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Video clip synopsis – Sudanese refugees talk about the impact of the civil war on their families and of creating a new life in Australia.
Year of production - 2008
Duration - 2min 23sec
Tags - assimilation, colonisation, conflict, discrimination, diversity, human rights, immigration, migrants, multiculturalism, refugees, see all tags

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Civil War in Sudan

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About the Video Clip

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Civil War in Sudan is an excerpt from the documentary I’ll Call Australia Home produced in 2008.

I’ll Call Australia Home
Refugee families from Burma and Sudan discover the joys and challenges of their new Australian home. While the horrors of war and the confinement of refugee camps are behind them, the new lives of these families are not without struggle as they negotiate the everyday realities of settling in a new country.

A Screen Australia National Interest Program in association with Becker Entertainment. Produced in association with SBS Independent.

Curriculum Focus

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Outcomes

  • explain social, political and cultural developments and events and evaluate their impact on Australian life
  • explain the changing rights and freedoms of migrants in Australia

Inquiry Question

How have the rights and freedoms of migrants in Australia changed during the post-war period?

Students learn about

*the changing patterns of migration 1945–2000

Background Information

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The issue of refugees and displaced people is one of the most complicated before the world community today. Every year millions of refugees from around the world search for a new homeland. About 13,000 of these people are allowed to make new lives in Australia. Of these, around 6,000 are chosen by the government from the world’s most notorious refugee camps and a further 7,000 arrive on humanitarian visas, often sponsored by family and friends.

All have met the United Nations definition qualifying them as refugees, a “well-founded fear of being prosecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality”. (1951 UN Convention relating to the Status of Refugees)

What happens to these people when they come to live in Australia?

This is a gentle and revealing story of ordinary people who have witnessed extraordinary tragedy. But united in a new country they find strength, resilience and courage; not necessarily the courage of ‘heroes’ but the daily courage required to remake their lives.

Classroom Activities

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  1. Note-making: While watching clip:
    1. Note the circumstances of Constance’s family’s migration to Australia.
    2. Note details of the Sudanese civil war.
    3. Note Constance’s experiences in the civil war.
    4. Note how her family was divided.
    5. Note where the family lived while waiting to come to Australia.
    6. Note the family circumstances in Wagga Wagga.
  2. Research
    1. What part have refugees played in migration to Australia since 1945?
    2. How and why has Australia’s policy on refugees changed since 1945?
    3. What other countries in Africa have suffered civil war since 1945?
  3. Reporting
    1. Explain how Constance and her family met the UN definition of ‘refugee’.
    2. Draw up a concept map of conflict in post-colonial African states.

Further Resources

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Wikipedia, Second Sudanese Civil War

Wikipedia, Decolonisation of Africa