, both deal with
subtitled ‘An Account of a Tour in Palestine’ that their emotions in different ways. Anna senses a
Luke finds in the shed, where the desert of Judea distance between herself and Luke – he used to
is a ‘mean country’ and the town of Bethlehem is have a sharp mind ‘that sees through bullshit’
‘un-reedemably ugly’ (Lohrey, pp 38 – 43). The but ‘Now he goes about with a happily bemused
inevitability of the bushfire is signaled with a expression on his face, like he’s stoned, or sits cross-
poignant stand-alone sentence ‘There are days when legged on the veranda drinking wine with Rodney’
they speak only of water’(Lohrey, p. 25). (Lohrey, p. 83). The men talk violently of falcons
and ‘dead common’ crows, while Anna ponders the
Friendship and Community meaning of life past everyday survival.
An important aspect of successfully moving from And the thought of this brings on a rush of vertigo,
the city is the ability of Luke and Anna to develop a dizzying sense of disorientation, as if she is about

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HSC STANDARD MODULE A ELECTIVE 2: The distinctively visual world
of Vertigo a pastoral by Amanda Lohrey

to fall, but that when she falls she will be weightless.

She has lost her roots, her anchorage to the earth
… the world is spinning away from her’(Lohrey, pp.
85-86).
This epiphany closes the second part of the novella,
allowing the reader to reflect on the Worley’s
future.

Threat, aftermath and survivors

Lohrey’s domestic opening to Part III – a trip to
the nursery to purchase she-oaks planted on ‘a day
of baking heat’ before we glimpse Anna and Luke
Bushfires approaches Pelican Water, Qld. Source: Wikimedia Commons
share an intimate moment (pp. 89-90) – simply
prepares us for the catastrophe that is to come. Just In the closing pages of the novella, Lohrey reveals
as Henry Lawson created iconic images of gritty that ‘The settlement of Garra Nalla has survived a
characters determined to survive in the Australian perfect firestorm’ (p. 128). By retelling individual
landscape, Lohrey acknowledges references to vignettes of survival, we see the tenacity of Gil and
Henry Lawson’s poem The Fire at Ross’s Farm and the Watts who clung to rocks on the edge of the
his short story titled Bushfire. ocean, and come to understand the quirk of fate
Typically, as a husband, Luke seeks to re-assure that allows Anna and Luke to be rescued by fire
Anna as she becomes concerned about the smoke fighters. In quintessential Australian style, the locals
‘seeping into the sky like a release of octopus ink’ celebrate their survival by gathering on the bluff and
(Lohrey, p. 91). A sense of urgency is effectively Bette decorates a ‘small bush conifer for a Christmas
portrayed by the use of present tense in describing tree’ (Lohrey, p. 135). This detailed description is
the bushfire: successfully contrasted with a brief, emotionally
laden sentence: ‘Mercifully there is no wind’ (Lohrey,
The speed with which the fire-ball engulfs them p. 135). We see typical summer family activities, such
is something they will replay in their heads, as a cricket game and picnics, yet later, Anna ‘looks
over and over, because it is scarcely credible. over to where the men are clustered, like a flock of
One minute the squall line of cloud, the next birds’ (Lohrey, pp. 135–136). Vertigo references birds
a maelstrom of smoke and flaming embers throughout, allowing us to chase these fleeting motifs
hurtling into the backyard … a geyser of white- as metaphorical representations of human emotions.
hot cinders sprays above the fence line like a
giant Roman candle … (Lohrey, p. 115). Images of birds
The locals repeatedly state that bushfires ‘never The opening page foretells Luke’s growing interest
reach the coast’ contrasting ideas of complacency, in bird-watching: There are birds in the city, but
bravado and a false sense of security. in the city you rarely notice them (Lohrey, p. 3).
Lohrey vividly captures the shocked reaction felt by He is unable to identify a ‘mournful bird cry’ and
Anna and Luke immediately after the fire: cannot rely on his father for guidance as Ken
doesn’t know the ‘difference between a raven and a
When they stumble out of the church hall into blackbird’ (Lohrey, p. 4). Birds hold a powerful and
the smoky morning light, they are surrounded ancient symbolic role as messengers of the gods,
by the charcoaled remains of a holocaust. communicating through eerie calls and their ability
Across the lagoon, the southern end of the to fly. Rather than being overly religious, Lohrey
beach is a crust of glowing embers … sheets of tries to capture the protagonists’ burgeoning sense
corrugated iron are strewn on a carpet of ash. of “being a small part of a great whole” (Sullivan,
The trees are black skeletons with crowns of 2008). It is worth closely studying Lohrey’s ability to
scorched foliage, a rust colour that is like a pale contrast vivid and specific descriptions of bird life in
imprint of the flames’ (p. 124). the bush with Luke’s reaction to another unidentified
bird on pages 28–29.

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HSC STANDARD MODULE A ELECTIVE 2: The distinctively visual world
of Vertigo a pastoral by Amanda Lohrey

Vertigo, Pages 28– 29

Images of the boy

The recurring motif of an unnamed ‘boy’ comes to Luke encounters the boy most commonly in a
embody the projected imaginings of the Worley’s recurring dream which begins after the Worleys take
stillborn child. Lohrey sees the boy as ‘another up canoeing. A benign tidal wave submerges the
dimension of reality’ which allowed her to write a town and Luke swims
fable to demonstrate the sense of disorientation that beneath the sunlit surface like a water baby. And
accompanies us when we ‘move from the city to the
the boy is there, swimming alongside. His face
country’ (Koval, 2008). As an apparition or haunting
is radiant and there are small translucent fish
presence of dead child, the boy’s presence in initially
darting around his head … his small but supple
shared by Anna and Luke:
limbs beat against the current (Lohrey, p. 37).
In the claustrophobic spaces of their dark little
These symbolic and ephemeral visitations of the
apartment his appearances were erratic and
boy contrast with Anna’s more visceral exposure,
unpredictable, but once out on the freeway they
such as when she ‘wakes and thinks that she hears
would glance behind them and there he would be,
the boy crying. Or has she dreamed it? Still, she is
lap-sashed on the back seat and with an enquiring
not alarmed; she knows that he will return’ (Lohrey,
look on his face; that dreamy, expectant expression
p. 56). Luke’s catharsis comes after the fire as he
that children get when they are travelling to an
‘stumbles, weeping, through the powdery ash,
unknown destination (Lohrey, p. 10).
climbing over the still-warm charcoal of the fallen
He is there as they explore their new world ‘… as trunks, and he is back in the delivery room, two
they caught their first glimpse of breaking surf the years ago, when Anna had given birth to the boy;
boy suddenly sat upright. Roused from his torpor on his tiny, curled-up body with its grey translucent
the back seat he craned his neck …’ (Lohrey, p. 11), skin, his dark, wine-red lips, the pinkish white of
yet is experienced in increasingly separate situations his eyelids, closed to them for all time’ (Lohrey, p.
which mirrors the growing estrangement between 130). This particularly harrowing description reveals
Luke and Anna. an image of masculine grief and highlights the

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HSC STANDARD MODULE A ELECTIVE 2: The distinctively visual world
of Vertigo a pastoral by Amanda Lohrey

expectation in our society that males are less able to * This paper is based on a presentation delivered
express their emotional pain. on March 22, 2014 as part of the ETA Exploring
Module A day, with some ideas originally
Through childbirth, Anna has a very different link
discussed at the Innovation ETA Conference
with the child she carried and lost, and after the fire
she undergoes a poignant farewell. 2013 as part of the ED Talks for Mod A.
That night the boy comes to Anna in a dream. References
And this is odd, because she never dreams of
him, but tonight here he is, at the back door. The Geitz, Christine, mETAphor, ETA NSW, Issue 3,
garden as it was before the fire, perfect in every 2012, ‘Reading the Visual: Using Kress and Van
detail, mellow and bathed in afternoon light, Leeuwen for a framework’
and the boy is in the open doorway, waving. Lohrey, Amanda, Vertigo, Black Inc / Melbourne,
But before she can wave back, the figure in the 2009.
doorway has dissolved in the light. And she
Koval, Ramona, The Book Show: interview with
wakes crying (Lohrey, p. 134).
Amanda Lohrey, ABC Radio, November 10,
When viewed as a whole, there is a sense of 2008 (approx. 20 mins) http://www.abc.net.au/
symmetry in Lohrey’s synthesis of conflicting radionational/programs/bookshow/amanda-
emotions and experiences that people participate lohreys-vertigo/3179466
in when dealing with pain, loss and grief. Students
should consider the macro concepts before Sullivan, Jane, ‘The Fire of Fiction’, The Age,
explaining their effect through micro language November 15, 2008.http://www.theage.com.
forms, features and the use language in creating au/news/entertainment/books/the-fire-of-ficti
distinct visual representations. on/2008/11/13/1226318837617.html

PRAC SNACK:
Prac students report on their experiences
Jessica Thompson, Charles Sturt University

What did you like most about teaching English in the classroom?
The most important thing about teaching English is the range of ways you can
teach one topic. Students learn in different ways and the English curriculum
allows for a range of activities to be part of the lesson. Another great thing about
teaching English is that students can be educated in a range of ways through
books, plays, movies and poetry.
What were the best lessons, and why did they feature highly for you?
Some of the best lessons involved a range of activities that would incorporate the
elements of different learning styles such as hands on, audio and visual learning.
I found that catering for a class allowed for the best lessons – some classes
work and learn more with group projects while others prefer individual study
approaches.
What was best about being with your mentor teacher?
My best mentor teacher allowed me to come up with ideas that he did not think
would work but he allowed me to do it anyway which was great for both of us, as
I taught with more group focus and small group activities. I’ve had other mentor
teachers who are also very involved in the ways I want to teach and continually
give me guidance.

10 English Teachers Association of NSW • mETAphor Issue 2, 2014